Nepantla as a Transitional Space: The Colonial and Decolonial Destiny of a Nahuatl Concept

My contribution investigates the genealogy and philosophical meaning of the Nahuatl term Nepantla, tracing it back to its original indigenous philosophy and exploring its subsequent reinterpretations in contemporary postcolonial and feminist thought. Originally meaning “in the middle,” the term Nepantla is first mentioned in a 16th-century chronicle to describe the existential and ontological condition of those who lived between two worlds – neither belonging completely to one or the other – in the aftermath of colonization. However, this notion of a threshold marking a condition subsequent to colonization perhaps reflects a more original ontology, which conceives of being as dynamic, processual and always in motion between different states.

Through a comparative and genealogical lens, this talk examines how Nepantla evolved from a cosmological category in Nahuatl thought to a key concept in Chicano and feminist philosophy, particularly in the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa. From Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) to Light in the Dark (2015), Nepantla becomes a transformative space of transition and creativity essential for an epistemic and ethical-aesthetic reconfiguration from a postcolonial perspective.

This analysis will develop along three axes: (a) ontology and cosmology: aimed at demonstrating the philosophical perspective to which the term Nepantla could be traced back; (b) genealogy and decoloniality: tracing the semantic trajectory of the term and its potential to destabilize dominant epistemologies; and (c) legitimacy and illegitimacy of resemantizations: with the aim of reflecting on the tension between “situated” concepts and global perspective.