The Paradox of art criticism: Jacques Derrida in front of the Greco, Henri Michaux before René Magritte

This paper analyzes the rethinking of art criticism during French post-structuralism and deconstruction in the second half of the XX century. From Michel Foucault to Gilles Deleuze, from Jacques Derrida to Jean-Claude Lebensztejn, the article develops several conceptions and functions of art criticism by means of paradox, paying special attention to Henri Michaux’s essay on René Magritte En rêvant à partir de peintures énigmatiques [Dreams like Enigmatic Paintings].

Humanism is a violence typical of the beasts. Philosozing with a Hammer, using Levinas and Derrida, the Measure of the Human and the Human as a measure

Levinas’s reflections arose as a critique of traditional philosophy which, since it was based on presence and identity, leads to the exclusion of the other. Instead of an onto-logical thought the Lithuanian proposes that the ipseity of the human being be constituted by alterity, and that it be so ethically, because the subject is sub-ject, that is, that which upholds, responsibility. In an attempt to take the obligatory attention to the otherness of the other even further, Derrida would develop a radical critique of the Levinasian posture. Deconstruction of every trace of ipseity and sovereignty in the relationship with the other, the reading that we have done of the work of Derrida opts for a no definable understanding of the human. That is why every de-limitation of an ethical field as a properly human implies a brutal violence that the levinasian humanism of the other tried to exceed.

Crisis Económica en África Occidental: el caso de Dakar, 1929-1939

En este artículo se explora el impacto socio-económico de la crisis internacional de 1929 en Senegal y más concretamente en la ciudad-puerto de Dakar. Se analizan las consecuencias de la dependencia externa y la extroversión económica que caracterizaba a las estructuras productivas coloniales, destacando también la respuesta organizada de los movimientos sociales africanos. Por otra parte, se estudia la evolución de las infraestructuras y actividad portuaria, observando la metropolización regional de Dakar durante este periodo.

El declive de la memoria en "Tu rostro" mañana de Javier Marías: la escritura revivida

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo estudiar los diferentes estados mentales de los personajes de las novelas de Tu rostro mañana, de Javier Marías. Estudiando las reflexiones del narrador sobre J. Deza, Peter Wheeler o Francisco Rico observamos que su decadencia mental se muestra a través de una suerte de ―presciencia‖ o lucidez momentánea que puede servir para mostrar el silencio como única tendencia de todo discurso. Desde el momento en que toda historia de ficción se cimenta sobre un discurso –no importa su cauce de presentación, ni su fuente– este es falsificado por el tiempo, la gente y cualquier otra herramienta que pueda ser utilizada para contar nada. Las conclusiones de este trabajo muestran la quimera que implica tratar de mantener una contención absoluta sobre lo acaecido, pues dicho vacío de narrativas será ocupado por una suplantación que suele ser el reverso más infame de sus actores. Es por ello que el narrador J. Deza sigue conminado a explicar sus historias, incluso allí donde uno diría que ya no puede haber ni palabras suficientes para traducir un hecho en ficción.

El multilateralismo como intervencionismo. Estados Unidos y la Sociedad de Naciones en América Latina (1930-1946)

Este artículo analiza una dinámica de intervenciones de Estados Unidos en América Latina que no ha atraído suficientemente la atención de los historiadores. En los años treinta y cuarenta, cuando Europa se hundía en una nueva confrontación bélica, ciertos sectores del gobierno y del mundo empresarial norteamericano intentaron articular una nueva relación con los países del continente basada en una propuesta de multilateralismo que se había configurado dentro de la Sociedad de Naciones (SN). Estos estadounidenses intentaron establecer una dinámica de relaciones triangulares con los gobiernos latinoamericanos y los organismos técnicos de la SN. Gracias a ello, como se mostrará en este artículo para el caso del funcionamiento del Comité Fiscal de la Sociedad de Naciones, los latinoamericanos fueron capaces de influir en el tipo de políticas que debían emanar de esta relación triangular. La importancia de esta historia no es menor. La relación triangular entre Estados Unidos, América Latina y la SN sirvió de base para la reconstrucción de la gobernanza global liderada por los Estados Unidos tras la guerra.

Aportes de las teorías sociológicas a la discusión de la ontología. Los casos de Luhmann, Habermas y Latour

En este trabajo se discuten los aportes de la teoría sociológica contemporánea al debate filosófico y científico de la ontología, para ello son cotejados los componentes ontológicos de la Teoría General de Sistemas Sociales de Niklas Luhmann, lla Teoría de la Acción Comunicativa de Jürgen Habermas y la Actor-Network Theory de Bruno Latour.

