Introduction: “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh
“The Politics of Naming” by Catherine Walsh first appeared in Cultural Studies in 2012, within Volume 26, Issue 1, and was part of a broader intellectual dialogue on the decolonial and inter-epistemic reconfiguration of knowledge systems in Latin America. Emerging from earlier work presented at a 2009 symposium and first published in Spanish in Tabula Rasa (2010), this article stands as a foundational text in the field of Latin American (inter)Cultural Studies. Walsh interrogates the naming of “Cultural Studies” itself, arguing that such terminology is entangled in colonial and Eurocentric legacies that obscure the complex histories, epistemologies, and struggles native to Abya Yala—a term preferred by Indigenous peoples over “Latin America.” Her critical intervention reconceptualizes Cultural Studies as a transdisciplinary and political project deeply embedded in decolonial praxis, drawing from four legacies: the disciplinary legacies of European academia, the Birmingham School (particularly Stuart Hall’s articulation of culture, race, and power), Latin American cultural thought, and the lived epistemologies of Indigenous and Afro-descendant social movements. The article’s importance in literature and literary theory lies in its call to reframe knowledge production beyond Eurocentric paradigms, advocating for inter-cultural, inter-epistemic, and decolonial methodologies that not only analyze culture but actively transform social realities. It significantly broadens the scope of literary theory by foregrounding the politics of knowledge, identity, and naming as foundational to both textual interpretation and institutional critique.
Summary of “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh
🔸 Naming as a Colonial Practice of Power and Erasure
Walsh begins by emphasizing that the very act of naming in Latin America is a legacy of colonial power. She asserts that naming has historically functioned to impose external epistemologies and erase local identities:
“The politics of naming have always had great significance in Latin America… subordinated differences to map out an image according to their own heuristic code of naming” (Walsh, 2012, p. 109).
The term “Latin America,” she notes, is itself a colonial imposition, with Indigenous communities preferring Abya Yala, meaning “lands in full maturity.”
🔸 Decolonizing Cultural Studies: From Object to Intervention
Walsh critiques how Cultural Studies, when uncritically transplanted into Latin American contexts, often replicate Western academic structures. Instead, she advocates for a model that emerges from lived struggles and knowledge systems:
“The project of Cultural Studies… seeks to cross, transcend and go beyond the limits that traditionally have seen culture as an object of study” (Walsh, 2012, p. 116).
She calls for (inter)Cultural Studies that actively intervene in society, not just analyze it.
🔸 Four Legacies Shaping (Inter)Cultural Studies in Latin America
Walsh outlines four key legacies that shape her approach:
- Scientific Disciplinarity – a Eurocentric system that privileges so-called objective knowledge and marginalizes alternative rationalities.
“The humanities were set up not as areas of knowledge per se… but instead as something more ephemeral” (Walsh, 2012, p. 110).
- Birmingham School & Stuart Hall – inspiring a political vocation of theory grounded in lived struggles.
“I come back to the critical distinction between intellectual work and academic work… They are not the same thing” (Hall, 1992, cited in Walsh, 2012, p. 112).
- Latin American Cultural Thought – including thinkers like Martí, Mariátegui, and Barbero, but critiqued for often being confined to elite mestizo academia.
- Social and Epistemic Movements – rooted in Indigenous and Afro-descendant activism, these movements generate theory and challenge coloniality.
“Movements provoke theoretical moments and historical conjunctures insist on theories” (Hall, 1992, cited in Walsh, 2012, p. 112).
🔸 The Inter-cultural, Inter-epistemic, and De-colonial Dimensions
Central to Walsh’s project are three interrelated pillars:
- Inter-culturality is not just diversity but a transformative political project:
“It does not simply add diversity… but rather to rethink, rebuild and inter-culturalize the nation” (Walsh, 2012, p. 117).
- Inter-epistemicity involves valuing knowledge produced outside Western academic frameworks:
“To think with knowledges produced in Latin America… by intellectuals who come not only from academia, but also from other communities” (Walsh, 2012, p. 118).
- De-coloniality challenges the colonial matrix of power, including epistemological dominance:
“At the centre… is capitalism as the only possible model of civilization” (Walsh, 2012, p. 119).
🔸 Academic Tensions and Resistance to the Project
Walsh details the resistance her program at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar has encountered from traditional academic institutions:
“Our concern here is not so much with the institutionalizing of Cultural Studies… but with epistemic inter-culturalization” (Walsh, 2012, p. 121).
