In a letter of complaint disguised as a chronicle, sent by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala to the Spanish king around 1600, the indigenous scholar paints a drastic picture: he depicts the mountain Potosí in present-day Bolivia, from which the Spaniards insatiably mine precious ores, with intestines and an anus – and he empties himself in the middle of the main square in Seville. Four hundred years later, the filmmakers of the Oscar-winning feature film The Mission try to do everything right. And yet, one day, the indigenous actors go on strike: they demand the same food as the European actors. Using this and numerous other stories, Karin Harrasser shows that encounters between conquerors and the conquered have always had an impact on the body, can be depicted in vivid images – and continue to have an effect as a metabolism to this day.
The Devil's Favorite Food develops a concept of culture that opposes the purity fantasies of right-wing fanatics – as well as the idea that cultural appropriation is a one-way street. Instead, it shows that culture is a process of devouring and being devoured, one that thrives on appropriation and counter-appropriation, one that can be violent, but has also been cleverly countered.
Non-fiction
Karin Harrasser is a cultural scientist who researches the body, technology and science fiction. In recent years, her research has shifted to questions of (cultural) violence as an element of transatlantic relations, which she investigates in Colombia and Bolivia. She has translated Donna Haraway into German and has been involved in various artistic and curatorial projects. She lives in Linz, where she holds a professorship at the University of Arts; Harrasser is also co-director of the International Research Center for Cultural Studies (ifk) in Vienna.
