Posts by Brian:
Mar
9
Transculturation.
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The last time we speak about mestizaje, we enlighten the fact that the theory of syncretism was based on an idea of the dominance of one culture on the others. Thus, the « cosmic race » resulted to be a way to purify the indigenous cultures, which were considered as inferiors. Contrary to the theory in term of syncretism, the transculturation is « a synthesis (of cultures) able to overcome originating contradictions, then another theoretical device would have to be formulated in order to explain sociocultural situations and discourses in which the dynamics of the multiple intercrossings do not operate in a syncretic way but instead emphasize conflicts and alterities.» (Antonio Cornejo Polar p.117).
First, in his text of Antonio Cornejo Polar, explains that the literature in Latin America is based on ruptures. The first ones, was obviously the conquest of the Spaniards, but other forms of heterogeneity also emerge such as the mix of culture with slave population. These ruptures are the base of the mixing cultures in Latin America. These ruptures also stress the term of national literature. Indeed, this term does not seem to be relevant to depict the Latin American literature. First, this term is too broad and is incapable to enlighten the « intranational variant » of the literature of a country. Otherwise, it undermines the possibility of broader categorization. Anyway, Antonio Cornejo points out the fact that the context and the interpretation of Latin American literature by other cultures are also relevant to understand Latin American literature. Indeed, when the chronicles interpret the books of the Latin American writers, they add their own subjectivity. Thus, even if the Latin American literature could be considered as unique, it still is judged by a European point of view. Thus, the theories of dominance between cultures are still relevant.
Moreover, I think that the first text was very interesting because it provides an analysis of the mestizaje in a particular country. The text depicts the different cultures that are represented in modern Cuban culture, a mix of European culture, indigenous ones and African. He enlightens how these cultures inferred and played an important part in the development of a mixed Cuban culture.
Finally, the last text was interesting too. It gives a deep analysis of the concept of transculturation. Thus, transculturation results to be an ideal mixing between different cultures, which consider each other as equal. Transculturation enlightens the differences between the cultures in order to attempt to erase the relation of dominance between the cultures.
Mar
9
Theories of mixture II
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Mar
9
LAST Theories of mixture
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This weeks three readings on theories of mixture were very intriguing. The term transculturation is brought into use in the firs article on Cuba. Fernando explains that in Cuba there has been so many cultures of which have influenced have been so diverse and overshadow in importance to everything. Following this paper Polar begins to talk about literature. Both indigenismo and Heterogeneous literatures are examined. I felt as though when Polar gave some specific cases of homogeneity and heterogeneity I was better able to understand the concepts better. Later on in this piece a quote by Jose Carlos Mariategui caught my attention. “If an indigenous literature must ome, it will come in due time, when the indians themselves are able to produce it” ( Polar 108) This quote caught me off guard and is highly debatable and I personally feel it to be untrue. There is an assumption made that acknoledable Indigenous literature has not already emerged. Finally there is Millingtons paper. I felt his paper for me was a a paper that brought the prior papers and itself together. Talking about ideas and concepts in the last papers and bringing and metamorphing some new ones. In conclusion it is evident that the perception and ways we think of Latin America has been affected by tranculturation. From here however, I believe we need to anaylize and try to understand the processes that affect cultural views and there social realtions.
Mar
9
Transculturation
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The first reading from this week pertains specifically to Cuban culture and the elements that it consists of. The author uses the term transculturation to denote the mixing of various cultures and races which resulted in the evolution of every aspect of Cuban life; however, in his description he makes it clear that some of this mixing was violent and painful. I found this text to be a very interesting read, since it provided a more in-depth analysis of the cultural factors of a specific country. The text describes the different cultures that are represented in modern Cuban culture- two of the major influences were from Europe and Africa. These two regions which were key contributors to Cuban culture could not have been more different: on the one hand, the Europeans brought incredible new technologies, and in effect ushered in a new era. In contrast, the African influence arrived in the form of battered slaves who were torn from their homes and shipped across an ocean to serve European landowners. Like the native Cubans, the slaves were thrown into a culture that was entirely distinct from their own; however, in contrast to the European element, this was not their choice.
The author of the second text discusses indigenista literature, and brings up a very good point about the role that context plays in the interpretation of it. When a piece of literature is taken out of cultural and historical context, much of the meaning is lost. I believe he said this in regards to similarities between Latin American literature and European literature; the point he is making is that while there are necessarily similarities between them, Latin American literature has its own distinctions.
The third reading for this week was by Mark Millington, who referred back to Ortiz’s idea of transculturation from the first reading. One of Millington’s observations is that while many people overlook the “human dimension” of transculturation, Ortiz places the emphasis on “human beings as the bearers of culture and frequently as the victims of cultural change.” However, while Millington admires and agrees with some of what Ortiz says, he also feels that at times Ortiz’s text is confusing and “not wholly coherent”.
Overall, I found these readings to be very interesting; perhaps it was because they (especially the first one) dealt exclusively with one country and the processes which shaped the culture of that particular place.
