The Coloniality of Power, La Bomba, and Afrochoteno Identity
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2011 La Bomba es Vida (La Bomba Is Life): The Coloniality of Power, La Bomba, and Afrochoteño Identity in Ecuador's Chota- Mira Valley Francisco D. Lara Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC LA BOMBA ES VIDA (LA BOMBA IS LIFE): THE COLONIALITY OF POWER, LA BOMBA, AND AFROCHOTEÑO IDENTITY IN ECUADOR’S CHOTA-MIRA VALLEY By FRANCISCO D. LARA A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2011 Francisco D. Lara defended this dissertation on November 3, 2011. The members of the supervisory committee were: Frank D. Gunderson Professor Directing Dissertation Michael A. Uzendoski University Representative Michael B. Bakan Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the [thesis/treatise/dissertation] has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For Diana and Noah iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was made possible by the generous support of several institutions and individuals in Ecuador and the United States of America. Pre-dissertation field-work in Ecuador was funded in part by a Carol Krebs Award, a research-travel grant awarded through the musicology department of The Florida State University College of Music. Institutional support throughout the dissertation research phase was provided by the The Florida State University, Fundación CIMAS of Ecuador, the Fulbright Commission of Ecuador, the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, the Fondo Documental Afro-Andino, FECONIC, the Fundación Piel Negra, the Centro Cultural Afro-Ecuatoriana, the Fundación De Desarrollo Social y Cultural Afro- Ecuatoriana “Azucar,” the Ecuadorian National Archive, the municipality of Ibarra. Many thanks are also in order for the institutions of The Ohio State University and Monmouth College in addition to those participating in the Illinois I-Share program (especially the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and Knox College) for their generous academic support during the writing phase of the dissertation. I wish to thank my advisor, Frank Gunderson, and committee members Michael Bakan and Michael Uzendoski for their input, patience, and support. Their challenging questions and encouragement greatly informed and facilitated the course and completion of this dissertation. A special thank you is also in order for Dale A. Olsen, whose input during the preliminary stages of this dissertation and enthusiastic support during my tenure as a graduate student at The Florida State University College of Music likewise proved invaluable to my continuation with and completion of the dissertation. I am grateful to the musicology faculty and fellow graduate students as well as faculty and staff of the FSU College of Music for their support and help over the years, including Sara Gross, Meghan McCaskill, Lauren Smith, Theodore Stanley, Seth Beckman, Denise Von Glahn, Douglass Seaton, Charles Brewer, Benjamin Koen, Trevor Harvey, Robbie Frye, Jeffrey Jones, Plamena Kourtova, Janine Tiffe, Stephanie Stallings, León García, Sara Arthur, Holly Wissler, Mark Hertica, and Laura and David Pruett among others. Thanks also to Emily Walmsley, Joseph Hellweg, Jean Rahier, Daniel Avorgbedor, Larry Crook, Welson Tremura, Gini Gorlinski, Sarah McFarland Taylor, Ileana Rodriguez, Lucia Costigan, Terrell Morgan, Richard Gordon, and Ignacio Corona among other academics for their inspiration, help, and encouragement along the way. A special thank you is in order for Dolores López Suárez and Dr. José Suárez, directors of the Fundación CIMAS of Ecuador, as well as the Suárez family (José Ricardo, Luis, and Gabriela) for their lifelong friendship and encouragement throughout my graduate school career. Their emotional as well as logistical support made possible dissertation research in Ecuador. I am also grateful for the support of numerous other family friends over the years, including Cyntia and Pachi López, Joe Zachmann and John Bullough, and the Englund, O’Brien, iv Truchinski, Majerle, Tilsen, Weiss, Costain, Levins-Morales, Moreno, Lindstrom, Alemayehu, Urbain, Ryan, and Curbelo families. My apologies to the numerous other lifelong friends whom I have failed to mention in this list but whom have encouraged and inspired me no less. I am grateful also to Karen Aguilar from the Fulbright Commission of Ecuador, Edison León (director of the Fondo Documental Afro-Andino), Renán Tadeo (then president of FECONIC), Salamón Acosta (former president of FECONIC), José Chalá (director of CODAIE), Juan Mullo Sandoval, Diego Chiriboga Ati (and family), Jhonny García, Mauricio Sanchez, José Luis Narvaez, and Alex Schlenker for their support, encouragement, and feedback during the research phase of the dissertation. I am most grateful to the individuals and families of the Chota-Mira valley and of the cities of Ibarra and Quito for graciously sharing their homes and lives with me during the research phase of this dissertation, including “Billy” Lara Muñoz, Manuel Lara Muñoz, Viviana and Romulo, Teodoro Mendez, Milton Tadeo, Plutarco Viveros and the Bomba group Marabu, Plutarco Chalá, José Chalá, Oscar Chalá, Nelly Calderon, Fidel Calderon, Daniel Lara and the members of Sol Naciente, Marisela Lara, Zoila Espinoza, Salamon Acosta, Renán Tadeo, Cristóbol Barahona, Gualberto Espinoza, Roy Diaz, Karla Aguas, Segundo Isidro Yepez Mendez, the members of the banda mocha of Chalguayaco, Milton Carabalí, Oswaldo Torres, Neri Padilla, Iván Pabón, and Humberto Diaz and his family. A special thank you is in order for Michele Aichele for notating the transcriptions included in this dissertation as well as to Diana Ruggiero for editing my Spanish to English translations. Numerous friends have encouraged me along the way, including Trevor and Sara Harvey, Charles Martinez, Scott and Rebecca Macleod, Fred and Nancy Witzig, Chris and Steph Annear, José Ricardo Suárez, Daniel Williams, Peter Majerle, Benjamin Conwell, Christine Lattin, Natalie Wozniak, Marisol Lara, Tim Lacy, Hannah and Martin, Michael and Clay, Dan and Terri Ott, Tim Gaster and Claudia Fernández, and Bee and Marcus Schuman. I am grateful to my family both here in the United States and Ecuador for their encouragement and support. My interest in ethnomusicology stems from my upbringing, and I am forever grateful to my parents for passing on to me a passion for the music and culture of my father’s homeland, Ecuador. Their love, support, and encouragement helped keep me on track and I am forever grateful for their belief in me and my abilities. I wish to also thank my siblings Luke, Nicolette, Carmen, and Violeta for their love and support over the years. The topic of this dissertation and my thoughts on the matters of race and racism in Ecuador are likewise an outgrowth of my ongoing conversations with family in Ecuador. Many thanks, therefore, go to my family in Ecuador, including but not limited to my grandmother Maria Georgina and her sisters, my aunt Flor, cousin Mercedes, Jelma Gonzalón, Alfredo Franco, and my numerous second cousins and other extended family residing throughout Quito and the Chota-Mira valley. Last but not least, I am most grateful to my wife Diana and son Noah for their love, patience, and support throughout the dissertation research and writing phase. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix List of Musical Examples ................................................................................................................x Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... xi 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................1 Background ....................................................................................................................4 Literature Review...........................................................................................................6 Scholarship on Afro-Ecuadorian History and Culture .......................................6 Scholarship on Music and Music Making in the African Diaspora .................10 Music, Race, and Nation in Latin America and Ecuador ................................18 Music, Race, and Representation .....................................................................24 Theory ..........................................................................................................................27 Race, the Coloniality of Power, and Music .....................................................27 Music as the Colonial Difference ....................................................................30 Music as Process ..............................................................................................32 La Bomba es Vida: La Bomba, the Coloniality of Power, and Afrochoteño Identity ........................................................................................35 Methodology