ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature and political significance of shame through the lens of Emilio Uranga’s 1952 book, Analysis of Mexican Being. I argue that Uranga’s analysis of the phenomenological condition he calls “accidentality” advances the contemporary discourse on shame by adding depth and dimension to Dan Zahavi’s phenomenology of shame, while also revealing important similarities between shame and angst. I then offer an interpretive exploration of Uranga’s thought-provoking suggestion regarding how members of marginalized social groups can cope with the shame that is produced by their political and social subordination—namely to embrace this shame, transform it into angst, and use it as a means of subverting colonial ideology and becoming more authentic.
