Coloniality in the Arts: neutrality, power, and legitimacy in dispute

neutralidade, poder e legitimidade em disputa

Abstract

This article explores how the notions of coloniality, neutrality, and legitimation are present in current disputes within the arts and cultural studies. The main objective is to investigate how colonial heritage influences the hierarchy of artistic languages and how the neutralization of dominant languages, along with the stigmatization of counter-hegemonic expressions, operates as a political strategy of cultural domination. It also examines the impact of these disputes on the construction of knowledge, focusing on the dance field, highlighting how dominant expressions are presented as universal, while non-hegemonic ones are often devalued, being labeled as "folkloric," "identitarian," or "complementary." The methodology involves a literature review of post-colonial theories and critical cultural studies, complemented by practical examples that illustrate these dynamics. The article advocates for a critical revision of concepts such as neutrality and legitimacy, proposing ameafricanity (Gonzales, 2020) as a political-cultural category to confront the colonial structure in the arts and offer a reformulation of knowledge, considering the cultural specificities of the Latin American territory and regarding them as fundamental for cultural and artistic formation in Brazil.