Folded Time: Latin American Colonial History and the Nonlinear Narrative Reconstruction of Magical Realism

Abstract

The dominant temporal models within Latin American colonial history appear mainly Eurocentric thereby dismissing the epistemological approaches of indigenous peoples and Afro-Latino communities. The linear structure of historical time functions as a method to eliminate rival cultural perspectives along with alternative memory systems. Through magical realism Latin American literature employs "folded time" storytelling techniques to recover colonization history while conserving cultural practices in ways that combat epistemic injustice. Adopting a qualitative interpretive method, the study applies postcolonial theory and narratology to analyze three major Latin American magical realist texts. The findings suggest that magical realism facilitates historical recovery and cultural continuity through innovative temporal storytelling. Three major Latin American texts include One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez and The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. The narratives use folded time concepts to counter colonial historical accounts and preserve communal memory working from marginalized perspectives to retell misunderstood suffering points. Through magic realism writers retain historical agency among marginalized groups through their delivery of culturally rooted resistance-focused historiography.