Marcas de violencia: biopolítica, enfermedad y discapacidad en Teoría de las catástrofes de Tryno Maldonado (pp. 70-83; DOI: 10.23692/Articulos_iMex1.1_3)

Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?
Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Dr. Etna Avalos

Etna Avalos is a professor of Spanish and Latin American literature and culture at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada. She holds a PhD in Spanish and Latin American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has two master’s degrees, one in Spanish from North Carolina State University and another one in English Literature and British Studies from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. She completed her BA in Media Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her research focuses on cultural representations of resistance in contemporary Latin American literature and film, where she examines issues of gender, disability, otherness and coloniality. She has published many articles and critical reviews in academic journals such as Calíope, Romance Notes, Hispanófila and América sin Nombre. Currently she collaborates as editor in the literary magazine Latino Book Review.

Illness and disability are recurring motifs in the novel Teoría de las catástrofes (2012) by the Mexican author Tryno Maldonado. The story, which develops during the Oaxaca protests in 2006, reflects the literary use of bodily insubordination as an allegory of collective political resistance. Taking into account the disability studies theory as well as the concept of biopolitics ­–that has allowed the State to exert violence against the members of the social body under the excuse of safeguarding the common good­– this essay explores the intersection between violence, illness, and disability. I propose that the illnesses and disabilities of the characters have a dual function in the narrative. In the first instance, they are seen as indicators of corporal and social “indiscipline” since they imply the disarticulation and defiance of political control schemes. Secondly, illness and disability as consequences of violence show not only the high degree of impunity with which the authorities acted, but also the political and social deterioration in the Mexican context of the first decade of the 21st century.

La enfermedad y la discapacidad son motivos recurrentes en la novela Teoría de las catástrofes (2012) del mexicano Tryno Maldonado. Inserta dentro del conflicto magisterial en Oaxaca en 2006, la historia refleja el uso literario de la insubordinación corporal como una alegoría de la resistencia política colectiva. Partiendo de los estudios sobre la discapacidad, así como de la biopolítica ­–que ha permitido al Estado ejercer la violencia en contra de los miembros del cuerpo social so pretexto de salvaguardar el bien común– este ensayo explora la intersección entre violencia, enfermedad y discapacidad. Propongo que los cuerpos enfermos y discapacitados de los personajes tienen una doble función en la narrativa. En primer lugar, constituyen indicadores de “indisciplina” corporal y social pues implican la desarticulación y desafío hacia los esquemas de control político. En segunda instancia, la enfermedad y la discapacidad como consecuencias de la violencia evidencian el alto grado de impunidad con el que actuaron las autoridades así como el deterioro político y social en el contexto mexicano de la primera década del siglo XXI.