The forum for inter-american research was established by the American Studies Section of the English Department at Bielefeld University in order to foster, promote and publicize current topics in the studies of the Americas. fiar is the official journal of the International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS) General Editor:

Wilfried Raussert

Editors:

Yolanda Campos Stephen Joyce Marius Littschwager Luisa Raquel Lagos Ellermeier Paula Prescod Wilfried Raussert Susana Rocha Teixeira Brian Rozema

Assistant Editor:

Anne Lappert

Editorial Board:

Prof. Mita Banerjee, Mainz University, Germany Prof. William Boelhower, Louisiana State University, USA Prof. Nuala Finnegan, University College Cork, Ireland Prof. Emerita Lise Gauvin, Université de Montréal, Canada Prof. Maryemma Graham, University of Kansas, USA Dr. Jean-Louis Joachim, Université des Antilles, Martinique Prof. Djelal Kadir, Penn State University, USA Dr. Luz Angélica Kirschner, South Dakota State University, USA Prof. John Ochoa, Pennsylvania State University, USA Prof. John Carlos Rowe, University of Southern California, USA Prof. David Ryan, University College Cork, Ireland Prof. Sebastian Thies, University of Tübingen, Germany Dr. Cécile Vigouroux, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Design:

Alina Muñoz Knudsen

Contact: [email protected] [49] 521-106-3641 www.interamerica.de (European Standard Time) Postfach 100131 D-33501 Bielefeld The association seeks to promote the interdisciplinary study of the Americas, focusing in particular on inter-connections between North, Central, and South American culture, literatu- re, media, language, history, society, politics, and economics.

www.interamericanstudies.net

Guest Editors of Vol. 12.1:

Wilfried Raussert (Bielefeld University) Susana Rocha Teixeira (Bielefeld University) Olaf Kaltmeier (Bielefeld University) Pablo Campos (Bielefeld University)

______www.interamerica.de Vol. 12 No. 1 (Jun. 2019): Doing and Undoing Comparisons: Practices of Comparing in the Americas

Introduction: Doing and Undoing Comparisons in the Americas from the Colonial Times to the Present������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������6 Susana Rocha Teixeira (Bielefeld University)

‘We Wear the Mask’: Modern ‘Masks,’ Reflexivity, and Black Practices of Comparing in the Harlem Renaissance ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������12 Wilfried Raussert (Bielefeld University)

Contesting Inequality. Joseph Anténor Firmin’s De l’égalité des races humaines, 133 years on �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������21 Gudrun Rath (University of Art and Design, Linz)

Invidious Comparison and the New Global Leisure Class: On the Refeudalization of Consumption in the Old and New Gilded Age �����������������������������������������������29 Olaf Kaltmeier (Bielefeld University)

Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S. (Informal) Cultural Empire Based on Processes of Stereotyping and Comparison ���������������������������������������������������������������43 Claudia Hachenberger (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

How (Not) to Compare White Poverty: Class Issues, Socioeconomic Suffering, Literature ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Carsten Schinko (University of Stuttgart/HU Berlin)

Placing Prospero’s Island: (Post)Colonial Practices of Comparing in the Academic Reception of Shakespeare’s The Tempest ���������������������������������������������������������73 Marcus Hartner (Bielefeld University)

Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas: a lusitana e a hispana. Análise da transformação da interpretação do Autor com relação a influência espanhola e portuguesa em América �������������������������������������������������������������������������86 Yago Quiñones Triana (Universidade de Brasília) Declensions: Conceptual Migrations across Empires ���������������������������������������������������������������101 Elena Furlanetto (University of Duisburg-Essen)

‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices – A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorian and the Mexican cases ������������������������������������������������������������������������������116 Pablo Campos (Bielefeld University)

Book Review Section����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������126 . Weird American Music, by Dorothea Gail. (Book Review) �����������������������������������������127 Kensedeobong Blessed Okosun (Bielefeld University) forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 6-11 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

Introduction: Doing and Undoing Comparisons in the Americas from the Colonial Times to the Present

Susana Rocha Teixeira (Bielefeld University)

Currently, comparisons seem to be ubiquitous. developed countries, races, or cultures. In this Anything and anyone – be it universities, sports context, comparing as globalized practice was teams, countries, restaurants, or physicians perceived as practice of modern dominance, a – can and seem to be compared in order to tool of power, which perpetuates rated relations identify, for example, the ‘best,’ ‘performance’ or of hegemony and subordination, center and the most ‘diversity.’[1] Nevertheless, comparing periphery, sameness and difference. In a similar is hardly a novel phenomenon. Critics maintain vein, tertia, the aspects, which are compared that ‘modernity’ (and in particular the eighteenth (as, e.g., ‘progress’), were revealed to be not and nineteenth centuries) gave rise to new ‘given’, but as always being constructed and led ways of seeing, measuring and ordering the by particular interests and ideologies.[4] world as well as to new practices of comparing; Despite or perhaps due to the aforementioned and that during that same period, comparing issues, scholars such as Angelika Epple and was increasingly established as a seemingly Walter Erhart are interested in analyzing objective and scientific method, a fact that led comparisons and practices of comparing to the establishment of a number of academic themselves, which they find essential in areas and (sub-) disciplines such as comparative establishing relations between different units, literature.[2] ordering the world, reducing complexity and It is a well-established notion within academia propelling intellectual and historical change that juxtapositions and comparisons have played (Epple and Erhart, “Welt beobachten” 18; a central role in the creation of geopolitical Epple, “Doing Comparisons” 174). In “Doing imaginaries with regard to the Americas – be Comparisons – Ein praxeologischer Zugang zur they Eurocentric or Creolist – and that they have Geschichte der Globalisierung/en,“ Epple points fueled images, clichés, and stereotypes about out that comparing is a complex practice that is various region(s) and their peoples. It similarly malleable and in which at least two comparata holds true for the making and remaking of the are put in relation to a tertium by at least one north-south divide within the Americas, whether actor, who is situated in a particular context. real or imagined, in regard to relations between Depending on various factors such as time, countries, regions and on a hemispheric scale. place, culture, and who is comparing, what is [3] compared (i.e. the comparata) differs and so However, in the course of the twentieth do the functions and effects of comparing. The century, for example, with the rise of postcolonial comparata are not ‘given’ but ‘produced’ by the and decolonial studies, critics increasingly actors by choosing a tertium. Comparisons are explored and criticized not only the seemingly’ therefore, seemingly, the result of numerous ‘objective’ comparative disciplines within activities, decisions, and choices that are academia but also the practice of comparing themselves based on a number of assumptions itself. Postcolonial and anti-colonial intellectuals and negotiations, e.g. regarding sameness or criticized European perspectives, the standards difference of the comparata, and consequential involved in the practices of comparing, and their choices regarding inclusion and exclusion being influenced by assumptions, prejudices, of certain aspects. These factors influence and biases. Comparisons and practices of decisions about such central questions as: which comparing were rejected for creating hierarchies comparata and tertia should be chosen and on between presumably ‘more’ and ‘less’ which basis (e.g. similarity or difference)? This 7 S. Rocha Teixeira: Introduction

complex process gives room for innovations, the context of subaltern, countercultural and deviations, transformations, production of (new) avant-garde movements, have the potential knowledge, and negotiating issues of sameness to challenge and re-negotiate old or to create and difference (Epple, “Doing Comparisons” new categories and to undermine or destabilize 162-163, 193-194). [5] Similarly, Johannes particular power structures/relations. This also Grave highlights the importance of practices applies to the field of identity politics where, and routines involved in (un-)doing comparisons for example, indigenous and afro-descendent which can create new forms of acting and groups have drawn upon global comparisons, comparing while curbing others. Grave’s imagined transnational and translocal relations, praxeological approach allows for the exploration and focused on similarities between people of of decisions and assumptions regarding the African ‘descent’ in the Americas and beyond, choice, perception, and evaluation of comparata thus creating global ‘indigenous’ or ‘black’ and tertia, the creation and prioritization of communities with ‘shared’ characteristics. particular categories, and implied values or Numerous comparative studies exist, which judgements of relevance, difference, and relate, among others, literature, regions, or similarity. Routines and repetitions can stabilize cultures in the Americas. The same cannot be certain practices, essentialize and naturalize said for studies decidedly dedicated at exploring assumptions (e.g., regarding sameness or not only comparisons, but also practices of difference, inclusion or exclusion). At the same comparing in the Americas, including, but also time, they can also produce differences and going beyond issues such as, who compares to transformations (Grave, “Vergleichen als Praxis” which end, or in what regard social or cultural 142-146). In this view, comparisons and practices developments contribute to new practices of of comparing not only contribute to prejudice comparing, and vice versa. This is a desideratum and stereotypes. They also have the potential which the present special issue of fiar, “Doing for challenging established notions, categories and Undoing Comparisons in the Americas and re-ordering and thus transforming the world from the Colonial Times to the Present,” aims (Epple and Erhart, “Welt beobachten” 10; Epple, to address. This issue took shape as part of “Doing Comparisons” 166). ongoing research in the context of the SFB 1288 Comparisons and practices of comparing “Practices of Comparing. Changing and Ordering are thus neither innocent nor objective. In the World” at Bielefeld University, which is funded order to be able to do comparisons, it has to by the German Research Foundation (DFG). be assumed that the objects, elements, or In accordance to fiar’s objective of fostering a aspects to be compared (comparata) share dialogic and interdisciplinary approach to the some characteristics (commensurability). study of the Americas, the articles included in this Furthermore, criteria (tertia comparationis) are issue not only explore a variety of comparisons necessary to observe differences (or similarities) and practices of comparing in various periods, between the comparata. In doing comparisons, it regions and contexts, but also approach is actors who differentiate; they create categories their topic from angles opened up by different and establish hierarchies between different disciplines such as film studies, cultural studies, comparata. Different regions, ‘races’, groups, literary studies, art history, history, sociology and cultures, sexes, beliefs, or forms and styles of political sciences. The main focus of this issue lies cultural production are compared by various on negotiations and differentiations, especially actors – by individuals, groups, and institutions. regarding issues of sameness and difference, This holds true for popular discourses, the self and other, and the innovative power of (un-) humanities as well as the natural sciences, for doing comparisons. It is in this context that the example with regard to racial ideology (Epple articles also explore the functions marginalized and Erhart, “Welt beobachten” 13). However, positions have had with regard to practices of as the articles by Wilfried Raussert and Claudia comparing; the variety of actors involved in or Hachenberger show, alternative practices of excluded from practices of comparing. The comparing, which emerged, for example, in articles further probe whether new practices of forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 6-11 8

comparing have replaced old ones; ask whether for example, discernible when (scientific) racist established practices of comparing have actors chose ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’ as comparata triggered new ones or contributed to negotiating and progress or self-governance as tertia. As old categories; and examine the role practices of Raussert and rath show, alternative or subaltern comparing have played in postcolonial thinking. practices of comparing not only have the Exploring practices of comparing in the potential of re-evaluating, re-defining, and re- Americas appears to be of special interest ordering ‘the world,’ i.e. challenging seemingly because of the region’s colonial history, its established truths, but that these practices also common history of separation from the European have innovative potential, so much so that they colonial yoke, and the hybridity of its cultures influenced not only artistic cultural production emerging from the exchange between colonizer but also the sciences/academia. “‘We Wear and colonized and between various colonized the Masks,’ Reflexivity, and Black Practices and enslaved populations. According to Wilfried of Comparing in the Harlem Renaissance,” Raussert, “‘America/América’ as geopolitical, the essay by Raussert (Bielefeld), looks at the cultural and social manifestation should be seen field of cultural production during the Harlem as ‘entangled Americas’ beyond closed national Renaissance and in particular those works of and area spaces” (Raussert 63). Seen this way, literature and art that had a particular focus the Americas represent a space/place, in which on self-reflexivity of the comparing actors. – beyond rigid binary structures, contact zones, Adopting close reading, Raussert explores entanglements, forms of assimilation, and in what regard (self-) reflexivity on part of hybridization have produced in-between and the authors and “masking strategies” can be fluid categories that not only complicate or refuse seen in the context of practices of comparing simple comparisons and classifications, but also in the course of which the tertium blackness stimulate re-negotiations of and reflections on is (re-) negotiated, resulting in turn in its (re-) particular categories, and excite new practices emergence as a floating signifier. Gudrun Rath of comparing. (Linz) explores how nineteenth century Haitian Particularly, Raussert’s and Rath’s essays diasporic intellectuals such as Joseph Janvier in the present issue reveal what practices of or Joseph Anténor Firmin challenged practices comparing mean for negotiating identity politics of comparing, which were essential for scientific between subaltern and hegemonic positions. racism. As Rath asserts, Firmin methodically Here, comparing functions as a mediator dissected and laid bare the arbitrariness and and testing ground for the actor’s positioning subjectivity of scientific practices (of comparing) between the margin and the mainstream while and methods in the context of pseudoscience and comparing. As both articles show, practices what he called “false anthropology” – practices of comparing not only fix but also challenge and methods that aimed at ‘proving’ an alleged and mobilize tertia and tropes like ‘blackness.’ white superiority. Challenging racist notions Subaltern practices of comparing that, for of racial difference, he instead underscored example, aim for self-assertion and inclusion the sameness of human beings. At the same have the potential to challenge the elements time, he challenged what ‘blackness’ means, involved in comparisons and not only question in particular against the background of the the choice or re-negotiate the meaning of the Haitian Revolution, by implicitly comparing black tertia but also comparata, generating new achievement in this context to black potential in inclusions and exclusions, and identifications of general. similarities and differences. In doing so, these In contrast, Olaf Kaltmeier’s and alternative practices of comparing also shed Hachenberger’s contributions explore how light on (the dynamics and tensions involved in practices of comparing contribute to establishing these) hegemonic practices of comparing, which and cementing the hegemonic order, power also distinguish between the self and the other, structures and inequalities by focusing on amongst others, in order to relegate and project differences between the self and the other. undesirable aspects onto the ‘other’. This is, In “Narcos and the Promotion of a U.S. 9 S. Rocha Teixeira: Introduction

(Informal) Cultural Empire Based on Processes discourses use class as a “tool of comparison” of Stereotyping and Comparison” Claudia in order to argue over whether class is the “main Hachenberger (Erlangen-Nürnberg) claims that defining feature” of societies or whether “class the United States of America can be seen as stratifications” can be seen as a “secondary an informal cultural empire that, for example, feature.” “Placing Prospero’s Island: (Post) via practices of comparing, engages in Latinism Colonial Practices of Comparing in the Academic (similar to Said’s Orientalism) in its cultural Reception of Shakespeare’s The Tempest” by production. Using the series Narcos (Netflix, Marcus Hartner (Bielefeld) discusses, tracing 2015-2017) as an example, she explores how and exploring colonial, postcolonial, and ‘Old the U.S. constructs – via numerous, repeated World readings’ of the play, different practices explicit and implicit comparisons on a visual, of comparing. Conventional and postcolonial verbal, structural and productional level – Latin readings of this play both compare Prospero’s America and Latin Americans as the inferior island with other descriptions of the New World ‘other.’ In “Invidious Comparison and the New in the period, where they also locate it. Both Global Leisure Class: On the Refeudalization readings differentiate between the ‘self’ and of Consumption in the Old and New Gilded the ‘other’ while comparing. However, while Age,” on the other hand, Kaltmeier (Bielefeld) the former focuses on similarities between this explores class issues in the “New Gilded Age.” fictional island and the New World in order to He explores the practices of comparing that the see the former as representing the ‘uncivilized’ contemporary global elite resorts to in order ‘other,’ postcolonial readings of the play re- to distinguish itself from others and cement its evaluate this imaginary place/space and its elite status. The global elite groups compare representatives. Since for Hartner the practices themselves with each other, Kaltmeier contends, of comparing involved in both readings of the in terms of conspicuous consumption, expensive play have their limitations, he pleads for an hobbies, and philanthropy. alternate, third way. The next two articles by Carsten Schinko This issue closes with articles by Quiñones and Marcus Hartner highlight, respectively, how Triana, Elena Furlanetto and Pablo Campos, each cultural products such as works of fiction have tracing how practices of comparing contribute to a the potential to show practices of comparing at number of transformations in what Latin America work, namely how they simultaneously construct means, the meaning of concepts such as creole (via highlighting and including similarities and and indigenist practices. In “Gilberto Freyre entre differentiating and excluding other aspects) the duas Américas Latinas: a lusitana e a hispana. elements and concepts involved in comparisons Análise da transformação da interpretação and in doing so help reveal the underlying do Autor com relação a influência espanhola issues and (power-) structures involved with e portuguesa em América,” Yago Quiñones issues of race and class. They further shed Triana (Brasilia) traces a major transformation in light on the ways these works can undermine Gilberto Freyre’s thought. Freyre was a Brazilian simplistic readings and categorizations. Tracing sociologist and anthropologist, well known discussions by intellectuals such as Du Bois, Ta- for comparing Portugal to and differentiating Nehisi Coates, Walter Benn Michaels and Adolph it from other colonizing nations. However, Reed and works of fiction by authors such as Quiñones Triana highlights how Freyre, in the William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, and Bobbie course of his works, underlined the similarity Ann Mason, Schinko (Stuttgart/Berlin) analyzes of Portuguese and Spanish colonization how practices of comparing (re-)negotiate tertia projects and differentiated them from Anglo- such as poverty or whiteness and comparata Saxon colonization. This transformation can such as poor blacks and whites and the decent be seen in the context of and echoing other (poor) whites and white trash in his essay similar developments in the Americas. In her “How (Not) to Compare White Poverty? Class essay “Declensions: Conceptual Migrations Issues, Socioeconomic Suffering, Literature.” Across Europe,” Furlanetto (Duisburg-Erlangen) Schinko further explores how Old and New Left explores how the meanings of concepts such forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 6-11 10

as creole or renegade changed and developed, (2011): 753-762; Angelika Epple „Doing Comparisons-ein amongst others, via inclusions and exclusions Praxeologischer Zugang zur Geschichte der Globalisierung/ en.“ Die Welt beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens and thus practices of comparing. Using the edited by Epple and Erhart (Frankfurt: Campus, 2015: 168); declension paradigm to track various meanings, Antje Flüchter, “Die Nairen der Malaberküste zwischen she argues that “declensions reverse the Adelsstand und Kriegerkaste. Praktiken des Vergleichens und die europäische Weltaneignung.“ HerStory. Historical act of translation, which is at the basis of the Scholarship between South Asia and Europe: Festschrift in comparative endeavor.” In “’Early’ and ‘Modern’ Honour of Gita Dharampal-Frick edited by Rafael Klöber Indigenist Practices – A Comparative Analysis and Manju Ludwig (Heidelberg: xasia, 2018) 6-7. of the Ecuadorian and the Mexican Cases,” [5] See also Epple and Erhard “Die Welt beobachten,” 12- Campos (Bielefeld) examines indigenous 19, 24. practices in Ecuador and Mexico and discusses how “comparisons in the form of structuring Works Cited structures in Bourdieusian sense” give shape to

