De los cuerpos al corpus. Una experiencia de investigación en torno al discurso zapatista y sus ecos en el mundo

Abstract

In the process of analysis; it is the body which bears and anchors meaning; as a kind of base or ground. Without the ground (the empirical base); there is no (theoretical) flight; and vice versa. But this body is not a given; it has no a priori existence; just like discourse itself; rather; it is something we construct; creating from the many things or from everything around us a “something” that we can examine up close; detecting and discovering the traces of speech as a meaning-creating activity. In this article we present a methodological summary of an empirical experience; the analytical reading of the intense discursive production of the Zapatista guerrilla movement and its effects worldwide as a creator of meaning; that is; its reception by intellectual fora; movements and social actors; as well as in the press; both within Mexico and; above all; outside it. In the data collection process; but more importantly still in the construction of the corpus; our goal was to create a “reasoned order” among the most diverse variety of materials; genres and sources. This corpus; though closely and explicitly connected to the world at large; also represents its own fictive universe; shaped by the pre-established interests and knowledge of the person(s) constructing it. The selection and organization of materials first assembled on the basis of lexical and situational criteria was not merely a starting point but rather an integral part of the analysis; understanding the latter as moving carefully to and fro between text and context; close-ups and distance views; and macro and micro-levels of reading; alternating between panoramic scans (of newspaper headers; for instance) and close readings (of a single press release; for example). Although the article deals primarily with the conceptual and methodological premises of this reading/view; it also gives a brief summary of a couple of our findings; such as the interactive nature of neo-Zapatist discursive insurgency; and the way it opts for paradox as an anti-essentialist strategy.