Explorations of techniques of the self, new paradigms on identity in three South-American writers: Mónica Ojeda, Mariana Enríquez, and Liliana Colanzi

Abstract

This paper analyzes and reinterprets Michel Foucault's notion of "techniques of the self" as a set of practices through which individuals constitute themselves in relation to power structures and others. It explores how these practices relate to intersectionality, considering the intersections of identity and the various forms of oppression and privilege that shape subjectivity. Drawing on concepts from philosophy, psychoanalysis, and gender studies, a selection of recent works by three contemporary South American writers—Mónica Ojeda, Mariana Enríquez, and Liliana Colanzi—are examined. Their narratives offer a new perspective on the subject, whose construction is influenced by categories such as ethnicity, gender, and religion, challenging the cultural frameworks of Eurocentric and colonialist traditions. An epistemology emerges, recognizing this way of understanding reality as fundamental to the deconstruction of the traditional notion of subjectivity.