She links this to broader neoliberal reforms that have depoliticized and re-disciplined Latin American academia.
🔸 Reclaiming Intervention as Ethical and Political Practice
In closing, Walsh returns to Stuart Hall’s concept of “intervention” as a guiding principle for Cultural Studies:
“To consider Cultural Studies today a project of political vocation and intervention is to position—and at the same time build—our work on the borders… of university and society” (Walsh, 2012, p. 122).
The goal is to foster knowledge that is rooted in life, struggle, and transformation, not detached academicism.
Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh
| 🔤 Concept | 📖 Explanation | 📌 Reference / Quotation from Article |
| 🏷️ Politics of Naming | Refers to how naming is not neutral but tied to colonial power, used to impose meanings and erase Indigenous identities and knowledge systems. | “The politics of naming have always had great significance in Latin America… subordinated differences to map out an image…” (p. 109) |
| 🌎 Abya Yala | Indigenous name for Latin America, meaning “lands in full maturity”; it resists colonial naming and asserts cultural sovereignty. | “‘Latin’ America is, in fact, a clear example of this naming… Indigenous peoples prefer to refer to the region as Abya Yala” (p. 109) |
| 📚 (Inter)Cultural Studies | A rethinking of Cultural Studies as a political, decolonial, and inter-epistemic project grounded in struggle and transformation rather than just academic analysis. | “The project of Cultural Studies… seeks to cross, transcend and go beyond the limits that traditionally have seen culture as an object of study” (p. 116) |
| 🔄 Inter-epistemic | A framework that promotes dialogue between different systems of knowledge, especially non-Western epistemologies, challenging Eurocentric dominance. | “To think with knowledges produced in Latin America… is a necessary and essential step both in de-colonization and in creating other conditions of knowledge” (p. 118) |
| 🤝 Inter-culturality | Not just coexistence of cultures but an active political project of structural transformation, aimed at rebuilding institutions and nationhood from a pluralistic foundation. | “Inter-culturality… positioned as an ideological principle grounded in the urgent need for a radical transformation of social structures” (p. 117) |
| 🧠 Colonial Matrix of Power | Coined by Aníbal Quijano, this refers to the systemic structures of domination (race, knowledge, economy) imposed by colonialism and still embedded in modernity. | “By colonial matrix, we refer to the hierarchical system of racial-civilizational classification…” (p. 118) |
| 🔬 Scientific Disciplinarity | The rigid Western academic system that separates and hierarchizes knowledge, privileging “objective” science and marginalizing other forms of knowing. | “The problem of scientific disciplinarity began in Europe… imposed and reconstructed in the twentieth century…” (p. 110) |
| ⚙️ Articulation | Stuart Hall’s idea of forming alliances and convergences across differences for political and epistemic action; critical in decolonial Cultural Studies. | “Assuming articulation as a political-intellectual and also epistemological force…” (p. 113) |
| 💬 Regime of Representation | A concept from Hall that refers to how media and language construct “truths” that stereotype and sustain racial and cultural hierarchies. | “Illustrating the way that the practices of representation construct… continued subjugation of African descendents” (p. 113) |
| 🧭 Epistemic Disobedience | Though not explicitly named as such, Walsh aligns with this idea by Mignolo—refusing to obey Eurocentric knowledge norms and advocating for alternatives grounded in lived realities. | Implicit in “questioning from and with radically distinct rationalities, knowledge, practices and civilizational-life-systems” (p. 119) |
| 🔧 Indisciplinarity | A methodological stance rejecting rigid academic boundaries, allowing the blending of activist and scholarly approaches rooted in social movements. | “The subject of dispute is not simply the trans-disciplinary aspect… but also its ‘indisciplinary’ nature…” (p. 120) |
Contribution of “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh to Literary Theory/Theories
🔄 Postcolonial Theory
Walsh expands postcolonial theory by emphasizing the limits of postcolonial discourse when applied to Latin America. She critiques its tendency to remain textual and elite, shifting the focus toward lived struggles, knowledge systems, and political intervention rooted in Indigenous and Afro-descendant movements. Her call for “naming” as a site of colonial power resonates with postcolonial concerns, but her decolonial stance goes further by centering epistemic sovereignty.
“The politics of naming have always had great significance in Latin America… subordinated differences to map out an image according to their own heuristic code of naming” (Walsh, 2012, p. 109).
