Imaginary America: For a Decolonial Atlas. Contributions of Miguel Rojas Mix to the Critique of the Representation of America

Abstract

This essay deals with the work carried out by Miguel Rojas Mix in América Imaginaria on the construction of the fantastic image of America and its inhabitants in Europe at the time of the conquest and colonization of the New World. First, the author’s thesis on the imaginary is reviewed, where the function of the image is understood concerning the construction of the identity of the other after the supposed arrival of Columbus to the West Indies. Continue, secondly, the analysis of the images of the monster in the teratology of the sixteenth century is carried out to understand its key role in the dehumanization of the other. Thirdly, the advances in cartography are described in parallel with the projection of the fantastic image of the territory of America, understood as the continuation of teratology by other means, as a way of consolidating the conquest and exploitation of the lands claimed for itself by the Crown of Castile, as well as by other European powers. The relevance of this review is to evaluate, based on the atlas proposed by Rojas-Mix, the survival of the pre-scientific imaginary in the construction of the image of the colonized other in America up to the present day.