Contribution short abstract:

Decolonial approaches in Mexico have contrasting genealogies and conceptual toolkits. In my current project on decolonial political humour from an indigenous perspective, I have found challenges and advantages in communicating across such interpretations.

Contribution long abstract:

Discussions about decolonial scholarship have been gaining ground in Mexico for some years now. Among the indigenous intellectuals and Mexican scholars studying indigenous groups I have met in Mexico, I have found contrasting interpretations of decolonial thought. Some clearly draw strong analyses from Marxism, especially emphasizing a movement against neo-extractivism and land dispossession. Others focus more on epistemic frameworks, with efforts to counter supposedly rational approaches with a combination of feelings and action (senti-acción), a form of affective-political engagement seeking justice. My research project, in contrast, seeks to shed light on decolonial political humour from an indigenous perspective. In my view, much of the polarization that currently plagues Mexican politics is related to colonial categories – mainly related to classism and racism – with which social hierarchies are policed. While I have found that these and other different layers of decolonial thought are not contradictory, their key conceptual anchors sometimes make it hard for fruitful dialogues to follow. For the reflections, I draw from my recent participation (2023-2024) in a seminar on decolonial epistemologies at the University of Guadalajara, in Mexico, convened by an indigenous intellectual.