From infamy to truth. Epistemic coloniality and knowledges in resistance: an approach to the cases of Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú

• Date: 29 January 2024
• Pages: 1024-1037
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2022-0103
• Published date: 29 January 2024
• Author: Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez

From infamy to truth. Epistemic

coloniality and knowledges in

resistance: an approach to the

cases of In

es Fern

andez Ortega and

Valentina Rosendo Cant

u

Miguel Angel Mart



ınez Mart



ınez

Department of Humanistic Studies,

Instituto Tecnol

ogico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of the article is to show the regime of truth in the institutional commissions that have

the objective of restoring history by establishing a democratic, equitable, comprehensive, inclusive and fair

criterion against the attempts of re-victimization and suppression of memory that Western political and

cultural traditions have installed through their mechanisms of power.

Design/methodology/approach –Based on the analysis of the cases of In

es Fern

andez Ortega and

Valentina Rosendo Cant

u, they establish the material conditions from which prejudices and hegemonic

stereotypes are intertwined to reproduce serious violations of human rights in democratic political and

epistemic frameworks. The colonial function of the truth commissions in Mexico is analyzed, which are

presented as mechanisms for social development, political and colonial reproduction of liberal democracy.

Findings –The qualitative results allow considering the way in which the different truth commissions in

Mexico have been strongly linked to epistemic mechanisms in which truth and justice favor the reproduction of

established relationships based on race, social class and gender. Especially in the so-called democratic

transition, violence, truth and justice come together to highlight power relations in situations that have been

disavowed by the intelligentsia.

Research limitations/implications –The limitations of the research are found in the historical

configuration of the truth commissions in Mexico. The data, references and assessments are crossed by the

initial function of the truth commissions and the establishment of apparatuses and mechanisms based on

transitional justice. Based on this, it can be considered a methodological oversight to shift the analysisof truth

commissions toward a critical assessment of the truth as a regime of government and hegemonic and

colonization criteria from two very specific cases.

Originality/value –The originality of the work is found in the critical discernment of truth as a political

category and the coloniality of power.

Keywords Decolonization, Human rights, Infamy, Commissions of truth, Power

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Truth is the field where historical reality unfolds. In the field of truth, coloniality of being,

power and knowledge establish the fundamental coordinates of the West. It is there that the

political field installs its practical validation, its orthodoxy and its rigidity, inasmuch as

coloniality is not a historical moment that is buried in the past with its multiple and complex

situations of independence of the different territories (Quijano, 2000); on the contrary, its

sources concentrate the central tensions of the dynamics of conquest, exploitation and

contempt, not only from coercive dynamics, but also in the establishment of regimes of truth

EDI

43,6

1024

Since submission of this article, the following author have updated their affiliation: Miguel Angel

Mart



ınez Mart



ınez is at the Consejo de Ciencia y Tecnolog



ıa del Estado de Puebla (CONCYTEP), Puebla,

M

exico.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 30 April 2022

Revised 13 August 2023

Accepted 11 December 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 6, 2024

pp. 1024-1037

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-04-2022-0103