Cartographies of the Cyborgcrip and the Geopolitics of the Empire of the Gaze in Latin America

Abstract

This article analyzes how blind people—in Ecuador, Mexico, and Chile—reconfigure our autonomy in relation to the “empire of the gaze” through practices of existence and re-existence mediated by technology. The methodology relies on a dialogical autoethnography that prioritizes situated knowledge and narrative resonance among participants who take part in a focus group via the Zoom platform. The findings highlight the emergence of the cyborg crip and access-making as forms of situated expertise within an ecosystem of asymmetric innovation, as well as the persistence of design exclusions that force the “translation” of visual interfaces at the cost of time and energy unrecognized by hegemonic visual norms. At the same time, the study underscores technology-mediated community networks as support for assisted autonomy. The article concludes with a proposal for governance grounded in the principle of universal accessibility that co-designs with users, accounts for non-normative temporalities, and, from a decolonial perspective, fosters interdependencies that enable more just collective lives for all.