Dule Poli-Aesthetic Movement: Molas, Boxing, and Poetry

Abstract

Dule cultural practices and aesthetic products express the continued existence of the Dule, Indigenous people of Gunayala, in multilayered spaces in both everyday Panama and also beyond Panamanian borders. These articulations of Dule in/visible presence create a poliaesthetic counterpoint-counterplot through multiple media including the textile art of molas (a Dule reverse-appliqué textile), the sport of boxing, and poetry. Dule poli-aesthetic (artful and political) ontology embodies the complexities of political, social, economic and cultural identities in modern Panama. This dissertation draws on the works of de Certeau, Rancière, Said, Nash, and Heidegger in order to address the ontological paradigm of Dule histories, juxtaposed with non-Dule Panamanian (hi)stories. Centering on molas, boxing and poetry, Dule poliaesthetic movements present counterpoint-counterplot to Panamanian national narratives in such a way that threatens constructed national (hi)stories that purport to define “what is Panamanian” and “who is Panamanian.”