“’modern’ indigenist practices.” Epple, Angelika and Walter Erhart. “Die Welt beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens.” Die Welt beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens. Eds. Epple and Erhart. Endnotes Frankfurt: Campus, 2015. 7-31. Print. Epple, Angelika. „Doing Comparisons-ein Praxeologischer [1] On a similar/related phenomenon, i.e., the ubiquity Zugang zur Geschichte der Globalisierung/en.“ Die of rankings, see, for example, Elena Esposito and David Welt beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens Eds. Stark, “What’s Observed in a Rating?” Theory, Culture & Epple and Erhart. Frankfurt: Campus, 2015. 161- Society (2019) 1-3. 199. Print. Esposito, Elena and David Stark. “What’s Observed in a [2] See, for example, Angelika Epple and Walter Erhart Rating?” Theory, Culture & Society (2019) 1-24. “Die Welt beobachten – Praktiken des Vergleichens.” Print. Die Welt beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens edited by Epple and Erhart (Frankfurt: Campus, 2015: 11-16, Cheah, Pheng. “Grounds of Comparison.” Diacritics 29.4 22). See also Niklas Luhmann, “Kultur als historischer (1999) 3-18. Print. Begriff.” Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik – Studien zur Wissenssoziologie der modernen Gesellschaft (Frankfurt: Flüchter, Antje “Die Nairen der Malaberküste zwischen Suhrkamp, 1999), 35-36; Bettina Heintz „Numerische Adelsstand und Kriegerkaste. Praktiken des Differenz. Überlegungen zu einer Soziologie des Vergleichens und die europäische Weltaneignung.“ (quantitativen) Vergleichs/Numerical difference. Toward HerStory. Historical Scholarship between South a sociology of (quantitative) comparisons.“ Zeitschrift Asia and Europe: Festschrift in Honour of Gita für Soziologie 39.3 (2010): 165-166; Bettina Heintz „„Wir Dharampal-Frick. Eds. Rafael Klöber and Manju leben im Zeitalter der Vergleichung.“Perspektiven einer Ludwig. Heidelberg: xasia, 2018. 3-42. Soziologie des Vergleichs.“ Zeitschrift für Soziologie 45.5 Heintz, Bettina „Numerische Differenz. Überlegungen zu (2016): 309-310. Critics such as Heintz, however, correctly einer Soziologie des (quantitativen) Vergleichs/ point out that comparisons also played an important role in Numerical difference. Toward a sociology of earlier periods. (quantitative) comparisons.“ Zeitschrift für Soziologie 39.3 (2010): 162-181. [3] On the juxtaposition and comparison of the ‘old’ with the ‘new’ world, see, for example, Epple and Erhard “Die Bettina Heintz.“„Wir leben im Zeitalter der Welt beobachten,” 8-10. On comparisons and practices of Vergleichung.“Perspektiven einer Soziologie des comparing with regard to the Americas, see, for example, Vergleichs.“ Zeitschrift für Soziologie 45.5 (2016): Ann Laura Stoler, “Tense and tender ties: The politics of 305-325. comparison in North American history and (post) colonial Luhmann, Niklas. “Kultur als historischer Begriff.” studies.” The Journal of American History 88.3 (2001): Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik – Studien zur 829-865. On the constructedness of the Americas see, Wissenssoziologie der modernen Gesellschaft. for example, Caroline F. Levander and Robert S. Levine Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1999. 31-54. Print. “Introduction: Essays Beyond the Nation.” Hemispheric American Studies, edited by Caroline F. Levander and Levander, Caroline F. and Robert S. Levine “Introduction: Robert S. Levine (New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Essays Beyond the Nation.” Hemispheric American London: Rutgers University Press, 2008: 4-5). Studies. Caroline F. Levander and Robert S. Levine, Eds. New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: [4] See Epple and Erhard “Die Welt beobachten,” 13-17. Rutgers University Press, 2008. 1-17. See also, for example, R. Radhakrishnan “Why Compare?” New Literary History 40.3 (2009): 453-471; Pheng Cheah Radhakrishnan, Rajagopalan. “Why Compare?” New “Grounds of Comparison.” Diacritics 29.4 (1999) 3-18; Susan Literary History 40.3 (2009): 453-471. Print. Stanford Friedman, “Why Not Compare?” PMLA 126.3 11 S. Rocha Teixeira: Introduction

Raussert, Wilfried. “‘Mobilizing America/América:‘ Toward Entangled Americas and a Blueprint for Inter- American ‘Area Studies’” fiar forum for inter- american research 7.3 (Dec 2014): 59-97. Web 06.06. 2019. Stoler, Ann Laura. “Tense and Tender Ties: The Politics of Comparison in North American History and (Post) Colonial Studies.” The Journal of American History 88.3 (2001): 829-865. Print.

Author’s Biography

Susana Rocha Teixeira is a research associate at the Department of British and American Studies and the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1288 “Practices of Comparing. Changing and Ordering the World” at Bielefeld University, where she is currently working on her second book, “Practices of Comparing: Negotiating ‘Blackness’ in the Harlem Renaissance in a Hemispheric Perspective.” She wrote her PhD on “The American Makeover Culture and Masculinities: Roots, Connections and Representations” at the Faculty of Modern Languages at Heidelberg University in Germany. Her research interests include American literature, film and culture, makeover culture and masculinities. forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 12-20 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

‘We Wear the Mask’: Modern ‘Masks,’ Reflexivity, and Black Practices of Comparing in the Harlem Renaissance

Wilfried Raussert (Bielefeld University)

Abstract

This article examines practices of comparing by writers and artists from the Harlem Renaissance. Highlighting reflexivity and an awareness of subaltern positioning at the very basis of practices of comparing by black writers and artists in the early 20th century, the article directs the reader’s attention to context, personal, and group positioning as well as emotional conditioning of the comparing actors. The article explores African American and Afro Caribbean masking strategies like the mastery of form to show how the comparata ‘The Old Negro’ and ‘The New Negro’ are negotiated and lead to an understanding of complex entanglements between black cultures, a tertium of blackness beyond colonial histories, and their racial baggage during the Harlem Renaissance.

Keywords: practices of comparing, mask, blackness, reflexivity, The New Negro

Reflexivity is en vogue again. Established in side of self-reflexivity. As Eugene Halton puts modernity as a concept to reflect the relation of it, “Being human involves feeling, dreaming, the self to the social, reflexivity has gained new experiencing, remembering and forgetting, and prominence in the contexts of contemporary not simply knowing” (273). It is Hortense Spillers postcolonial and decolonial approaches to who pushed for new approaches to reflexivity social relations. American pragmatism shaped in the feminist and postcolonial discourse of the understanding of the concept in the 1920s Black Studies of the late 20th and early 21st and 30s, when reflexivity was comprehensively century. Badia S. Ahad reminds us of “Hortense defined by George H. Mead as “the turning Spillers’s call for attention to deeper modes of back of the experience of the individual upon self-reflexivity” (133). [oneself]”134). In late modernity, Sara Delamont To further reflect on a fundamental ‘twoness’ explained reflexivity as “a social scientific variety (black self, ‘American’ self) in African-American of self-consciousness” (8). Critics like Margaret cultural analysis, Spillers introduces her idea Archer have developed the concept further by of “interior intersubjectivity” (713) as a possible introducing the idea of “internal conversation.” interpretative strategy and practice of resistance. The latter notion theoretically reflects the While her reflections emerged in the context of late permanent self-confrontation of the individual modernity, similar to those of Giddens, Delmont, and its dialogical interaction with an ever- and Mouzelis, they serve as a point of departure changing social and cultural environment. for a journey to reach a better understanding of While Anthony Giddens’ theory of reflexive ‘The New Negro’ as a comparative metaphorical modernity prominently continues in current construct within Harlem Renaissance identity studies on the self, social, and their interrelations, politics in the 1920s. “If by substitutive identities more recent postcolonial and decolonial . . . we mean the capacity to represent a self thinkers oppose the Western and Eurocentric through the masks of self-negation[,] then the conceptualization of the rational self as well as the dialectics of self-reflection and the strategies of Western-centered definition of social experience a psychoanalytic hermeneutic come together in Giddens’ discourse. In theories like Nicos at the site of a ‘new woman/man’” (711-12). Mouzelis’s apophatic reflexivity, special attention Spiller’s discourse emphasizes three key is paid to the emotional, spiritual, and therapeutic markers that illustrate the complexity of black 13 W. Raussert: ‘We Wear the Mask’

identity formation and reformation in the 1920s: contribution to this new American aesthetic. the mask, self-negation, and self-reflection. With The ‘New Negro’ seemed the perfect metaphor Spillers’ words in mind, echoing the modernist for a society and culture at a moment of discourse on blackness, I will turn to the intense rupture, change, and transition. While historical period of the early 20th century, the the Harlem Renaissance cherished many ‘African craze,’ and the first black arts movement artistic collaborations between poets, painters, in Harlem. photographers, and musicians, for many, the ‘New Negro’ entity was first of all a “mood, or a Historical Context and the Emergence of sentiment” in which black cultural workers were ‘The New Negro’ acknowledged as equal partners in the world of cultural production (Powell 42). At the turn of the 20th century, a call for a The term ‘New Negro’ emerged from the gathering of intellectuals in London in order progressive race rhetoric of thinker Booker T. to explore the situation of peoples of African Washington and black woman rights activist ancestry living in Africa, North and Latin Fannie Barrier Williams for the black magazines America, the Caribbean, and on the African Voice of the Negro and Crisis in the late 19th homelands captured the attention of black and early 20th century, with illustrations done by activists, artists, and intellectuals. Along with John Henry Adams Jr. Taking off from original the hope for overcoming allegations of ‘Negro sociopolitical connotations, the term ‘New Negro’ inferiority’ in scientific circles, a Pan-African entered the discourses of aesthetic progress and movement emerged to confront global issues racial redefinition with Alain Locke’s The New of colonial discrimination against peoples of Negro: An Interpretation and “Harlem: Mecca of African descent. Involved thinkers from different the New Negro,” a special issue of the magazine peoples of African ancestry shared the belief Survey Graphic. Both were published in 1925 that historical experience, cultural values, social and popularized the term in artistic, intellectual, anxieties, and strong hopes united many black and cultural market circuits (Powell 42). cultures around the globe. London’s Pan-African conference echoed the impact of the ‘American ‘The Old Negro’ versus ‘The New Negro’ Negro Exhibit’ that had taken place a few months prior at the Rue des Nations in Paris. This The emergence of ‘The New Negro’ as a exhibit combined books, visual art, photography, powerful metaphor was the result of practices industrial, and fine arts products to celebrate of comparing in intellectual, political, and artistic black cultural and industrial production of the circles of the time. The metaphorically constituted post-slavery period of the U.S. The common other, ‘The Old Negro,’ provided the backdrop tenor among black intellectuals celebrated the against which ‘blackness’ entered into dialogue evidence of black equality and productivity “once and was renegotiated in juxtaposition with the the veil of slavery had been lifted” (Powell 24). comparata ‘Old Negro’ versus ‘New Negro.’ As Pan-African ideas gained momentum and a metaphorical construction, both terms held encountered a new exotic fascination with the potential for multiple significations and were the black continent and its diasporic offspring exposed to different performative, theatrical, in the so-called ‘African craze’. A somewhat artistic, and literary interpretations during the ambiguous embracement and clichéd early decades of the 20th century, particularly representation of African cultural expression in the manifold cultural productions of the pushed artistic expression in music, cabaret, Harlem Renaissance. On various levels, ‘The visual arts, and literature to new horizons. Old Negro’ signified what Butler and Athanasiou U.S. America found itself in the middle of refer to as “the dispossessed,” while, in different reinventing modernity, nourished by the desire ways, ‘The New Negro’ suggested agency and for a truly ‘American’ aesthetic and vernacular. empowerment. On a political level, ‘The Old The Harlem Renaissance, also called the New Negro’ stood for political conservatism and Negro Movement, formed an important black social accomodationism, while ‘The New Negro’ forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 12-20 14

represented renewal and change (Bernhart educated at Humboldt University in Berlin and 273). The basic metaphorical constitution one of the bastions of Western thinking in the of these comparata signals the complexity late 19th and early 20th century, a spiritual of a new synthesis of “blackness” (tertium). reflectivity is highly noticeable. His works mark Comparisons between the ‘The Old Negro’ and African American culture as a strongly spiritual ‘The New Negro’ inevitably involved questions of culture, quite different from the white mainstream tradition and innovation. It also meant drawing which is based upon rational principles. comparisons between imaginaries of African, Practices of comparing during the Harlem African American, and Euro American cultures Renaissance must be observed in a relational to undo long lasting paradigms of difference and way: how the cultural actors related themselves hierarchy. Reflectivity was always positioned in to history, to a past and contemporary social conjunction with these practices. context, and to the other (whiteness in general The question of the self and how to relate to terms). The positioning of actors was of key identity, the social, and the other was even more importance for the ways in which they did or complex for the modern black subject. Writers un-did comparisons, articulating their relation like Countee Cullen and Jean Toomer wanted to signifying practices beyond Euro-American to transcend race, even refusing the label ‘black standards, such as in the African, Caribbean, writer.’ On the other hand, Langston Hughes and African American cultural traditions. completely embraced his blackness. His poetry Practices of comparing occurred in local, nevertheless gave voice(s) to the involved national, and, most of all, transcultural networks conflicts in the process of reflecting what it meant (inter-American and trans-Atlantic). They built to be a poet in Harlem of the 1920s, what it meant on colonial and emancipatory processes and to be a black poet, and what it meant to manage were fundamentally conflictive. the spaces in between communities. Reflectivity meant looking at the self, but also at the black Colonial and Peripheral Practices of self’s often ‘disenfranchised’ and ‘dispossessed’ Comparing positioning in comparison to others. After all, the publication of works by black authors still largely It is commonly agreed among historians and depended on white publishing policies and critics that practices of comparison played a priorities of white publishing houses (Bernard central role in the processes of colonizing the 269-71). New World. Comparisons veiled under the guise Reflectivity also involved a continuous of science and universal knowledge helped comparing of the self with the floating metaphors establish structures and hierarchies based upon of ‘The Old Negro,´ `The New Negro,´ and white supremacy and racial discrimination. At the society at large, which meant white hegemony, beginning of the 20th century, this meant that, censorship, and selection. The act of writing for the black subject in the Americas, by and and subsequent comparisons took place from large one still spoke from a peripheral locus of a peripheral or (invoking Spivak) “subaltern” enunciation. For the black subject in the Harlem positioning. In spite of the optimistic spirit of Renaissance (and in the Americas at large), renewal, black writers had to manage the practices of comparing were first of all a way to colonial baggage of anxiety, dispossession, order one’s own position—one’s own place in displacement, and anger in their acts of writing, society and cultural practices. These practices singing, and painting of ‘The New Negro.’ This frequently included references of the self with the varied spectrum of emotional complexity shaped dominant structure, the canon, the established their reflectivity, as well as the act of comparing art world, or the successful music industry. beyond a pure cognitive understanding. There They served as tools for self-positioning, self- were (and still are) specificities of black culture reflection, and further self-empowerment. They that have been marked by a distinct difference to also included dissident and trickster strategies white mainstream culture. Even in the works of based upon black oral cultures. W.E.B. Du Bois, an African American intellectual What differentiates them from mainstream 15 W. Raussert: ‘We Wear the Mask’

practices of comparing is the high degree of The writers, activists, and intellectuals worked reflexivity about the group and the self, which is within networks and searched for new dialogical at the core of black thinking during the Harlem ways of interaction. In this way, the first Black Renaissance. In Alain Locke’s manifesto of The Arts Movement developed a self-reflexive New Negro, it is a local, national, and global dimension in which identity, social structures, consciousness of black history and cultures cultural expressions, and ways of being were that he locates in the reflective quality of African discussed and questioned. By confronting the American culture that makes the latter the power hierarchies of the literary and cultural spearhead of a global black liberation movement. industry and filtering the colonial baggage “One is the consciousness of acting as the and stigmatization of ‘black inferiority,’ these advance guard of the African peoples in their black thinkers and artists had to act boldly, contact with Twentieth Century civilization; the becoming inventive and playful to challenge other, the sense of a mission of rehabilitating the the mainstream. ‘Masking’ manifested itself as race in world esteem from that loss of prestige a central practice through which self-positioning for which the fate and conditions of slavery have and comparative ways of thinking unfolded so largely been responsible” (Locke 14). Similar in the Harlem Renaissance. Already in 1895, to Locke’s historical consciousness, Langston Paul Laurence Dunbar had written his poem Hughes reflects on a long trajectory of black “We Wear the mask,” a reflection of the cultural ‘high’ culture in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” dissembling that is at the core of this practice. linking African and Black-American cultures The poem gives voice to decades of black (256). In a self-reflexive way, he contemplates masking during times of conquest, slavery, and the freedom of the black writer and compares reconstruction. him to the vanguard, experimental, and ground- breaking group of artists and writers in his We wear the mask that grins and lies, literary manifesto “The Negro and the Racial It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— Mountain” (1926). “We younger Negro artists This debt we pay to human guile; who create now intend to express our individual With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, dark-skinned selves without fear or shame…. And mouth with myriad subtleties. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? free within ourselves” (95). Nay, let them only see us, while Hughes’ reference to the “top of the mountain” We wear the mask. has biblical and secular connotations; it compares the black artist to the prophet Moses We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries on the mountain and to John Winthrop and his To thee from tortured souls arise. futurist model of a city upon a hill. By comparison, We sing, but oh the clay is vile Hughes relates the black self to larger theocratic Beneath our feet, and long the mile; and secular imaginaries of America, thus But let the world dream otherwise, inscribing the black poet into an ‘American’ We wear the mask! (n.pag.) modernist and progressive discourse. Through acts of comparing, writers and intellectuals Dunbar’s meditation on masking gives voice like Locke and Hughes challenged the ruling to what African Americans have experienced geopolitics of knowledge from their peripheral from slavery, through Jim Crow, and until the positioning. contemporary period. Psychological masking is a way to protect one’s inner self and the thought The Mask and Practices of Comparing in system of one’s group (cf. Hills 217). The practice African American Cultural Production of masking is shared by other colonized people, e.g. in the Caribbean. Frantz Fanon explained As a cultural and political movement, the the whitening efforts among his countrymen in Harlem Renaissance resisted fixed structures. the Antilles through cultural displacement. Once forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 12-20 16

the black subject starts moving among white African American soldiers from Europe and people, he becomes self-conscious that he is increasing competition in the job market lead to measured by different norms than those in his another racist, violent explosion. McKay used community. Fanon’s thought bears similarities the literary mask of the sonnet to address the to W.E.B DuBois “double consciousness”—an violent tensions and challenge white norms and awareness of constantly looking at one’s self standards. The poem’s language is the iambic through the eyes of the other. pentameter and it consists of 14 lines with a This self-reflexive attitude is at the very base complex rhyme scheme. It has three quatrains: of black thinking in the Americas and influenced the first of a,b, a,b rhyme scheme, the second of the practices of comparing at work in Harlem c/d, c/d, and the third of e/f, e/f, and a concluding Renaissance cultural production. In Harlem couplet of g/g. The intricate and strict form during the 1920s and 1930s, masks as material mimics order and control. The poem’s opening artefact occupied a special place in the community. line repeats comparative practices of the white Exhibitions of African masks, sculptures, and supremacists comparing black people to “hogs.” ornamentation were regularly mounted at the The poetic speaker echoes white racism. The 135th street branch of the Public Library, as well comparisons shifts from animals to humans as as in the galleries of midtown and downtown blacks become humanized: “Oh Kinsmen.”... Manhattan. To artists and intellectuals like Alain “like men.” In contrast, white people turn from Locke and Aaron Douglas, African masks not being compared to hunters into “mad dogs.” only made reference to ancestral legacy, but McKay includes direct and indirect suggestive were also signs of the African importance for practices of comparing; he masters the form the development of modernist art throughout the of the sonnet but changes its content. The Western world (Hills 210). In reference to Pablo conventional theme of love in the sonnet tradition Picasso’s Les Demoisselles d’Avignon, Henry turns into a social, cultural, and political appeal. L. Gates Jr. explains that “[t)he Cubist mask of McKay’s sonnet is a call to resist. On the level modernism covers a black Bantu face. African of reflectivity, McKay compares himself, through art—ugly, primitive, debased in 1900; sublime, the mask of the Shakespearian sonnet, to the complex, valorized by 1910 was transformed canonized writers of the Anglo-Saxon tradition. so dramatically in the cultural imagination of the However, this comparison implies a reversal West” (163). The mask became a touchstone of power. McKay masters the form skillfully, for African American art from the Harlem but transfers it to new levels of meaning. The Renaissance into the contemporary period. Shakespearian sonnet dwells on love, courtship, However, it is the reinvention of the mask as an and romance; the sonnet by McKay focuses on abstract literary and artistic tool to do and un-do oppression, negation, and violent resistance. comparisons in the works by the Afro-Caribbean The love it expresses is for a black brotherhood poet Claude McKay, the African American poet goes beyond national boundaries. It is a call for Langston Hughes, and the African American black Pan-African nationalism, as the calling painter Aaron Douglas that marked the most to “kinsmen” highlights. ‘The New Negro’ distinctive challenges to white culture and power in McKay’s vision is a collective movement ‘from within’: actors. connecting multiple black cultures: Claude McKay, Jamaican poet and leading literary figure of the Harlem Renaissance, If we must die—let it not be like hogs published “If We Must Die” in 1919 in the July Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, issue of The Liberator. McKay wrote the poem in While round us bark the mad and hungry response to mob attacks by white Americans on dogs, African American individuals and communities Making their mock at our accursed lot. during the race riots of the so-called Red If we must die—oh, let us nobly die, Summer. The riots were the outcome of post- So that our precious blood may not be shed World War I social tensions in numerous cities In vain; then even the monsters we defy throughout the United States. The return of 17 W. Raussert: ‘We Wear the Mask’

