Resumen de Resistencias simbólicas: Raza, género y magia en Elástico de sombra, de Juan Cárdenas

Catalina Quesada Gómez

• Thanks to the machete and stick fighting (Colombian grima), a martial art from the Afro communities of the Colombian Pacific, writer Juan Cárdenas creates in Elástico de sombra (2019) a literary work that draws on the imagination and cultural framework of the black communities of Cauca (magical thinking, fantastic stories, and the importance of orality). This novel becomes a powerful symbol of the historical resistance in the region, a resistance that encompasses political, aesthetic, racial, and gender dimensions. This essay examines how Elástico de sombra aims to re-center the black communities of the Pacific within the national narrative from which they have been excluded, while also connecting them transnationally, integrating the local context into a broader constellation that extends towards the Caribbean and beyond.