“Inter-culturality has marked a social, political, ethical project… to rethink, rebuild and inter-culturalize the nation” (p. 117).
🌐 Decolonial Theory (Modernity/Coloniality Group)
Firmly situated in the modernity/coloniality/decoloniality school, Walsh’s work is a practical manifestation of its core ideas. She emphasizes inter-epistemic dialogue, the deconstruction of the colonial matrix of power, and the repositioning of the university as a space for pluriversal thinking. Her model of (inter)Cultural Studies acts as a decolonial educational and theoretical project.
“Our concern here is not… institutionalizing Cultural Studies. Better yet… with epistemic inter-culturalization, with the de-colonialization and pluriversalization of the ‘university’” (p. 121).
“By colonial matrix, we refer to the hierarchical system of racial-civilizational classification…” (p. 118).
📚 Cultural Studies (Hall/Birmingham School)
Walsh reclaims and recontextualizes the political legacy of Stuart Hall and the Birmingham School by aligning it with Latin American struggles. She upholds Hall’s idea that “movements provoke theoretical moments” and expands it to include epistemic movements, led by historically marginalized communities. Her version of Cultural Studies is not disciplinary but political, embodied, and decolonial.
“Movements provoke theoretical moments and historical conjunctures insist on theories” (Hall 1992, cited in Walsh, 2012, p. 112).
“A practice which understands the need for intellectual modesty… not substituting intellectual work for politics” (p. 112).
📖 Critical Theory
By challenging the hegemonic Eurocentric academic canon, Walsh intervenes in critical theory by critiquing the Western monopoly on reason and knowledge production. She promotes a critical interculturality that integrates decolonial and ethical commitments into theory-making itself.
“To question the supposed universality of scientific knowledge… that does not capture the diversity… or the counter-hegemonic alternatives” (p. 111).
“We are concerned… with a thinking from the South(s)… to open, not close, paths” (p. 121).
🔬 Theory of Representation
Building on Hall’s theory, Walsh deepens its application to Latin America by showing how colonial regimes of representation have structured epistemic and social exclusions. Her focus is not only on discursive stereotyping but also on material and institutional naming practices that shape power and identity.
“Practices of representation construct and contribute to the stereotyping… within a supposedly naturalized structure and regime of truth” (p. 113).
📏 Institutional Critique / Knowledge Production
Walsh critiques the disciplinary boundaries and neoliberal restructuring of academia in Latin America. She pushes for a radical rethinking of what counts as knowledge, who produces it, and where—a critique of both content and academic form.
“Discipline… works to negate and detract from practices… that do not fit inside hegemonic rationality” (p. 111).
“The project seeks to cross, transcend and go beyond the limits that traditionally have seen culture as an object of study” (p. 116).
Examples of Critiques Through “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh
| 📖 Literary Work | 🔍 Critique Through Walsh’s Lens | 🧩 Relevant Concepts from Walsh |
| 🌴 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad | Walsh would critique the portrayal of Africa as a space defined by European naming and erasure. The text exemplifies the colonial matrix of power, reducing African subjectivity and reinforcing imperial epistemologies. | 🏷️ Politics of Naming, 🔬 Representation, 🌐 Colonial Matrix of Power |
| 👑 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe | Achebe’s narrative reclaims African identity and challenges colonial representations by centering Igbo knowledge and language. Walsh would view this as a strong inter-epistemic response to Western hegemonic narratives. | 🔄 Inter-epistemicity, 🧠 Epistemic Disobedience, 🤝 Cultural Repositioning |
| 💃 The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende | Walsh might explore how the novel critiques authoritarian regimes yet often centers mestizo elite narratives. She would question which voices are elevated and which are absent—emphasizing the need to account for subaltern knowledges. | 📚 Disciplinary Critique, 🧭 Geopolitics of Knowledge, 🔍 Voice and Erasure |
| 👣 Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko | Silko’s novel exemplifies decolonial healing through Native epistemologies, ancestral knowledge, and land-based storytelling. Walsh would affirm its inter-cultural and spiritually grounded resistance to colonial worldviews. | 🌱 Ancestrality, 🤝 Inter-culturality, 🔧 Indigenous Epistemologies |
Criticism Against “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh
🔍 Over-politicization of Academic Discourse
Some may argue that Walsh’s insistence on political engagement in academic work risks collapsing the line between scholarship and activism.
❗ Critics might ask: Can Cultural Studies maintain critical distance if it becomes a project of intervention rather than reflection?