Shall be constrained to honor us though “I, too, sing America” claims black authorship dead! for Modern American artistic expression (257). Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common At first glimpse, merely a simple intertextual foe; reference to the famous opening of Whitman’s Though far outnumbered, let us show us “Song of Myself,” the verb in the context of brave, the Harlem Renaissance actually expresses a And for their thousand blows deal one celebration of African American oral and musical deathblow! culture. Hughes’ textual practice of comparing What though before us lies the open lifts African American folk culture into the realm grave? of modernist American literature and culture. Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, His singing voice is as biblical as Whitman’s, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting but his sources are spiritual, blues, and jazz. back! (290) Underneath the surface of the Whitmanesque modern American utopia, Hughes inserts Langston Hughes’s poem “I Too” was first dissidence (laughter) and expands utopian published in 1926. Similar to McKay, Hughes ideals with a strong belief in social change. also chooses a masking strategy to challenge the white modernist discourse of Anglo-Saxon I, too, sing America. America. In the poem, practices of comparing I am the darker brother. work on the level of authorship and citizenship They send me to eat in the kitchen are embedded in a reflective mode. Hughes’ When company comes, title already refers to Du Bois’ notion of twoness But I laugh, and double consciousness. Declaring himself And eat well, the darker brother, the black poetic voice claims And grow strong. blood ties, citizenship, and communal belonging. As the short poem unfolds, Hughes describes Tomorrow, a ubiquitous scene of domestic racism, I’ll be at the table against which he sets an initial comparison. When company comes. In free verse form, the black poetic voice of a Nobody’ll dare seemingly domestic servant addresses his Say to me, master household. The comparison expressed “Eat in the kitchen,” through “darker brother” is simple and powerful. Then. ‘The New Negro’ is conceived in communal, political, and aesthetic terms: “How beautiful I Besides, am.” (257) Hughes continues a step further from They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— (257) the familial/social/aesthetic to comparisons on the level of authorship. Writing through the mask These examples from Hughes and McKay of Whitmanesque self-celebratory expression reveal that the literary mask, at the level of and adopting the latter’s free verse style for form and voice, serves multiple purposes. The African American poetry, Hughes compares mask provides a safe aesthetic space to claim himself to Walt Whitman as a poet and citizen, mastery of knowledge and form in order to push the canonically acclaimed founding father of the comparison of the self with the accomplished modern poetry. The domestic servant’s poetic master in the field of cultural production. The voice not only claims black equality, it celebrates abstract literary mask ‘tongue-in-cheek’ allows the beauty of blackness in Whitman’s style of the poet to subvert and expand the acknowledged self-embrace. and canonized literary expression for his The Whitmanesque mask provides an authorial own aesthetic, cultural, and political claims. It space for bold cultural and social claims. Hughes also provides a superb medium to designate uses it to refer to the blackening of America reflexivity on blackness as a public concern. through music from the slavery to the Jazz age. forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 12-20 18

Strategies of ‘masking’ and the use of masks shared an equally powerful presence in the Harlem music and cabaret scene (double entendre) and especially in the visual arts. The painter Aaron Douglas was arguably the most prolific African American painter to use masks and develop ‘masking’ strategies as a counterpoint to white hegemonic visions of blackness. ‘The New Negro’ in Douglas’ work came in hybrid African American/African attire. Aaron Douglas’ artistic inclinations included experimental modernist forms like Braque’s and Picasso’s cubism, Winold Reiss’ modernization of folk painting, and African art. Many black figures in Douglas’ paintings show faces modelled on masks of the Dan people of Liberia in Africa, their personality concealed, silhouettes of strong bodies represented in a rather abstract artistic expression. Douglas concealed individuality to let a collective narrative and history emerge. (image Aaron Douglas Song of the Towers) He cherished cubist dynamics of form and Cubism as well as a modern and avant-garde The murals collectively outline black history style; this served Douglas as a painted mask to from its African roots through the Great Migration; look beyond Eurocentric visions of modernity Song of the Towers tells a story of the conflicted to comparisons of contemporary black culture black struggle with modernity Complex and multi- with African culture, particularly Egyptian layered, Song of the Towers relies on graphic culture. Commercially, the cubist mask opened designs as well as patterns of geometric shapes a path into the American art world and he was and, thus, speaks through the practices of cubist subsequently commissioned to paint murals painting. People and things appear in abstracted for the New York Public Library. The murals fashion. Dominating the mural’s center are demonstrated that Douglas saw himself equally concentric circles, framed by jutting rectangular capable of adapting African art as the European prisms. Through this careful improvisation of masters of cubism at the time, Picasso and various forms, Douglas unfolds a narrative that Braque. Yet Douglas was not paying homage catapults the black figures into the whirlwind to Western modernist art. Douglas used the of modern, urban machinery. In a comparative mask in cubist style to celebrate black art and yet relational way, cubist abstraction shows the history from ancient Egypt to present black art dispossessed and the rising, the human and of Harlem. His figures of African and African the machine, the left behind ‘Old Negro’ and the American art and folk art merge in mask and rising ‘New Negro’ in the center. In setting his silhouette-like presentations of blackness. His black figures in a mix of Cubist inspired dynamic painterly practices of comparing built on the forms, Douglas reflects the black origins of comparata Egypt and Black America(s), not on modernist art. The black figures, albeit, are still the comparata Black America(s) and Europe. struggling to claim their position in the setting of Douglas created a complex vision of ‘The New modern metropolis. Negro,’ presented in Aspects of Negro Life, a Song of Towers wistfully celebrates the series of four murals sponsored by the federal triumph of black artistic expression in the Harlem Works Progress Administration (WPA). Song of Renaissance. Douglas shows himself mastering the Towers (1934) is arguably the most modern Cubist modernism, the black musician in the of the four. center alludes to the musical blackening of Harlem and America during the heydays of Race 19 W. Raussert: ‘We Wear the Mask’

Records in the 1920s. Nevertheless, the struggle The gaze is inward. It is a reflection on the black against history, the wheel of modernization, and self, the black collective, and their relatedness. the over-towering presence of metropolitan His comparison between black and white architecture- the upward-gazing central black cultures is based on gradual difference and he figure- suggests that a complete black arrival concludes an affirmation of black superiority. is still “a dream deferred” (Hughes 221). This Douglas’s emphatic message signals a interpretation is further supported by the difference along the lines of emotion, spirituality, contours of The Statue of Liberty rather removed and aesthetics, while presenting a radical in size and position. The mural intricately reversal of white supremacy paradigms. The compares dream and reality, myth and history; above quote from Douglas also shows that the the result is abstraction and ambiguity. Like emphasis on black differences as an essentialist McKay and Hughes, Douglas displays mastery strategy helped to challenge normative practices of form. Like other literary figures, he used the of comparing that order the world. While master form to unfold a self-reflexive discourse ‘masking’ strategies meant an appropriation of on blackness—noting that all murals manifest white master models, the performativity within of diversity within blackness and relate different it allowed for in-group reflectivity, a multitude of shades of blackness with a long trajectory of affirmative ‘New Negroes,’ and a chance for new African diaspora history. The mastery of form comparative models within black cultures. This gives Douglas the authority to speak for the created an understanding of deep and complex modernist community, yet raises a racial critique entanglements between black cultures and a on modernity. In the state-commissioned mural tertium of blackness beyond colonial histories The Song of Towers, Douglas cannily inserted and racial baggage. a critical yet self-empowering black modernist vision. By comparing and relating different Works Cited figures and stages of African American history with the emergence of the modern metropolis, Ahad, Badia Sahar. Freud Upside Down: African American Douglas reveals the cracks within modernist Literature and Psychoanalytic Culture. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2010. Print. American utopian design; he continues to push a concept of ‘the New Negro’ that lies outside Archer, Margaret S. Making our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility, Cambridge: of Euro-American practices of comparing white Cambridge University Press. 2007. versus black. His black figures demonstrate a ---. Structure, Agency, and Internal Conversation. difference within blackness in terms of history Cambridge: Cambrige UP, 2003. Print. and identity. Africa and the African diaspora in Bernard, Emily. “The New Negro Movement and the Politics the Americas serve as comparata reference of Art.” Ed. Maryemma Graham, The Cambridge points. History of African American Literature, 268-287. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print. Concluding Remarks Butler Judith and Athanasiou, Athena. Dispossession: The Performative in the Political. Cambridge: Polity Resulting from an editorial board meeting Press. 2013. Print. of the Harlem magazine Fire!!, Aaron Douglas Delamont, Sara. Fieldwork in Educational Settings. London: penned an artistic statement in 1925: Falmer Press. 1991. Print. We are group conscious. We are primarily Douglas, Aaron. “Letter Editorial Fire!!” Claiming the and intensely devoted to art. We believe that Stones, Naming the Bones. Cultural Property and the Negro is fundamentally, essentially different the Negotiation of National and Ethnic Identity. Ed. Elazar Barkan and Ronald Bush. Los Angeles: The from their Nordic neighbors. We are proud of Getty Research Institute, 2002. 289. Print. that difference. We believe these differences ---. “The Song of Towers.” Mural Series Aspects of Negro to be greater spiritual endowment, greater Life. 1934. Schomburg Center for Research in Black sensitivity, greater power for artistic expression Culture, New York. and appreciation (qtd. in Kirschke 122). Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago: A.C. Reflexivity characterizes Douglas’s manifesto. McClurg & Co., 1903. forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 12-20 20

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Contesting Inequality. Joseph Anténor Firmin’s De l’égalité des races humaines, 133 years on

Gudrun Rath (University of Art and Design, Linz)

Abstract

Methods of comparison have been a central element in the construction of different races and the modeling of scientific racism, such as Arthur de Gobineau’s Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines (1853). Nevertheless, these racist ideologies didn’t remain uncontested, and it was especially the intellectual legacy of the Haitian Revolution that played a key role in shaping what has recently been referred to as “Haitian Atlantic humanism” (M. Daut). However, 19th century Haitian diasporic intellectuals have frequently been omitted from international research tracing an intellectual history of the Atlantic sphere in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution. Publications by intellectuals like Louis Joseph Janvier and Joseph Anténor Firmin, both Haitians residing in Paris in the second half of the 19th century, have too easily been discarded for their embracement of nationalism or their ‘imitation’ of French forms. Only recently has research highlighted their importance in thinking a “hemispheric crossculturality” (M. Dash) as well as for pan-African and pan-American thought. In publications such as De l’égalité des races humaines (1885), 19th century Haitian diasporic intellectual Joseph Anténor Firmin contested anthropological methods of comparison which provided a basis for racist ideologies. Similarly, Haitian intellectual Louis Joseph Janvier, who was trained as a medical doctor and anthropologist in France and author of Un people noir devant les blancs (1883), contributed to the modeling of an Atlantic humanism. As members of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris and French literary circles, both of them were acknowledged members of intellectual communities in the French capital, while at the same time being in continuous exchange with intellectual leaders of independence in the Americas, such as Ramón Emeterio Betances and José Martí. This essay discusses how methods of comparative anthropology were contested by Haitian- diasporic writer Anténor Firmin. It argues that Haitian diasporic thinkers not only put their birthplace and the legacy of the Haitian Revolution at the center of their work, but also actively shaped intellectual circles on the European continent. It thereby foregrounds a permanent, and also permanently neglected, entanglement between ‘Europe’ and the Americas.

Keywords: Contesting Inequality, Joseph Anténor Firmin, Haiti

Contesting Inequality. Joseph Anténor like? Would presuppositions of racial superiority Firmin’s De l’égalité des races humaines, 133 always be present in scholarly thought, although years later their falseness had already been proven? At the end of the 19th century, when Haitian diasporic author, diplomat, and politician Joseph Anténor “Le préjugé, qui fait croire qu’une couleur Firmin wondered about the future of racial plus ou moins blanche est une signe de ideologies during his sojourn in the French supériorité, restera-t-il éternellement ancré capital, such thoughts still belonged to “utopian dans les meilleures têtes, malgré tous les futures” (Chaar-Perez 29). faits qui en trahissent la fausseté?” (Firmin In 2018, 133 years later, the “revolution of 661) love” (Chaar-Perez 11), leading to a “future beyond race” (Dash, “Nineteenth-Century Haiti” What would a world without prejudices look 49) that Firmin and other Caribbean diasporic 22 G. Rath: Contesting Inequality

intellectuals such as Puerto Rico’s Ramón As the title indicates, Firmin’s book was clearly Emeterio Betances envisaged, is not only still directed against Arthur de Gobineau’s Essai sur pending but seems to have drifted into a far l’inégalité des races humaines dating from 1853 away, ungraspable future. [1] The first decade (Hurbon 65). In his text, de Gobineau famously of the 21st century has given rise to a revival argued for a golden age of ‘arianism,’ that was of white supremacist thought and nationalist inexorably in decline, and the superiority of movements in Europe as well as in the Americas. whites over blacks (Chemla, “Anténor Firmin”; Within the European Union, “racism and ethnic Fluehr-Lobban 449; Banton 55). discrimination remain at levels that raise serious Firmin’s publication De l’egalité des races concern”. [2] It is thus evident that racism does humaines, however, was not a mere polemic not belong to the past and neither does the against de Gobineau, but rather a systematic category ‘race’. The latter continues to haunt study (Lewis 317). His analysis provided readers everyday life as well as scientific realms. As with a general overview of the most established the anthropologist Jean-François Veran (246) European and American scientific positions – states, “it has been impossible to bury this past, which comprised, among others, the Swedish and it has become obvious that in spite of claims botanist, physician, and zoologist Carl von about its scientific irrelevance, the heritage of Linné, French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, raciology cannot simply be dismissed, at least Comte de Buffon, German physiologist Friedrich in its political consequences and continuities.”[3] Tiedemann, German anthropologist Johann In the light of these developments, a Friedrich Blumenbach, Kant, and Goethe. It also reexamination of publications such as Firmin’s presented the different positions intellectuals took De l’égalité des races humaines, a text that stood in contemporary debates such as monogenism up to anthropology’s comparative anatomic vs. polygenism, i.e. the discussion of if humankind methods and racialization at a very early stage, had singular or multiple origins, the question seems more than urgent, and not just to imagine of hybridity and its moral and physical effects, “alternative histories” (Chaar-Pérez 29) and or the debate on whether physical differences provide a different view of the 19th century. This between humans should lead to the conclusion essay discusses how methods of comparison that humankind consisted of different ‘species’. were contested and shaped ‘Haitian Atlantic However, Firmin’s study was not only a detailed humanism’. It argues that Haitian diasporic survey of different intellectual positions, but also thinkers not only put their birthplace and the a targeted critique. Due to its precise structural legacy of the Haitian Revolution at the center of frame, in which every argument is followed their work, but also actively shaped intellectual by a counterargument, Firmin’s study can be circles on the European continent. In this essay, related to juridical rhetoric: De l’egalité des races this reexamination will thus lead us to ask: How humaines is a written objection to the majority of can the “utopian futures” envisaged in the past scientific positions of the era. be reactivated for the present? Firmin had been elected as a member of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris in 1884, where 1. “[…] le crâne, il reste muet”: Against he was one of two non-white members, along Comparative Anatomy with Paris-based Haitian diasporic intellectual Louis-Joseph Janvier.[4] His essay therefore In 1885, only two years after his arrival in not only confronted de Gobineau, but was also Paris, Joseph Anténor Firmin published De a “groundbreaking critique of scientific racism” l’egalité des races humaines. In Haiti, Firmin had (Murphy 38), a fierce attack on the views most been given a classical education in European members of the Société held, along with the languages and cultures, then studied law and ‘scientific’ methods they had developed.[5] became a successful attorney and politician Firmin’s analysis was especially directed against in Cap-Haïtien and Caracas before moving to the legacy of the then already deceased French Paris as a diplomat, where he stayed until 1888 anatomist and anthropologist Paul Broca, who (Chemla, “Anténor Firmin”; Fluehr-Lobban 450). had founded the Société d’Anthropologie de forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 21-28 23

Paris in 1859. Although not the first organization Les anthropologistes, en étudiant la forme which sought to promote this emerging et le volume du crâne, cherchent surtout à academic discipline in Europe, the Société découvrir les différences qui existent entre was the first scholarly association to use the les races humaines, apres [sic] avoir assigné term ‘anthropologie’ (Wartelle 126).[6] Decades arbitrairement à chaque race une certaine forme before ‘anthropology’ would be recognized as an ou une certaine capacité crâniennes spéciales. academic discipline at the end of the 19th century Plus tard, il est vrai, on s’appuiera sur ces mêmes and Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss would spécialisations pour proclamer que telle race est introduce a shift towards sociological parameters inferieure ou supérieure à telle autre; mais cette at the beginning of the 20th century (Fluehr- conclusion, sans avoir plus de poids que celle Lobban 453), the Société placed its focus on des phrénologistes, ne sera pas moins revêtu anthropology as a natural science, especially d’un semblant scientifique. (Firmin 180) [9] racializing physical anthropology. Its members While de Gobineau, with his well-known employed methods such as anthropometry and publication from 1853, had preceded the craniometry in the comparative and racializing foundation of the anthropological society, its interpretation of human physical data, which members, rather than questioning de Gobineau’s “viewed the inferiority of the black race as an hypothesis, had “imagined” scientific practices incontestable fact” (Fluehr-Lobban 453; see also in order to confirm, mainly on a physical basis, Douglas 56ff.). the superiority of whites in comparison to non- Firmin’s own definition of the discipline as whites, according to Firmin (Firmin 213). This “positive anthropology” in the subtitle of his also held true for other comparative methods study and his personal approach differed from from the “arsenal of anthropology”, that only the consensus on racial hierarchies most of his led to an “imagined comparative proceeding” colleagues had reached. Beyond physical data, (Firmin 228). In the end, all of the established Firmin incorporated cultural, social, linguistic, approaches in craniometry were in vain, Firmin historical, and archeological dimensions into argued: One could twist and turn the skull, but it his study, which, in this respect, predates still remained silent (229). posterior anthropological approaches such as the one developed by Franz Boas by decades 2. “Tous les hommes sont l’homme”: Haitian- (Denis 332). [7] Consequently, De l’egalité Atlantic Humanism, Revisited des races humaines is also a critique of the one-sidedness of anthropological methods For Firmin (495f.), comparative anatomy of the era. Firmin’s repudiation of compared was not the only anthropological method craniometry – the measurement of human that produced too many insufficiencies. skulls that ultimately resulted in parallels His critique also targeted comparisons of drawn between the size of the skull, brain, and attributions concerning moral judgment, grades intelligence, particularly promoted in France by of civilization, and evolution. For the author, Broca and his successors – concerned not only comparisons of physical, moral and/or other non- the comparison of, but, more fundamentally, physical attributions were clearly “comparaisons the attempt to classify human physical data.[8] imaginées dans le but d’établir ou de consolider According to Firmin, any attempt of classification la doctrine de l’inégalité des races humaines” could only be arbitrary and was always led by (Firmin 215; emphasis added). According to the subjective criteria, trying to impose order where author, these comparisons did not prove fruitful nature had put its “most capricious irregularity” because historical factors and probable future (Firmin 23). It was thus only logical that different progress were not sufficiently considered. As scientists had established different systems of Michael Dash (“Nineteenth-Century Haiti” 47) classification, thereby causing a “fluctuation” of has rightfully argued, “Firmin’s main thesis is arbitrary classifications (Firmin 26; 40). What not essentialist but universalist as he sees the was at stake was, according to Firmin, not only differences between cultures and civilizations anthropology’s reputation, but science itself: as not based on any innate, genetic qualities 24 G. Rath: Contesting Inequality

