La revolución como metáfora política: para una comprensión de la revolución fascista de Benito Mussolini

Asumiendo que existe una tendencia de la opinión pública y académica por relacionar la idea de revolución con procesos netamente de izquierda, se propone comprender el término como concepto y como metáfora con el fin de alejarlo de la polarización ideológica. En esta investigación se abordan los conceptos políticos y su relación con las metáforas a partir de unos principios teóricos básicos: la idea de Koselleck de que los conceptos tienen historia, y la idea de Blumenberg de que muchos conceptos fundamentales son potentes porque en el fondo son metáforas. Posteriormente se observa cómo las diferentes posturas políticas han adoptado o rechazado la idea de revolución como parte de sus proyectos políticos. Finalmente, el caso del fascismo se presenta como un escenario clave para comprobar la trascendencia del concepto y las implicaciones de su uso en términos discursivos y prácticos

The recovery concept and crisis intervention : time for a revolution in the realm of acute psychiatric care

“Mental illness is a tough illness to survive, it is incurable but manageable. Living with the illness when at its full potency can disrupt your life at any moment.” Intensive care for patients experiencing acute psychiatric distress is an essential yet complex part of mental health services as a whole system. Psychiatric intensive care units remain a source of controversy; despite promising developments to health services incorporating recovery goals and processes outlined by people with a mental illness themselves. In past decades changes in the provision of mental health services have focused on the restoration of a meaningful and empowered life with choice and hope as a defining attribute of recovery. Yet, what does recovery mean and how are recovery principles accomplished in psychiatric intensive care arrangements for someone experiencing acute psychiatric distress?

Architecture et révolution : Le Corbusier and the fascist revolution

In a letter to a close friend dated April 1922 Le Corbusier announced that he was to publish his first major book, Architecture et révolution, which would collect “a set ofarticles from L’EN.”1—L’Esprit nouveau, the revue jointly edited by him and painter Amédée Ozenfant, which ran from 1920 to 1925.2 A year later, Le Corbusier sketched a book cover design featuring “LE CORBUSIER - SAUGNIER,” the pseudonymic compound of Pierre Jeanneret and Ozenfant, above a square-framed single-point perspective of a square tunnel vanishing toward the horizon. Occupying the lower half of the frame was the book’s provisional title in large handwritten capital letters, ARCHITECTURE OU RÉVOLUTION, each word on a separate line, the “ou” a laconic inflection of Paul Laffitte’s proposed title, effected by Le Corbusier.3 Laffitte was one of two publishers Le Corbusier was courting between 1921 and 1922.4 An advertisement for the book, with the title finally settled upon, Vers une architecture, 5 was solicited for L’Esprit nouveau number 18. This was the original title conceived with Ozenfant, and had in fact already appeared in two earlier announcements.6 “Architecture ou révolution” was retained as the name of the book’s crucial and final chapter—the culmination of six chapters extracted from essays in L’Esprit nouveau. This chapter contained the most quoted passage in Vers une architecture, used by numerous scholars to adduce Le Corbusier’s political sentiment in 1923 to the extent of becoming axiomatic of his early political thought.7 Interestingly, it is the only chapter that was not published in L’Esprit nouveau, owing to a hiatus in the journal’s production from June 1922 to November 1923.8 An agitprop pamphlet was produced in 1922, after L’Esprit nouveau 11-12, advertising an imminent issue “Architecture ou révolution” with the famous warning: “the housing crisis will lead to the revolution. Worry about housing.”9

Spatial metaphor as spatial technique in the work of Michel Foucault

This essay argues that the deployment of spatial metaphor in the writing of Michel Foucault is indivisible from his spatial politics. Beginning with his 1967 essay "Of Other Spaces," the development of Foucault's spatial politics and his growing awareness of the importance to his work of spatial (particularly geographic) metaphors can be charted. The focus here is not the concretisation of Foucault's early spatial obsessions—particularly with regard to the concept of "heterotopia"—into a theory or model. Rather, I am concerned with the way in which those obsessions inform Foucault's major works, in particular The Archaeology of Knowledge and Discipline and Punish. These works, I argue, do not develop a theory of space, but instead perform, through their rhetoric, a kind of spatial praxis. In this sense, Foucault's metaphors become "spatial techniques" for the practice and production of power–knowledge.

How Jung's concept of the wounded healer can guide learning and teaching in social work and human services

The concept of the “wounded healer” has been used to explain why those with adverse childhood histories often enter helping professions such as social work and human services (SWHS). Psychotherapist Carl Jung (1875–1961) believed wounded healers developed insight and resilience from their own experiences, enabling transformative interventions to occur with clients. Concerns exist that students with adverse childhood histories in SWHS may display unresolved emotional issues. This journal article explores how Jung’s interpretation of the wounded healer can be critically applied to understanding the learning needs of SWHS students with histories of abuse, neglect or other childhood adversity. The relevance of the wounded healer to SWHS education is explored in three key areas: - 1) the increased possibility of the occurrence of countertransference; - 2) the potential for vicarious traumatisation and burnout, and; - 3) personal and professional resilience displayed by SWHS students with a history of childhood adversity. The wounded healer metaphor allows for a more nuanced understanding of SWHS students with these histories. It also provides insight into the pedagogical considerations associated with teaching this student cohort.

Metaphor and Matter(s) Arising: Gongorine Metaphor and the Cultivation of the Imagination

This article focuses on the concept of metaphor as metaphorai, as varied means of transfer and transport, specifically on Góngora's innovative development of the metaphor as a vehicle for experiential transformation and epistemological exploration; ultimately emphasizing a hitherto neglected valorization of affect in the liberation of the imagination. Although Góngora's use of metaphor became a major source of controversy in the debate unleashed by the Polifemo and Soledades during his lifetime, the Generation of 1927 looked to Gongorine metaphor as model and inspiration for their cultivation of imaginary worlds through poetry. By examining the models and concepts that nourished Góngora's innovative engagement with metaphor, shaped readers' responses to the poet's imaginary worlds of metaphor, triggered the recovery and reframing of Gongorine metaphor as springboard for the poetic imagination in the twentieth century, and sheds light on the power of Góngora's metaphor to transform and transmute the world through the exercise of the imagination.

