Imperialism, ambiguity and liberation. On the construction of political identity in Las aventuras de la China Iron (2017), by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara

Abstract

In Las aventuras de la China Iron, a novel written by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, the political identity of
the main character —related in the Argentinean cultural tradition to the topical figure of Martín Fierro and resignified according to contemporary ecofeminist and queer parameters— is presented through her self-discovery in stages, symbolised by the incursion, the exploration and
the progressive encounter with the enigmatic Pampa. On the basis of this premise, this article aims to analyse, with the help of theoretical approaches by Nohemy Solórzano
Thompson, Cristina Rivera Garza, Edward W. Said, Gayatri Spivak and Paul B. Preciado and employing the methodology of close reading, the way in which certain practices such as the use of metaphor, allegory and animalisation reflect the narrative deconstruction of an “other” subjectivity, imprisoned, initially, by imperialist and hetero-
patriarchal mandates. We argue that this deconstruction will involve an awareness of the injustices and moulds of the existing ideological system, and will culminate in the
rupture of its imperial codes and its ingrained gender and sexual binarism. Consequently, liberation, achieved both individually and collectively, will be exercised through the assumption of ambiguity, whose meaning unfolds in a recovered, natural and utopian landscape.