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Romana Radlwimmer – Fenomenología del cruce

By February 17, 2020June 1st, 2021Issues, XVII. Transborder Matters

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Hacia una fenomenología del cruce. Propuestas literarias, cinematográficas y artísticas desde la frontera norte/sur (pp. 84-98; DOI: 10.23692/iMex.17.6)

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Dr. Romana Radlwimmer

Romana Radlwimmer holds a Ph.D. in Romance Literatures from the University of Vienna. She was a lecturer for Literatures and Cultures at the University of Salamanca, Postdoctoral candidate for Romance Literatures at the University of Lisbon, and Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Latina/o Studies Program at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Since 2016, she has been an Assistant Professor for Romance Literatures, currently teaching and researching at the University of Tübingen. She is an Elected Forum Member of the Modern Language Association (2018-2023) and a Founding Member of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Global South Studies at the University of Tübingen. She is the author of Wissen in Bewegung. Latina-Kulturtheorie / Literaturtheorie / Epistemologie (2015) and of articles in her fields of research which include Latin American and US Latina/o Literary and Cultural Theory, Spanish Urban Dynamics, 16th century Spanish and Portuguese Colonial Literature, and Film.

The perspective on the Mexican-US Border is modified when looked at as frontera norte or as Southern Border. Along this enormous division line, the crossing of persons or merchandise between two distinct geopolitical entities becomes possible or is restricted. It is an emblematic zone to conceive the phenomenon of crossing. Contemporary literature, cinema and arts reflect a focus on displacements, a tendency that can be understood as a movement towards a transborder approach. Which phenomena of crossing between Mexico and the US exist, and how are they constructed and described in texts and images from and about the Northern/Southern Border? Transborder appears as an inherent category in the best-known concepts of the Border at the end of the 20th century (Anzaldúa, Canclini, Mignolo, amongst others). This article sounds out how crossings manifest in contemporary expression of Border writers, artists and theorists (such as Laura Varela, Norma Cantú, Mayra Martell, Perla de la Rosa, Puro Borde, Azzul Monraz y Aldo Guerra, Guillermo Gómez Peña). This way, the outline of a Phenomenology of Crossings is revealed, which is characterized by the double presence of crossing and not crossing, of difference and similarity, of vulnerable experiences and their transformation. The understanding of “two sides” starts to be interrupted, disseminated. In the act of crossing, the Border is, ambiguously, division and unity, regional and superregional entity, violence and healing.

 

La perspectiva sobre la frontera mexicana-estadounidense se modifica si se la mira como frontera norte o como Southern Border. En esta enorme línea de división, la travesía de personas o mercancías entre dos entidades geopolíticas distintas se posibilita o se inhibe. Es una zona emblemática para concebir el fenómeno del cruce. La literatura, el cine y el arte contemporáneos reflejan un enfoque en los desplazamientos; esta tendencia actual se deja comprender como el movimiento hacia lo transfronterizo. ¿Cuáles son los fenómenos de cruce entre México y los E.E.U.U., y cómo se inventan y se describen en los textos e imágenes desde y sobre la frontera norte/sur? Lo transfronterizo aparece como categoría inherente de los conceptos más conocidos de la frontera a finales del siglo XX (Anzaldúa, Canclini, Mignolo, entre otros). Este artículo sondea cómo la travesía aparece en las manifestaciones contemporáneas de escritoras, artistas y teóricos/as de la frontera (como de Laura Varela, Norma Cantú, Mayra Martell, Perla de la Rosa, Puro Borde, Azzul Monraz y Aldo Guerra, Guillermo Gómez Peña). Así se revela el esbozo de una fenomenología del cruce que se caracteriza por la presencia doble de cruzar y no cruzar, de la diferencia y la similitud, de la experienca vulnerable y su transformación. El entendimiento de “los dos lados” comienza a interrumpirse y diseminarse; en el cruce, la frontera es, ambiguamente, división y unidad, regional y supraregional, violenca y sanación.

 

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