Marginal/minority popular music : the concept of the "third space" and the case for "hybridities" of cultures/identities /

The topic of this thesis is marginaVminority popular music and the question of identity; the term "marginaVminority" specifically refers to members of racial and cultural minorities who are socially and politically marginalized. The thesis argument is that popular music produced by members of cultural and racial minorities establishes cultural identity and resists racist discourse. Three marginaVminority popular music artists and their songs have been chosen for analysis in support of the argument: Gil Scott-Heron's "Gun," Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and Robbie Robertson's "Sacrifice." The thesis will draw from two fields of study; popular music and postcolonialism. Within the area of popular music, Theodor Adorno's "Standardization" theory is the focus. Within the area of postcolonialism, this thesis concentrates on two specific topics; 1) Stuart Hall's and Homi Bhabha's overlapping perspectives that identity is a process of cultural signification, and 2) Homi Bhabha's concept of the "Third Space." For Bhabha (1995a), the Third Space defines cultures in the moment of their use, at the moment of their exchange. The idea of identities arising out of cultural struggle suggests that identity is a process as opposed to a fixed center, an enclosed totality. Cultures arise from historical memory and memory has no center. Historical memory is de-centered and thus cultures are also de-centered, they are not enclosed totalities. This is what Bhabha means by "hybridity" of culture - that cultures are not unitary totalities, they are ways of knowing and speaking about a reality that is in constant flux. In this regard, the language of "Otherness" depends on suppressing or marginalizing the productive capacity of culture in the act of enunciation. The Third Space represents a strategy of enunciation that disrupts, interrupts and dislocates the dominant discursive construction of US and THEM, (a construction explained by Hall's concept of binary oppositions, detailed in Chapter 2). Bhabha uses the term "enunciation" as a linguistic metaphor for how cultural differences are articulated through discourse and thus how differences are discursively produced. Like Hall, Bhabha views culture as a process of understanding and of signification because Bhabha sees traditional cultures' struggle against colonizing cultures as transforming them. Adorno's theory of Standardization will be understood as a theoretical position of Western authority. The thesis will argue that Adorno's theory rests on the assumption that there is an "essence" to music, an essence that Adorno rationalizes as structure/form. The thesis will demonstrate that constructing music as possessing an essence is connected to ideology and power and in this regard, Adorno's Standardization theory is a discourse of White Western power. It will be argued that "essentialism" is at the root of Western "rationalization" of music, and that the definition of what constitutes music is an extension of Western racist "discourses" of the Other. The methodological framework of the thesis entails a) applying semiotics to each of the three songs examined and b) also applying Bhabha's model of the Third Space to each of the songs. In this thesis, semiotics specifically refers to Stuart Hall's retheorized semiotics, which recognizes the dual function of semiotics in the analysis of marginal racial/cultural identities, i.e., simultaneously represent embedded racial/cultural stereotypes, and the marginal raciaVcultural first person voice that disavows and thus reinscribes stereotyped identities. (Here, and throughout this thesis, "first person voice" is used not to denote the voice of the songwriter, but rather the collective voice of a marginal racial/cultural group). This dual function fits with Hall's and Bhabha's idea that cultural identity emerges out of cultural antagonism, cultural struggle. Bhabha's Third Space is also applied to each of the songs to show that cultural "struggle" between colonizers and colonized produces cultural hybridities, musically expressed as fusions of styles/sounds. The purpose of combining semiotics and postcolonialism in the three songs to be analyzed is to show that marginal popular music, produced by members of cultural and racial minorities, establishes cultural identity and resists racist discourse by overwriting identities of racial/cultural stereotypes with identities shaped by the first person voice enunciated in the Third Space, to produce identities of cultural hybridities. Semiotic codes of embedded "Black" and "Indian" stereotypes in each song's musical and lyrical text will be read and shown to be overwritten by the semiotic codes of the first person voice, which are decoded with the aid of postcolonial concepts such as "ambivalence," "hybridity" and "enunciation."

La ambigüedad, las creencias y los estereotipos que rodean a lo que hoy en día se conoce como terrorismo: Una revisión de literatura

El terrorismo en la actualidad es considerado como uno de los conceptos más controversiales en los campos social, académico y político. El término se empieza a utilizar después de la Revolución Francesa, pero recientemente, a raíz de los atentados del 11 de septiembre de 2001, ha tomado suma relevancia y ha motivado numerosas investigaciones para tratar de entender qué es terrorismo. Aunque a la fecha existen varias revisiones sistemáticas, este trabajo tiene como propósito revisar, agrupar y concretar diferentes teorías y conceptos formulados por los autores que han trabajado sobre el concepto de “terrorismo” con el fin de entender las implicaciones de su utilización en el discurso, y cómo esto afecta la dinámica interna de las sociedades en relación con la violencia, las creencias, los estereotipos entre otros elementos. Para lograrlo, se revisaron 56 artículos, publicados entre los años 1985 y 2013; 10 fuentes secundarias entre noticias y artículos de periódicos correspondientes a los años 1995-2013 y 10 estudios estadísticos cuyos resultados nos aportan a la comprensión del tema en cuestión. La búsqueda se limitó al desarrollo histórico del terrorismo, sus diferentes dimensiones y el concepto social de la realidad de terrorismo. Los hallazgos demuestran que la palabra “terrorismo” constituye un concepto que como tal es un vehículo lingüístico que puede ser utilizado con fines, estratégicos movilizando al público conforme a través del discurso e intereses políticos, destacando la necesidad de estudiar las implicaciones psicológicas y sociales de su uso.

La pelota no se mancha: Un estudio histórico sobre el desarrollo y la política en FIFA

Esta investigación se centra en la Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) como organización política. Intenta responder dos interrogantes primordiales: 1) ¿cómo la FIFA ha constituido el poder que tiene actualmente y, así, hacerse del monopolio indiscutido del fútbol? Y 2) ¿cómo ha cambiado en el tiempo la política interna de FIFA y su vínculo con la política internacional? Para lograr esto, se realiza un estudio histórico, basado principalmente en documentos, que intenta caracterizar y analizar los cambios de la organización en el tiempo. Se enfatizan las últimas dos presidencias de FIFA, de João Havelange y Joseph Blatter, como casos de estudio.

An early painter's persona as metaphor

This article analyses the marketing of an early Australian entrepreneurial female painter as metaphor in the exploration of the brand concept. It does so through the extension of her persona to her art, through examination of her diaries, letters and public documents. The use of the metaphor as a means of promulgating the 'brand as person' is discussed. Thus, the buyer of art chooses a painting with confidence because of the personality projected by the creator of the art work, in the same way as a successful brand of another product might be purchased. This article places the analysis within the context of social change of the time, giving some indication of the market and competitor positions and her motivation for differentiating herself from others. It highlights the conflict that the painter's brand caused to the artist's competitors at the time and how that affected her long-term reputation. The artist's idiosyncratic approach to painting and her vigorous self-promotion as an artist sought a reappraisal of the genre of lowly flower painting in the late nineteenth century.

