Cultural studies of discourse: Semiotics and dignified life for indigenous women and girls in the contradiction of national discourse

Abstract

This study analyzes the national discourse on the dignified life of Indigenous women and girls from a semiotic and cultural studies perspective. Although official discourse claims to uphold their rights, social reality reveals a persistent structural exclusion. The research incorporates the contributions of theorists such as Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous, bell hooks, Teresa de Lauretis, Luce Irigaray, and Rita Segato, who have problematized the relationship between discourse, power, and gender. Intersectionality is highlighted as a key element in understanding how state discourse homogenizes diverse Indigenous experiences and perpetuates colonial and patriarchal structures. Drawing from authors like Patricia Hill Collins, Ochy Curiel, Aura Cumes, and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, the study demonstrates how political and media language creates a false sense of inclusion while erasing the real struggles and demands of Indigenous women. The analysis of "post-feminization of discourse" and "pedagogy of cruelty" reveals how official narratives function as mechanisms of symbolic control without transforming material conditions of oppression. The study concludes that the discursive construction of Indigenous women continues to follow logics of subordination, reinforcing their dependence on the State and denying them an effective agency in defining their own dignified lives.