Mar
9
Transculturation
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I thoroughly enjoyed the readings for this week. Similar to our readings on “mestizaje”, it was interesting to read work by the original author of studies on “transculturation” and then be able to read work by an author who tests the arguments presented by the originator. I found the Ortiz article and Millington article fairly straight-forward to read. However, the Cornejo-Polar reading was slightly harder for me to follow and relate to the topic of transculturation.
The idea of transculturation seems to be quite an ambiguous and debatable topic, similar to mestizaje. However, as discussed in class, it is this exact ambiguity and lack of a concrete definition for these terms that makes it vital to figure out exactly what they mean. Ortiz describes this term transculturation, which seems to be a much more positive concept than mestizaje. It combines the notion of “disadjustment and readjustment, of deculturation and acculturation” (p.98). The case of transculturation is an interesting one. I particularly liked how Ortiz stressed that “one of the strange social features of Cuba [is that] all its classes, races and cultures, coming in by will or by force, have all been exogenous and have all been torn from their places of origin” (p. 100). I think this is an important point that is often overlooked in these discussions of cultural mixing. The people of Cuba (to use it as an example), assembled in a particular social hierarchy according to their cultural background, did not arrive to Cuba necessarily as part of that social standing. The Europeans came from a variety of countries, backgrounds, and classes, but upon arrival they were the “masters”. The Africans also came from a variety of countries and classes, but they became the “slaves”. I feel this point is often forgotten or ignored in discussions of cultural mixing in Latin America.
The Cornejo-Polar text on indigenismo was a bit harder for me to grasp. However, what I understood from the article was that a problem occurs in literature whereby there exists “an unequal relationship between its system of production and consumption on one hand, and the referent on the other, granting notable supremacy to the former and obscuring the latter under the force of the interpretation that is superimposed upon it.” (p. 107). Conflict occurs when text written in one context is read and interpreted in a different context to the one the author meant it to be interpreted in. The reader has power over the writer to impose their own views and ideas onto the text, potentially taking away meanings the author had never intended. I’m not entirely sure how the concepts and ideas described in this article exactly relate to the topic of transculturation, so I’m hoping these ties will be made clearer in class dicussion.
I felt like Millington did bring up some convincing weaknesses in Ortiz’s arguments. I especially liked Millington’s argument that the simile of the embrace in Ortiz’s definition of transculturation is “rather bland and unconvincing at this stage, and it would be interesting to hear more about how the Africans in Cuba ’embraced’ the cultures of Europe and how the Spaniards on the island ’embraced’ African cultures” (p.263). I feel that this idea of “embrace” is rather unconvincing. While, in transculturation, we do see exchanges between 2 cultures, these exchanges are not necessarily voluntary and “embraced” in a positive way, as Ortiz defines it. Sometimes these exchanges arise simply because two cultures are forced to co-exist, and inevitably they begin to influence one another, whether voluntarily or not.
Mar
9
Transculturation
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I think I was doing pretty well with the term “transculturation” until I reached Millington’s article. According to Millington “transculturation stands alone as a description of a process of mixing” and “hybridisation… is linked with hybridity as a general concept… and with hybrid as a label for the product which is the outcome of a mixing process.” Now, would this “mixing process” be transculturation? And if so, can someone be labeled as hybrid after a process of transculturation?
Mar
9
Transculturation
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The readings for this week talk about the concept of transculturation.
Ortiz presents the word as an alternative to acculturation, which he argues implies an acquiring of culture. He says that the process undergone in Cuba and the Americas as a whole (to varying extents) is more like a mother and a father giving birth to a child, whereas the result is something original and unique. He calls the process a social phenomenon that has implications on every aspect of life in Cuba and somehow summarizes its history (“the real history of Cuba”) extremely well in just five pages. I thought his use of the appropriately Caribbean metaphor “a hurricane of culture” in reference to Europe coming to the America’s was fascinating: “A revolutionary upheaval shook the Indian peoples of Cuba…” It was an interesting excerpt from the Cuban Counterpoint and is extremely relevant to everything we’ve been talking about in class. There are problems in that it seems to oversimplify, as Millington touches on. I feel like if Ortiz’s “real history” were made any more analytical or in depth his idea of transculturation would become much more complicated. I noticed that automatic spell-check doesn’t like the word either.
Millington seeks to rethink Ortiz idea, much like Peter Wade with mestizaje. He draws out some problems with Ortiz argument and presentation and applies the concept to the modern world, where we know that cultures aren’t Moms and Dads and globalization and some other -izations increasingly blur the lines between seemingly everything.
Polar writes about ‘indigenista’ literature and the need to understand how interpreting something in one context that is made in another is problematic. He never actually uses the world transculturation in the first part, but he invokes the concept subconsciously throughout. Even though I’m not familiar with indigenismo I thought it was interesting how he shows that “indigenista is not indigenous.” Basically, he explains, indigenismo is a more Western-oriented style that resignifies aspects of indigenous culture.
All the readings this week were great; maybe they’re just starting to make more sense, though.