Dying in the arts: creativity as metaphor

The idea that organizations need to adopt structures and practices that facilitate 'creativity' has become a central theme in theories of managing organisational innovation and success. This idea has been deployed in organisational theory, HRM, marketing and other domains of organization studies. We argue, however, that in the process of being appropriated from the arts, the concept of creativity has been 'hollowed out' and refashioned to suit the structures of organization as institution, and its needs as a business organization (to make money and establish 'competitive advantage'). This devalued idea of creativity has, in turn, been imposed on arts organisatons, which are impelled to see themselves as 'creative businesses'. Creativity, has been defined as a set of imaginative practices intended to express original ideas, and is in need of defence.

Translating passive revolution in Brazil

This article sets out to examine Antonio Gramsci's use of the concept of passive revolution and thereby 'translate' it to an alternative historical and contemporary context. If we can observe Gramsci as a 'translator' of Lenin, from Russia to Italy, we can also try to 'translate' Gramsci beyond his original circumstances to alternative conditions, hence the aim of translating Gramsci and his category of passive revolution in order to apprehend some aspects of the particularity of bourgeois revolution in Brazil. The thesis is that the theory and condition of passive revolution in Brazil has unfolded as a hybridism of liberal corporatism, which reveals the slow assumption of bourgeois rule as a form of supremacy. Importantly, the role of the military in this long process is also highlighted. © The Author(s) 2012.

Representations of the Human/ Nonhuman Primate Divide: the Influence of Science, Fiction, and Science-Fiction on the Concept of 'Being Human'

For as far back as human history can be traced, mankind has questioned what it means to be human. One of the most common approaches throughout Western culture's intellectual tradition in attempts to answering this question has been to compare humans with or against other animals. I argue that it was not until Charles Darwin's publication of The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) that Western culture was forced to seriously consider human identity in relation to the human/ nonhuman primate line. Since no thinker prior to Charles Darwin had caused such an identity crisis in Western thought, this interdisciplinary analysis of the history of how the human/ nonhuman primate line has been understood focuses on the reciprocal relationship of popular culture and scientific representations from 1871 to the Human Genome Consortium in 2000. Focusing on the concept coined as the "Darwin-Müller debate," representations of the human/ nonhuman primate line are traced through themes of language, intelligence, and claims of variation throughout the popular texts: Descent of Man, The Jungle Books (1894), Tarzan of the Apes (1914), and Planet of the Apes (1963). Additional themes such as the nature versus nurture debate and other comparative phenotypic attributes commonly used for comparison between man and apes are also analyzed. Such popular culture representations are compared with related or influential scientific research during the respective time period of each text to shed light on the reciprocal nature of Western intellectual tradition, popular notions of the human/ nonhuman primate line, and the development of the field of primatology. Ultimately this thesis shows that the Darwin-Müller debate is indeterminable, and such a lack of resolution makes man uncomfortable. Man's unsettled response and desire for self-knowledge further facilitates a continued search for answers to human identity. As the Human Genome Project has led to the rise of new debates, and primate research has become less anthropocentric over time, the mysteries of man's future have become more concerning than the questions of our past. The human/ nonhuman primate line is reduced to a 1% difference, and new debates have begun to overshadow the Darwin-Müller debate. In conclusion, I argue that human identity is best represented through the metaphor of evolution: both have an unknown beginning, both have an indeterminable future with no definite end, and like a species under the influence of evolution, what it means to be human is a constant, indeterminable process of change.

El centro comercial : una teoría tipológica : claves para el reconocimiento de una arquitectura ignorada

