Towards a Contaminated History of the Present: Contributions from the Latin American Neo/Baroque

Abstract

This essay examines the Latin American Baroque and neo-Baroque as critical frameworks for engaging with Michel Foucault's concept of the history of the present. Divided into two main sections, it first questions the Eurocentric mold of Foucault's modern critical ethos and then explores how the Baroque ethos—marked by excess, simulacra, and heterogeneity—offers a "contaminated" perspective for rethinking the ontology of the present. Through the works of Sarduy, Echeverría, and others, the text highlights the Baroque’s potential to interrogate and reframe foundational assumptions about critique and modernity.