Mar
9
Theories of mixture II: transculturation
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These week’s readings discuss several complex academic terms all related to Latin American post colonial societies and there structures. I think that the real complexity raised by such concepts is the different understandings and interpretations of each writers…
The first short passage of Fernando Ortiz’s book describes ‘transculturation’ as a constitutive historical feature of Cuban society. I liked the way he emphasizes the violence of these different phases of immigration for humans themselves: he gives to this historical account a powerful and tragic resonance. I found relevant his definition of transculturation as the transition to a new culture trigerring the painful loss of another; however I had troubles with his comparing of the oppression of African slaves in Cuba to the so-called ‘terror’ of European oppressors! To refer to his clever and meaningful metaphor, European immigrants have been a real ‘hurricane’. To him, transculturation is more than the passage from one culture to another. Ortiz describes the culture acquired as something completely new which mixed both features of the place of origin and the place of arrival. To represent this process he alludes to human reproduction which reminded me of Vasconcelos words in the Cosmic race. His text was full of allusions to reproduction and love as the priviledged way to create a new race. Although Ortiz admits the positive aspect of transculturation, I though he emphasized quite more the dark and difficult side of Cuban cultural intercrossings.
Antonio Cornejo Polar’s article concerns heterogeneous litterature and the concept of heterogeneity. I think he explains that contrary to the concept of national litterature, one has to understand that this so-called homogeneity is actually challenged by regional and global categories. Indigenismo is described as one of these heterogeneous litteratures reflecting the diversity of Andean societies. Indigenismo is heterogeneous because it is produced within a sociocultural structure that is different from the one indigenous belong to. He shows not only how indigenismo has been influenced by Western standards, but also that it is mainly the discourse of middle-class activists that ‘internalized’ the interests of indigenous. Polar explains that ‘instead of imagining an impossible homogeneity’ (as national ideology does), indigenismo realizes a sort of materialization of Latin American heterogeneity. Thus I understood that heterogeneous litterature were a representation of the Latin American reality of social fragmentation due to history. Indeed, Polar sees his concept of heterogeneity as including a notion of persistant conflict and contradictions whereas transculturation or mestizaje refer to the resolution of originating antagonisms into a synthesis. Heterogeneity is supposed to help understand how multiplicity within a whole social structure generates conflicts. He speaks of a ‘contradictory totality’.
Millington’s article, although complex as well, helps clarify some points. He also assumes that transculturation is a more neutral and peaceful term. Generally speaking he shares Ortiz’s point of view about his concept of transculturation and its application to Cuba. He explains that these processes refered to as transculturals are unique to Latin America. However, I am not quite sure he shares Polar’s point of view given that he ends his essay by defining transculturation as a search for resistance to local and international pressure since the emergence of Latin American new nation-states. If true, transculturation also includes conflictiveness.
I found very interesting the passage where he questions the efficiency of ‘neoculturation’ in Latin America saying that this search for a cultural identity needs to be more than a reaction/opposition to dominant forces. I found that these remarks were really interesting and relevant. His point is that the understanding and development of such concepts as transculturation, heterogeneity, hybridity and others are necessary in order to define ’emancipatory spaces’ for Latin America. I have to say he succeeded at cheering me up with this idea, after I struggled to understand these concepts that are all so close to each other!
Mar
8
Transculturation
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In Cuba Counterpoint by Fernando Ortiz I found it interesting to read the difference between acculturation and transculturation. Acculturation in Ortiz’s point of view, does not describe the history and culture of Cuba as well as transculturation. Just to be clear between the two I went to look on to dictionary.com and here is what I found : Acculturation is the process of adopting cultural traits from another cultural group, whereas transculturation is the cultural change induced by foreign cultures.
What Ortiz argues is that the real history of Cuba is best described using the term transculturation. The land and the people have not simply adopted each others traits, but have readjusted to each others cultures in a what Ortiz calls a “new syncretism of cultures.” (On a personal note, I didn’t know that the natives in Cuba, like in Haiti, were wiped out by the European colonist. I find that interesting because it makes me wonder what sort of influences they would have on Cuba’s contemporary popular culture.) Emphasized in this text is that what is contemporary Cuban culture is in a continuous process since the interactions between the paleolithic and neolithic natives to the Spanish colonist and subsequent African slaves and immigration.
Antonia Cornejo Polar takes a critical examination on the various types of literature by specifically classifying heterogenous and homogenous literature according to the processes of their production and consumption. The aim of this paper I believe was to provide a critical examination between these two distinctions, but I don’t really understand the purpose. Literature in Latin America encompasses a wide range of genres or “categories”, but what I think Polar wanted to emphasize is that often these texts are heterogenous, meaning that they are a created through a complexities and conflicting circumstances from its production to its “consumption”. I admit that although this article contained lots of interesting substance,I believe I may have misunderstood parts of it as I frequently consulted the dictionary close by. But one thing caught my curiousity was when Polar explained the way in which middle class mestizos, through their publication of indigenista literature, conformed to a heterogenous dimension in such that they took on the interests of the indigenous when in fact most indigenista literature excluded these very people. This would be interesting to elaborate more in class through discussion.
