"They are a very festive people!" El baile perpetuo: Comida, arte popular y baile en los videos de enseñanza de español como lengua extranjera

Abstract

This article analyzes a selection of videos that accompany several textbooks for learning Spanish as a second language and which propose to expose students to a range of knowledge,behaviors, and cultural and intercultural understanding. Following a multidisciplinary approach based on critical discourse studies (Teun van Dijk), and de-colonial studies and border thinking (Walter Mignolo y Madina Tlostanova, Mabel Moraña, and Enrique Dussel), this paper examines: (1) some of the stories described in these videos, (2) the recurring thematic representations about the Hispanic communities and (3) the ideological implications which conceal the so-called "social power" in the discourse. After describing and analysing the corpus, this paper concludes that these videos seem to perpetuate a global sense that reinforces prejudices and convictions about our cultures, propagated by other (media) formats. These educational videos do not question these representations, but rather ratify and confirm them through a complex repertoire of generalizations, abstractions, omissions, inferences or contrasts. This proves, as said by Mignolo and Trastanova, that “the modern foundation of knowledge remains territorial and imperial”.