A noção de tradição nacional como dispositivo colonial

Grounded in the critiques of Belting (2012) and Preziosi (2009) regarding the formation of Art History as a discipline, this article analyzes how Art History was utilized as a tool for colonial domination. For this purpose, this research employs Foucault’s (2000) archaeology of knowledge to disclose the discursive mechanisms that legitimized European art as a universal model, thereby marginalizing local knowledge. Case studies of the institutionalization of Art History in Mexico (García Canclini, 2019) and Japan (Inaga, 2002; Sastre de la Vega, 2019) reveal strategies of assimilation and resistance. The analysis demonstrates how the discipline was used as a vehicle for cultural imposition, from the hierarchical categorization of the arts to the redefinition of local canons. Foucault’s archaeological method helped identify power networks that perpetuated colonial hierarchies through the assimilation of the European notion of “national tradition.”