In Transculuration, I believe what Millington was trying to argue was for more of a reflection upon the usage of the term transculturation. Millington discussed and analyzed Ortiz’s text as he drew upon it various criticisms associated with it. I found this article interesting as it went more into depth whereas I found Ortiz’s definition of transculturation a bit simplified. All in all the term transculturation seems very debatable but I liked what Millington said in his conclusion: ” Such critical analysis may not in itself change the world but it can further understanding of what is happening in it”.
Mar
8
Theories of mixture: transculturation
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The first reading was by Fernando Ortiz. I liked how he explained that transculturation encompasses more processes involved in the evolution of cultures, in this case Cuban culture. I liked how he explained how the white people and the people of colour arrived to Cuba. I think that those distinctions are important when trying to understand the reactions of the different groups of people that leaded to the formation of the Cuban culture.
In the second article by Antonio Cornejo I understood that he was trying to point out that Latin American literatures should be understood in the basis of its own and in the basis of other literatures. I think that because sometimes when Latin American literature is compared to European some critics say that it is just a copy and at some point I think it has some aspects of the European literature but at the same time has new aspects, but there is not a clear cut because the process of mixing is quite complex just as the racial mixing. I think that Cornejo also wrote that through literature people from Latin America can try to understand themselves and the dynamics of the culture. When he writes about Chronicles he says that the author always compares things of the “new world” to things that already known, so all the Chronicles have to have a reference point. For Indigenismo he writes that it is not called Indigenous literature because it is not written by Indigenous people but for middle-class, radical people that see the marginalization of Indigenous people. I think it would be even better if Indigenous people could have their own voice to represent themselves.
I enjoyed reading the last article also because even though he points out the flaws of Ortiz he also recognizes the good parts of Ortiz´s argument. Mark Millington writes that the word transculturation is some kind of teleology that gives the people of Latin America a sense of an identity within the different “national-bodies” of the region. I liked also how he connects the meaning of the transculutration with the past colonial legacies and with the present globalization. After reading that article I felt that as the world changes and as we face new challenges, we (human beings) need explanations so that is why words such as transculturation become so meaningful.
Mar
6
Little bit from Mexico
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Mar
5
response to Tory´s blog
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I like your comments because I also thought about the Zapatista´s murals, it might be that because we took that class with Marvin with thought about those murals. About the second reading I was also confused but I like how you connected Taussig´s study to explain “oneself” and the “other” in this case Venezuela and North America.
Mar
4
Thus far
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Well I’m a tad behind in my blogs as I’ve let them slip a bit but I’m back on it!
So I’m in my last year at UBC and I’ve taken sooo many different courses over the six years I’ve been in school. I almost have a minor in Asian studies, I’ve taken tons of Anthropology, Sociology and of course Psychology. Of all the courses I’ve taken so far in my academic career this is one of the most different. I love the small class size, it makes everything just that more intimate and I can actually speak to the people around me and get their opinions. This class is one of the only small classes I’ve had at UBC and I like being able to have class discussions about what we’re reading and learning about.
I really enjoy learning about Popular culture in Latin America, it’s so refreshing learning about something you know absolutly nothing about and being able to actually talk about it with intelligent people is an awesome gift.
I’ve enjoyed most of the readings thus far although I have to say there were a couple that I enjoyed more than the rest. I really enjoyed Eva Peron’s mesage, I thought it was very heartfelt and really gave us another point of view of popular culture. I also really liked Pongo’s dream, although short, I really thought it had so much to say, in an indirect way. I really enjoy reading about the history of different practices in Latin America,such as Muralism. The details about murals in Mexico and other places was interesting in their different meanings conveyed. Learning about such people as Rivera and Kahlo and what their art represents, it was interesting in terms of popular culture and how it’s defined. and presented to the public.
These readings and the discussions we have in class have really clarified the term popular culture, in Latin America for me. All these different aspects bring to life a new way of looking at one’s reality. The merging of political change, high to low culture, popular practices such as murals and public places really are starting to bring Latin America’s popular culture to life. At the beginning of this course I knew nothing about what we were going to be learning and now I am much more equipped to make an educated statement about what I think Popular culture in Latin America is.
Mar
4
Muralism
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Although quite long, the readings were interesting this week. I really enjoy the thought of murals having a large impact on popular culture in Latin America. The first reading really hit it home what muralism is and how it affects popular culture in so many ways. I really enjoy the background as always, the history of something such as murals in Latin America. I enjoy this because I can also relate as I have many artists as friends and they participate in painting murals in Vancouver and other places all the time. I can easily see how it changes minds and views of art in a dramatically different way. Murals really bring forward the reality of an area or place and lets the whole world know what’s going on.
The different stories about all the people who are touched by murals, or perceive them in different ways than what might be expected is also interesting. In our first reading the women in Colonia Guerrero talk about how they see murals in the context of their experiences and lives, “in relation to the spaces they occupy and the experience they are interpreted as depicting.” This shows how murals are incorporated into their everyday lives, these murals are somewhat ‘ordinary’ so to speak, living the lives these women lead every day. They love the idea of having murals in the places they frequent the most, being part of their relaity as well as telling it’s own.
