Off the Map and Into Uncharted Territory A Review of the Dialectic, the Nation-State, and the Zapatistas

Abstract

This paper provides the basis for understanding the history of subaltern peoples according to a reassessment of dialectical theory. The Western Dialectic has been applied to non-Western regions of the world, taking root as a subtle and pervasive effect of years of colonialism and imperialism. The result is that the dialectical processes unique to colonized areas have been overlooked and marginalized. The nation-state, which is often considered to be both the culmination of Dialectical history and also the global norm of socio-political organization, is used to assess the (mis)application of the Western Dialectic in the non-West. The Zapatistas are presented as a comparative case study to provide a unique and as yet uncharted example of a viable alternative to both the nation-state and the Western Dialectic.