Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age

The documents in “Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age” all illustrate a common paradox of being secure in and proud of the Latin American identity, but insecure and vulnerable with regard to Latin American sovereignty. It seems that Latin American academics and writers express wanting more for their people, yet face internal conflict that holds the region back from reaching its full potential. Zapata’s “The Plan de Ayala” is probably the best example of frustration with internal conflict halting progress for Mexico, with strong themes of disappointment and frustration. It is obvious that development and sovereignty were not issues in Latin America for a lack of ideas and great minds, but in sense the people could not catch a break in time before they were handed from one colonial overlord to the next with the foreign exploitation of their resources becoming another contributing factor to their lack of autonomy.

 

“To Roosevelt” stands out particularly because it emphasizes both an admiration for the United States, with North America coming from a common history and able to become so powerful, but simultaneously resents the lack of respect the United States has for Latin American autonomy. Darío, however, identifies what makes Latin America special: “the aromatic America of Columbus, Catholic America, Spanish America…” He is successful in depicting Latin America as something more tangible and living than North America and seeks to suggest that soon Latin America will be strong enough to stand-up to the North, but fails to identify how.

 

Similarly, in the excerpt from “La raza cosmica” it is evident that Latin Americans of this time, whether in agreement with it or not, use North American models and norms to shed light on their own. Here, he supposes that on the question of inter-racial families, unlike the Northern and European norms that are supported by eugenics and taint the blood of Latin America, the future will move towards the pursuit of beauty no matter what race. While his style of writing is sort of brash and vaguely offensive, in the preface, Dawson prompts the reader to put him in the context of his time. In doing so it is more possible to make associations with the world today, and I would argue to some extent, in places where racism is less predominant, and among younger generations, people are more willing to cross racial barriers for love and it often is the case that people tend to procreate with those of similar subjective attractiveness to themselves. While his general insensitivity is a product of the time, I do not think he is completely in error in his analyses of the faults in a race-based culture.

 

I am including an article from National Geographic, which I thought of as soon as I read Vasconcelos text. Where it predicts in 2050, the United States will cease to have identifiable race: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/changing-faces/funderburg-text

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