The way murals are a part of popular places, places that are walked by every day by people who are willing to look and listen, these are the ways in which things are changed. To paint a mural depicting a suffering culture, would be to break the silence that most people become accustomed to, to make change and call out the wrong in life. This first reading speaks a lot about political change, public discourse and how murals often attempt to bring something to light.
The second reading was a little more complicated. I love the stroy telling aspect of this reading but I found it difficult to find my way out of the story it was trying to tell. Ok that was confusing, so what I mean to say is that I didn’t know the underlying meaning of this story, I found it difficult to decipher it’s content but perhaps that’s my problem.
Mar
4
Folk Culture and Modernity
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The readings this week were really interesting, complete and descriptive. However they were also really long and I found it really hard to finish them over the weekend. However, having read them now I feel they brought together some of the ideas that we have been talking about in our classes so far. The notion of power dynamics and struggles and how it all in turn affects and aids in creating the popular culture of a society.
The first reading aims at examining, “specifically, public space and discourse, state power, and civil societal movements…” Campbell explains muralism as an art and expression, and how it contributes to Mexican culture. The Murals combine many aspects of culture at all levels of society. They combine folk culture and modern culture and are produced by people working towards a similar expression, action, events, histories, etc in an artistic form that is open to all members of a community. These massive prints are viewed by many generations of people and understood as expressions of power relations between “the people” and the state. Peoples experiences are expressed in the murals, the experiences they have shared and how those experiences have in turn created what they have today. Members of communities come together to share the troubles they have faced together and express these in their art.
The second article by Taussig, was also interesting but it took a while for me to get into it. To be honest I don’t know if I really got it, or got it right at least. I found I had to read a section over a few times, making myself be really present in order to ‘get’ his writing style. “The Queen Spirit” is not really full of such in depth descriptions like Campbells writing about culture and how it comes to be. Taussig more or less provides descriptions that enable the reader to picture for themselves the formation of a culture. His article describes Colombia’s power struggles and the interactions between poorer and more developed worlds. This article had lots of examples but im still not so sure if I’m getting it right.. I look forward to discussing it all in class to see if im on the right track here!
Mar
4
…muralismo…
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Mar
3
Folk culture versus Modernity
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Okay, so I got home from school last night only to find that my internet wasn’t working. I swear! It won’t get fixed until Thursday now, so I’m submitting this from campus. A day late, but here it is:
The readings for this week are both very interesting, long, but interesting.
The text from Campbell was the easier to read, but still very dense and informative. The split between muralism and the state in post-revolutionary Mexico period seems like a logical development to me. Art is experience: “The murals make us remember our experiences together, how we built all of this ourselves, and all the troubles we had.” When your troubles are your leadership, your art is going to show that, and official sponsorship becomes official oppression. Campbell goes much deeper than this though. His analysis of the shift and its implications is complex, insightful, and extremely interesting. I wouldn’t have understood half this at the beginning of the semester. I couldn’t possibly write about the whole text (and I loved it all), so I’ll just make one interesting remark. We talked about resignification in class as a form of popular resistance to state or commercial culture. I thought it was interesting when Campbell shows how the state can also use resignification, best exemplified by some of the public images he presents at the very beginning of his introduction. As a result, he says, the mural form becomes “occupied territory.” An excellent way of putting it!
The second reading, by Taussig, took me some getting used to. But once I understood his writing style everything started making much more sense and the reading more enjoyable. I’ll be honest, though, I haven’t quite finished reading all of it; it will get done tonight. Taussig and Campbell’s writings are in many ways similar but in others very different. Taussig writes in a narrative, almost like a travel log or something. As a result, his goal is not so much an in-depth analysis of the processes involved in the creation of culture, but to paint a picture of a culture. The picture he paints, however, is not so unlike Campbell. The state, for instance, is ever-present and powerful. Also, there is a noticeable relationship between the folk and the state or the folk and modernity. Taussig frequently stresses a not so level interaction between the developed and the developing worlds. “Oil out. Cars, ammo, and videos in,” he repeats. He shows us world of remote villages and superstitious people linked to modern urban society by the “no-man’s land of the highway.” I like the writing and found the content engaging, but my ability to extract what I know is there is limited, so I’m looking forward to discussing this in class.
Mar
3
Folk culture and modernity
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As Campbell shows in his text, muralism is an important element of the Mexican culture: murals belong to the Mexican cultural patrimony. Muralism belongs both to folk culture and modernity.It is a part of folk culture in its form: an artistic creation not produced for the market and produced by a collective of people. Murals tell the history of the Mexican nation and are like urban prints which could been viewed by generations from generations. Murals are a kind of national legacy. As Octavio Paz said, « Mural painting belongs to what might called the wax museum of Mexican nationalism ».
Moreover, they also belong to modernity because they have been painted in a specific political context. As Campbell mentions in his text, one could divide muralism in different eras: the hegemony of the Mexican School mural arts from the 1920’s until the 1960’s which opens a new era, and the crisis of the official public sphere with the end of the State support of muralism and the apparition of graffiti as a form of unofficial mural practice not supported by the State.