📏 Anti-Disciplinarity as Methodological Risk
Her call for “indisciplinarity” challenges academic norms, but critics may argue that rejecting disciplinary boundaries can result in conceptual vagueness or lack of methodological rigor.
❗ Without clear academic frameworks, how do we ensure accountability, coherence, and evaluative criteria in research?
🌍 Limited Scalability Beyond Andean/Latin American Contexts
Walsh grounds her theory deeply in Latin American epistemologies and struggles. While powerful regionally, some may question its applicability across global contexts, particularly in societies without a similar history of Indigenous-Afro-descendant political movements.
❗ Is her model of (inter)Cultural Studies transferable beyond Abya Yala?
🧠 Complex Language and Dense Theoretical Style
The article uses highly theoretical, sometimes abstract language that might alienate non-specialist readers or those outside the decolonial academic community.
❗ Could the accessibility of her transformative ideas be hindered by their presentation?
📚 Insufficient Engagement with Alternative Views within Latin America
While Walsh critiques Eurocentrism and disciplinary knowledge, she may be seen as underrepresenting dissenting Latin American scholars who support modernization or universalist frameworks from within the region.
❗ Does her framework fully acknowledge intra-regional diversity and contestation?
⚖️ Tension Between Inclusion and Exclusion
Despite her commitment to pluralism and dialogue, some might find Walsh’s tone to marginalize scholars who remain within traditional academic paradigms, potentially reproducing the very exclusions she critiques.
❗ Can decolonial thinking risk becoming a new orthodoxy, dismissing other valid intellectual paths?
Representative Quotations from “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh with Explanation
| 📌 Quotation | 🧠 Explanation |
| “The politics of naming have always had great significance in Latin America.” | Naming is not neutral; it reflects long-standing colonial structures that suppress Indigenous identity and reframe entire regions through foreign lenses. |
| “‘Latin’ America is, in fact, a clear example of this naming… indigenous peoples prefer to refer to the region as Abya Yala.” | Illustrates epistemic resistance—Indigenous peoples reclaim meaning through language and identity, rejecting colonial terminology. |
| “Cultural Studies has opened up spaces that question, challenge and go beyond this model…” | Celebrates Cultural Studies as a field that resists colonial academic structures and fosters critical inquiry beyond traditional disciplines. |
| “To think with knowledges produced in Latin America… is a necessary and essential step…” | Calls for the recognition of marginalized knowledges and the inclusion of subaltern epistemologies in academic discourse. |
| “The de-colonial does not seek to establish a new paradigm… but a critically-conscious understanding of the past and present.” | Emphasizes that decoloniality is not a rigid framework but a dynamic and ethical stance of reflection and resistance. |
| “It is to refute the concepts of rationality that govern the so-called ‘expert’ knowledge…” | Critiques the hegemony of Western rationality and promotes epistemic disobedience against dominant academic paradigms. |
| “Cultural Studies… constructed as a space of encounter between disciplines and intellectual, political and ethical projects…” | Reframes Cultural Studies as an active and inclusive space that merges theory with lived struggle and ethical commitment. |
| “It is in this context that we can engage… and ask about the politics and the political of Cultural Studies in Latin America today…” | Encourages continuous questioning of academic knowledge—what is studied, who studies it, and for what political purpose. |
| “Our interest is not… to promote activism… but instead to build a different political-intellectual project…” | Clarifies that the project is more than activism—it is about epistemological transformation and theoretical resistance. |
| “To consider Cultural Studies today a project of political vocation and intervention is to position… our work on the borders of… university and society.” | Frames intellectual work as socially engaged, situated between institutional critique and public transformation. |
Suggested Readings: “The Politics Of Naming” by Catherine Walsh
- MIGNOLO, WALTER D., and CATHERINE E. WALSH. “The Decolonial For: Resurgences, Shifts, and Movements.” On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis, Duke University Press, 2018, pp. 15–32. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11g9616.5. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
- Denham, Robert D., editor. “Essays, Articles, and Parts of Books.” The Reception of Northrop Frye, University of Toronto Press, 2021, pp. 23–470. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctv1x6778z.5. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
- “Individual Authors.” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 13, no. 3/4, 1986, pp. 437–560. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3831353. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
- Walsh, Catherine. “THE POLITICS OF NAMING: (Inter) Cultural Studies in de-colonial code.” Cultural Studies 26.1 (2012): 108-125.