but historical and material conditions are used one another (Firmin 662). to explain cultural difference and evolution.” His It is by no means by chance that the first edition understanding of ‘race’, consequently, is equally of De l’egalité des races humaines showed based on historical and social factors rather than an image of Toussaint Louverture, hero of the biological ones (Denis 328). Haitian Revolution, on the second page (Fluehr- While Firmin did not go so far as to completely Lobban 460). [12] Undoubtedly, Haiti and the renounce the concept of ‘race’ – consistent intellectual legacy of the Haitian Revolution with the consensus of his era – he vehemently were at the heart of Firmin’s argument. Scientific disputed the idea of a ‘purity’ of races as well racist positions of the era, amongst others de as the “anti-philosophical and pseudo-scientific” Gobineau, often used Haiti and the outcome of the idea of racial inequality (Firmin 95; 204). For Haitian Revolution “as proof of black incapacity Firmin, insistence of the inequality of human for self-government, but Firmin and other Haitian races clearly served only one purpose: the intellectuals of his generation turned that logic on legitimization of enslavement and servitude its head. Haiti was exemplary, yes – exemplary (Firmin 209) as well as men’s exploitation by of black equality, achievement and potential” men (Firmin 204). Science, the author argued, (Ramsey 95). This becomes particularly clear had made itself an “accomplice” to the “dumbest when we consider the dedication that opens prejudice” and to the “most unjust system”, Firmin’s study: De l’egalité des races humaines either due to “flattery” or due to “insufficiency of is dedicated to Haiti but also to all the “children observation” (Firmin 489). If anthropology only of the black race”, “love of progress, justice served to proclaim that black men were destined and liberty”, and to the “dispossessed of the to serve white men, Firmin insisted, he had the present and the giants of the future” (Firmin full right to say to this “false anthropology”: “Non, v).[13] At a moment when new European tu n’es pas une science!” (Firmin 230). [10] At colonial expansions were being undertaken on the same time, Firmin also denounced false the African continent, Firmin thereby underlined condemnations of enslavement in Europe. As the importance of Haitian history as a symbol the author argued, such condemnations could for and motor of universal equality and liberty only be contradictory when they were brought in the future.[14] In this regard, De l’egalité des forward while simultaneously maintaining the races humaines is a precursor of Firmin’s later argument of the “comparative inequality” of transnational political argument for an “Antillean human races (204f.). [11] confederation” as well as a new “geographic In accordance with the title of his publication, imaginary where metropolitan France and post- Firmin thus came to the following conclusion: independence Haiti […] are no longer opposed” (Dash, “Nineteenth-century Haiti” 50; see also […] les hommes sont partout doués des Chaar-Pérez 15). mêmes qualités et des mêmes défauts, Firmin’s position can be situated within the sans distinction de couleur ni de forme wider context of what has recently been named anatomique. Les races sont égales; elles “Haitian-Atlantic humanism”, i.e. “a long-standing sont tous capables de s’élever aux plus way of thinking about eradicating the problems nobles vertus, au plus haut développement of racism and slavery through and from the intellectuel, comme de tomber dans la plus nation state of Haiti, but also in collaboration complète dégénération. […] C’est qu’une with European and American world powers“ chaîne invisible réunit tous les membres (Daut 12). For centuries, the Haitian Revolution de l’humanité dans un cercle commun. (Firmin 661-662) has been regarded as an “exceptional event” that could be discarded or “silenced” from This, the author argued with Victor Hugo’s official records (Trouillot). In scholarly research famous words, “Tous les hommes sont l’homme”, outside of Haiti, this perception has shifted due was where his argument was leading to. He to the increase of international interest in the closed his study with the biblical invitation to love Haitian Revolution during the bicentenary, a development which ultimately led to the “Haitian forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 21-28 25

turn” (Celucien 37). Within this context, scholars intentionally or not – Europe was given pride of have focused on the universal importance of the place. Haitian Revolution (Dash, “Haïti Chimère” 10) and have emphasized its significance as part 3. Intruding into Europe’s Space and Time? of a “modernity disavowed” (Fischer 38) as well as part of “universal history” (Buck-Morss x). How, then, has it been possible that the However, within history of knowledge, currents reexamination of these intellectuals has been of “Haitian-Atlantic humanism” have often been (and still is) undertaken mostly within a national overlooked. Only recent research has highlighted frame, classifying them as ‘Haitian’ intellectuals the contribution of 19th-century Haitian diasporic and reading their work as part of a ‘Haitian’ intellectuals to “hemispheric”, cross-cultural canonical history of knowledge, while both their thought (Dash, Nineteenth-Century Haiti 45), established position within intellectual circles in normally attributed to writers such as Cuba’s Europe as well as their work on transnational José Martí or Puerto Rico’s Ramón Emeterio communities proves this view untenable?[17] Betances, as well as the importance for pan- How come that, at the same time, Arthur de Africanism and pan-Americanism and the Gobineau’s Essai sur l’inégalité des races transatlantic space, decades before writers humaines was not only translated into English such as Édouard Glissant or Paul Gilroy brought almost immediately after its first publication forward ideas on the “poetics of relation” or the but also edited as an “Oxford classic”, as late “Black Atlantic”.[15] as 1966, after having served as an inspiration Indeed, Firmin is not the only Haitian for Nazi ideology (Denis 326; Fluehr-Lobban intellectual residing in Paris in the second half of 450); meanwhile Firmin’s De l’egalité des races the 19th century whose contribution, both in his humaines had to wait until 2002 for a translation publications and his intellectual life, to the shaping into English (not to speak of a German edition) of a “cross-cultural” thought has been widely (Denis 325). Most certainly, all of these indicators ignored. The same holds true for other Haitian- point to the fact that Europe, on the one hand, diasporic intellectuals of his generation, such as has for a long time been – and still is – conceived Louis Joseph Janvier, author of La République as the opposite of the Caribbean (Randeria and d’Haïti et ses visiteurs (1883). Janvier was one of Römhild 22); a position that seems even more the members of the Société d’Anthropologie who untenable given not only Europe’s colonial made Firmin’s election possible. He had been past, but also the fact that present parts of the trained as a medical doctor and anthropologist in European Union are geographically situated France and collaborated with intellectuals such in the Caribbean. On the other hand, this past as the abolitionist Victor Schoelcher or Ramón and current history of reception of intellectuals Emeterio Betances in a collaborative work, Les such as de Gobineau and Firmin sheds light détracteurs de la race noire et de la république on the desire (or the unconsidered implication) d’Haïti. He was an acknowledged member of to think of Europe as a space of ‘purity’, intellectual circles in the French capital and was within which intellectual positions that stood close to the Parnassians Charles Leconte de up to and spoke out against the ideological Lisle, Judith Gautier, and Stéphane Mallarmé framework of scientific racism from a position (Chemla, “Louis Joseph Janvier”).[16] Firmin of transnational entanglements seemed and and Janvier, like other intellectuals of the era, still seem unthinkable.[18] Consciously or not, used Paris as a “strategic site for spreading their the continuous reception of de Gobineau and political messages and as a locus of community the marginalization of counterpositions such that brought together Latin American exiles as Firmin’s – even by academics critical of alongside French liberals” (Chaar-Perez 27). As scientific racism – have thus perpetuated the Michael Dash (“Nineteenth-Century Haiti” 47) arguments of scientific racism and promulgated has argued, these intellectuals thus employed the view of the European intellectual space, as a “strategy of performative cosmopolitanism”. well as European scientific communities of the However, within this performance – whether 19th century, as only conceivable within national 26 G. Rath: Contesting Inequality

parameters. [4] Three other members had arranged for Firmin’s In his introduction, Firmin (viii) acknowledged admission. French physician Ernest Aubertin, French anthropologist and archeologist Gabriel Mortillet and that while attending the Société d’Anthropologie’s Haitian-diasporic anthropologist and intellectual Louis discussions on the inequality between Joseph Janvier nominated him as a new member, human races, he came to the conclusion whereupon he was elected “with majority vote by secret ballot of the society” (Fluehr-Lobban 453). that counterarguments could only be brought forward in written form, for he felt he would have [5] Haitian anthropologist Jean-Price Mars argued in his been regarded an “intruder” if he had directly biography of Firmin’s life that this must have been a “cruel paradox” (cited in Fluehr-Lobban 453). expressed his arguments in the discussions. The result of this process was De l’egalité des [6] Ethnological societies had previously been founded in Paris in 1839, in London in 1841, and in New York in 1842. races humaines, a work of almost 700 pages See Fluehr-Lobban 453. published by the Parisian editor Cotillon. Firmin’s decision has ultimately made his objections [7] Firmin (2) expanded the prevalent view scholars of his era held on anthropology and defined it not only as more durable; it has provided a persistent and the “study of the nature of men” but also as the study of more effective form of ‘intrusion’ from within the “the place he occupies”, while at the same time arguing European intellectual communities of the 19th against specialization: “C’est surtout en anthropologie qu’il faut se mettre en garde contre cette spécialité exclusive century – an ‘intrusion’ can still be reactivated for qui reserre les horizons de l’esprit et le rend incapable de the present. It also gives some rare evidence of considérer les objets sous toutes leurs faces.” (Firmin 5) the fact that the history of knowledge of the 19th [8] For an overview of physical anatomy and craniometry, century should be reconsidered beyond national see Douglas 2008. boundaries. Europe’s past, after all, has always been subjected to trans-national entanglements. [9] “Comment parviendra-t-on jamais à une classification vraiment scientifique”, Firmin (157) asked elsewhere This also holds true for its present and future, in his study, “‘en suivant les principes de la méthode despite claims to the contrary. naturelle’, quand les mesures anthropologiques, que l’on reconnaît comme les seules bases rationnelles, sont non seulement trompeuses, irrégulières, mais le plus souvent Endnotes contradictoires?”

[1] Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rico’s leader of [10] Firmin’s own concept of science was clearly shaped independence, coined the term “revolution of love” to refer by the values of Enlightenment, above all reason. But also to “revolutionary communities”. See Chaar-Pérez 14. other references, such as the achievements of progress and civilization and Comte as an alternative reference give [2] The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights us some insight into Firmin’s ideas. See Fluehr-Lobban report comes to the disillusioning conclusion: “Seventeen 451; Denis 333; Murphy 38. years after the adoption of the Racial Equality Directive and nine years after the adoption of the Framework Decision [11] This critique was explicitly directed at anthropologist on Racism and Xenophobia, immigrants and minority Paul Broca who, according to Firmin (205), only condemned ethnic groups continue to face widespread discrimination, slavery because it did not fit in the theory of a polygenistic harassment and discriminatory ethnic profiling across origin of humanity. the EU, as the findings of FRA’s second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS II) show. [12] The image is not included in the 1885 edition of the The European Commission supported EU Member States’ French National Library that was used for this essay. efforts to counter racism and hate crime through the EU High [13] The dedication reads: “A Haïti […] Puisse ce livre […] Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other inspirer à tous les enfants de la race noire, répandus sur forms of intolerance. It also continued to monitor closely the l’orbe immense de la terre, l’amour de progrès, de justice implementation of the Racial Equality Directive and of the et de la liberté! Car, en le dédiant à Haïti, c’est encore à Framework Decision. Although several EU Member States eux tous que je l’adresse, les déshérités de présent et les have been reviewing their anti-racism legislation, in 2017 géants du avenir.“ (Firmin v). Indeed, ever since the Haitian only 14 of them had in place action plans and strategies Revolution, in Haiti there has been a different understanding aimed at combating racism and ethnic discrimination.” of ‘black’ and ‘white’, as Jana Braziel (5) states: “[...] [U] (FRA, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 8) nlike the French nègre (in France, Quebec, and even in [3] Veran particularly refers to the unexpected, long-lasting parts of the French Antilles), the Kreyòlnèg and the French effects of raciology, in which the strategic employment of nègre (in Haiti) not only does not pejoratively connote ‘race’ has become a tactic, for instance for indigenous blackness (as in ‘Negro’) or less negatively (as in ‘black communities, to underline their territorial claims against man’), but moreover does not specifically reference race at agribusiness or real estate projects in Brazil. See Veran all, except as a universal. In Haiti nèg(in Kreyòl) andnègre 249f. (in French) have both denoted ‘man’ or ,human‘ ever since forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 21-28 27

Jean-Jacques Dessalines – the first ruler of independent stable/10.2979/globalsouth.7.2.11#metadata_info_ Ayiti – tore the white stripe from the French national flag to tab_contents>. form Haiti’s blue-and-red- striped flag and proclaimed all Île en île citizens of the island country nwa (noir), and all foreigners Chemla, Yves. “Anténor Firmin.” . 2003. 30 blanc (blanc), regardless of race. [...] All Polish soldiers, for Sept. 2003. Web. 01 Aug. 2018. . subdue the Haitian slave revolutionaries but later defected ---. “Louis Joseph Janvier.” Île en île. 2005. 12 Jun. 2005. and fought alongside the Haitian’s for the country’s Web. 01 Aug. 2018. . independence, were granted citizenship by Dessalines and became nwa (in Kreyòl) and noir (in French). And to the Dash, Michael. “Haïti Chimère. Revolutionary Universalism surprise of many travelling African Americans visiting the and its Caribbean Context.” Reinterpreting the country (and even some Haitian diasporics returning home Haitian Revolution and its Cultural Aftershocks. Ed. after a long absence), they are blanc.” Martin Munro and Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw. Kingston: University of West Indies Press, 2006. [14] Equality, for Firmin (xvi), thus also comprises equality 9-19. Print. of rights, and it is again Haiti that is chosen as an example: ---. “Nineteenth-Century Haiti and the Archipelago of “Combien ne serais-je pas heureux de voir mon pays, que the Americas: Antenor Firmin’s Letters from St. j’aime et vénère infiniment, a cause même de ses malheurs Thomas.” Research in African Literatures 35. 2 et de sa laborieuse destinée, comprendre enfin qu’il a (2004): 44-53. Print. une œuvre tout spéciale et délicate à accomplir, celle de montrer à la terre entière que tous les hommes, noirs ou Daut, Marlene. “Caribbean ‘Race Men’: Louis Joseph blancs, sont égaux en qualités comme ils sont égaux en Janvier, Demesvar Delorme, and the Haitian droits!” Atlantic” L’Esprit Créateur 56.1 (2016): 9-23. Print.

[15] Along with other Paris-based Haitian diasporic Denis, Watson R. “Review: The Equality of the Human intellectuals such as Bénito Sylvain, Firmin attended the Races. (Positivist Anthropology) by Antenor Firmin First Pan-African Conference in London in 1900 (Fluehr- and Asselin Charles” Caribbean Studies, 34. 1 Lobban 460). (2006): 325-334. Print. Douglas, Bronwen; Ballard, Chris. Foreign Bodies. Oceania [16] On Janvier as a transnational intellectual see also Daut and the Science of Race 1750-1940. Canberra: 2016. Australian National University Press, 2008. Print. [17] Intellectual positions such as Firmin’s have been European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. marginalized within the history of knowledge for decades. Fundamental Rights Report 2018. Vienna - A reexamination in Haiti and, to a lesser extent, also FRA opinions: 2018. Jun. 2018. Web. 01 Aug. th elsewhere in the Americas and in Europe in the 20 century 2018. . mainly Haitian – intellectuals (Fluehr-Lobban 449). Firmin, Antenor. De l’egalité des races humaines: [18] On the afterlives of ‘race’ in contemporary France, see Anthropologie positive. Paris: Librairie Cotillon, Stovall 2014. 1885. Print. Fischer, Sibylle. Modernity Disavowed: Haiti and the Cultures of Slavery in the Age of Revolution. Duke Works Cited University Press, 2004. Print. Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn. “Antenor Firmin: Haitian Pioneer Banton, Michael. “The Idiom of Race. A Critique of of Anthropology.” American Anthropologist 102. 3 Presentism”. Theories of Race and Racism. A (2000): 449-466. Print. Reader. Ed. Les Back and John Solomos. London: Routledge, 2000. 51-63. Print. Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. New York: Verso, 1993. Print. Braziel, Jana. Artists, Performers, and Black Masculinity in Haitian Diaspora. Bloomington, Ind: Indiana Glissant, Édouard. Poétique de la relation: Poétique III. Vol. University Press, 2008. Print 3. Paris: Gallimard, 1990. Print. Buck-Morss, Susan. Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History. Hurbon, Laënnec. Le Barbare imaginaire. Sorciers, zombis Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press, 2009. Print. et cannibales en Haïti. Paris: Cerf, 1988. Print. Celucien, Joseph. “‘The Haitian Turn’: An Appraisal of Janvier, Louis-Joseph et al. Les détracteurs de la race noire Recent Literary and Historiographical Works on et de la République d’Haïti, précédé de lettres de the Haitian Revolution.” The Journal of Pan African Victor Schœlcher et de Ramón Emeterio Betances. Studies 5.6 (2012): 37-55. Web. 01 Aug. 2018. Paris: Marpon et Flammarion, 1882. Print. . Janvier, Louis-Joseph. Un peuple noir devant les peuples Chaar-Perez, Kahlil. “‘A Revolution of Love’: Ramon blancs. (Études de politique et de sociologie Emeterio Betances, Antenor Firmin, and Affective comparées). La republique d’Haiti et ses visiteurs Communities in the Caribbean.” The Global South. (1840-1882), Rèponse a M. Victor Cochinat (de 7.2 (2013): 11-36. Web. 01 Aug. 2018.

Paris: Marpon et Flammarion, 1883. Print. (“Latin American Cultural Theories”, KUP Lewis, Gordon K. Main Currents in Caribbean Thought. 2015). At present, she is working on her second Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1983. monograph on narratives of zombification from Print. a historical and transatlantic perspective as well Murphy, Kieran. “Haiti and the Black Box of Romanticism.” as on an edited volume on forensics. Studies in Romanticism. 56.1 (2017): 37-54. Web. 01 Aug. 2018. . Ramsey, Kate. The Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti. University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print. Randeria, Shalini, and Regina Römhild, Regina. “Das postkoloniale Europa: Verflochtene Genealogien der Gegenwart – Einleitung zur erweiterten Neuauflage.” Jenseits des Eurozentrismus. Postkoloniale Perspektiven in den Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften. Ed. Sebastian Conrad et al. Frankfurt: Campus, 2013. 9-31. Print. Stovall, Tyler, et al.. “Universalismo, diferencia e invisibilidad. Ensayo sobre la nocion de raza en la historia de la Francia contemporánea.” Trans. Eva Montero and Hasan G. Lopez Sanz. Pasajes. 44 (2014): 6-30. Web. 01 Aug. 2018. . Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995. Print. Veran, Jean-Francois. “Old Bones, New Powers.” Current Anthropology 53.5 (2012): 246-255. Print. Wartelle, Jean-Claude. “La Société d’Anthropologie de Paris de 1859 à 1920.” Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines 10.1 (2004): 125-171. Print.