Modernity means a creation of a political space, separation between the private and the public sphere. The actors of the public sphere are the rulings but also the ruled.The « tres grandes » participated in the creation of an official public sphere in order to strengthen the construction of the nation, they « open » this public space to the people because murals were in public space so they were accessible to everybody and also because it was not a written but a visual language. It was an « art public » whom one of its goals was to democratize the public institutions and try to make the people participate in the public sphere. The murals gave a concrete, territorial dimension to the official public sphere and incarnated the political struggles. It was also an open space because people were represented so they could feel concerned, it was « public for art ». By being represented on the mural Mexican people became visible on the political scene but it does not mean that they were active.
Moreover, as Campbell emphasizes, « Latin American societies evolved without developing most of the strong sectors of civil society that emerged in other countries. » The « tres grandes » were quite constrained, bounded (ex: they were not to represent too much the indigenous people) in their creation and had to undergird the official discourse of the State so it was also a « closed » public sphere insofar as murals had to suit to the State’s standards and be in accordance with the official discourse which promoted one particular kind of ideology otherwise the walls were destroyed. State imposed official limits in the painting of the murals so the expression of the civil society was constrained, bridled. The painters, predominantly communist tried to put a political message across their paintings so they combined traditional aesthetic with modernity insofar as their murals represented the present and not the past of Mexico though.
I didn’t really get the text by Taussig. I guess it was about the construction, legitimation of the State: how could we legitimate something which doesn’t physically exist? Taussig speaks about all the symbolism created around the State so it may be a way to show that the magic used in the myths and legends is the same that the symbolism used to legitimate the State: all this is based on believes.
Mar
3
Folk Culture and Modernity
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While I found both articles very interesting and insightful, they were long, and at points difficult to understand, so I admit that I did some skimming to get through them. With that said, I think that both articles were good representations of many of the themes we have discussed in class in action. Murals symbolically represent many of the elements that we have discussed in relation to popular culture, counter hegemonic discourse, relationships of power, high culture and low culture, and a contestation of public space. Murals in Mexico are both a literal and metaphorical canvasses of self and societal expression. In them are embedded complex notions of history, oppression, and marginalization, resistance, struggle, and solidarity. Interestingly, figures such as Diego Rivera, who painted murals to challenge status quo ideas in somewhat controversial ways have since become figures of Mexican culture and nationhood, and their art which at one time acted as a canvass of expression of celebrating the people (in the Evita Peron context of the word) has since been elevated to the status of high art.
This article brought up notions of public space; what is public space and whom exactly does this space belong to? There seems to be a contestation on who can have total access to this space, as much if it is sanctioned by the state and thus has limitations on the extent of self-expression deemed acceptable. Likewise, this article shows that when this expression goes too far, it can be in fact taken back by the state, and as a result, like much of popular culture exists within the context of struggle. According to Campbell, “The current public visibility of Mexican muralism is afflicted with a bewildering duality. On the one hand, mural art continues to be accorded great national prestige as a public cultural form. On the other, the great bulk of the country’s mural production…is destroyed (29)”. Mexican Muralism, much like popular culture in general, is often a representation of the current struggles of the time. The author points out that today, as neoliberalism and privatization ensues and causes further inequalities, many of these themes are reflected within the sphere of public art.
I thought that the idea of “colonization of urban space by commercial advertising,” was very interesting, as I have never really thought of it like this before. While here in North America we may not consider the state to be an instrument of blatant coercion or propaganda, at the same time, we have no choice in constantly being exposed to advertising everywhere we go. I suppose this advertising is a form of ideological indoctrination into the capitalist system. It is interesting to see how through taking over these spaces, public art acts as an arena for cultural contestation.
While reading this article, I kept thinking of my two trips to Oaxaca, one in June of 2006, and the other, last summer. During my first trip I unknowingly found myself in the midst of a very heated political conflict between the teachers of Oaxaca and the government. It was a time of a lot of chaos, violence, and police brutality, but was met with great organization of the people through huge rallies and public dissent. What started as a teachers strike was elevated as a reaction to state oppression to become a unified struggle between indigenous groups, activists, students, women, and many other supporters throughout Mexico against a political regime they perceived as corrupt and illegitimate. When I left Oaxaca the first time, the situation was very chaotic and much of the city was left in shambles. However, when I returned two years later, I was amazed at the amount of street art that seemed to blossom in the wake of this tense situation. The walls of the city seemed to become literal canvasses for cultural contestation, solidarity, and self-expression. Oaxaca is a very artistic city in general, but I was truly taken aback by the stories that were told in these walls. As the article mentioned, there were many layers of paint on these walls as many of the murals had been painted over by the state to be then taken back by the people, and so on and so forth. But in this contestation is a history of the struggle for power and self-expression; something that is very telling about popular culture in Latin America all together.