Existe en el panorama edificado un patrimonio construido que se reconoce como Centro Comercial. Un conjunto entendido, en sentido genérico, como familia arquitectónica que tiene características propias y específicas que la identifican. El objeto de la presente tesis doctoral consiste en argumentar que este conjunto constituye un nuevo tipo en el panorama de las tipologías arquitectónicas. Un tipo con entidad propia, que se conecta a una forma diferente de entender la idea de modelo. Un concepto que va más allá de la consideración tradicional del término. Modelo virtual. Este tipo, que surge de una estructura teórica que hemos denominado teoría tipológica, se constituye en una herramienta más para el estudio y el desarrollo proyectual de los espacios arquitectónicos, tanto del propio Centro Comercial como del conjunto de la disciplina arquitectónica, como referencia legítima. El presente trabajo de tesis se inicia con un bloque introductorio denominado Método. Definimos en él una metodología que hemos llamado emocional. Trata de la oportunidad de la tesis. Del porqué de un título que recoge la palabra ignorada. Del interés que suscita el asunto en el contexto del momento presente. Oportunidad e interés en base a una vida profesional dedicada al mundo del Centro Comercial y a la importancia del patrimonio elegido como objeto de estudio. También ha sido un aliciente detectar como las planificaciones del territorio y de los ámbitos de las relaciones colectivas no han sido capaces de integrar un resultado satisfactorio. Quizás por no considerar la complejidad de sus muchas facetas. En consecuencia, el texto busca la esencia del Centro Comercial como soporte para la crítica de su impacto en los nuevos escenarios de relación que la sociedad y el entorno físico imponen. Ámbitos donde los mecanismos históricos del asociacionismo tradicional han dado paso a otros, como el Centro Comercial, de exaltación del individualismo, pero demandados por una sociedad que se identifica con ellos. Espacios que, con Galbraith, existen por de la perversidad intrínseca del binomio consumo-producción que inducen la perplejidad. Ésta pasa a formar parte de la esencia del nuevo espacio comercial, como quedó de manifiesto en el Congreso de Minnesota de 1997, sobre el Centro Comercial. Una sociedad que ha girado hacia el logro material en términos de culto, ocasionando creciente valor significante del consumo. Razón última de la humanidad al decir de Rem Koolhaas. Culto que desemboca en la urgencia de alcanzar niveles de estatus y de identificación con el grupo. Dos parámetros que marcan la relación con el otro. Relación de comparación que excita la necesidad de posesión de objetos que llevaban a recrear en el consumidor la ilusión de ser especiales, de no pasar desapercibidos. El producto de consumo, el objeto, se eleva a la consideración de valor social. En el Centro Comercial se venden valores. Marketing de valores. El deseo del individuo, no la necesidad, queda involucrado en el proceso. La oportunidad y el interés de este estudio surgen además para aclarar el significado de un espacio que sirve al consumidor y a su entorno. Un significado que alcanza sentido, entre otros, por la aparición de un nuevo contexto tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Suburbanización, automóvil, nivel de vida, un nuevo papel de la mujer. La Era del Consumo. Una era que genera la paradoja de un individuo con autodeterminación y autosuficiencia crecientes, en un mundo cada vez más condicionado y controlado por dinámicas de ofertas mediatizadas e ilimitadas. La arquitectura en este contexto ha de juzgarse por su relación con un hombre contemporáneo que camina hacia una progresiva excepcionalidad. Cerramos la presentación justificando el término ignorada que aparece en el Título de la Tesis. Subrayamos la escasa existencia de estudios estructurados que relacionen Centro Comercial y arquitectura. Realidad que se constata partiendo del libro de Pevsner, Historia de las Tipologías Arquitectónicas, de 1976. Analizamos también la aceptación que el Centro Comercial, valorado en algunos ámbitos como arquitectura populista. Primer Capítulo, los antecedentes. Se propone un recorrido histórico por la arquitectura comercial de todos los tiempos. El Documento busca concretar las características de la arquitectura comercial a lo largo de la historia para determinar relaciones entre ella y el Centro Comercial. Estas correspondencias van a permitir contestar la pregunta retórica que nos hacemos al inicio del Capítulo: ¿Es la arquitectura del Centro Comercial una arquitectura subsidiaria, o tiene personalidad propia independiente de la del mundo comercial? Con Zevi40, queremos dejar constancia que la relación arquitectura-historia es imprescindible en la tarea proyectual. Un análisis novedoso solo es posible desde la búsqueda de unas raíces auténticas. Así mismo, con Guy de Maupassant, estamos convencidos que “La arquitectura, a través de los siglos, ha tenido el privilegio de dar un símbolo a cada una de las épocas, de resumir con un pequeñísimo número de monumentos típicos, el modo de pensar, de soñar de una raza y de una civilización”. Este recorrido se inicia interpretando la arquitectura comercial minoica. Llegaremos, paso a paso, hasta el siglo XX, los grandes itinerarios comerciales y el Centro Comercial. Se descubren una serie de invariantes que permiten comparar y extraer conclusiones. Resulta novedoso constatar que el Centro Comercial nace para dar respuesta al hombre contemporáneo en su afán consumista. También lo es la rápida implantación y evolución del Centro Comercial en un corto periodo de sesenta años frente al ritmo sosegado de otras soluciones comerciales. Novedad es ver como el comercio y sus arquitecturas nacen abiertos, bajo tenderetes y el Centro Comercial se presenta cerrado. Así mismo, las referencias sacras constituyen un elemento de novedad para la reflexión, en un contexto materialista. Y tantas otras. En Minos, la óptica comercial ofrece otra visión de su legendaria cultura. ¿Palacio o plataforma logística?, gestión centralizada del intercambio, ¿vida pública y vida privada? Así, hasta llegar al siglo XIX. Sus las galerías y sus pasajes acristalados concebidos en primera instancia como medida de recomposición urbana. Espacio entendido desde lo público-privado, desde lo interior-exterior, desde el dentro-afuera, desde lo cerrado-abierto. Con los nuevos mercados de abastos, representan una revolución en el ámbito de la funcionalidad, de la máquina, de la gestión moderna y de las relaciones del ciudadano con la ciudad apoyado en base al intercambio de bienes de consumo. El Centro Comercial es heredero de esta transformación. El Gran Almacén, por otra parte, es el reflejo de otra gran revolución. La que va ligada a la producción y comercialización en masa, las comunicaciones, el precio fijo y el aumento del nivel de vida. El Centro Comercial reinterpreta estas situaciones insertándolas en un nuevo modelo de gestión. En el siglo XX, maestro en técnicas de venta, aparece el hipermercado. El Híper, con su carga de pedagogía, se incorpora al esquema orgánico del Centro Comercial. La tienda en si misma constituye la pieza base de dicho puzle orgánico. Es en esta época cuando la tienda empieza su despegue autónomo como arquitectura, aportando su experiencia. Tras ello, llegamos a las grandes rutas comerciales, que proponemos como metáfora del shopping. Cerramos el capítulo concluyendo con Eugenio Ferrer que “si establecemos una relación entre el espacio y el capitalismo, entonces podemos inferir que los espacios del consumo de masas (ECM) son configuraciones nuevas respecto al pasado (...), pero el sistema que lo introduce no lo es del todo”. Segundo Capítulo. Búsqueda de claves que permitan el reconocimiento del Centro Comercial. Llegados a este punto y con la perspectiva del tiempo cabe preguntarnos, ¿qué entendemos pues por Centro Comercial? ¿Cómo lo percibimos? Abordamos ahora el problema de la percepción del Centro Comercial y su significado. Además de constituirse en símbolo, referencia siempre presente, la eficacia del Shopping es una de las principales causas de su poder de atracción. El Centro Comercial resulta de la síntesis de la revolución del consumo y de la revolución de la gestión. Espacio eficaz del entretenimiento como destino. El usuario resuelve su vida cotidiana dentro de un hábitat que considera propio y que se entiende como el lugar hiperbólico de la transacción comercial. Espacio de la abundancia para el disfrute. Una arquitectura involucrada en esta eficacia. Su sentido del lugar no es otro que el Shopping, que se desenvuelve de forma análoga en todas partes. El hogar del consumidor. Las nuevas catedrales. Las catedrales del consumo. Destino místico. Lugar de peregrinación para el consumidor fervoroso. Espacio sagrado que integra al usuario en la cultura dominante. Cultura del consumo. Templos, donde el tiempo ha perdido su sentido. Paraíso. Un espacio donde la altura, la luz natural, la dimensión general refuerzan el carácter sacro de un espacio para una nueva religión laica. Un espacio seguro, protegido que nos acerca a ideas como la de útero materno, con su carga de calidez y de significación erótica aplicado al encuentro compra-comprador y, ligado a ello, la literatura especializada habla del Centro Comercial como nave espacial hiperesterilizada o de agujero negro que absorbe la energía cultural. Más allá, la simulación, donde se percibe un simulacro de ciudad. Simulacro coherente con todo lo que el Shopping desencadena a su alrededor. El lugar de los sueños, de la fantasía. Aquí los productos se han metamorfoseado en fetiches, en significados. Televisión tridimensional, donde el usuario actúa guiado por una pulsión similar al zapping. Espacio lúdico de la fascinación por comprar o de imaginar que se compra. Espacio de simulaciones que llevan a la ensoñación. Un nuevo lugar que sustituye al espacio cotidiano, con el señuelo de la protección, en un contexto imaginariamente público. Espacio de la hiperrealidad donde no se distingue la realidad de la fantasía, donde tras