Abstract

KALIMAN, Ricardo J.. The transforming reason. Reflections on knowledge position in cultural studies. Tabula Rasa [online]. 2010, n.12, pp.253-272. ISSN 1794-2489.

This paper examines the assumption of a specific knowledge, which has been attributed to Latin American cultural studies practitioners and constitutes its specific contribution in the political arena. I maintain here that such knowledge is possible, even though it is not supported by a mere institutional endorsement. In order to support this position, I will discuss the notions of human reason, episteme and epistemology, so to characterize the Birmingham Center's foundational contribution in terms of the materialistic principle to subsume any knowledge practice to data provided by concrete human beings in their concrete relationships. Following this approach, I analyze the idealistic risk to fall in essentialisms and therefore I'll offer several methodological inquiries that would guide work on Latin American cultural studies, providing political and epistemological coherence.

Keywords : Latin American cultural studies; sociology of culture; materialism; Birmingham School.

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