“El Matadero”

I decided to focus in  “The slaughterhouse” because in my opinion even though the text alludes to the political system of Argentina, it can be used to analyze the socio-political context of any Latin American country that has begun to develop as an independent nation during the 19^th century. I believe that through our history Latin-American politics and activists have in numerous occasions idealized and seen Europe as a developing utopian society. Therefore, Echevarría presents the slaughterhouse as a metaphor of the Argentina’s socio-cultural dichotomy between civilization and barbarism. Being civilization, the group of progressive ideals, exemplified in European socioeconomic and political structures. Furthermore, the text implies that in the author’s perspective these ideals oppose Rosas’ Regime, which becomes “barbarism”.  He also suggests that the political perception of barbarism is limited to certain ethnic and cultural groups and therefore alludes to an innate savagery. “The Slaughterhouse” proposes that ethnic, social and religious elements allow to contrast civilization and barbarism. Therefore, in the text, the slaughterhouse is a place where the workers have a certain socio-cultural status which relates to an ethnicity that has a tradition of not having enough education to be considered, in the social context of the nineteenth century, as citizens equivalent to the academics as Echevarria, who has the capacity of analyze and understand the political reality. At the same time, the interactions of the individuals of the slaughterhouse are morbid, barbaric and harmful for society.   The author manages to expose the relativism of the differential notions of the same society. The popular conviction of the creoles which explains that Latin America nature of pseudo civilization and political barbarie are the result of the means in which the political elite leads without aiming to achieve foreign models and the certainty that is in the idiosyncrasy of native Latin-Americans to oppose development.

I have always being amazed of the complexity of Eehevarria work but I yet do not understand how his analysis could be so complex but expose really simplistic racist perspectives. Perhaps it is possible that Echevarria as many other creoles could have suggested that indigeneity was an obstacle for civilization?