episodios de confusión y desconcierto, se borran las fronteras con lo imaginario. Espacio mágico, escenario del gran espectáculo del consumo, controlado milimétricamente, al modo de la visita a un gran monumento, que ha de sobrevivir a los tiempos para dar testimonio de nuestro momento. Un icono, un símbolo que transmite un mensaje, que solo el consumidor es capaz de interpretar. Una agitada mezcla, sin precedentes, de percepciones que hablan de perplejidad y asombro ante el fenómeno del Centro Comercial, su espacio y las reacciones del hombre contemporáneo. ¿Cuáles serían las claves que nos permitirían reconocer la calidad esencial de un Centro Comercial, en esta concurrencia de perplejidades? Primero, la función de servicio. Un espacio donde ocurren muchas más cosas que lo obvio, que la compra. Un edificio que se involucra con el entorno de la mano de lo inesperado, la sorpresa y las expectativas. Esta vocación de servicio conecta Centro Comercial y naturaleza arquitectónica. Función que sugiere percepciones ligadas a la experiencia de compra. Organismo que vive y late al unísono con su visitante, colocándose al servicio de sus necesidades, de su afán de consumo, del que vive. Segundo, la comunidad servida. El Centro comercial sirve a una sociedad concreta. La sociedad consumista. Una nueva sociedad que se identifica con el edificio desarrollando un sentido de comunidad al nivel de sus deseos. Esta comunidad que se configura a su alrededor, constituye el activo más poderoso para el éxito de su realidad cotidiana y de su futuro. Tercero, un compromiso de carácter holístico. La economía de la experiencia aplicada al afán consumista de una sociedad identificada con su Centro, da lugar a una experiencia holística planificada. Diseño emocional. Colaboración para el éxito de un conjunto de establecimientos comerciales que participan en la aventura espacio-comercial del Centro Comercial. Ellos son los inductores primarios del consumo. Pero esta colaboración tiene su culminación en la amplificación del mensaje, como un inmenso altavoz, que proviene de la unidad configurada por todos ellos. El reflejo de esta amplificación de mensajes, desde la poderosa unidad constituida, es el aumento de la rentabilidad, fin último de la operación. Cuarto, la forma a través de una identificación de carácter gestáltico. Desde la lectura gestáltica que hacemos de la unidad holística, se advierte una poderosa capacidad de comunicación del sistema con su contexto. Centro y entorno se tornan entonces cómplices que complementan sus realidades. El Centro Comercial, arquitectura estructurada como sistema se percibe –ha de percibirse- como forma unitaria que procede de una mirada de raíz gestáltica que continuamente la recompone desde una óptica espacial y física, ligada a la experiencia individual. Esta unidad formal, más allá de la forma real, se constituye en esencia de de su arquitectura. Quinto, el Centro Comercial como sistema. Un sistema soportado por la Teoría General de Sistemas. La consideración del Centro Comercial como sistema es consecuencia de su estructura holística. El todo no se comporta como la suma de las partes y estas no lo hacen como lo harían en solitario. De aquí surge la necesidad de diálogo permanente entre la comercialización –proceso de incorporación de partes- y su traducción al mundo del diseño –proceso de articular arquitectónicamente las partes. Como sistema así configurado, el Centro Comercial se inserta en el paradigma contemporáneo, lo que genera realidades duales que no son excluyentes y reacciones de perplejidad e incertidumbre que el sistema corrige con su capacidad de autorregulación. Aparece también el espectador cuántico, el visitante, el consumidor, que interactúa con el sistema. Desde las herramientas que nos aporta la idea de sistema complejo, afrontamos el Mix Comercial -en definitiva la eficaz localización de las piezas en orden a sus relaciones y al organismo resultante- y su incidencia en la arquitectura que estamos concibiendo. Una arquitectura impredecible por lo mutable, que se erige en reto de la operación y del diseñador. Diseño que, de la mano del concepto de sistema se convierte en herramienta a mayor gloria de la operación global. El debate del estilismo no será más que el resultado del análisis en busca del éxito de esta operación. Sexto, una arquitectura de la negociación. Negociación como mecanismo proyectual y como resultado. La solución de proyecto nunca resulta evidente en el Centro Comercial como consecuencia de lo imprevisible del propio proceso de configuración. Su concreción solo puede ser fruto del compromiso de todos los agentes por conseguir el objetivo de la operación. Esto se consigue desde el equilibrio de intereses. Comerciales y de diseño. Un compromiso con la negociación y una negociación íntimamente ligada a la coordinación. Séptimo, el espacio y el tiempo. El debate espacio-tiempo condiciona y estructura la percepción del Centro Comercial. Introducimos conceptos como cronotopo –el instante y el lugar donde ocurre algo- y paradoja –incoherencia de la relación causa efecto- que sitúan el vínculo entre el tiempo y el espacio del Centro Comercial en un contexto de Shopping. En el discurrir paralelo del tiempo histórico –el tiempo de fuera- y del tiempo interior, el de dentro del Centro Comercial –tiempo presente o intemporalidad-, se produce el triunfo social del Centro Comercial que se traduce en haber sabido resolver en el espacio y en el tiempo las paradojas postmodernas del hombre contemporáneo. Octavo, de lo global. Globalidad que no es ajena a lo local. Una arquitectura que insertada en la dinámica de una economía de ámbito mundial, refleja las contradicciones que ella impone, fundamentalmente en los procesos de inclusión y exclusión, afectando de manera decisiva al debate de lo local, que el Centro Comercial debe incorporar como herramienta ineludible de reconocimiento. Terminamos el capítulo segundo manifestando como estas ocho claves, asumidas en su conjunto, confirman que el Centro Comercial puede aparecer como un todo conceptual cohesionado, pasando a formar parte de una familia arquitectónica coherente, cuya estructura funcional somos capaces de establecer. El Capítulo Tercero presenta con detalle la figura del arquitecto Víctor Gruen, creador reconocido del moderno Centro Comercial. Presentamos su trayectoria profesional observando como las diferentes claves analizadas en capítulos anteriores van apareciendo de manera natural a lo largo de ella "Victor Gruen may well have been the most influential architect of the twentieth century." Malcolm Gladwell. The Terrazo Jungle. Fifty Years Ago, The Mall Was Born. America Never Would Be The Same. 2004. In The New Yorker. Hombre complejo, conflictivo. Las paradojas a lo largo de su carrera fueron notables. Sin embargo siempre apareció como un hombre recto. Garret Eckbo, reconocido paisajista y colaborador de Gruen en el Centro Comercial peatonal del Centro urbano de Fresno, California, se asombraba de que alguien como Gruen hubiese sido capaz de combinar cortesía y humanidad en la carrera de ratas (sic) en la que se convirtió el universo de la comercialización americana y mantener la integridad542. Philip Johnson, en 1962, ponderando las muchas habilidades de Gruen manifestó que no estaba seguro si alguno de ellos, arquitectos artistas, hubiera sido capaz de hacer lo que Gruen hizo. A más, sobre Gruen, manifestó lo siguiente: "... El va más allá de la creación de un bello edificio. En jugar con la gente y sugerir lo que tienen que hacer, es un maestro. Y obtiene buenos resultados como hace la escultura. El suyo es un arte cívico, un sentido cívico.... Él es capaz de sentarse y poner cosas juntas. No es pomposo ni vano. Yo no me reuniría con él para hablar del diseño (de edificios). Víctor siente que cuando se habla de diseño se está ignorando todo el contexto... Su arquitectura es poderosamente limpia, no vuela la fantasía. Pero cuando te haces con su complejidad, ves que has descubierto algo más allá del diseño.... No puedes decir que haya alguien como él. La arquitectura tiene la suerte de tenerle como arquitecto..." Philip Johnson. Article in Fortune Review. 1962. El Documento de tesis cierra la visión de Gruen realizando un recorrido por los diferentes capítulos de su libro esencial, Shopping Towns Usa: The Planning of Shopping Centers. Solo su índice resulta un monumento al proceso de gestación del Centro Comercial. El libro, aquí simplemente mostrado en su estructura básica como un silencioso testigo, es la referencia canónica los Centros Comerciales contemporáneos, desde su aparición. . El Cuarto Capítulo del Documento de tesis es una recapitulación del trabajo anterior, en el que se sintetizan los conceptos de función y estilo relacionados con el Centro Comercial, se define en qué consiste cada uno de ellos y como, a partir de ahí, podemos afirmar que nos encontramos ante un tipo arquitectónico nuevo en el panorama de la disciplina arquitectónica. Terminamos el Capítulo integrando el Centro Comercial con un cuerpo teórico de referencias que se remiten a un tipo arquitectónico concreto y particular, acogiendo su singularidad como fenómeno arquitectónico autónomo. Como Conclusión de la tesis, resultado de todo lo anterior es decir, como consecuencia de la integración de un torrente de percepciones e intuiciones en un cuerpo teórico de referencias, deducidas de la existencia de unas claves que estructuran y penetran la esencia del singular modelo estudiado, haciéndolo detectable y seductor, resultan las características de un tipo arquitectónico con entidad propia que ordena, orienta y supedita la realidad y la existencia de esta nueva arquitectura. Una arquitectura nunca antes definida como tal, en el panorama tipológico de la disciplina. Teoría tipológica para una nueva arquitectura, que hemos ido proponiendo a lo largo del trabajo y que es coherente con los diferentes parámetros que se han analizado. Un conjunto edificado que, desde el estudio de sus claves esenciales y de sus invariantes perceptibles, aparece ahora más cercano, más familiar. Tanto que es posible