3rd International Congress of Anthropologies of the South
- Region: East of England
- Type: Conference
- Cost: Free
3rd International Congress of Anthropologies of the South
Foz do Iguaçu – Brazil
VIRTUAL WORKING GROUP 2 – DECOLONIAL TURN: ART, ANTHROPOLOGY OF ART, HISTORY, AND ARTISTIC INSTITUTIONS IN LATIN AMERICA
Coordination
Dr. Tatiane de Oliveira Elias (UEMG, Brazil)
Lic. Adriana Galizio (National University Arturo Jauretche, Argentina)
Moderation
Dr. Fernando Scherer (UNIVASF, Brazil)
Abstract
This Working Group proposes a transdisciplinary approach that articulates art, anthropology of art, history, artistic institutions, and Latin American studies, highlighting intersections historically shaped by colonial structures and Eurocentric epistemologies. Latin American artistic productions — Indigenous, Afro-Latin American, and Asian Latin American — have, for centuries, been systematically marginalized by the canon of Art History, subjected to processes of colonial violence that resulted in the erasure of their cultures, traditions, and forms of existence.
Given this historical legacy, the adoption of decolonizing practices aimed at the critical reconstruction of historical narratives becomes urgent. In this context, different theoretical approaches have contributed to consolidating decolonial, anti-Eurocentric, gender-conscious, and anti-racist perspectives, grounded in the reflections of authors and scholars who question the epistemic hierarchies and power structures that have historically sustained processes of exclusion and silencing.
Historically, artists from the Global South have been committed to building a decolonial art rooted in their own traditions, giving rise to different forms of artistic engagement in postcolonial contexts and seeking to generate change. Influenced, among other movements, by Mexican Muralism, Anthropophagy, Tropicalism, and Tucumán Arde, contemporary artists and curators appropriate foreign references in order to resignify them, producing works and curating exhibitions that affirm plural Latin American identities — politically and socially engaged identities that confront issues of race, class, gender, inequality, and culture while breaking away from European canons. In doing so, they create spaces of symbolic resistance, offering local and plural perspectives.
This panel proposes to discuss how different artistic languages and conceptual frameworks have been mobilized to challenge the colonial logic that has historically structured museums, artistic practices, and cultural institutions. It seeks to reflect on the emergence of alternative forms of organizing exhibition spaces, guided by more plural and situated perspectives. In this context, the panel questions how museums can develop inclusive and representative strategies that expand the participation, protagonism, and visibility of Latin American women, both as audiences and as artists, curators, and cultural managers.
In summary, the aim is to reflect on what transformations are necessary to resignify the social and cultural function of artistic institutions in contemporary society.
We seek panelists who engage with these questions, discussing, for example: How does Latin American art function as a form of resistance by destabilizing hegemonic codes of colonial origin? To what extent can the anthropology of art be understood as a tool of resistance against Eurocentrism in artistic narratives? How does the artistic production of contemporary Indigenous women challenge colonial narratives and affirm their own epistemologies? To what extent does Afro-Latin American art challenge racial and aesthetic hierarchies in the field of modern and contemporary art? How do Latin American Biennials contribute to the reconfiguration of artistic paradigms and to the emergence of discourses of identity resistance within the art system? How can artistic interventions and critical ethnographies function as practices of resistance in the decolonization of knowledge and the affirmation of marginalized identities?
Registration on the website:
https://antropologiasdelsur.org/?page_id=1863
Deadline: June 20, 2026.