Desires for modernity and the boundaries of the primitive: territoriality and authenticity in the debate for a new Peruvian imaginary in Abril, Westphalen and Arguedas

Abstract

This essay examines the positions of Xavier Abril, Emilio Adolfo Westphalen and José María Arguedas in the context of the discussions of the avant-garde, indigenismo and socialism that sought the renewal of the Peruvian imaginary between 1925 and 1940. The framework of the analysis intends to capture the complexity of the influences of José Carlos Mariátegui's discourse in the debate, abandoning the contrast of the "Andean" and "West" categories and proposing a reading that emphasizes three other premises: authenticity, territoriality and modernity. In this sense, this work examines the relationship between Abril and Westphalen (1930-34), showing their image of Lima as a primitive space and a cultural wasteland in contrast to Europe and studying, among other texts,an unpublished manifesto. This paper then addresses the intellectual relationship between Westphalen and Arguedas at the end of the 1930s, showing how their representation of Lima as a hostile place was complemented by the proposal of an indigenous subject capable of the artistic modernity. This mapping of Lima's cultural scene of the time will explain how, according to these intellectuals, being primitive or modern depended on the authenticity of the artistic/intellectual pursuit.