SPEAKING OF THE OTHER WITHOUT SPEAKING TO THE OTHER: NA ANALYSIS OF EUROCENTRISM IN SPANISH COLONIZATION OF AMERICA FROM THE LIFE AND WORK OF BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS

Abstract

This article examines Eurocentrism in Spanish colonization of the Americas through the lens of the Spanish friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, renowned as the "defender of the Indians." It seeks to understand whether Las Casas' engagement on behalf of the indigenous peoples was limited to the superficiality of a civilizing endeavor and to what extent it was permeated by ethnocentric ideas inherent in his own social and historical reality. To this end, a bibliographical review is conducted based on the works of Enrique Dussel (1993), Tzvetan Todorov (1982), and Hector Bruit (1993) to provide a comprehensive understanding of the foundations, aspects, arguments, and manifestations of Eurocentrism in Spanish colonization. The paper's development is organized into three parts: the first part explores arguments of superiority present in Eurocentrism by devaluing America and centralizing Europe in world history; the second part analyzes the construction of Las Casas' discourse in light of his political objectives; the third part examines the arguments of Las Casas and Ginés de Sepúlveda in the Valladolid debate; the fourth part delves into the late changes in Las Casas' thought and his perspectives on the future of America shaped by the violence perpetrated by the Spanish against the indigenous peoples, establishing a brief dialogue with the world-system as conceptualized by Ramón Grosfoguel (2008).