Bolivian culture. Ch’ixi and abigarrado. Decoloniality through semiotic interpretation

Adriano Lenaz Zenteno and Laura Elena Bustos Quitón
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Adriano Lenaz Zenteno: Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB)
Laura Elena Bustos Quitón: Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB)

No 525, Investigación & Desarrollo from Universidad Privada Boliviana

Abstract: This study applies a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative approach, using the semiotic method proposed by Umberto Eco [1] and Roland Barthes [2] to unravel the ideological discourses in colonial visual production. Through a decolonial perspective, based on Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui [3], and Walter Mignolo [4] . The research questions colonial pow-er structures inscribed in virreinal pictorial works and their in-fluence on contemporary Bolivian identity construction. The analysis reveals that colonial graphic signs functioned not only as instruments of cultural domination, but also as spaces for resignification and resistance. Furthermore, the study posits the reappropriating of these signs for current graphic design an exercise in cultural reclamation and identity construction. The research contributes to the debate on the decolonization of art and proposes a critical reading that links history, aesthetics, and visual communication in the Bolivian context.

Keywords: Graphic design; Semiology; Culture; Decoloniality. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2025
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Published in Investigación & Desarrollo, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 64-73 (2025)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iad:wpaper:0525

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