Mar
3
Mar
3
Folk Culture and Modernity
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To begin, I feel I should say what a few other people have said in regards to the quantity of reading for this week; this was ENTIRELY too much reading for one week. While I found both pieces extremely interesting and valuable, it was a struggle to complete both in the space of a week without really compromising the time I allot to read for other courses. That said…
While I really enjoyed both readings, I found the Taussig piece to be particularly insightful and relevant to the course. I feel that both articles heavily emphasized our previously stated course-themes of power struggle and the dynamics of power in shaping popular culture–these dynamics are most obvious in the Mexican murals discussed by Campbell which traditionally were meant to incorporate aspects of high and low culture and present them in a forum accessible to the general public (I found the mention of our good friend Vasconcelos’ role in mural painting to be very interesting…). As Campbell explains, muralism has gradually become more of a medium of “the people” or the lower classes utilized as a form of expression to articulate power relations between themselves and the state. This article immediately brought to mind the murals of the Zapatistas of Chiapas–a very popular form of public artistic expression which I was surprised he did not mention. These murals are utilized not only to publicly define and portray the EZLN’s struggle against the Mexican state, but also to portray community values and the group’s history. It is for this reason that many of these murals are painted on the walls of EZLN schools with the intent of inculcating students with a common history and set of values. I’m glad that we covered Mexican muralism (despite the author’s omission of the Chiapan/Oaxacan murals) because it may be the most concrete example of contemporary Latin American “popular culture” we’ve covered in the course so far.
In regards to Taussig’s article, I found it extremely challenging initally, but some background reading about the author gave a little insight into what I feel may be his intent with the Spirit Queen. According to a few blurbs I managed to come across, Taussig’s academic project is aimed to utilize Anthropology’s constant study of the fictionalized “other” to reflect upon Western culture and critique it. It seems that Taussig regards ethnographic/anthropological study as a way of comparing Western culture to its alternatives and using this comparative study as a self-reflexive process for anthropologists (and perhaps all academics). We can perhaps see traces of this in his piece “The Spirit Queen” in the constant refrain “Oil out, cars, ammo and videotapes in.” This refrain reminds us of our own preconceptions about areas like Colombia as a location of the “Other”–a place distinctly separate and different from “North American” culture and a place with which we engage in political and cultural power struggles through trade, the media, etc. So while this piece is full of a million diverse examples of power struggles within Colombia as well as many artefacts of “popular culture,” it also reminds us of our place within that cultural power struggle and how we contribute to the shaping of foreign cultures as well as our own.
Mar
3
State and Popular culture: a complex relation.
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I think that these two texts enlighten the relationship between State and popular culture. How does State infer in popular culture?
The first text focuses on the evolution of Mexican murals. The author particularly discusses the fact that these murals suffered from several onslaughts of the governments. He raises the issue that these murals are still considered as a symbol of public expression whereas it « is effaced by cyclical onslaughts of governments or electoral propaganda, is displaced in the colonization of urban space by commercial advertising and images, and suffers the more gradual erasure inflicted by the elements on work of art executed within the marginal economy of the unofficial » (p29). Moreover, he compares the murals as palimpsests. The palimpsests were the paper on which the people wrote in the Antiquity. They wrote new things on already used paper, and thus, they erased the previous thing they had written. This means that as the political situation of the country change, the murals as a form of popular culture evolves too. However, as it evolves, it also erases the previous murals. In his text, Campbell shows how the Mexican governments used murals does as an object of power. For example, he explains that murals were used to increase the nationalism in Mexico. Most of the time, it depicts the people. Nevertheless, even if the government used Mexican murals, it seems that the murals had its own ideology. This explains why murals suffered from censorship. However, now, murals are considered as « things of the past » because of the modernization, the urbanization and the rise of advertising. What does it mean? In their text, William Rowe and Vivian Schelling explain that the media, which convey popular culture, evolve but still be alive. Could we say the same thing for murals? Are the Mexicans murals and their ideology still alive?
Then, I do not clearly understand the second text. The style is complicated and the text is full of metaphors. State is compared with « a queen mountain ». I think the author tries to explain how the imposition of the nation-state was difficult for other people (African slaves, Indians, ect.) who were not used to living in a nation-state organisation. The acceptance of this model was followed by wars and violence. Today, the popular culture is also inspired by this reaction against the model of nation-state. Could this explain why states are so suspicious towards popular culture?
Mar
3
Arte Aca
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I have to say that although this week’s readings were long, I found them very engaging. Especially the Campbell article, because it explored a part of Latin American culture that many times goes unnoticed by the people living or commuting by the areas where some of this public murals rest. I became completely engaged early in Campbell’s article early when reading about the Tepito arte Aca. For once, I have never seen these murals personally, but given the harsh environment in which these artists grew up I assume that some of the work must be fascinating. Not only because it was partially a political movement, but also because it served an alternative outlet for emotions, including anger and frustration – which often is let out through violence -. Furthermore, Campbell’s analysis seemed to be very through, not only was he interested on what happened to this form of art. He was also interested to see what happened to the people.
