Decolonization and Internal Colonialism: Place and Function of the Colonial

Abstract

This article’s purpose is to find out what exactly is referred to by the term ‘colonial’ in three Bolivian intellectuals: René Zavaleta Mercado, Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui and H.C.F. Mansilla. In the writings of these three authors, I find elements that allow me to believe that they all have a similar (although     not the same) understanding of colonial heritage. In all three cases, that heritage is seen as something negative, i.e. something that should be put aside and ultimately abolished. On the basis of a textual analysis, I make the effort to understand exactly what this idea is about and what this remnant of colonial times consists of. Once I get to the point of understanding what the idea of the colonial signifies in each of these texts, I will analyze them applying mimetic theory given that this theory has concepts that are similar. In other words, I make an effort to translate the concepts of these three Bolivian intellectuals in terms of mimetic theory so as to better understand them, as well as to verify whether they have a meaning in the context of that theory.