Author’s Biography

Gudrun Rath is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of Art and Design Linz, Austria. She has previously taught at the University of Constance, the University of Heidelberg and the University of Vienna. She was a fellow at the graduate school “The figure of the Third” at the University of Constance and holds a Ph.D from the University of Vienna. She is the author of Zwischenzonen. Theorien und Fiktionen des Übersetzens (“Interstices”, Vienna, Berlin: Turia + Kant 2013) and, as a member of the editorial board of the Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften (Journal for Cultural Studies), has edited a special issue on her current research: Zombies (Bielefeld: Transcript 2014). Together with Isabel Exner, she edited the volume Lateinamerikanische Kulturtheorien forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

Invidious Comparison and the New Global Leisure Class: On the Refeudalization of Consumption in the Old and New Gilded Age

Olaf Kaltmeier (Bielefeld University)

Abstract

In 2017, the NGO Oxfam had the merit to denounce the extreme global social inequalities in its report “An Economy for the 99%” (Oxfam) and initiate a broad political debate on the new rich elites. Oxfam states that since 2015, the richest one percent of the world’s population has more wealth than the whole rest of the world’s population. In this essay I argue that the emergence of a global elite of hyper-rich people can be understood in sociological terms as an integral aspect of an ongoing process of refeudalization. However, such resurgence of aristocratic or (neo-)feudal aspects is not unique in modern history. In the US, the so-called Gilded Age at the end of the 19th century was characterized by a resurrection of aristocratic elements in sociological forms and cultural aesthetics. In this sense, this essay explores the historical juxtaposition of these two dynamics of refeudalization after the French Revolution. Thereby I use Thorstein Veblen`s approach of the “leisure class” and of “invidious comparison” as a tool-kit. For restrictions of this essay, I will limit myself to a comparative juxtaposition, but not to a methodological historical comparison. After a short historical contextualization, special emphasis is directed to the emergence of new economic elites in both historical constellations and the emergence of specific forms of luxury consumption. A second layer of comparison consists of an analysis of the practices of comparison of elites. Thereby, I will differentiate between categorical and inter-personal comparative practices. Third, this essay gives a short outlook on subaltern or popular practices of comparison that highlight the conflictive dimension of comparison in both Gilded Ages.

Keywords: Invidious Comparison , New Global Leisure Class, New Gilded Age

In 2017, the NGO Oxfam had the merit to 2014” 16). The emergence of hyper richness is denounce the extreme global social inequalities a worldwide phenomenon that is by no means in its report “An Economy for the 99%” (Oxfam) limited to the geographical North - formed by and initiate a broad political debate on the new North America and Western Europe. Even in the rich elites. Oxfam states that since 2015, the geographical South, the number of billionaires richest one percent of the world‘s population has increased rapidly. In recent decades, this has more wealth than the whole rest of the has been particularly true for Central America, world‘s population. To translate these figures to South America, and the Caribbean. Wealth-X real living people, it can be said that the richest and UBS recorded the world‘s largest growth in eight men have as much wealth as the 3,6 billion billionaires in 2014 in Latin America. people that form half of the world‘s population. In sociological terms, the emergence Especially in the last two decades, the number of a global elite of hyper-rich people can of billionaires has significantly increased to 2473 be understood as an integral aspect of an people in 2015 (Wealth-X, “Highlights 2015- ongoing process of refeudalization (Neckel, 2016” 2). The average billionaire had a net wealth Refeudalisierung; Tanner; Kaltmeier, of $ 3,1 billion in 2014 and a cash position of $ Refeudalización). In general terms, it seems 600 million (Wealth-X, “UBS Billionaire Census that contemporary social structures are more 30 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

similar to those of pre-revolutionary France Gilded and New Gilded Age than those of Fordist modern societies.[1] In a similar vein, it seems that class analysis also “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often has a problem in understanding the tendency rhymes.” This bon mot is attributed to Mark towards incrustation and encapsulation. New Twain, although there is no confirmation that terms, such as cosmocracy, a neologism of he ever used it. Be that as it may, it perfectly cosmopolitism and aristocracy, seem to be more fits to juxtapose the period of the Gilded Age, adequate to conceptualize the new process of a term coined by Mark Twain and his fellow refeudalization. Charles Dudley Warner in a same-titled book, However, such resurgence of aristocratic of to the contemporary period of global hyper- (neo-)feudal aspects is not unique in modern wealth. This historical comparison between the history. In the US, the so-called Gilded Age at Gilded Age in the US and the New Gilded Age the end of the 19th century was characterized in global capitalism is even made by think tanks by a resurrection of aristocratic elements in that advise billionaires such as Wealth-X. In their sociological forms and cultural aesthetics. In this 2016 report, Wealth-X and UBS state: “The First sense, a historical juxtaposition of two dynamics of Gilded Age lasted 40 years, from 1870 to 1910. refeudalization after the French Revolution might Then, a few businessmen developed some of reveal important insights into the understanding the innovations that would transform their time of the formation of aristocracies based on —such as the car, electricity and steel. During money in formal democracies. In regards to the the Second Gilded Age, entrepreneurs have 19th-century Gilded Age, sociologist Thorstein built the Internet and its ecosystem, pioneered Veblen applied the concept of the “leisure class” hedge and private equity funds, and transformed to analyze the new economic elite. This concept, the consumer industry” (“Highlights 2015-2016” as well as Veblen`s approach, seems to be an 9). interesting tool-kit to analyze the contemporary Beyond this apologetic analogy, I will argue global leisure class in our New Gilded Age. that there is a historical comparability between Various layers of comparison are utilized in the Gilded Age and the contemporary New this essay. The first layer consists of a historical Gilded Age. As Wealth-X and UBS have comparison of the 19th-century Gilded Age pointed out, one basic aspect in these two with the early 21st-century New Gilded Age. booming capitalist conjunctures is technological For restrictions of this essay, I will limit myself innovation that profoundly transformed the to a comparative juxtaposition, but not to a process of capitalist accumulation. In the Gilded methodological historical comparison. After Age, the use of steam and coal revolutionized a short historical contextualization, special the transport possibilities by train and boat, emphasis is directed to the emergence of new while the use of electricity provided the ground economic elites in both historical constellations for new telecommunication dispositives, like the and the emergence of specific forms of luxury telegraph and the telephone. Based on these consumption. A second layer of comparison new technologies, new industries emerged that consists of an analysis of the practices of destroyed artisanal forms of production and lead comparison of elites. Veblen’s concept of to the establishment of trust. This “big business” “invidious comparison” is particularly useful to implied the use of new management strategies understand the different practices of social and where a handful of capitalist controlled complete cultural distinction. Thereby, I will differentiate economic branches: “Cornelius Vanderbilt, E.H. between categorical and inter-personal Harriman and James J. Hill in railroads, Cyrus comparative practices. Third, this essay gives a Mc Cormick in reapers, John D. Rockefeller short outlook on subaltern or popular practices in oil, J.P. Morgan in finance, James B. Duke of comparison that highlight the conflictive in tobacco, Gustavus Swift and Philip Armour dimension of comparison in both Gilded Ages. in meatpacking, Andrew Carnegie in steel” (Porter 18-19). The macro-economic data was overwhelming: despite a regular economic crisis, forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 31

the U.S. overtook the European industrialization the term “Gilded Ages” established itself as a process in only 20 years. A striking example is concept to characterize the period between the the augmentation of the steel production from 1870s and the early 1900s in the U.S., social 77000 tons in 1870 to 11,2 million tons in 1890 historians underlined the problems of poverty, (Calhoun 2). racism, corruption, land-grabbing, and financial A comparable economic boom took place instability. beginning in the 1990s. The informational- It would probably be more in the spirit of Twain technological innovations, including the first and Warner to understand the New Gilded proposals for the World Wide Web in 1989, the Age through the cynics of Donald Trump, the establishment of first internet connections, and billionaire of the Golden Trump International the programming of the first known internet- Hotel and Tower, who became U.S. President Webpage, made a huge difference in all social in 2017. Although Trump personifies the New fields. Furthermore, new biotechnological Gilded Age and the way billionaires in the innovations, especially in the field of gen- Americas organized to control wealth as well manipulation for agro-industrial purposes initiated as political power, there are also differences. a new Green Revolution. However, the most Seemingly the ruling economic elite of the Gilded influent element of the post-Fordist regime was Age in the U.S. was involved in corruption, but the rapidly growing importance of the financial tried not to directly control the political field by markets in the 1990s. The breakdown of the occupying of the highest political office (Fraser). Bretton-Woods system provided the conceptual In the following section we will have a closer room to understand money as a commodity. comparative look at the ruling economic elite. The informational-technological innovations in the stock markets accelerated the world-wide Refeudalization: The Capitalist Ruling Class circulation of huge amounts of money, including as Aristocracy financial speculations, in instant-time. The unregulated financial speculation and the new Mark Twain is not the only thinker who global financial regime created new economic highlighted the perspective on kaleidoscopic crisis, similar to those in the Gilded Age, and also historical repetitions to understand historical an accumulation of wealth without precedent. conjunctures. Karl Marx also argued alongside Above all, entrepreneurs from the IT sector Hegel that great global historical events, so continue to rank high in the billionaire rankings to speak, happen twice: „once as a tragedy, worldwide, such as Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark the other as a farce.“ Marx saw the tendency Zuckerberg (Facebook), Travis Kalanick (Uber), to nostalgic masquerade. In social crises, the and Brian Chesky (Airbnb). At the same time, actors „anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past financial speculations, in particular, have been to their service, borrowing from them names, able to promote extreme wealth - think of the US battle slogans, and costumes in order to present investor George Soros. The new Gilded Age also this new scene in world history in time-honored has a tendency towards oligopoly. According to a disguise and borrowed language.“ (Marx 115). UN report, almost half of U.S. industries in 2012 In this sense, at the end of the 19th century, were dominated by the four largest companies. descriptions of different kinds of working class Google, meanwhile, accounts for 87% of all agents —from popular handcrafts and farmers internet searches. to socialists and anarchists— were the new elite Despite these analogies, it is obvious that the of the “big business” in the feudal vocabulary of authors of the Wealth-X and UBS report have aristocracy. “Robber barons,” “slave-holders,” never read Mark Twain. If they had, it would and “factory lords” (Fraser 6, 19) were common have been obvious that “gilded” does not mean contemporary terms to describe and politically “golden”. With irony and sarcasm, Twain and denounce the new elite. Warner portrayed the idiosyncrasies of their Beyond these labels, social scientists at the time, criticizing economic speculation, political beginning of the 20th century described the corruption, and moral decay. Later on, when Gilded Age as feudal in analytical terms. They 32 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

explicitly rediscover and describe Calvinist interpretation of history according to which all capitalism in Americas as what is called civilization, all culture, all social order … and “Benevolent Feudalism” and in that sense, an Progress … have grown, indeed must grow, out anti-liberal, non-democratic, anti-egalitarian, of the subjugation of the laboring masses to the and anachronistic economic, political, and social will of their social superiors” (40). In this sense, system. Late 19th century American capitalism the categorial comparison between the social turned out to be feudalism defined a “baronial groups of the new elite and the rest creates a regime,” mixing the “rapacity of the masters” social border that is not permeable. There is with the “blindness” of laborers, combined no class mobility, instead we deal not only with with “almost pure paternalism” or “enlightened different social classes, but with two categorial absolutism” against the “democratic spirit and different estates in the new social imaginary. will,” and represented and ruled by the notorious The same is true for the New Gilded Age. capitalist robber barons” (Zafirovski 141). Obviously, the rise of both Gilded Ages elites Nevertheless, the historical comparisons to has been fast in some cases, making reference European feudalism were not attributed to the to the U.S.-American dream from dishes to new elite only from its political adversaries from dashes. Nevertheless, in the social imaginary, it the left. The performative self-representation of is precisely the temporal practices of comparing the new elite was heavily loaded with references that relates European aristocracy with the to European aristocracy. Steve Fraser stated: new financial elites that fosters the categorial “Feudalism, of distinctly theatrical kind, was the distinction. Thereby, aristocratic elements do not utopian refuge of the upper classes” (169). And only serve an aesthetic appearance, they are he expands: “Looking back a century and more, also integral elements to form a new habitus with all that dressing up —the masquerade balls neo-feudal norms and practices. where the Social Register elite (the ‘Patriarchs’ Nevertheless, North America is not Europe. of the 1870s, the ‘400’ by the 1890s) paraded Although some scholars have argued that about as Henry VIII and Marie Antoinette, the there is a feudal history in the U.S., pointing at liveried servants, the castles disassembled in the theocratic regimes of the Christian settlers France or Italy or England and shipped stone by and the slave-holder plantations in the South stone to be reassembled on Fifth Avenue, the (Zafirovski), there are also early democratic and fake genealogies and coats of arms, hunting republican tendencies inherent in the foundational to hounds and polo playing, raising pedigreed narratives of the United States. For Fraser, the livestock for decorative purposes, the helter- refeudalization of the U.S.-American elite in the skelter piling up of heirloom jewelry, Old Masters, Gilded Ages is an anachronistic self-positioning and oriental rugs, the marrying off of American that produces social and symbolic distance to ‘dollar princesses’ to the hard-up offspring the popular classes. But it also reveals a historic of Europe’s decaying nobility, the exclusive insecure instinct, as it is the U.S. self-description watering holes in Newport and Bar Harbor, the to be the land of the free, where the aristocrats prep schools, and gentlemen’s clubs fencing of the Old World have nothing to say. Beyond them off from hoi polloi, the preoccupation with these political antagonisms, we will focus now social preferment that turned prized parterre on the different practices of comparing that are boxes at opera houses and concert halls into especially used by the neofeudal elite to sustain deadly serious tournament jousts— seems silly” their positions. (169-170). In U.S.-American cultural studies, this aspect related to a return to European, medieval Invidious Comparison as Social Practice aesthetic forms in the Gilded Age, discussed under the label of Medievalism in U.S.-American For many migrants who have fled aristocratic culture. This finds its highest expression in power and look for salvation in the U.S., the medieval architecture (Davis). land of liberty, the tendency of the elite‘s However, as Eugene Genovese points out, it refeudalization must be a strange experience. implied a “broadly accepted social theory and The nostalgic kitsch references to the lifestyle of forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 33

the European aristocracy must have been more more ethnic and cultural separate societies. than anachronistic in an immigrant nation that was Clifton Mark expands on this and applies the still seized by the experiences of independence idea of a “categorial honor” for intra-societal and a secessionist war with slave-owners in the differentiations and hierarchies “based on the southern states. Thorstein Veblen, the son of a position they occupy in society” (17). Norwegian carpenter, must have lived a similar In the course of capitalist modernization, experience when he wrote his 1899 book The Veblen argues that the inheritance of richness Theory of the Leisure Class. This is one of the dissolutes the strong link between the hero and most brilliant and sharpest analysis of this new his society. Richness or wealth become more „leisure class,“ which had just been completed and more indicators for social prestige and honor. with the theoretical tools of anthropology In this sense, Veblen sees an individualization booming in the US, with figures such as Lewis of the invidious comparison that evolves in “a Henry Morgan and Edward Burnett Tyler. It race for reputability on the basis of an invidious seems that this expression of one‘s own society comparison” (48). The collective categorial could best be understood by looking at the study comparison among different ethnic groups of societies of foreign cultures. Nevertheless, is replaced by the “self-regarding antithesis the influence of evolutionist anthropology with its between man and man” (Veblen 49). Steinmetz simple stage-models is omnipresent in his work. sums up the inner logic of this interpersonal From the standpoint of today’s post-Boasian comparison: “Not the absolute degree of wealth cultural anthropology, these approaches are or poverty, measurable through statistical only important as stages in the history of indicators, is decisive for stirring up envious anthropology. However, this is not the place for comparisons, but the relative appearance of an anthropological critique of Veblen.[2] wealth in relation to one’s immediate neighbour.“ Nevertheless, Veblen’s most important But beyond this inter-personal comparison contribution to the analysis of the leisure class Mark has argued that this practice of comparison is to identify the “invidious comparison” as a has also group-building social effects as it driving principle for social differentiation and “sorts members of a group into an intra-group distinction. This basic principle defines Veblen, hierarchy based on their relative merits” (16). in congruence with Morgan, in the different The aristocratic super-rich form a inner-group in “stages of development” of human societies in society and they compare themselves basically various expressions. In early stages, the prey is among each other; but they do not compare the basic element of the invidious comparison themselves in the same way with the popular since it establishes a social comparative relation classes. The comparata of these practices of between the group that captured the prey, and comparisons are the individual members of the the one who lost the prey. (44). Honor and given group. Thereby, the tertium comparationis, prestige gained from the victory over another the merits, varies in time and space. It may shift, group (especially the kidnapping of woman) are as Mervy James argues for 15th to 17th century the basis for the envy-honored distinction that England, from “martial ethics, to Christian virtue, is attached to wealth. Or in other terms: “The and even to academic accomplishment” (Mark possession of wealth confers honour; it is an 18). Nevertheless, with Veblen we may argue invidious distinction.” (Veblen 44). that in capitalist 19th century societies, richness However, it seems that Veblen argues in non- became the main tertium comparationis. While modern societies for a categorial comparison, this is true for both the first and the latest Gilded where the units of comparison, the comparata, Age, the question is: What kind of practices of are basically social collectives. A single chief comparison are used to install categorial and warrior may gain prestige, but he is mainly inter-personal distinctions and hierarchies? understood in terms of a “keeper of the honour Thereby in this essay, I am not interested in the of his group” (44) or a hero of the group. Veblen practices of comparison that external observers uses this categorial comparison to understand use to understand the new hyper-richer, like the the inter-social relations between two or famous Forbes billionaire rankings. Instead, 34 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

I am interested in the practices of comparing Zygmunt Bauman concludes, “the places applied by the elite, which are also essential in gained or allocated on the axis of excellence/ the formation of a certain group identities. The ineptitude in consumerist performance turn first practice of comparing is of performative into the paramount stratifying factor and the demonstration of richness in ostentatious principal criterion of inclusion and exclusion, as consumption, mainly in regard to luxury products. well as guiding the distribution of social esteem and stigma, and shares in public attention.” Luxury Consumption (Bauman, Consuming 53). Consumption in the global postmodern society is thus not only In his utopian bestselling-novel Looking a rational practice of satisfying needs, but a Backward: 2000-1887, written at the end of the condition sine qua non of social life. Identity 19th century, Edward Bellamy envisioned the is no longer determined solely by belonging. U.S. in 2000 as a society that has reached the Instead, identity is a permanent project that stage of mass-consumption, an imagination of realizes itself through consumption. However, society that in the Cold War period had been this process of identitarian „self-fabrication“ produced by Walt W. Rostow in his influential (Bauman, Consuming) is highly vulnerable. book Stages of Economic Growth. Shopping For those who have no access to consumption, in new department stores was the main identity formation is not only impeded, but these pastime facilitated by the unconditional use of individuals are also a „waste“ for the consumer credit cards, while telephones provided multi- society (Bauman, Consuming). In this sense, media entertainment in consumers’ homes identity formation through consumption is not a (Carlson 29-30). And yes, we can say that factor of self-realization, but a social imperative aspects of this vision have been fulfilled in our that is indispensable for the formation of contemporary smartphones, malls, and credit- identity and position in society. For the hyper card culture. Bellamy and Rostow envisioned rich, however, consumption represents the a utopian society of mass-consumption nearly possibility of expressing their status in the state independent of the consumer’s social status. of the global money aristocracy by means of Nevertheless, today the patterns of consumption ostentatious and, above all, exclusive lifestyles. are as highly polarized as is the social structure. Thus, consumption serves to express the neo- The German weekly newspaper Die Zeit stated feudal distinction towards the popular classes. recently: „Rich consumers are small in number, The French philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky but disproportionately involved in the cake of has identified a worldwide trend towards the income and consumption. There are calculations explosion of luxury consumption. Aggressive from the US, according to which the richest 22 advertising strategies of the major retail chains percent of households make 60 percent of their also address the middle and lower class segments consumption - the poorest 20 percent, but only and fuel their desire for luxury consumption. three percent“. While the multitude of excluded And, certainly, during festive periods - such as people have a „taste of necessity“ (Bourdieu, Christmastime– luxury consumption moves Distinction 374), luxury consumption is booming into the major retail chains, creating the illusion among the top 10 percent. of a utopian consumer society a la Bellamy. The importance of consumption for social Nevertheless, real luxury consumption of the differentiation cannot be underestimated. global elite is quite different from these marketing Already in the period after World War II, a strategies. Lipovetsky, who advises luxury global consumer society had spread from brands himself, argues against this proliferation Western Europe and North America. The of luxury consumption and aims to restore integrative character of mass consumption was aristocratic distinction to this massification of the emphasized in apologetic writings (Bolz). But in desire for luxury (Zitzmann). In this sense, the recent years, different processes of distinction top 10 percent pursue a „neo-individualism“ in and social disintegration can be identified in the which luxury consumption becomes part of the consumer society. Accordingly, the sociologist cosmocratic lifestyle. Obviously we can think forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 35

