The Testimonial Voice of Ignacio Ellacuría and the Convergence of His Critical Thinking from Central America in Salvadoran Literature
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Beyond Martyrdom: The Testimonial Voice of Ignacio Ellacuría and the Convergence of His Critical Thinking From Central America in Salvadoran Literature. Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Bradley Robert Hilgert Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2015 Committee: Dr. Ileana Rodríguez, Advisor Dr. Ulises Juan Zevallos-Aguilar, Co-Advisor Dr. Laura Podalsky Copyright by Bradley Robert Hilgert 2015 Abstract This dissertation analyzes the philosophical, theological, and political thinking of Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ. In it, I read Ellacuría’s work as a cultural text, or more specifically, as testimonio. In that light, Ellacuría’s work can be seen as resulting from and responding to the historical reality within which he was situated. In reading his work as cultural text, I place it in dialogue with a form of writing that is more widely considered to be a cultural text: literature. Doing this creates a dialogical relationship between Ellacuría’s writing and Salvadoran literature that allows the different texts to inform each other and us in a horizontal manner. I begin by comparatively reading Roque Dalton’s Clandestine Poems and Ellacuría’s philosophy of historical realism. The combination of these revolutionary and utopian projects move us toward a historical praxis that positions itself with those oppressed by the dynamic system of reality and attempts to go against the grain of history. I then move from Ellacuría’s philosophy to his theology in conjunction with Manlio Argueta’s One Day of Life. When read with his articulation of liberation theology, the subversive potential of the Christian-Jesuit spirituality that Ellacuría embodied emerges as both a basis for an alternative intersubjectivity and as an existential threat to the established order. In exploring Ellacuría’s philosophy and theology, the first half of the dissertation signals the potential contributions of a thinking geographically/epistemologically located with and from Central America. The second ii half of the dissertation centers on the years leading up to the Salvadoran civil war and the public debate around agrarian transformation. Two post-war novels, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and Lucía Cerna’s La verdad register the need to historicize the concept of private property. Ellacuría’s political writings pose a methodology that responds to that need and reveals a necropolitical and parasitic system that produces violence and has its foundations in the colonial period. Finally, Claribel Alegría’s They Won’t Take Me Alive suggests that this ideologized notion of property was an active agent in the civil war and the text’s collective voices converge with Ellacuría’s to imagine alternatives to the unjust system structuring their reality. The primary objective of this work is to argue for the inclusion of Ellacuría’s intellectual production into the field of Latin American cultural studies. iii For Lissette and Emma Luciana iv Acknowledgments Several years ago there was some controversy around a speech given by President Barack Obama when he spoke the words “You didn’t build that”. Without getting into the politics, I would like to acknowledge in this section that although I may have put the pieces together, I certainly did not build this dissertation by myself; countless people have helped me along the way. For the past six years I have had the great pleasure of working with Ileana Rodríguez, whose contributions to my own critical thought are immeasurable. For her guidance, support, and care, both intellectual and affective, I am profoundly grateful. I am also thankful for the help, encouragement, and inspiration I have received from my dissertation committee: Laura Podalsky and Ulises Juan Zevallos Aguilar. They, along with all the professors with whom I had the privilege of walking this path, aroused in me an interest in academia and a desire to constantly revise my own positions and beliefs. In addition to my professors at The Ohio State University, I would like to thank the Latin American Council of Social Sciences and the professors of a wonderful course on the social thought of Ignacio Ellacuría; the knowledge they imparted had a fundamental impact on the structure of my dissertation. I am indebted to the contributions of my colleagues in the “Colectivo de pensamiento ex/centrO” and the group at the Institute of History of Nicaragua and Central America for the formative conversations and exchanges. In particular from that group, I would like to thank Jared v List for being my university and life mentor and Juan Pablo Gómez for always pushing me a bit further as a person and an intellectual. My family has been absolutely instrumental in arriving at this stage in my academic career, especially because of their patience, understanding, and emotional support. For my daughter Emmylou, I am so thankful for the way you have changed my perspective on life, which has already begun to show, even in this dissertation. Finally, for my wife, Lissette, who has stood beside me through this entire process. I thank her for the tremendous sacrifices she has made so that I could achieve this dream, because without her this would not have been possible. She has fought with and for me for this goal every day. vi Vita 2003 ............................................................... Watkins Memorial High School 2007 ............................................................... B.A. Spanish & Philosophy, Ohio Wesleyan University 2012 ............................................................... M.A. Spanish, Ohio State University 2013 ............................................................... M.A. Latin American Studies, Ohio State University 2009 – 2015 .................................................. Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Spanish, The Ohio State University Publications Hilgert, Bradley. “Pensar contra la lógica del centrO: Martín-Baró y Ellacuría desde la UCA de El Salvador.” Revista de historia 29 (2014): N. pag. Print. Hilgert, Bradley. Rev. of “Romper las cadenas”. Orden finca y rebeldía campesina: el proyecto colectivo Finca La Florida by Juan Pablo Gómez and Gustavo Palma Murga (AVANSCO). Revista de historia 29 (2014): N. pag. Print. Hilgert, Bradley and Juan Pablo Gómez. “Escrituras subversivas: pensamiento critic desde Centroamérica” Encuentro 98 (2014): 6-29. Print. Hilgert, Bradley and Juan Pablo Gómez. “Razón y pulsión de muerte: violencia política en el pasado reciente de Guatemala” Encuentro 97 (2014): 6-23. Print. Hilgert, Bradley and Juan Pablo Gómez. “Nicaragua, Intervention in (1926-1933)” Encyclopedia of U.S. Interventions in Latin America. Ed. Alan L. McPherson. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013. 435-39. Print. vii Hilgert, Bradley. “Desapareciendo al otro. Tierra bajo la cruz y libertad hecha carne.” Revista de historia 27 (2012): 59-73. Fields of Study Major Field: Spanish and Portuguese Concentration: Latin American Literatures and Cultures viii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Roque Dalton’s revolutionary poetry and Ignacio Ellacuría’s historical realism: a thinking from Central American historical reality ........................................... 17 Chapter 2: Manlío Argueta’s One Day of Life and the contributions of Ellacuría’s subversive theology from Central America for a critical praxis of liberation .................. 73 Chapter 3: Historicizing Private Property with Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and Lucia Cerna’s La Verdad: A witness to the Salvadoran Martyrs: Thinking from Central America to Undo the Colonial Legacy ...................................................... 132 Chapter 4: Claribel Alegría’s They Won’t Take Me Alive and Ignacio Ellacuría’s concept of the common evil: imagining alternatives .................................................................... 180 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 236 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 247 Endnotes .......................................................................................................................... 260 ix Introduction The people will break your heart. Dean Brackely, cited in Burke, The Ground Beneath the Cross, xv. The Gospel saying that the truth will make you free has a unique explanation for philosophy: the search and announcement of the truth when faced with what impedes it is what will bring freedom to the people. An operative truth, but a truth. It is true that our people need transformation, but a transformation full of truth; otherwise, we are not headed toward man’s liberation, but rather his alienation. Philosophy as the search for the fullness of truth—that is, not merely the absence of error, but rather