José Carlos Mariátegui and Walter Benjamin: toward the re-foundation of a critical subaltern theory

Abstract

This article constitutes part of a broader research process whose objective is to analyze comparatively the theoretical production of two twentieth century intellectuals: Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) and José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930). We focus on what could be called the epistemological nucleus of the work of each author. Both of them make important contributions to the contemporary task of founding a subaltern political epistemology. We believe that their work can help to identify a possible path for the reconstruction of a critical theory adequate to contemporary challenges, allowing us to understand a world that is in transformation and disconnected from the reference points of Western scientific knowledge, which today reveals itself as obsolete and exclusive.