Abstract/Description
In simplest terms, Amauta is a socialist revista (magazine) primarily conceived of and executed by Peruvian political activist José Carlos Mariátegui, with the principal ambition of providing a space for the organic and spontaneous promulgation of a uniquely Peruvian form of Marxism. It is exceedingly difficult, however, to discuss Mariátegui’s brainchild in simple terms. Beyond its role as a socialist publication, Amauta was an arbiter of culture, at once negotiating Mariátegui’s passion for the development of a Peruvian national identity with his efforts at integrating Peru into the revolutionary zeitgeist of the early 20th century; it was a Spanish-language codex for the Latin American populace, providing integral translations of significant works of discursivity, like Freud and Marx, alongside contemporary theorists, like Shaw and Sorel; it was a disseminator of current events, a tool for the education of the masses (as its name, a Quechuan word roughly translated to “wise one,” suggests), and a platform for social advocacy and artistic exploration. It was visual, literary, and tactile. It was an effort to capture and encapsulate the fractured parts of modernity and piece them together into something akin to a working whole. Unlike the dogmatism of the European revolutionaries that Mariátegui encountered during his time in exile, the artifice of Amauta was founded, above all else, on practicality and evolution.
Recommended Citation
Roberts, Sam
(2024).
Decolonizing 20th Century Consumerism: Analyzing the Role of Advertising in Amauta.
Undergraduate Review, 18, 258-271.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev/vol18/iss1/27
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