The cultural identities consolidated by writers like José Vasconcelos, Fernando Ortiz, Nicolás Guillén, Gilberto Freyre, and Oswald de Andrade, and naturalized as national discourses from the 1920s forward, are derived from earlier formulations. But their cultural emphasis is new, as is their reading of mixture to have produced a superior, and not degraded or derivative … More 157 revised, and still not excellent words
It is in the twentieth century that this racialized discourse becomes cultural, and mestizaje becomes a trope for the nation. The cultural identities consolidated by writers like José Vasconcelos, Fernando Ortiz, Nicolás Guillén, Gilberto Freyre, and Oswald de Andrade, and naturalized as national discourses from the 1920s through the 1960s and beyond, are derived from … More I do not like this paragraph after all, and must improve the prose
If mestizaje in the colonial period was a strategy supporting hispanization and European hegemony, the nineteenth century nation-states harnessed it to marginalize blackness and indigeneity yet more thoroughly than the colony had done (Mariátegui 1928, Lund). The mestizo as idealized citizen-subject supported, and did not contest elite hegemony; alliances were with the lighter, not the darker … More Total words today, 92 and continuing, as I procrastinate about taking the car to the shop…
“If mestizaje in the colonial period was a strategy supporting hispanization and European hegemony, the nineteenth century nation-states harnessed it to marginalize blackness and indigeneity yet more thoroughly than the colony had done (Mariátegui 1928, Lund). The mestizo as idealized citizen-subject supported, and did not contest elite hegemony; Mestizo presence did not disturb racial hierarchies, … More 30 additional words
Here it is. Iceland is the best country, and Afghanistan the worst; Maine is the best state and Louisiana the worst. Number of police employees and persons incarcerated in Louisiana are what push us over the edge but we have many other indicators of a lack of peace. Within the United States, only Louisiana comes out red … More 2013 Global Peace Index
Yes, it is slow and not original, but I have a lot else going on and this moves my piece ahead. It could use further precision; the need for precision and concision is making me go slowly since I am about to argue that Doris Sommer misreads history and need to set a very clear … More Words today: 80
When before the Congress of Angostura Bolívar proposes to shape nations by mixing the “diverse blood” of the new citizens (1819), he makes a double gesture. The new nations are conceived in racial terms and at the same time situate themselves, at least at the level of public discourse, beyond race and racialization. The mestizaje … More Revised
History shows that surviving cultures are not the ones that isolate themselves but are those that transform themselves according to changing circumstances. Even with this, even when this means abducting cultural limits from another society. Eventually all social structures are worn down and destroyed unless they consciously seek to engage with an emerging dominant culture … More A lecture in my MOOC
Notes on José Piedra, “Literary Whiteness and the Afro-Hispanic Difference,” part 2, and some strategies for reading critical essays: As you read, consider using a different color to highlight each of the following: → argument (logical inferences, grounds, warrants, examples) → new information → theoretical concepts What signals help you to identify these different threads … More A somewhat decent handout now, with help from Dame Eleanor
Starting at page 306. A. Grammar and the Hispanic Text. Nebrija’s formulated a “grammatical contract of servitude.” Slavery was apprentice citizenship and was teaching people how to be Hispanic. On paper, but not in practice, differences were minimized as alliances were maximized. Nebrija provided the New World with the justification for a cohesive Hispanic Text. … More Continuing to break Piedra down further for the students — and to “touch work” for me
coldhearted scientist وداد 