Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2010 Ireland and Latin America: a cultural history Murray, Edmundo Abstract: According to Declan Kiberd, “postcolonial writing does not begin only when the occupier withdraws: rather it is initiated at that very moment when a native writer formulates a text committed to cultural resistance.” The Irish in Latin America – a continent emerging from indigenous cultures, colonisation, and migrations – may be regarded as colonised in Ireland and as colonisers in their new home. They are a counterexample to the standard pattern of identities in the major English-speaking destinations of the Irish Diaspora. Using literary sources, the press, correspondence, music, sports, and other cultural representations, in this thesis I search the attitudes and shared values signifying identities among the immigrants and their families. Their fragmentary and wide-ranging cultures provide a rich context to study the protean process of adaptation to, or rejection of, the new countries. Evolving from oppressed to oppressors, the Irish in Latin America swiftly became ingleses. Subsequently, in order to join the local middle classes they became vaqueros, llaneros, huasos, and gauchos so they could show signs of their effective integration to the native culture, as seen by the Latin American elites. Eventually, some Irish groups separated from the English mainstream culture and shaped their own community negotiating among Irishness, Englishness, and local identities in Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Cuba, and other places in the region. These identities were not only unmoored in the emigrants’ minds but also manoeuvred by the political needs of community and religious leaders. After reviewing the major steps and patterns of Irish migration to Latin America, the thesis analyses texts from selected works, offers a version of how the settlers became Latin Americans or not, and elucidates the processes by which a new Irish- Latin American hybrid was created. Laut Declan Kiberd beginnt, „postkolonialisches Schreiben…nicht nur wenn die Besatzer sich zurückziehen sondern dann wenn ein einheimischer Schriftsteller einen Text über kulturellen Widerstand formuliert“. Der Irländer in Lateinamerika - ein Kontinent der von ein- heimischen Kulturen, Besiedlung und Migrationen geformt wurde - mag in Irland als Kolonist und in der neuen Heimat als Kolonisator gesehen werden. Das sind Gegenbeispiele zur standardisierten Identität innerhalb der wichtigsten Destinationen der irischen Diaspora. Mit der Verwendung von literarischen Quellen, Zeitschriften, Korrespondenz, Musik, Sport und anderen kulturellen Darstellungen versuche ich in dieser Arbeit das Verhalten und die gemeinsamen Werte der Einwanderer und ihrer Familien zu repräsentieren. Die fragmentarischen und weitreichenden Kulturen bieten einen reichhaltigen Kontext für die Studie des pro-ethischen Prozesses der Anpassung oder Ablehnung der neuen Länder. Von Unter- drückten zu Unterdrückern entwickelten sich die Irländer in Lateinamerika rasch zu „Ingleses“. Danach, um dem lokalen Mittelstand beitreten zu dürfen, wurden sie „vaqueros“, „llaneros“, „huasos“ und „gau- chos“. So konnten sie die Zeichen ihrer gelungenen Integration nach dem Standard lateinamerikanischen Eliten zeigen. Schließlich trennten sich einige irische Gruppen von der englischen Hauptströmungskultur und formten ihre eigene Gemeinschaft, zwischen „Irishness“, „Englishness“ und lokalen Identitäten in Brasilien, Uruguay, Peru, Kuba und in anderen Orten der Region. Diese Identitäten wurden nicht nur in den Köpfen der Auswanderer verankert sondern auch durch die politischen Bedürfnisse der Bevölkerung und religiösen Führer geleitet. Nach der Analyse der wichtigsten Schritte und Muster der irischen Mi- gration nach Lateinamerika analysiert diese Arbeit Texte ausgewählter Werke, um zu beschreiben, wie die irischen Siedler zu Lateinamerikanern wurden (oder in Einzelfällen auch nicht). Zudem erläutert sie die Prozesse, die einen neuen irisch–lateinamerikanischen Mischling entstehen liessen. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-45125 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Murray, Edmundo. Ireland and Latin America: a cultural history. 2010, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. 2 IRELAND AND LATIN AMERICA: A CULTURAL HISTORY Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Edmundo MURRAY from Argentina Accepted in the Autumn Semester 2010 on the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Martin Lienhard and Prof. Dr. David Spurr Geneva, 2010 IRELAND AND LATIN AMERICA: A CULTURAL HISTORY Contents Declaration ................................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................vi 1. Introduction and Sources........................................................................................................ 9 2. Culture/s in Latin America and Ireland................................................................................ 35 3. The Irish Experience in the Region...................................................................................... 83 4. Narratives I: Private Documents and Autobiography ........................................................ 125 5. Narratives II: The Press...................................................................................................... 161 6. Narratives III: Fiction......................................................................................................... 187 7. Narratives IV: Dancing, Celebrating, and Merrymaking................................................... 217 8. Latin American Perceptions of Ireland and the Irish ......................................................... 249 9. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 275 Bibliography........................................................................................................................... 291 Appendix A: Maps and Illustrations ...................................................................................... 301 Appendix B: Chronology ....................................................................................................... 311 Appendix C: Letters to Martin Murphy, 1844-1881 .............................................................. 323 List of Tables and Illustrations Tables 1. Counties of origin in Ireland. ............................................................................................. 104 2. Distribution of letter writers in the Anastasia Joyce Collection......................................... 130 3. Distribution of letter writers in the Andrew Pettit Collection............................................ 131 4. Model of conventional sequences in the Murphy and Pettit letters. .................................. 135 Illustrations 1. Map or Ireland and Irish counties ...................................................................................... 301 2. Sending areas from counties Westmeath, Longford and Offaly ........................................ 302 3. Sending areas from county Wexford.................................................................................. 302 iii 4. Irish toponyms near Buenos Aires ..................................................................................... 303 5. Steamer ship Dresden......................................................................................................... 304 6. Shipping company advertisement in the Handbook of the River Plate (1892).................. 304 7. Plaque at Calle O’Reilly in Havana ................................................................................... 305 8. Soldier of the Irish Legion in Venezuela ........................................................................... 305 9. William Bulfin during his bike tour of Ireland .................................................................. 306 10. The Southern Cross special issue of 28 August 1925...................................................... 306 11. St. Patrick’s Day 1949 at Luján Basilica.......................................................................... 307 12. St. Patrick’s chapel and school, Capitán Sarmiento......................................................... 307 13. Pilgrims at St. Paul’s Monastery, 18 May 1898............................................................... 308 14. Irish gathering and dance at La Anita .............................................................................. 308 15. Edward Wallace playing the uilleann pipes in Venado Tuerto (1952) ............................ 309 16. Che Guevara’s visit to Ireland (The Irish Times, 19 December 1964) ............................ 309 iv DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is entirely the result of my original work and, except where otherwise cited, it is a true reflection of my own research. I certify that it does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for an academic degree or diploma in any university or professional institution. I confirm that this thesis does not exceed 100,000 words (excluding the bibliography and the appendices) and