2022 Theses Doctoral

Emmanuel Levinas, Enrique Dussel, and La Escuelita Zapatista: Responding to the Ethics of Alterity

Galindo Diego, Ana Cecilia

The focus of my dissertation is the ‘problem of the Other.’ The central question is: how does one relate to the other without immediately taking away their alterity? If the Other is an absolute other, how can we relate in a way that is respectful and ethical? There are many examples of relationships among people that demonstrate ways that are ethical and ways that are not.

I will be analyzing modernity/coloniality to understand in which ways this historical epoch demonstrated a lack of understanding of the Latin American Other. Afterward, I will offer a glimpse into the world of the Zapatistas and an educational experiment they called La Escuelita Zapatista. By undertaking close readings of Zapatista narratives, I hope to offer the reader an opportunity to identify the ethicality (or what I will call ‘ethicity’) of the Zapatistas’ pedagogy.