destilar desde este conocimiento cercano e íntimo, una síntesis útil como referencia proyectual y como referencia para las grandes cuestiones que preocupan al discurrir del debate arquitectónico y sus ideas. El debate de la disciplina. El objeto de esta tesis, que consistía en establecer que el conjunto edificado que conocemos como Centro Comercial se constituye en un nuevo tipo en el panorama de las tipologías arquitectónicas, entendido el Centro Comercial en sentido genérico como familia arquitectónica con características propias y específicas que la hacen autónoma y reconocible, queda a nuestro juicio argumentado y justificado. ABSTRACT Within the frame of the built heritage there is a construction that is recognized as Shopping Center. An ensemble understood as an architectural family with its own specific recognizable characteristics. This thesis aims to explain that this building complex constitutes a new type in the panorama of architectural typology. This typology, with its singular identity, is connected to a way of understanding the idea of the model beyond an orthodox conception of the term understood as virtual model. This typology comes from a theoretical structure that we called typological theory, and it serves as yet another tool to reference the study and development design of the architectural spaces. In this first section, the Method, we emotionally explore the opportunities of this thesis. Why this typology has been ignored and the interest this work has in the present moment. An opportunity and an interest explained from an experience of a life dedicated to the world of Shopping Centers. The text then introduces the need for a rigorous knowledge of the Shopping Center’s essence in order to understand its impact in the frame of a new society and a new physical environment. A frame time where the historical mechanisms of association of civic community have given way to other gathering spaces like the Shopping Center, which encourages individualism, but is demanded by a society that relates to them. Spaces that, according to Galbraith, are a result of the intrinsic perversity of the unstoppable movement of the wheel of consumption-production. A society that has turned to worship of material achievement. Worship that provokes the appearance of an increasing value of consumption, according to Koolhaas, the only goal of humanity. Worship that ends in the need to reach certain status levels in the plane of a permanent comparison where the need of possession excites the consumer and gives them the illusion of being special. The product of consumption rises up to consideration of social values, entering a dynamic of marketing values, not only objects, but the desire of the individual remains. The study appears also to clarify the meaning of a space that serves the consumer and its context. A meaning that makes sense with the appearance of the suburbanization, the massive utilization of the car, the increase of living standards and the new role of women in the society after the Second World War, giving rise to the Age of Consumption. A world now determined and controlled by media and unlimited offers, where it’s necessary to place them in the context of the ordinary. An architecture that has to be judged precisely for its relation with this specific contemporary man. This section ends justifying the term ignored that appears in the Title of the Thesis, considering it in relation with the lack of studies structured about the Shopping Center and its architecture, drawing from Pevsner's work, A history of building types, 1976. Finally, the Shopping Center is analyzed with the most critical of thoughts, which considers it as populist architecture. The First Chapter, Precedents, proposes an historical tour of the commercial architecture throughout history. The Document looks to place on record the characteristics of the commercial architecture to set the connection between them and the Mall itself. These correspondences are going to allow us to answer the rhetorical question: is it the architecture of the Shopping Center a subsidiary architecture, or does it have its own personality independent from that of the commercial world? The reason of this historical search, citing Bruno Zevi, is that it is indispensable to establish the relationship between architecture and history, understating that an analysis is only possible when researching for their roots. Moreover, according to Guy de Maupassant, we are sure that architecture has had the privilege, across the centuries, of symbolizing as it were each age(…), through the harmony of lines and the charm of ornamentation all the grace and grandeur of an epoch. This historical reading, inseparable from a consistent design action, begins interpreting the commercial architecture of the Minoan to the 20th Century. Though this analysis of the big commercial itineraries and the study of the Shopping Center itself. A reading where we have found a series of constants that make it possible to draw conclusions from this comparison. The Mall appears to give response to the needs of a consumerist society. Comparing to the calm pace of the evolution of other commercial solutions, it is relevant its fast implantation and evolution in a short period of sixty years. Though via different solutions, the commercial spaces are considered taking into account the public-private relation, the interior-exterior, the inside-out, the closed-opened. Through that, the 19th century galleries and the food markets represent a revolution in functionality, in the machine, the modern management and the relations of the citizen within the city. All of this, the Mall inheritor feels. Likewise, the Department Store is the reflection of another great revolution. Production and commercialization en-mass, communications, the fixed price and increase of the living standard. The Mall reinterprets these situations inserting them in a new model of management. Already in the 20th century Mall and mass technologies of sale, the hypermarket is enthusiastically incorporated into the configuration of this organic scheme, constituting the base of one of the models, the French, that will be highly developed in the European continent. The shop itself constitutes, on the other hand, the key piece that completes the puzzle of the Mall and is in this epoch when it starts taking off as architecture, has an autonomous character. After all this, finally, we come to the big commercial routes, which we propose as metaphor of the shopping. Citing Eugenio Ferrer we can conclude that “If we establish a relation between the space and the capitalism, then we can infer that the spaces of the consumption of masses (ECM) are new configurations with regard to the past (...), but the system that introduces it it is not completely” Now we arrive at this point and with the perspective of time it is necessary to ask us, what do we understand about the Shopping Center? How do we perceive it? The second Chapter approaches the problem of the perception of the Mall and from this it is possible to detect and to identify key drivers that orientate the architectural comprehension of the space. The efficiency of the Shopping Center is its main power of attraction. A world that has ensued from the synthesis of the revolution of consumption and management. An effective cavern-like place of entertainment where the user, the consumer, the postmodern man solves his daily life inside a considered habitat. The hyperbolic place of commercial transaction. An abundance of space, that makes us perceive it as destination of entertainment. An architecture has evolved this efficiency, where the sense of place is at one with the sense of the Shopping. The home of the consumer. The new cathedrals. The cathedral of consumption. The place of peregrination for the fervent consumer. A sacred space that integrates the user in the dominant culture. A temple, where time itself has stopped existing. In this paroxysm, an expression of the Garden of Eden or Paradise itself. A space where the height, the natural daylight and the spatial dimension reinforce the sacred character of a new lay religion. Another common perception is that of a protected area, which leads to metaphors and considerations that suggest the idea of maternal womb, with its weight of erotic meaning, referring to the encounter of the shopper making a purchase. The literature also tells us about its perception as a sterile space capsule, a black hole that absorbs all cultural energy. Likewise, a world simulation where a mock city is perceived at first instance. Consistent with all that shopping triggers inside. A city, a space conceived as a place of dreams, fantasy, where the products have been metamorphosed into fetishes. Entertaining a television, three-dimensional television, where the user acts guided by a drive similar to zapping. A play area where the latest fascination is in the act of buying. Space simulations that unite and transcend creating atmospheres that lead to reverie. A new space replacing the daily space with the lure of safe space in a public context. A hyper-reality space with reality and fantasy, where borders are erased with imaginary episodes of confusion and bewilderment, without distinction. The charm and fascination of a space that reads like magic. The magic of a space which is defined as stage extravaganza, the large theatre, the consumer surveys in the fine control mode in which you visit a national monument. The shopping center has to survive the times to be a testimony of our time. An icon, a symbol that conveys a message, the message reads ‘consumer’. In short, a Shopping Center is a mix of unprecedented insights that speak of a widespread phenomenon of bewilderment. Its space and the reactions of contemporary man unfold in it like a fish in water. What are the key aspects which allow us to recognize the essential quality of a shopping center in this concurrence of perplexities? First, we want to record a service function of space much deeper than the immediately obvious, i.e. a purchase occurs. A building that appears