The Collusion of Feminist and Postmodernist Impulses in E.L. Doctorow’s "Ragtime"

Many critics of Doctorow have classified him as a postmodernist writer, acknowledging that a wide number of thematic and stylistic features of his early fiction emanate from the postmodern context in which he took his first steps as a writer. Yet, these novels have an eminently social and ethical scope that may be best perceived in their intellectual engagement and support of feminist concerns. This is certainly the case of Doctorow’s fourth and most successful novel, Ragtime. The purpose of this paper will be two-fold. I will explore Ragtime’s indebtedness to postmodern aesthetics and themes, but also its feminist elements. Thus, on the one hand, I will focus on issues of uncertainty, indeterminacy of meaning, plurality and decentering of subjectivity; on the other hand, I will examine the novel’s attitude towards gender oppression, violence and objectification, its denunciation of hegemonic gender configurations and its voicing of certain feminist demands. This analysis will lead to an examination of the problematic collusion of the mostly white, male, patriarchal aesthetics of postmodernism and feminist politics in the novel. I will attempt to establish how these two traditionally conflicting modes coexist and interact in Ragtime.

Analysis about the society of 'Pa Negre' (Agustí Villaronga, 2010)

This article has developed with the intention of analyzing how the stereotypes, prejudices and lies can influence the education of the children. Formation, that usually comes from family and teachers, who sometimes move for extremist ideologies. There exist multiple fictions in which we observe these social archetypes, but it is the case of the movie Pa negre (Agustí Villaronga, 2010), where the principal personage evolves psychologically, because of that its eyes observe and the ideas that the people transmit him on its family, in the rural environments, where the tradition of the rumors coexists.

Adaptation to the Environment: Changes in Initial Projects in Ottoman Shephardic Press

The origins of Sephardic press date back to the mid-20th century, when the influence of the Western world spread across the Sephardim communities of the East. The content of these newspapers was diverse: pieces of general interest, but also scientific, literary and humorous works, with various political orientations. These papers were published in different languages, writing styles and alphabets. Those to be analysed here, however, were published in aljamiado Judeo-Spanish: three papers from Smyrna and one from Salonica. Throughout this work we will focus on the different obstacles and difficulties the editors and publishers of this Ottoman Sephardic press had to face to bring their publications to light.

The Afroporteña press and Afro-Argentine’s thought in the late nineteenth century

The journalistic boom that occurred in Argentina from the second half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of an active afroporteña press that defend the interests of the black community. This paper, in addition to reviewing the history of the Afro-Argentines newspapers, emphasizes the role played by the elite of African descent in the promotion of modernity among his brothers, while exploring the possible bases for an identity in the ideas spread.

Short reflections on the history of African communication

This article aims to propose a chronological subdivision in the history of African communication. African communication today is one of the most important axes for implementing development strategies, sustaining education, health, and schooling programmes, and so on. However, many of these programmes fail due to a lack of or ineffective communication between international organisations, local elite and lay people. The reasons for this situation must be found in Africa’s history of communication, which has undergone radical transformations in its different phases. Using the functionalist analysis drawn up by Jakobson, this article proposes a new chronological subdivision of Africa’s history of communication, reflecting on the current contradictions in contemporary communication in Africa.

Literatura y acto: Aquiles, el regreso a la batalla

Greek literature was used from early times with educational purposes, Greek heroes presented were considered as paradigms to follow. However, human acts burst beyond reason and the stories told have little effect on the decisions of the receptor. The aim of this article is to review the character of Achilles in the Iliad, because for him to no avail gifts, friends, much less a narration by his preceptor Phoenix to depose his anger and return to the battlefield to assist his friends.

Education in J.J. Rousseau: a methodological antecedent of competence based teaching

Taking into account the huge repercussion and influence that J.J. Rousseau has had on modern pedagogy, the recent tercentenary of his birth is a good opportunity to think about his outstanding relevance nowadays. This paper is a theoretical and educative research developed with an analytic and comparative hermeneutical method. The main objective is to show how some concepts of his philosophy of education have a great similarity with certain changes that the present competency based teaching is demanding, so it could be considered its methodological background. In order to achieve this objective this exposure has been divided in three parts. The first part is an analysis of Rousseau's educational theory as developed in the first three books of the Emilio, in which one of the main themes is self experience-based learning, fostering self-sufficiency, curiosity and the motivation for learning. Rousseau proposed as a method the negative education, which requires, among other conditions, a constant monitoring of the learner by the tutor. In the second part, a brief summary of the most relevant changes and characteristics of competency-based teaching is developed, as well as its purpose. The student’s participation and activity are highlighted within their own learning process through the carrying out of tasks. The new educational model involves a radical change in the curriculum, in which it is highlighted the transformation of the methodology used in the classroom as well as the role of the teacher. Finally, the aim of the third part is to offer a comparative synthesis of both proposals grouping the parallelisms found in 4 topics: origin of the two models, its aims, methodology, and change in the teaching roles.

Programas iconográficos en "La piel que habito" (Almodóvar, 2011)

Como viene siendo habitual en las últimas películas de Pedro Almodóvar, las imágenes de La piel que habito (2011) se organizan en programas iconográficos que en este caso emanan de operaciones “trans” realizadas tanto en el cuerpo (transexualidad, transgénesis y trasplante), como en el texto (transtextualidad). El presente trabajo se ocupa de la genealogía y formalización de dichos programas así como de cuestiones teóricas surgidas a lo largo del desarrollo de este estudio –la relación entre cuerpo e identidad o el llamado muro de pantallas, entre otras–, de indudable calado en el filme.