To many, the fact that many of the leaders of the arte Aca movement ended up being part of the bureaucratic system in Mexico might have been a surprise. Now, I am not going to pretend I have always know why the government during the PRI – party that was on power over 70 years till the 2000 elections – era actively absorbed leaders of civil movements into its ranks, however I would like to share with you something I recently learned in a PoliSci class regarding Latin American politics. The PRI regime is consider a Bureaucratic Authoritarian regime, what that means would take a while to explain, but how it connects to our class is the following way: the PRI constantly used government revenues to buy off political opponents. This is relevant because during the 1980s when Mexico for several reasons underwent a financial crisis, this large bureaucratic network could no longer be fed. The result was the resurgence of political opposition, which ended up in their removal of power – that is in essence a term of PoliSci for you -.
So where am I going with this?
Very simple, the tentacles of the state reach/or use to reach farther than many people thought. However, this arte Aca movement in my opinion did not die… it evolved. In many areas of Mexico one can now find the so called “graffitis.” These forms of ‘art’ are usually disregarded as acts by rebellious, angry, disrespectful teens. Yet, many of them contain clear political connotations, and definitely reflect certain social aspects of society. I wish, Campbell had taken a few of these examples. I know that on my next trip to Mexico City I’ll keep my eyes open and wont disregard this ‘acts of vandalism’ just yet.
Mar
2
Modernity and Folk Culture
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The first reading we had this week was about Mexican murals. Campbell discusses the controversial messages of Mexican murals, their decided place in the history of art, and the ways in which governments and modernization try to erase or modify them. The article begins by describing four distinct public images, the first couple of which are political, talking about the way politicians use Mexican murals to encourage their popularity, nationalism. The next is about modernization and the controversy over it in Tepito. The last is the most local-feeling one, where women from a vecinidad talk about the importance of the murals in their communities. In the high times of Mexican murals, the images were used to represent the people (the working class and the campesinos) the “serial extremes of state and society”, nationalism, and other national social and political issues, like modernization and poverty. Mexican muralism is recognized as a cultural form, but art historians believe it is a thing of the past, unchanging with time. Muralism has “died” for various reasons, including the disparity between muralists’ ideologies and the government’s ideologies, and the increase of urbanization and the reach of mass advertizing. Modernization has infringed upon this expression of folk culture, through the replacement of old traditional housing (which are homes to many murals), by “modern” housing. I realized how important muralism was to Mexico when the author talks about Arnold Belkin in 1961, when he talks about how “Mexican nationalism was an inspiration for the rest of the world” and he is trying to encourage its revival. It’s disappointing that modernization and dominating ideologies could suppress such a compelling art form. I think Mexican muralism was and is an important cultural form, as it expresses a lot of the day-to-day struggles/issues of the people, as well as monumental events that shaped the local and national histories. I think that muralism, when unmodified by government ideologies, is a very honest and raw depiction of the people. I don’t know enough of Mexican muralism to say whether I think it’s “dead” or not. It could be that muralism gave way to graffiti, an art form that has not been acclaimed as skilled or particularly “high-brow”. I think as long as there is some kind of easily accessible, street-level art form that is produced and consumed by the people (of all social, economic, and political standings) and that expresses their political and social ideas, it is a legitimate art form.
I got really lost with the next readings by Taussig. The author talked about different characters, including the spirit queen, the Liberator, el negro primero and el indio. This week’s topic has to do with modernity and folk culture, so, I’m guessing that these characters have to do with these subjects. The more “folk” characters of el indio, el negro primero, and the spirit queen embody folk culture, while the Liberator is shown as more modernized. The stories have a lot to do with spirits, possession, and the worship of these spirits. I hope that the discussion of these readings by Taussig help me understand them better!!
Mar
2
Folk culture and modernity
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In the reading entitled “The Politics of Visibility” authored by Bruce Campbell talks about the stages in which murals have taken shape in throughout Mexico. I did not like the way in which he presented these stages at first, with his introduction and description of each painting individually, it was quite drab. Once Campbell gets into the ‘Politics’ of the murals it gets interesting. He shows how depending on the how the government wanted its cultural icons and symbols to be display in a certain fashion. This is especially prevalent according to the author in the case of education which has show us the power of manipulation in a place such as Mexico. Campbell talks about how nationalism became huge because of governmental pressure, to distinct itself from other Latin American countries. It does show an exertion of manipulation and culture creation at the same time. Certain paintings during times of revolution show just that, revolting. During times of catholic dominance, murals were made to display certain things, in order not to offend. I believe the other presents the new trend in murals has turned into graffiti.
The second article discusses the nation state and spirit possession. This was a somewhat difficult read as it was written in some sort of mix between native story telling techniques and plain English. The beginning passage talks of some sort of “Spirit Queen” in relation to nation state fetishism. I agreed with the majority of things said in this passage as I believe them to be true about nationalism and how people view themselves within a state. I also enjoyed the map on page eight about the colonialist powers exploitation of the country for its oil and its need for cars and videos. This is a such a simple drawing I could have done it myself but I holds within it a very power and insightful throught around neo-colonialist relations.