to be involved with the environment and its people from the hand of the unexpected circumstances; surprise and attention. And that, in turn, also involves the visitor beyond the purchase. This dedication to service closely links the mall with its architectural nature. It is not the function of a lifeless machine. It is a feature that suggests unsuspected perceptions linked to the purchase, which speaks of an organism that lives and breathes in unison with the visitor. Second, in addition to the vocation of service-oriented desire for consumption, the Mall environment serves a particular society - The consumer society. A new society which relates to building a sense of community developed to the level of their desires. This community also constitutes the most powerful asset to the success of the daily life of the Shopping Center. Third, we emphasize that the so called economy of the experience is combined with the consumer zeal of a company that is identified by the Shopping Center. It connects to form a holistic and planned experience. This experience takes shape in the entity that ensues from the premeditated association and synergy, in the sense of a collaboration for success. A set of concrete commercial and independent establishments, take part in the spatial and commercial adventure that is the Mall and they are the instigators of the consumption. This holistic behavior finds culmination in the amplification of a claim that becomes unitary, like an immense force that leads to an increased profitability to all the levels. Consummation is a reference of one human being overturned in an architecture assimilated into a legitimate, emotional design with stability. A holistic quality is born of the essence of the building - and by virtue of the Conditions of Alexander, Christopher Alexander, determines the system condition of the Shopping Center. Fourth, we propose to establish what character the Mall will form when joined with the concept of its typology. This is going to allow the architectural work to be formed. As a result of the holistic structure that we see, the Mall is perceived as a system whose parts have their own function, justifying their existence in the ecosystem. Across a gestalt there is a powerful capacity of communication between the system and its context. We visualize on the one that stands out our building, turning both, Center and environment, in accomplices of a few special relations who complement each other in his realities. This relationship within a complex and diverse environment gives the Mall a range of unique spatial perceptions, the result of disparate experiences, which because of its root origin of gestalt, are integrated into a unified and coordinated manner fully intelligible and organized. This is the final formal essence of the Shopping Center. We can conclude here that the Mall as architecture is a structured system and should be perceived as a unit both from a physical and spatial perspective as this is the essence of its architecture. Fifth, the Mall as a system. A system which is being supported by a broad theoretical corpus, the General Systems Theory, which offers sufficient methodology to descend into consideration and give an enlightened conclusion on the overall understanding of the Mall. Consideration of the Mall as a system is a result of its holistic structure. The whole does not behave like any of the parties and they do not behave the way they used to before belonging to the whole, because they inhibit many of their qualities to their advantage. It arises the need for an ongoing dialogue between marketing processes and its translation into the physical world, the design. The system generates multiple perceptions to be integrated into a body which is to be understood as unitary. As a system, the Mall is inserted into the contemporary paradigm, creating dual realities that are not exclusive and are reactions of uncertainty that the system be properly designed at all levels, faced with their ability to self-regulate. Likewise, considering the visitor, the customer, like the quantum spectator who interacts with the system permanently. Moreover, a complex system confronts us with the Commercial mix, the effective location of parts in order to relate to the body and its importance in the architecture we are conceiving. Unpredictable architecture, which stands as the challenge of the operation and the designer. Design that becomes the tool of the system to create success for the overall operation. The discussion of the styling is merely the result of analysis that also seeks the success of the system, i.e. the styling should send the right message for the environment to ensure its survival. Sixth, the idea of negotiation as an architecture project, a mechanism inherent to the status of the proposed system. The project solution is never evident at the Shopping Center because of the unpredictability of the process itself. It can only be the fruit of the commitment of all stakeholders to achieve the objective of the operation. This is achieved from the balance of interests, of commercial and design. A commitment to negotiation and a negotiation linked to coordination. The pursuit of stability is key, as instability is always present and constantly requires strategies to build the object you are configuring. Seventh, proposes space-time itself as a circumstance that determines and structures the perception of the Mall in a singular way. We introduce concepts as chronotope and paradox to help us place the relationship between time and space within the Mall in the context of shopping. A consequence of the parallel flow of historical time - the time outside - and the time inside the Mall, the big shopping center formula is precisely that of having the feeling of timelessness in the space. The social triumph of the mall is the ability to resolve in space and in time all postmodern paradoxes and, beyond that, of contemporary man, condensing into a small space and time an enormous amount of cultural symbols, often contradictory, but they attract the practice of consumerism. Eighth, global level. Globalization which doesn’t ignore the local level. Architecture that is inserted into the dynamics of a global economy, reflects the contradictions that it imposes, mainly in the processes of inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion and exclusion affect the debate of the local level, which the Mall must incorporate as an unavoidable tool of recognition. The eight fundamental principles, when applied as a whole, confirm that the built heritage, which corresponds to the general Mall idea, can be presented as a cohesive conceptual whole. This becomes part of a coherent architectural family, whose functional structures are able to be established. The Third chapter presents in a detailed way the figure of the architect Victor Gruen, recognized as the creator of the modern Mall. Studying his professional experience, it is shown how the different keys analyzed in previous chapters are appearing in a natural way. "Victor Gruen may well have been the most influential architect of the twentieth century." Malcolm Gladwell. The Terrazo Jungle. Fifty Years Ago, The Mall Was Born. America Never Would Be The Same. 2004. In The New Yorker. He was a complex, troubled man and the paradoxes along his career were notable. Nevertheless, always he appeared as a straight man. Garret Eckbo, the recognized landscape painter and collaborator of Gruen was astonished how Gruen had been capable of combining comity and humanity in this career of rates, into that the American commercialization turned, Johnson, in 1962, weighting many Gruen's skills demonstrated that he was not sure if anyone of them, architects artists, had been capable of doing what Gruen did. He goes beyond just the creation of a beautiful building. In playing on people and suggesting what they ought to do, he is a master. (…) his architecture is clean - hardly architecture, no flights of fancy. But when you get hold of its complexity, you've got something beyond the design... You can't say there's someone like him. Architecture is lucky to have him as an architect." Philip Johnson. Article in Fortune Review. 1962. The Document of the thesis closes with Gruen's vision of realizing a tour through the different chapters of his essential book, Shopping towns USA: The Planning of Shopping Centers. It’s mere index turns out to be a monument to the process of the gestation of the Mall. The book, simply acted in its basic structure as a silent witness, as the canonical reference for the contemporary Malls. The Fourth Chapter of the Document of the thesis is a recapitulation of the previous work, which synthesizes the concepts of function and style related to the Shopping Center, and clearly defines how they are defined so we can conclude that we have found an architectural new type in the panorama of the architectural discipline. Therefore, the Conclusion of the thesis integrates this development in a theoretical body of references that relate to an architectural specific and particular type, which receives the singularity of the Shopping Center as an architectural independent phenomenon as it has tried to demonstrate from the beginning of the work. To conclude, as a result of the integrative process and the development of the theoretical body of references, the essential characteristics of the order and concept of the architectural typology form the existence of a new architecture; architecture never before defined as such, in the theoretical typology of the discipline. A theoretical typology for a new architecture is proposed throughout the discussed research and forms a conclusion of the different parameters that have been analysed. As a building complex, from the study of the essential characteristics and of the perceptible constants, the typology is more clearly defined and thus, becomes a useful tool and precedent for the consideration of the discipline. The thesis then justifies how the building complex known as Shopping Center constitutes a new type of architectural typology.