of ostensive consumption in the form of mega- and ultimately the „asset form.“ Goods are parties with exquisite artefacts. The consumption speculatively acquired as an investment in of luxury goods serves as an invidious inter- terms of future expected profits (Boltanski and personal comparison amongst the members of Esquerre, Enrichment 69-70). the elite that may trigger internal processes of In this sense, the practices of invidious distinction. consumption have a double function. First of Beyond this instant consumption, where all, they are outstanding performative practices goods, artefacts, and services are consumed in that claim an outstanding social status of a short time, there is also a more sustainable elite. Demonstrating wealth through luxury form of luxury consumption. In this regard, Luc consumption is an inter-personal comparison Boltanski and Arnard Esquierre have developed within the elite group. In the contemporary Gilded a social theory of an “enrichment economy.” Age – given an extreme unequal distribution of They drew attention to the collector‘s passion wealth – a real comparison is only possible within for luxury goods - watches, vintage cars, and this group. Obviously, a Ford Focus is a car and art objects. The employment of other exquisite can thus be compared with a Masarati in several hobbies, such as yachts, falls into this normative dimensions. And obviously several automobile distinctions, since these leisure activities are so journals contribute with test reports, comparative costly that they cannot be funded by the majority articles, and rankings to facilitate the consumer`s of the population. decision based on the utility and efficacy of cars. Enrichment economics differ from industrial However, in cultural terms, a mid-priced Ford production in that „the valorization of an object is not comparable with the collection of sports tends to be rooted in the past and holds out the or vintage cars. The economic and cultural prospect of the price of the object enriched by differences are too great to be compared. And this narrative state of affairs increasing over time“ within the social estate of hyper-rich collectorism (Boltanski and Esquerre, Enrichment 69). The antique cars or yachts are comparata of invidious historical origin of this value come from Boltanski comparison. Practices of luxury consumption and Esquerre in the systematically constructed also install a categorial comparison that leads collections in the first third of the 19th century in to the imaginary of a bifurcated society. These Western Europe, although precursors are also practices of invidious luxury consumption seen in the so-called curiosity Cabinets of the contribute to create a cosmocratic group apart 17th century. In keeping with the diagnosis of from the nation-states spheres of the social. time, in which the past became a determinate for Beyond these social dimensions, luxury the present and future, the author duo sees the consumption can have economic effects in its boom of value based on enriching narratives, enrichment form. As Boltanski and Esquerre have especially in the „heritage effect,” which creates argued, many artefacts of luxury consumption entirely new „heritage brands“ and a nostalgic – especially in the area of arts and vintage fever almost like a „heritage mania“ (Boltanski products – are enriched. In this way, buying and Esquerre, Economic Life 34). The main merit luxury goods is not only a modern-capitalist form of the concept of enrichment economics lies of the potlatch, but is an investment. Thereby, above all in its materialistic, political-economic wealth is not destroyed through consumption, anchoring. Boltanski and Esquerre are less instead it leads to a further enrichment of the interested in the political-cultural dynamics rich. of „retrotopia“ (Bauman) or “retro-coloniality” (Kaltmeier, “Heritage for Latinamerica”), but Ostentatious idleness and leisure more in the importance of (heritage) narratives for value theory. They expand Marx‘s normal Ostentatious idleness especially is – as the form of capitalist industrial mass production in term indicates - another distinctive feature of the form of collection, the trend form, in which the (global) „leisure class.“ Veblen deprives this the enriching narrative is based on brand-new ruling class of its productive abilities; rather, it references, such as the lifestyle of celebrities, bases its lifestyle on predatory appropriation 36 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

and cultivates a show of idleness. That is, the be dictated by class rules, but should depend distinction is based on demonstratively avoiding entirely on the individual performance of each any useful activity. This demonstrative display member of society. This norm was especially shows the dynamics of a ‘race for honor and relevant in the post-revolutionary U.S. which reputation,’ whose engine is the ‘discriminatory’ claimed to be the land of the free in distinction or ‘invidious comparison.’ to feudal Old Europe. This liberal-capitalist One‘s own honor - expressed in the greatest idea of the self-made man – and even the self- possible avoidance of productive labor - is made millionaire – spread with the expansion reflected in distinction to the popular classes. of capitalism. Hereupon, the ideologue of This can be achieved through the display of free enterprise was based on the motto that wealth and ostentatious waste in non-useful performance is worthwhile. Especially in neo- hobbies, clothing, and home furnishings. So it is liberal writings beginning in the 1980s, the not enough to just possess wealth, but it must entrepreneurial self has repeatedly been placed be socially demonstrated. According to Veblen, at the center of governmental programs which there are two possibilities in (post-) modern are based on the model of the economic utility capitalist societies: ostentatious idleness or maximizer, the homo oeconomicus. This ethical- leisure and demonstrative consumption (Veblen religious transformation of the division of labor 93). Both aspects are closely linked to feudal from the meritocratic-oriented work ethic was lifestyles. In the feudal system, the contempt hardly expressed in the social division of labor, for physical labor goes back to the ideas of the as is especially clear from the proletarianization influential church teacher Thomas Aquinas, processes in the industrial revolution in Western among other factors. Aquinas considered Europe. However, it remained a fundamental physical work to be of lower status and mental moral principle until the end of the 20th century work was noble work. With this division, Aquinas capitalist societies. For the sociologist Sighard became the ideologue and apologist of the Neckel, the recent transformation of industrial estate society, arguing that each person has a capitalism in financial capitalism was an engine God-given position in feudal society. While the for the process of refeudalization because it third estate is defined by manual labor, non-work erodes the idea of the entrepreneur with a was an expression of a divinely given elevation capitalist working ethic, in the sense of Weber. that was to be admired. The exorbitant and flashy „deals“ in the financial With Protestantism, following Max Weber‘s markets of the globalized capitalism of the considerations, the ethical meaning of work 21st century brought the meritocratic system changed. Weber postulated a close connection, to absurdity. Profit was no longer based on an elective affinity, between ascetic Protestantism diligence, labor and rational planning, but on a and capitalist pursuit of capital accumulation. high-risk gambling nature and rental incomes. Put simply, the Protestant quest for salvation Likewise, the potential gains were so exorbitant had now been secularized. Economic success that quantum leaps could occur on the class thus became an indicator of an ethical lifestyle. ladder. Billionaire-friendly reports like to refer The central element to achieve this was rational to the success stories of self-made millionaires. work: „Not work in itself, but rational professional It no longer meant only the successful work is precisely that demanded of God“ (Weber entrepreneur, but the smart speculator or the 171). In this sense, the successful entrepreneur genius inventor of the information age: „The became modern capitalism, an ethical potential of big data analytics and increasing authority. While in this way, the capitalist class global accessibility to technology has led to a was legitimized meritocratically, an ethically new wave of self-made billionaires. Young, tech- founded diligence and obedience could also be savvy entrepreneurs and innovators have come demanded of the workers. to terms with abundant wealth in short periods Western capitalist societies have established of time by engaging with their clients“(Wealth-X, a meritocratic system based on performance “Highlights 2015-2016” 9). Here we can imagine since the 19th century. Social status should not billionaires like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 37

Travis Kalanick, or Brian Chesky. Philanthropic Potlatch While the new aristocracy, which Thorstein Veblen had identified in the 19th century, was Philanthropism and charity are integral based on industrial capitalism and the sphere aspects of US-American political culture. of economic production, the new global money In the 1830s, the French traveler Alexis de aristocracy has its material base in the financial Tocqueville pointed out the importance of private markets and the new economy. However, this associations in the US, not only on a grassroots- cosmocratic elite is still related to the sphere level but also activities initiated by the ruling of capitalist production. Even for the top 10 class. He observed a relative distance between percent, the continued accumulation of capital the elite and democratic political institutions. in the production process continues to be a Speaking with Gramsci, it can be said that the social imperative, despite ostentatious luxury elites, instead of directly controlling the coercive consumption: „Despite wealth transfers, most state apparatus, they established hegemony in of today‘s billionaires have partly or completely a civil society through associations, foundations created their own fortunes. In other words, and newspapers (Tocqueville 187). entrepreneurship is still in an essential condition Beyond this analysis, Tocqueville foresaw the for achieving individual billionaire status. In scenario that an “aristocracy of manufactures” will fact, more than 48% of billionaires have either emerge in the course of an accelerated process founded or co-founded a business themselves“ of industrialization, whose members would take (Wealth-X, “UBS Billionaire Census 2014” on the power of “administrators of a vast empire” 25). Nevertheless, the tendency goes from (Tocqueville 169). As Benjamin Sosiks points out, entrepreneurship to inheritance. In the second this politically disempowered aristocracy “would generation, wealth depends on kinship and not exercise its power through the private institutions on personal capabilities. that were becoming increasingly central to the The practice of ostentatious leisure is a nation’s development. By midcentury, such powerful tool to create a categorial comparison. metropolitan centers as Boston, New York, and It establishes life-style norms that are starkly Philadelphia boasted constellations of cultural, different to the popular classes. While the 99% educational, and charitable institutions tightly still have to follow a capitalist working ethic to linked by interlocking boards of directors”. survive, the cosmocratic elite is completely In the Gilded Age, charity and philanthropism disarticulated from this moral sphere. While in the reached a new climax, best expressed in the first Gilded Age, a social relation between elite foundation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and popular classes was established through (1876), the New York’s Metropolitan Opera work-relations, in the contemporary Gilded (1880), the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1881), Age driven by financial capitalism, the popular Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History classes are mainly conceptualized as a “waste” (1893), and the Carnegie Library project (1886- – and not even an exploitable working force. In 1917). The latter is of particular importance, as it this sense, the aristocratic leisure based lifestyle marks a turning point from simple forms of charity, undermines a fundamental capitalist value based rooted in Christian and European medieval ideas, on meritocracy. Instead, the aristocratic habitus to modern capitalist forms of philanthropism. relies on practices of comparing that establish a The basic idea is to run “philanthropism like a categorial difference to the popular classes. In business.” The Carnegie Library project solely establishing two fundamental different categories financed the building of libraries and required –more estates than classes– both became municipalities to contribute an amount of incomparable in social and cultural terms, like 10% of the gift per year to finance books and a Parisian French aristocrat in the 17th century employees. Thus, the municipalities were forced would have declared himself incomparable with to cut other activities or raise taxes in order to a peasant from the Provence. sponsor the philanthropic gift. Contemporaries began to speak of “tainted money,” and in some municipalities even popular protest arouse 38 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

against Carnegie`s philanthropism (Davis 790- classes signifies that social practices in regard 794). to different groups must be categorial distinct. In the contemporary Gilded Age, the panorama This view of the social world is inherent in the of philanthropism is quite similar. 175 billionaires famous justification of philanthropism made by from 22 countries have signed the memorandum Andrew Carnegie in the manifesto The Gospel of of “The Giving Pledge” to spend part of their Wealth written in 1889. Deeply inspired by social wealth on philanthropist projects. This initiative Darwinism, Carnegie argues : “We accept and includes Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Facebook welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former New York Mayor must accommodate ourselves, great inequality Michael Bloomberg and investor Warren Buffett. of environment; the concentration business, Furthermore, in nearly all reports of billionaires, industrial and commercial, in the hands of few; like Wealth-X, philanthropism is seen as a main and the law of competition between these, as activity together with luxury consumption and being not only beneficial, but essential to the extravagant leisure activities. We can see the future program of the race” (4). problem of “tainted money” at the hand. One This world view is particular interesting in example is the activities of the Bill and Melinda regard to the practices of social comparison. Gates Foundation in public education in the U.S. First, it creates a categorial distinction between in 2014. Among other aspects, the foundation the “few” and the “masses.” This difference is was highly-engaged in defining the common not gradual, but categorial since the “few” have core standard in public education in 45 states. proven to be the fittest in the struggle of survival. The standards came to include many aspects of To secure the survival of the “race,” Carnegie technical knowledge in digital media which – as does not refer to strict biological terms but talks critiques argue – served to deepen the influence in a more general sense of the people in the and market for Microsoft in education. US- the quasi-aristocratic elite has the wisdom Defenders of philanthropism of the to guide the rest. In the postcolonial context of financial elite underline the aspect that the Americas, there are obvious connections the rich demonstrate social responsibility. to ideas of white supremacy. Given this Nevertheless, it is striking that the elite usually categorial distinction, elite philanthropists have do not redistribute wealth through channels of to “be even more ruthless as businessmen and democratic recognized institutions – neither capitalists” (Davis 788). The more concentration through taxes nor donations. Instead they usually of wealth that is in the hands of this elite, the create their own channels, and thus their own more developed the civilization or “race”. In this sphere of influence. Beyond an individualized hierarchical vision of society – guided by wise consideration of single millionaires, the following men, whose wisdom is proofed by economic part this essay sheds light on the categorial and fitness and finally measured in the form of inter-personal practices of comparison inherent money – the expropriation and exploitation in philanthropism. of the masses fuels philanthropism that does Firstly, the elite make a categorial not aim to help the poor but to make the race distinction between two social groups through stronger. Categorial distinction is thus produced philanthropism. Thereby in both Gilded Ages, a through conspicuous philanthropism. The social permeable image of society has not been New Gilded Age of the 21st Century has not produced, where social ascent and descent brought a fundamental innovation in regards to is possible. Instead, the social imaginary of philanthropism. The Giving Pledge campaign two fundamentaly different social groups – the asked its members to describe in a short aristocratic elite and the popular masses – letter their motivation to participate. Warren has been produced. Categorial difference is Buffett, together with Bill Gates, an initiator particularly striking, as it is imagined in formal of Giving Pledge described these letters – in democratic societies where, in political terms, open reference to Carnegies manifest – as “81 all men are equal. This imagination of the social Gospels of Wealth” (Economist). world polarized in two categorial different social With Pierre Bourdieu we can argue that this forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 39

“asymmetry of the conspicuous redistribution” shadow economy, reference can be made here creates the “basis of the constitution of political to narcocorridos, particularly popular in Mexico. authority” (Logic of Practice 122) that, as we These are songs that tell of the heroic deeds may add in this case, bypasses the legitimized of drug barons. But even in the field of formal political institutions of democratic representation. economics, heroism has not disappeared. A In this sense, economic capital is transferred look at today‘s business magazines and blogs into symbolic capital, legitimizing the capitalist makes it clear that this admiration for the heroic expropriation, the neofeudal concentration of economic act is highly topical. Self-made wealth, and the system of political domination. millionaires or successful top managers are the Looking at the dynamics of comparing, we heroes of our time. Busy start-up entrepreneurs can identify another important layer. Within the and innovators in the IT industry are styled as aristocratic group of the “few,” philanthropism heroes of the 21st century in cultural industries for operates as an inter-personal distinction earning millions with a brilliant idea or marketable driven by an invidious comparison. The new app. Just think about the Hollywood production aristocracy has to prove its outstanding status of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The in a system of constant mutual observation by imagination of the heroic act or stroke of genius demonstrative philanthropism. In a certain way, is also reproduced on television in the countless this social form is similar to the potlatch of the „Who Wants to Make a Millionaire Shows.“ Here, Northwestern First Nations in Canada where the permanent envious comparison takes place the demonstrative destruction of wealth in a from the TV armchair, combined with the illusion contest between rich men raises the prestige, that everyone could become a millionaire. This or symbolic capital, of the rich man who has idea permeates everyday culture. In 2014, the destroyed the most wealth. The invidious board game developer Brent Beck revamped comparison of the new aristocracies in the Gilded the game „Big Deal“, from German games and New Gilded Age follows a similar logic. distributor Schmidt. The game consists of barely Nevertheless, the economic capital invested in cloaked rape capitalist practices paired with an conspicuous philanthropism in comparison to ostentatious depiction of wealth: “Make a fortune the overall richness of the elites is fairly low. A by collecting valuable objects and money —in real redistribution effect is not noted. Instead, pairs. Why go to all the trouble yourself? Simply these practices serve to solidify the categorial help yourself to the other players’ collections! distinction between a new aristocratic elite and Watch out —you could be lacking the cards you the masses. need and the fortune you have worked so hard to amass could disappear at the drop of a hat. The Heroic Act in Contemporary Society If you are clever enough, build your collection and help yourself to your opponents’ collections Thorstein Veblen has stated that the predatory when the time is right. You’ll inch ever closer to stage of societal development has been the objective of winning the game as a dollar substituted by a more pacific one. However, as millionaire!” The idea of the „Big Deal“ in the Norbert Elias would argue, he has agreed that economic field permeates everyday culture archaic predatory acts have not disappeared in and other social fields. In the U.S. of President the course of the process of civilization. Instead, Donald Trump, the idea of the „Big Deal“ and the residual forms have survived in contemporary associated humiliation of the competition has leisure activities, such as sports. Bruno Latour is now also entered the political field. probably right: we have never been modern. The Derived from archaic and patriarchal concepts following part this essay points out that the heroic of masculinity by the warrior and hunter, act of robbery is still present in an undisguised Veblen has worked out that prestige is first of form, even in today’s economic system. all acquired through „heroic robbery.“ In Latin A short look at popular culture reveals the American history, the Conquistador, often an continuing presence of admiration for heroic impoverished nobleman (hidalgo), can easily acts, even in the most basic form. In the field of be identified as the prototype of the prestigious 40 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

warrior whose accumulation of capital depends Instead the social relation between the new on robbery. In spite of the supposed processes aristocracy and popular classes is characterized of civilization, robbery is still highly relevant in by a categorical distinction. In this sense, social the process of capitalist accumulation, namely in envy does not work for the popular classes within form of the accumulation through expropriation a social structure characterized by estate-like or dispossession. However, Veblen starts from social categories; social upward mobility is not a historical transformation for the envious a given. From the perspective of the aristocratic comparison. With the emergence of modern elite, an invidious comparison does not make capitalism the accumulation of wealth gradually sense, instead it means a loss of status vis-à- replaces the trophy of predatory exploit, which vis the peer-group. To address the categorical before has been the conventional symbol of social difference, crucial strategies are needed success and superiority (Veblen 45). In this that compare the distinctive elements of the sense, money —as the general converter— different social groups redistribution. becomes the most important marker for honor However, social envy is particular useful and prestige. Hyper-richness is a unique feature as an ideological concept. Neckel argues, “In that makes the members of the new cosmocratic public, „envy“ serves as a concept of political elite categorically incomparable to other persons. struggle, which - according to the nature of the Beyond this, heroic actions of capital intended cause - above all else is used by those accumulation are also less spectacular and even who are better off.“ (Blanker Neid 147). Instead, less prestigious, but are very effective activities the idea of upward mobility —best expressed of accumulation through expropriation. Here we in the bonmot “from rag to riches”— turns out would like to mention the broad industry of tax to be a myth, since there is nearly no upward evasion, whose peak was recently exposed in mobility into the top 10 percent. This expression the form of the Panama and Paradise Papers. expresses more of a fear of social descent than a real dream of social ascent. Practices of Comparing in the Gilded Ages This brings us to the second aspect: focusing on practices of comparing as social praxis In this essay, particular emphasis has been put that orders the social world. The formation of on the practices of the (invidious) comparison of social groups as comparata must be taken into two neo-feudal elites in two distinct conjunctures account, especially since affective forms of of capitalist accumulation. In regard to the comparing establish distinctive social groups practices of comparing, three aspects are of that may or may not be comparable. In this conceptual interest. One of the conceptual sense, the refeudalization of practices of benefits is to point out the affective dimension comparison that foster social distinctions based of the practices of comparing. Comparing is not on group-closure through wealth and inheritance only a functionalist or mathematic exercise, but are of particular interest: they challenge the instead invokes feelings of envy, malevolence, democratic social imaginaries. This operates on superiority, and distinction that must be explored. a logic of closure which eventually leads to the In Germany, Sozialneid (social envy) is a tricky end of the modern idea of the social. Even the concept that is usually used by right-wing potlatch-like philanthropist practices do not have media to denounce social justice discourses, a logic of practice similar to the one described in making a plea for the redistribution of hyper- the case of the Kwakiutl on the American North- richness. From the perspective of the practices West coast. It resembles the inner-group logics of comparing, this political use of envy can also of invidious comparison, but the philanthropist be analyzed. In this essay, we have argued that fails to create an imaginary of a social, as it the invidious comparison expresses an overall is based on an inherently bifurcated social social relation within a social group that holds a system. This goes hand in hand with an erosion “shielded position” (Veblen 336), a similarity of of democratic values and attitudes (Crouch) the comparata, e.g. representatives of the new and, in social terms, it leads to the return to a aristocracy and popular classes is not a given. society organized in separated estates that are forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 29-42 41

