Imaginaries of Abya Yala: Indigenous Filmmaking in Latin America from a Multimodal Semiotics Perspective

Abstract

This article argues that multimodal semiotics can provide an analytical lens through which to critically understand recent film and media production by Indigenous people and communities in Latin America. It suggests precise ways in which to analyse this film and media production as the emergence of alternative public, or “counter-public” spaces, by which it becomes possible to study the expression of “emergent” forms of Indigeneity without falling back on uncritical, reified notions of the latter. By focusing not only on the semiotic content embedded within the texts of Indigenous audiovisual production (its design and production), but also on discourse, distribution and reception, a multimodal semiotics approach provides a framework which lends itself to analysing the complex and multi-layered nature of Indigenous and community media production. In turn, the article puts forward that this allows us to better appreciate the diversity of its production, and to engage critically in issues that this media production raises in terms of authorship, modes of representation and its cultural and political significance.