“O CRISTO AFOGADO: UMA NÃO-CRISTOLOGIA” RELIGIÃO, LITERATURA E PÓS-COLONIALISMO

O objetivo dessa tese é aprofundar, a partir do discurso pós-colonial, uma crise na perspectiva teológica da libertação. Esta promoveu, na década de 1970, uma reviravolta nos estudos teológicos no terceiro mundo. Para tanto, leremos um conto de Gabriel García Márquez chamado “El ahogado más hermosodel mundo” (1968) analizando e avaliando as estratégias políticas e culturais ali inscritas. Para levar a frente tal avaliação é preciso ampliar o escopo de uma visão que divide o mundo em secular/religioso, ou em ideias/práticas religiosas e não religiosas, para dar passo a uma visão unificada que compreende a mundanalidade, tanto do que é catalogado como ‘religioso’ quanto do que se pretende ‘não religioso’. A teologia/ciências da religião, como discurso científico sobre a economia das trocas que lidam com visões, compreensões e práticas de mundo marcadas pelo reconhecimento do mistério que lhes é inerente, possuem um papel fundamental na compreensão, explicitação, articulação e disponibilização de tais forças culturais. A percepção de existirem elementos no conto que se relacionam com os símbolos sobre Jesus/Cristo nos ofereceu um vetor de análise; entretanto, não nos deixamos limitar pelos grilhões disciplinares que essa simbologia implica. Ao mesmo tempo, esse vínculo, compreendido desde a relação imperial/colonial inerente aos discursos e imagens sobre Jesus-Cristo, embora sem centralizar a análise, não poderia ficar intocado. Partimos para a construção de uma estrutura teórica que explicitasse os valores, gestos, e horizontes mundanos do conto, cristológicos e não-cristológicos, contribuindo assim para uma desestabilização dos quadros tradicionais a partir dos quais se concebem a teologia e as ciências da religião, a obra de García Márquez como literatura, e a geografia imperial/colonial que postula o realismo ficcional de territórios como “América Latina”. Abrimos, assim, um espaço de significação que lê o conto como uma “não-cristologia”, deslocando o aprisionamento disciplinar e classificatório dos elementos envolvidos na análise. O discurso crítico de Edward Said, Homi Bhabha e GayatriSpivak soma-se à prática teórica de teólogas críticas feministas da Ásia, da África e da América Latina para formular o cenário político emancipatório que denominaremos teologia crítica secular.