regulated by descent and not by merit. of memory to address the specific question of To take into account the key actors of the refeudalization. comparison is a further essential task in the analysis of practices of comparing. In this essay, we have basically focused on the elite’s practices Endnotes of comparing. Nevertheless, popular classes also make use of social comparison to address social [1] See Piketty 2014. problems. Thereby, it is complex to expand the [2] Furthermore, in many indigenous societies it has been concept of invidious comparison to understand determined that these societies were in a constant process the actions of popular classes. Beyond the of transformation through the symbolic incorporation of the Other through stolen artifacts of persons. In this synchronic practices of comparing are also sense, Veblen`s anthropological element is based on diachronic ones that have turned out to be a evolutionary ideas of a universal development of societies powerful tool for social protest. Popular classes that anthropologists and ethno-historians have empirically falsified with multiple case studies. can detect social transformations by comparing former social relations with contemporary ones. These diachronic practices of comparing may Works Cited lead to social protest if the popular classes feel that the social contract has been broken from Bauman, Zygmunt. Consuming Life. Cambridge: Polity above (Hobsbawm). Above all, the Gilded Age Press, 2007. Print. was one of class conflict. The bloody labor strikes —. Retrotopia. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017. Print of the 19th century —like the 1892 Homestead Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward: 2000-1887. Boston: Strike in which 12 people were killed— would Ticknor and Co., 1888. Web. 21 Nov 2018. be almost unimaginable today. Fraser’s main Boltanski, Luc and Armaud Esquerre. “The Economic Life argument on the importance of memory for of Things.” New Left Review. 98 (2016): 31-54. Print. social struggle is probably best summed up by —. “Enrichement, Profit, Critique. A Rejoinder to Nany Naomi Klein: “What fueled the resistance to Fraser.” New Left Review. 106 (2017): 67-76. Print. the first Gilded Age, he [Fraser, O.K.] argues, Bolz, Norbert. Das konsumistische Manifest. Wilhelm Fink was the fact that many Americans had a recent Verlag, 2002. Print. memory of a different kind of economic system, Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the whether in America or back in Europe. Many Judgement of Taste. Harvard UP, 1984. Print. at the forefront of the resistance were actively —. The Logic of Practice. Stanford UP, 1990. Print. fighting to protect a way of life, whether it was Calhoun, Charles W., ed. The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the family farm that was being lost to predatory the Origins of Modern America (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print. creditors or small-scale artisanal businesses being wiped out by industrial capitalism. Having Carlson, W. Bernhard. “Technology and America as a Consumer Society, 1870-1900.” The Gilded Age: known something different from their grim Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America (2nd present, they were capable of imagining —and ed.). Ed. Charles W. Calhoun. Rowman & Littlefield, fighting for— a radically better future.” 2007. 27-50. Print. With regard to the question of resistance, the Carnegie, Andrew. The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely comparison to our contemporary Gilded Age is Essays. The Century Co, 1901. Print. striking. Fraser and Klein have argued that there Crouch, Colin. Postdemokratie. Suhrkamp, 2008. Print. is no memory of different social practices that Davis, Kathleen. “Tycoon Medievalism, Corporate can be applied to construct resistance in recent Philanthropy, and American Pedagogy.” American context. There are, however, certain practices Literary History. 22.4 (2010): 781-800. Print. of memory that refer to 1968 or Fordist modes DeSantis, Vincent P. “The Gilded Age in American History”. Hayes Historical Journal. VII.2 (1988). Web. 19. Jul of production —which also find expression in 2018. nostalgic social democratic or socialist leaders Fraser, Steve. The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and such as Jeromy Corbyn in the UK and Bernie Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth Sanders in the U.S. However, in contrast to the and Power. Little, Brown and Company, 2015. Print. first Gilded Age, there are only reduced politics Genovese, Eugene. “The Southern Slaveholders’ View 42 O. Kaltmeier: Invidious Comparison

of the Middle Ages.” Medievalism in American 1945. Print. Culture: Special Studies. Selected Papers from Veblen, Thorstein. Theorie der feinen Leute. Eine the Eighteenth Annual Conference Ed. Bernhard ökonomische Untersuchung der Institutionen. Rosenthal and Paul Szarnach. Binhamton, 1989. Fischer Verlag, 1986. 31-52. Print. Wealth-X and UBS. “World Ultra Wealth Report 2013.” Kaltmeier, Olaf. Refeudalización. Desigualdad, economia Wealth-X. 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Nov 2018. y cultura política en América Latina en el temprano siglo XXI. Bielefeld UP, 2018. Print. —. “The Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2014”. Wealth-X. 1 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Nov 2018. —. “On the Advantage and Disadvantage of Heritage for Latin America. Heritage Politics and Nostalgia —. “Billionaire Census Highlights 2015-2016”. Wealth-X. between Coloniality and Indigeneity.” Entangled 27 Sept. 2016. Web. 19 Nov 2018. Heritages. Postcolonial Perspectives on the Uses of Weber, Max. Die Protestantische Ethik I. Eine the Past in Latin America. Ed. Olaf Kaltmeier, Olaf Aufsatzsammlung. GTB/Siebenstern. 1979. Print. and Mario Rufer. Routledge, 2017. 13-36. Print. Zafirovski, Milan. “‘Neo-Feudalism‘ in America? Klein, Naomi. “’The Age of Acquiescence’ by Steve Fraser.” Conservatism in Relation to European Feudalism.” New York Times. 16 Mar. 2015. Web 19. Jul 2018. International Review of Sociology. 17.3 (2007): 393- Krysmanski, Hans Jürgen. 0,1 Prozent - Das Imperium der 427. Print. Milliardäre. Westend Verlag, 2015. Print. —. The Destiny of Modern Societies: The Calvinist Mark, D. Clifton. “Recognition and Honor: A Critique of Predestination of a New Society. Brill, 2011. Print. Axel Honneth’s and Charles Taylor’s Histories of Zitzmann, Marc. “Wird Denken jetzt Mode? Unternehmen Recognition.” Constellations. 21.1 (2014): 16-31. wie Hermès, Louis Vuitton oder Chanel leisten sich Print. Hausphilosophen – in verschiedenen Funktionen. Marx, Karl. “Der achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Sie sind für das gewisse Etwas der Marken Bonarparte.” Marx Engels Werke. Vol. 8. Dietz zuständig.” Neue Züricher Zeitung. 14 Aug. 2015. Verlag, 1960 [1852]. 111-207. Print. Web. 20 Nov 2018. Neckel, Sighard. “Blanker Neid, blinde Wut? Sozialstruktur und kollektive Gefühle.” Leviathan. 27.2 (1999): 145 - 165. Print. Author’s Biography —. “Refeudalisierung. Systematik und Aktualität eines Begriffs der Habermas’schen Gesellschaftsanalyse.“ Dr. Olaf Kaltmeier is Professor of Ibero- Leviathan. 41.1 (2013): 39-56. Print. American History at Bielefeld University and Oxfam. “An Economy for the 99 %. Oxfam Briefing Paper.” Director of CALAS – Maria Sibylla Merian Center 17 Jan. 2017. Web. 20 Nov. 2018 for Advanced Latin American Studies. He is Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. general editor of the Routledge Handbook series Harvard UP, 2014. Print. on the Americas. Amongst his latest publications Porter, Glenn. “Industrialization and the Rise of Big are Routledge Handbook to History and Society Business.” The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the of the Americas (2019), as co-editor, and the Origins of Modern America. Ed. Charles W. Calhoun. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. 1-26. Print. monography Refeudalización: Desigualdad social, economía y cultura política en América Schmidt. Big Deal. 2013. Latina en el temprano siglo XX (2018). “Spreading Gospels of Wealth: America’s Billionaire Giving Pledgers are Forming a Movement.” The Economist. 19 May 2012. Web. 19. Jul 2014. Soskis, Benjamin. “Both More and No More: The Historical Split between Charity and Philanthropy.” Hudson Institute. 15 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Nov 2018. Steinmetz, Willibald, ed. The Force of Comparison: A New Perspective on Modrn European History and the Contemporary World. Berghahn Books, (Forthcoming). Print. Tanner, Jakob. “Refeudalisierung, Neofeudalismus, Geldaristokratie: die Wiederkehr des Vergangenen als Farce?” Festschrift für Daniel Thürer. Ed. Giovanni Biaggini, Oliver Diggelmann and Christine Kaufmann. Dike Verlag, 2015,.733-748. Print. Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. A.A. Knopf, forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S. (Informal) Cultural Empire Based on Processes of Stereotyping and Comparison

Claudia Hachenberger (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Abstract

According to postcolonial critic Edward Said, European imperialism was not only based on arms; it was also based on forms of knowledge affiliated with domination and on a vocabulary that con- structed and promoted the inferior Other. Contemporary practices of imperialism may be more sub-tle but are no less powerful. After the end of traditional and formal European colonization, the Unit-ed States is still exerting influence on other countries, particularly Latin American countries, either in a formal, political, and interventional way, or, as I propose, in an informal way that privileges cultural ideological strategies and knowledge production. By reformulating and readapting Said’s concept of Orientalism, my paper suggests that the concept of Latinism illuminates the workings of an imperialist gaze in representations of Latinos in the media. By its promotion, the U.S. informal cultural empire introduces and installs negative portrayals of Latinos as the perceived ethnic Other. This presentation of stereotypes can influence the audience’s view on Latinos and thus poses an undesirable factor obstructing constructive tendencies in a globalized world, an argument I elabo-rate on by focusing on the first two seasons of the Netflix exclusive series Narcos. The series’ presentation of stereotypes is accomplished by different practices of comparing on the visual, ver-bal, and structural/ productional levels. By exploring the construction of Latino Otherness on these three levels, I assert that cinematic stereotypes are used to depict the Latino Other in an inferior way in the majority of the cases, simultaneously representing the U.S.-American characters and culture as superior..

Keywords: US Informal Imperialism, Latino Otherness, Latinism, Stereotyping, Narcos (Netflix)

1. Introduction I take evaluative stereotyping as unfavorable comparisons in which one group always fares In his well-known publication Orientalism, better than the other. In a colonial or imperialist postcolonial critic Edward Said describes the context, the practices of comparing performed various disciplines, institutions, mentalities, and by European agents were characterized by discourses by which Europeans experienced the implicit claims of dominance and power over Near and Middle East, referred to as ‘the Orient,’ the perceived ethnic Other. They predominantly in the course of the consolidation of European focused on differences between cultural groups. colonies in the 19th century. By shifting the study Relying on Edward Said’s definition of of colonialism “towards its discursive operations, imperialism as “the practice, the theory, and the showing the intimate connection between attitudes of a dominating metropolitan centre language and forms of knowledge developed for ruling a distant territory” (Culture & Imperialism the study of cultures and the history of colonialism 8), my article will investigate how contemporary and imperialism” (Young, Colonial Desire 159), practices of imperialism that are still put into [1] Said’s study established that European practice after the end of traditional and formal imperialism was not only based on arms, but also colonization by several European nations on forms of knowledge affiliated with domination may be more subtle but are no less powerful. and on the vocabulary with which the Oriental Today it is the United States that is exerting Other was described in contrast to the European influence on other countries, particularly Latin citizen (Culture & Imperialism 8). In this essay, American countries, [2] either in a political, 44 C. Hachenberger: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S.

interventionalist, and thus more formal way, or in is depicted from a U.S. perspective. The series’ a cultural, ideological, and hence more informal presentation of stereotypes is accomplished by way. As Michael Doyle (qtd. in Said, Culture & different practices of comparing on the visual, Imperialism 8) specifies, verbal, and structural/productional levels.

[e]mpire is a relationship, informal or formal, in which one state controls the 2. From Orientalism to Latinism and on the effective political sovereignty of another U.S. Cultural Informal Empire political society. It can be achieved by force, by political collaboration, by Introducing his concept of Orientalism, economic, social, or cultural dependence. Edward Said radically questions the systems of Imperialism is simply the process or policy values supported by former colonizing nations of establishing or maintaining an empire. and offers a crucial critique of Eurocentrism (Lenz 317) by examining dominating European Postcolonial and hemispheric studies strive discourses of knowledge concerned with the to move beyond the inflexible black and white construction of the Oriental Other (Culler 145). portrayals of the history of colonization by The Orient is seen from a twofold perspective. focusing on dynamic shifts, the richness of the On the one hand, it is constructed as a European coexistence between, and the hybridity of the utopia and invention which, since antiquity, has various cultures on the American continent. provoked a certain fascination as a “place of However, entrenched stereotyping processes romance, exotic beings, haunting memories in cultural relations are still put into practice and landscapes, [and] remarkable experiences” regularly, also through practices of comparing. (Said, Orientalism 1). On the other hand, in The hegemonic dominance and cultural spite of its great history and its lure of exoticism, leadership of one social group or nation over the Orient (considered from a European another, as well as the silent consent and perspective) has remained static and did not acceptance of that superiority and influence by develop, in contrast to European culture, which the inferior group is no longer established by has maintained a certain dynamism and has governmental institutions but by the mass media. progressed as part of its historical development In order to account for the imperialist gaze on work (Prashad 174). in representations of Latinos [3] in the media, I The construction of alterity is easily propose to reformulate and readapt Edward accomplished by the attribution of certain values Said’s abovementioned concept of Orientalism to both the Orient and the Occident (Prashad in terms of ‘Latinism’. [4] By promoting certain 175). The relationship between the East and the television and Netflix series, the U.S. informal West is a relationship of power establishing a cultural empire introduces and installs the pattern of hierarchy in which the West adopts a Latinos portrayed as the perceived ethnic Other. dominant position (Said, Orientalism 5; Prashad My article analyzes constructions of Otherness 175). The conceived difference between the particularly in the Netflix series Narcos. Other familiar, productive, and dynamic compared publications on Narcos either focus primarily on and contrasted to the strange, lazy, and static the opening sequence of the series, discovering was used as justification for imperialism and principles of its creation and providing a colonialism because if “the Orient was primitive microanalysis of the ‘collage technique’ from and barbaric, then it was up to the enlightened a productional point of view, or investigate West to civilize and tame it, and at the same visualities of Latin America and historical events time rescue and preserve the ancient knowledge in Colombia in the series, trying to understand the and wisdom held by the great traditions of complex relationships between crime, economy, the East” (Wise 23). As applied ideology, politics, and corruption by viewing Narcos from Orientalism powerfully reinforces the dichotomy a visual studies perspective. In contrast, I will and is supported by institutions, scholarship, focus on Latino Otherness and illustrate how it and different styles of representation (Said, forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 45

Orientalism 2). uncovered (Ashcroft et al. 21). However, as there As Stuart Hall (234ff.) explains, difference is are various categories of difference, including fundamental for the production of meaning, the race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and establishment of symbolic order, the construction class, an intersection of categories of difference of individual and collective identities, and, may lead to the collective marginalization of a especially important in this context, social people. inclusion and exclusion. The perceived The representational practice of comparison difference between two cultures is shown by the employed to construct and reinforce notions installation of binary oppositions, which do not of difference is called stereotyping. Ramírez only construct an unjust hierarchy “swallowing Berg (13) comments on the difficulty of finding up all distinctions in their rather rigid two-part a single definition of the concept ‘stereotype.’ structure” (Hall 235), but also exist to confirm Still, most scholars would define it as such: “A the dominance of one group. According to Said widely held but fixed and oversimplified image (Orientalism 227), the generalizations which or idea of a particular type of person or thing” are produced by dichotomizing processes are (Oxford Dictionaries: “Stereotype.”). Drawing on strengthened by anthropology, historical events, Richard Dyer, Stuart Hall affirms that we make and linguistic speech acts, as well as by the sense of the world by using types which are theses on natural selection put forward by the classified according to our culture, a common natural scientist Charles Darwin. Stuart Hall offers and necessary data filtering process which a number of responses to the question of why runs parallel to the construction of difference difference matters, for instance, by introducing as a basis of culture. A “type is any simple, an anthropological explanation of difference. For vivid, memorable, easily grasped and widely anthropologists, difference represents the basis recognized characterization in which a few traits of culture as it attributes meaning to objects and are foregrounded and change or “development” things by designating them to different positions is kept to a minimum” (Dyer qtd. in Hall 257). In (Hall 236). Cultures which claim to be stable, like the beginning, this mechanism of comparison by in the European case at hand, “require things to creating different categories might be completely stay in their appointed place” (Hall 236), thus neutral. In the process of stereotyping, however, trying to establish symbolic boundaries to keep the categories mentioned are imbued with their own culture isolated and maintain a ‘pure’ values. Those values imply the assignment of identity. While defining one’s own culture, a negative and clearly reductive qualities to other dichotomy is established by comparing oneself individuals or groups. Stereotyping operates as with the other entity and by stating what one is a shared and consensual group phenomenon not. The aforementioned symbolic confines are (Ramírez Berg 14f.; 23): “The attitudes about central to cultures: what constitutes the norms of the society go more or less unquestioned […] [by the dominant Marking ‘difference’ leads us, symbolically, group] and mark a boundary between what the to close ranks, shore up culture and to society considers normal and socially acceptable stigmatize and expel anything which is and what it does not” (Ramírez Berg 24). What is defined as impure, abnormal. However, not embraced as the norm by the dominant part paradoxically, it also makes ‘difference’ of a society consequently represents the Other. powerful, strangely attractive precisely Therefore, stereotyping can be considered a because it is forbidden, taboo, threatening strategy of group splitting and exclusion (Hall to cultural order. (Hall 237) 258). The reduction of complex characteristics to simplistic traits and the exaggeration of certain The objective of postcolonial studies is to features (Hall 258) help to create a cognitive gap illuminate this region of taboo and highlight the which is often visually represented, especially cultural hybridity which becomes possible in the regarding ethnic and racial differences (Herrera category between the two oppositional terms. At 135). the same time, eventual contradictions can be 46 C. Hachenberger: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S.

