“From Traditional Skirts to Power”: Cultural Diplomacy and Aesthetic Geopolitics in the 21st Century

Abstract

In the 21st century, cultural diplomacy emerges as a strategic field where image and aesthetics define new forms of symbolic power. This article explores how Bolivia, from its plurinational identity, uses its culture as a geopolitical asset, particularly through fashion as a vehicle for decolonizing aesthetic diplomacy. Relying on Latin American theoretical references such as Zavaleta Mercado and Rivera Cusicanqui, it analyzes the complexity of Bolivian identity as "interlaced identities" in dialogue and tension.The revalorization of textiles, especially the chola aesthetic in fashion, exemplifies how previously marginalized cultural expressions are redefined as symbols of international dignity and cultural visibility. The digital scenario gives opportunities for Latin American aesthetics to dispute global imaginaries without colonial intermediation. The Bolivian case shows that fashion, reinterpreted from decolonizing perspectives, can assert narrative and epistemic sovereignty, laying the foundations for a living, digital, and deeply human Latin American cultural diplomacy. In that way, there is a need for a regional strategy that articulates ancestral knowledge, cultural industries, and technological platforms to project a creative, decolonizing and plural Latin America.