Postcolonial revisionism in the 1980s did not 425) that traditional colonialism “is no longer only focus on the asymmetrical relationship practiced as it was between the late fifteenth between colonizer and colonized, but also and mid-twentieth centuries, through the direct, underlined the necessity to reorganize the overt administration of governors and educators canon, include marginalized works by minority from the colonizing country”. Today, it is not groups, and reconsider the nation as key imperialism, in the sense of colonialism, which organizing unit of scholarship on cultural still determines global structures, but rather an production (Bauer 234-236). [5] Despite the informal and cultural imperialism. Postcolonial attempted turn away from U.S. exceptionalism studies helped to uncover that the late 20th towards hemispheric transnationalism, seeking century’s form of U.S. power on an international to deflate U.S. hegemony and break with scale has been problematic, resulting in the dichotomous thinking (McClennen 174), “U.S. fact that the United States is more and more power has been brought to bear unevenly in the referred to as a cultural Empire (Streeby region by diverse agents, in a variety of sites and 2007: 95; 100). From the 1930s onwards, the conjunctures, and through diverse transnational United States positioned itself as an external arrangements” (Gilbert 5). Fernando Coronil (x) hegemonic presence in Latin America by goes even further by arguing that Latin America expanding “functions and programs […] [which] can be considered as the region “where the diversified the social relations, experiences, and United States has most forcefully practiced new sympathies” (Stern 60) of the cultural center modes of imperial domination as the world’s in Latin America, which is conceptualized as major capitalist power.” As compellingly argued cultural periphery (Stern 59f.). [7] After the by the contributing authors of Cultures of United Second World War, political leadership shifted States Imperialism (edited by Amy Kaplan and and the United States assumed an authorial Donald E. Pease), “Latin America has been leadership role in international economy and largely absent from the internal dialogue that has globalization processes (Hardt and Negri xiii). In established the field of postcolonial studies in the the last century, there has been a development metropolitan centers” (Coronil x). Nevertheless, from Eurocentrism to U.S.-centrism combined it seems to be useful to introduce the term with U.S. exceptionalism, using the “American ‘Latinism,’ which represents a play on Edward culture as the standard to which all other cultures Said’s Orientalism and can be defined as “the are negatively contrasted” (Tyson 420). construction of Latin America and its inhabitants As Edward Said (Culture & Imperialism 7) and of Latinos in […] [the United States] to justify shows, there is a connection between U.S. the United States’ imperialistic goals” (Ramírez imperial politics and culture. There are myriads Berg 4). [6] Furthermore, it is meaningful to of different approaches for a definition of culture; expand the concept of Orientalism as it “cannot for my line of argumentation, I opt for Raymond contain all aspects of a globalised world” (Rossow Williams’ definition. As delineated by Williams, 402). Lastly, it seems important to mention that the definition of culture has changed over the the concept of Latinism does not hark back to last centuries. In the 16th century, it meant Spanish colonization of Latin America and the the cultivation of land (Young, Colonial Desire discursive constructions and repercussions of the 31). At the turn of the 19th century, however, inhabitants of the “New World,” but refers to the the term was used to designate the result of a discursive and comparative practices involved process of cultivation of mind. Culture can thus in informal cultural imperialistic approaches and be seen as civilization [8] and cultural products interventions of the United States. as results of processes of development (Wise “Imperialism is over. No nation will be world 4). The idea was accompanied by the belief leader in the way modern European nations in culture as sort of moral education - not only were” (Hardt and Negri xiv). This strong concerning one’s own culture, but also other statement by the authors of Empire is reinforced cultures - therefore seen “as ideal that Europe by Lois Tyson, who explains in her chapter had achieved but other countries were found “Postcolonial criticism” (Critical Theory Today wanting” (Wise 5). Tying into that notion, culture forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 47

functions as a means of comparison and tool for 3. Cultural Imperialism Illustrated: The moral evaluation (Wise 5). Colonialist discourse Construction of Otherness in Narcos uses this definition of culture and “constructs figures of alterity and manages their flows in According to Charles Ramírez Berg, there what unfolds as a complex dialectical structure. are different ways of dealing with the Other for The negative construction of non-European cultural agents, namely the degradation of the others is finally what founds and sustains Other which legitimizes power asymmetry and European identity itself” (Hardt and Negri 124). domination, the idealization of the Other which The colonialist ideology is always based on the offers a cultural critique of one’s own culture, and presupposition of a perceived superiority of the the recognition of the Other as equal (25ff.). The colonizer in contrast to a supposed inferiority preliminary stage preceding a cultural interaction of the colonized, who, according to that logic, with the Other always consists of comparing lacks a civilized and sophisticated culture and evaluating differences that automatically (Tyson 419). Furthermore, culture is considered degrade the other group. As will be shown a widely distributed set of practices comprising and argued in the analysis of the Netflix series music, literature, art, leisure-time activities, and Narcos, the Latino Other is constructed in a entertainment, amongst others. These practices negative and degrading way, which completely compose everyday life and work to construct a reduces their complexity and the interaction of sense of cultural and national identity. In the case social groups. The construction of stereotypes of the informal cultural imperialism promoted by is inextricably intertwined with different practices the United States, culture is offensively brought of comparing which are “very easy to identify, into connection with the nation and functions as quote and denounce, and yet […] impossible to a vehicle of identity construction by enforcing eliminate” (Rosello qtd. in Herrera 139). These xenophobic distinctions between “us” and “them,” comparisons can be detected on the visual, the establishing hierarchies of race and legitimizing verbal, as well as the structural and productional them by portraying the United States as a “great” level. and exceptionalist nation (Culture & Imperialism Narcos is a Netflix exclusive series, first xiii; 7). [9] Thus, U.S. national identity is aired in August 2015. The first two seasons of constructed through differences in comparative ten episodes tell the story of the Colombian relation to other national identities and cultures drug lord Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. [10] (Silva Gruesz 20f.). Cultural meaning is The show vividly depicts his rise in the drug imposed from the outside and Latin Americans trafficking world and success in the illegal are subjected to U.S. cultural production ever transportation of cocaine into the United States. since (Hall 2). Here it is important to point out With the increasing number of U.S. citizens a diversification regarding the main actors: It is who are dying of drug abuse, the DEA (Drug no longer only the government, but also (inter-) Enforcement Administration) steps in and tries to national corporations (Tyson 425) like Netflix, Inc. help the Colombian military track down Escobar. and cultural agents that construct Latin America, The hunt for Escobar drags on until December in this particular case Colombia, as having an 1993 when he initially survives a shootout with intrinsic deficit or vacuum. Simultaneously, the military but is eventually executed right by “channeling […] massive energies into the after getting caught. Selected examples of production of images and texts” (Salvatore 71), scenes in the following sections illustrate how they legitimate the presence of the U.S. and the stereotype of the Latino as the ethnic Other ascribe meaning to the mission and role of U.S.- is construed, reinforced, and underlined in the Americans in the region. Netflix series.

3.1 Otherness on the Visual Level

This first section analyzes some examples of the representation of Latino Otherness on the 48 C. Hachenberger: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S.

visual level. The U.S.-American main character to capture Colombia’s most dangerous criminal; of the series, Steve Murphy (played by the U.S.- it seems that because of his civilian clothes, American actor Boyd Holbrook), represents Murphy has either not realized the seriousness what Ramírez Berg (67) calls “the sun around of the situation or believes that they are going to which the film narrative revolves.” This is not fail once again in their attempt to catch Escobar. only because he occupies the important position Possibly, he thinks of himself as invincible as it of the narrative voice-over, but also because of is clear to him that the U.S. Americans will finally his appearance as a “white, handsome, middle- triumph over their enemies, no matter how aged, upper-middle-class, heterosexual, and challenging the manhunt has been before. obviously Anglo-Saxon male” (67). Murphy sets Colombia against the United States and insinuates his country’s faultlessness. The scene in which the DEA and the Colombian Colonel Horacio Carrillo try to catch a group of Escobar’s sicarios constitutes a striking example (cf. figure 1).

Fig. 2: Murphy amidst Colombian Soldiers (Narcos II,10)

According to Mario Arango Jaramillo (32), with the emergence of the narco business as a subculture, a new male figure appeared, whom he calls the “nuevo patrón machista”. Previously, the paisa had completely channelled his machismo and aggression into economic and entrepreneurial success. However, with the Fig. 1: The Roadblock (Narcos I,3) increasing modernization and industrialization of the Colombian economy in the second half of Murphy makes clear that the roadblock set th the 20 century, it is not only machismo in terms up by the Colombians would never meet U.S.- of drug trafficking which has risen, but also in American standards. Boastfully commenting, terms of social and physical aggression as “Excuse me for saying so…but this isn’t much of moral and ethical values underwent significant a roadblock, is it?” and simultaneously folding his change. One characteristic trait of the “nuevo arms and looking down on Carrillo with a smirk, patrón machista” is that he always carries a gun Murphy represents the stereotypical image of a with him which is somehow integrated into the U.S. American and his sense of exceptionality person’s physical appearance, complementing (Narcos I,3). [11] the image of the tough guy and offering him Murphy’s last scenes of the second season a sense of safety. Furthermore, his conduct reproduce traditional stereotypical constructions towards women changed radically as the of U.S.-American superiority in contrast to the nouveau riche is unfaithful towards his wife Latino Other’s inferiority, apparent through and surrounded by lovers (Arango Jaramillo practices of comparing. For instance, during the 32-36). The mentioned change of morality can military discussion in the scene before Escobar be considered inherent in some of the series’ is caught, the Colombian General Hugo Martínez characters. In general, all Colombian drug lords gives the orders. Still, the prominent element are displayed as “nuevos patrones machistas”. in the picture is Steve Murphy sitting amidst Furthermore, they unite some of the character Colombian soldiers in a regular red t-shirt (cf. traits of the bandido stereotype. The bandido figure 2). Everyone appears in full combat gear stereotype is one of the six distinct basic Latino forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 49

stereotypes in cinematic productions developed admires the United States’ exceptionalism and by Charles Ramírez Berg (39). According to him, the idea of the American Dream. the bandido is “vicious, cruel, treacherous, shifty, In the end, after shooting and executing and dishonest” in behaviour and psychologically Escobar, Murphy’s narrative voice-over tells the is “irrational, overtly emotional, and quick to audience of how he perceived the drug lord after resort to violence” (Ramírez Berg 68). Two having chased him for such a long time: of the myths characterizing the cinematic representation of the Latino Other according to All this time hunting him and just like that Woll (108) are also frequently reiterated, namely I’m looking down at Pablo fucking Escobar. the graphic portrayal of excessive violence and For years I’d been building this son of a the fact that “no matter how violent the Latin bitch up in my head. What a monster he’d American, he is unable to cope with either the be. But there’s the thing. When you lay strength or the superior technology of the North eyes on him, the devil’s a real letdown. American hero”. [12] The following paragraph Just a man. Beard grows if he doesn’t shave. Fat and shoeless. You take a good briefly explores how thebandido stereotype and long look at evil, and it reminds you of one. these mentioned myths comparing the Latino (Narcos II,10) Other with the U.S. American are cinematically reinforced in the series. Murphy’s description of Pablo Escobar as Throughout the series, Murphy’s counterpart “[j]ust a man” (Narcos II,10) contrasts with the Pablo Escobar is presented as a two-faced characterization of this character as the evil character. According to Jorge J. Barrueto, the Other fighting against the United States’ good representation of stereotypes in film becomes mission. Thus, it becomes clear that the whole part of a network of knowledge the audience representation of the two main characters served can access at any time. “The ethnic images and exactly the purpose of contrasting “us vs. them” cultural symbolism” (Barrueto 19) through which and to reinstate the stereotyping dichotomy. the character of Pablo Escobar is construed As Jorge J. Barrueto (26) convincingly argues, clearly embodies and evokes Latinism. A “[t]he discourse of Otherness requires that process closely tied to Postcolonialism, namely the monster must be killed, so a new day can the mimicry of the colonizer by the colonized, begin.” In the end, despite all the difficulties of is noticeable in this context. [13] The nouveau Escobar’s manhunt and Escobar’s genius and riche as “patrón machista” is shown to mimic “career of staying ahead of cops” (Steve Murphy and imitate the U.S. American “in dress […] and in Narcos II,2), the United States is portrayed as lifestyle” (Tyson 421). Since he owns the U.S.- triumphant over Escobar, the Latino Other. American cocaine market and his enormous wealth, Escobar attaches importance to a U.S.-American lifestyle. Listed by the Forbes magazine as one of the richest persons on 3.2 Otherness on the Verbal Level earth, he even gained positive attention in the United States. The Latino Other is often linguistically However, Escobar is never shown regarding depreciated by using swearwords. Furthermore, his own culture as inferior compared to the U.S.- Colombians are represented physically and American culture; he is always depicted as a technologically inferior to the U.S. Americans and proud Colombian who does not want to leave his as inherently violent. While giving background country in order to live somewhere else (Narcos information on a DEA-agent who was tortured I,5). However, when the Colombian government and murdered in Mexico by a drug cartel, Steve subsequently agrees to a policy concerning Murphy remarks almost aggressively: “What the extradition of drug traffickers to the United the fuck were they thinking? They could kill States, the United States and its imperialist an American government agent and get away and political interventionalist agenda become with it? Uncle Sam doesn’t fuck around. The Escobar’s number one enemy, even though he 50 C. Hachenberger: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S.

cocksuckers paid in blood. They went after them scene where a soldier tells his companions to so hard, every single narco in the world got the not “speak a word of this to anyone, understood” message that the DEA is off limits” (Narcos I,3). (Narcos II,1) underlines the absurdity of the Obviously, he supports revenge to make a stance course of the events. Using the swearword and considers a violent intervention necessary. “fuckin’” various times, Murphy shows his anger Murphy presents himself, the U.S. government, about the failed attempt to catch Escobar, the organization he works for, and his partner as blaming the Colombian government and military omnipotent against all odds as he states: “We since they could not define a clear agreement on were like the Bermuda Triangle. You get too close how to proceed. to us, you disappear” (Narcos I,3). The United Not only the military is incapable of acting States’ intervention is displayed as necessary to correctly in the series; the government and solve the Colombian drug problem and political political institutions are less rigorous in ineptness: “Now Pablo had someone to fear: us. comparison to the United States’ legal system, It’s one fucking man against the United States of as Murphy confirms: “If you were a narco in America” (Narcos I,4). [14] Colombia, jail time meant banging girls, watching The verbal depreciation of the Other is also movies, hanging with the fellas. Grease the reflected in mocking and ironic remarks, for right hands and you’d get a reduced sentence instance, in the narrator’s comment on the for good behavior. It was a fucking joke. Back dead bodies of those who had been killed and home, it was a whole different deal” (Narcos I,4). later arranged by the death squad “Los Pepes”: However, Steve Murphy also admits that the “We came up with a name for their displays. United States’ tactics may not always work, but Colombian folk art” (Narcos II,7; emphasis because of multiple interventionalist actions added). The remark is macabre and reveals how throughout Latin America, the U.S. government Colombian art is seen as worthless if it does not knows how to solve problems effectively. The depict violence, which in turn is considered a narrator prominently highlights his government’s Hispanic cultural value (Barrueto 22). successful actions by boastfully presenting them By reinforcing stereotypes though the practice as the heroes who “could get shit done” (Narcos of comparing, the series clarifies that Murphy II,1). This way, their own criminal acts, their “bad thinks that the Colombian military is incapable stories” against humanity, are covered: of doing anything against Escobar, even if they have the appropriate equipment. In the Best way to make a bad story go away is to first minutes of the second season, Murphy come up with a better story and sell it hard. summarizes the events of the last episode of the This is one of the cornerstones of American previous season: foreign policy, and one we learned through the years of trial and error in Latin America, Let me break it down for you. Four Chile, Guatemala, Panama. Getting thousand soldiers, a 250-man team of caught with your pants down sucks, but Colombia’s elite forces, tens of thousands if at the same time you give the folks a of rounds fired, seven dogs, and four big win, like, say, dismantling the second fuckin’ helicopters. Pablo Escobar was biggest drug cartel in the world, well, then surrounded in the middle of fuckin’ nobody’s paying attention to the bad story. nowhere. There was no way he was They’re too busy patting you on the back. getting out of this one…right? (Narcos II,1) (Narcos II,9; emphasis added)

This remark also creates suspense, as it The selected examples taken from the series becomes clear that Pablo Escobar is about to clearly underline the argument that Colombia escape again. This is shown in the next scene, and its people are presented as inferior through where soldiers just let him pass out of fear verbal dialogue. In comparison, even though that they and their families would be haunted the government’s measures are not always by Escobar’s furious, ghostly apparition. The effective, the United States is shown as superior. forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 51

3.3 Otherness on the Structural and Productional Level

Having briefly explored how practices of comparing accomplish the presentation of stereotypes on the visual and the verbal levels, the third and last section deals with the

representation of Otherness on the structural Fig. 3: Before the Shooting (Narcos I,1) and productional level. As stereotypical devices are “deployed at every cinematic register” The image composition in the example in (Ramírez Berg 42), it seems important to show figure 3 is held in very dark colors. Only diegetic how the technology of film itself, including the light elements like the car headlights in the choice of light, framing, and image composition, background or the dimmed illumination of the bar works to augment the comparative stereotyping serve to illuminate the scene. The atmosphere in the series. is gloomy and the audience has the impression Hollywood productions tend to represent a that something is going to happen soon, which is series’ content displaying Latin America using exactly the case. The Search Bloc attacks some 4 saturated color. As James Monaco ( 2009: 136) of Escobar’s sicarios that night. The composition explains in How to Read a Film, the “saturation of light reinforces the notion of Colombia as a of the color is a measure of its amount”. When dangerous place to be, especially at night. speaking of “saturated light,” one normally The frame “determines the limit of the image” refers to images which seem to be shot through (Monaco 206). Referring to David Bordwell, a slightly darker filter, not representing the Charles Ramírez Berg explains that “typical setting in a transparent way. In U.S. audio-visual compositions in Hollywood films are centered” productions, a filter is applied to obscure current (43). They “work with a privileged zone of screen realities in Latin American countries, misleading space resembling a T; the upper one-third and the audience in order to highlight U.S.-American the central vertical third of the screen constitute ideological values and disparage another the ‘center’ of the shot” (Bordwell qtd. in Ramírez cultural group as inferior. In the series Narcos, Berg 43). As exemplified by the following image “Hispanic drug milieu [is] achieved with […] from the series (cf. figure 4), the one-third saturated colors” (Barrueto 42). The distorted in the center of the frame shows the white, filmic demonstration of light inevitably leads heterosexual, and Christian male hero, while the to the reinforcement of common stereotypes rest of the frame shows minor characters and deliberately drawing a misconceived picture of stereotypes (Ramírez Berg 44). Latin American cultures (Woll 5). Furthermore, the always gloomy and suspenseful atmosphere is created by scenes shot at night, as the image below illustrates (cf. figure 3). In all cases, Colombia is presented in darker light hues and shades than its counterpart the United States, which is shown without using a saturating filter (Narcos I,1). Dark images are shown when presenting DEA’s operations against Colombian drug traffickers on the streets of Miami, thus depicted as a threat to U.S. social order.

Fig. 4: The Hearing (Narcos I,3) 52 C. Hachenberger: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S.

In addition to the image’s dark colors, Steve Conclusion Murphy’s posture hints at his dominant position; the framing is also significant, as he takes up From a transnationalist perspective, the the privileged zone of the screen. On his sides, Americas has to be seen as a zone of negotiation; thus not in the center of the image composition, these ‘negotiations’ are asymmetrical. The two employees of the Bogotá airport have intentional and merely superficially concealed marginalized positions, construing them in a operation of U.S. imperialism constitutes a fact stereotypical light. The man on the left bends that indicates an ongoing process of coercion his head, a body posture which underlines his between the two cultural spaces. Similar to the submissive position. The shoulder posture of European colonialists’ connection related to the the man on the right shows resignation. Both of Orient, which was regarded as a fascinating them do not look at Murphy, a fact that confirms exotic place yet backward and inferior culture, the agent’s superiority. informal actors in the United States stimulate a In general, the image composition or mise discourse and knowledge production on what en scène in Narcos is characterized by a highly is construed as the Latino Other, which can symmetrical arrangement of the characters and be referred to as Latinism. Hereby, ideological scenery. [15] Comparing the two following images, values are not explicitly promoted, but rather we see that Steve Murphy and Pablo Escobar implicitly transported through powerful mass are near the window leading to the rooftops of media whose target group is an international a block of houses. Both hold a gun, however audience. The asymmetrical relation advanced Escobar seems to run for shelter, almost sitting by the United States serves to justify any down passively and not using his gun; ] Murphy formal or informal intervention on the political or is shown actively using his gun and jumping out cultural level. It is corroborated by the perceived of the window. The discrepancy between the Otherness of Latin American cultures, which two characters is furthermore emphasized by are displayed as inherently different to the their physical appearance. Escobar in his blue Anglo-Saxon one. To depict the Latino Other in t-shirt and “[f]at and shoeless” (Steve Murphy an inferior way and simultaneously represent in Narcos II,10) is clearly depicted as being the the U.S.-American characters and culture as inferior of the two (cf. figure 5) as compared to superior, cinematic stereotypes are utilized. Murphy in his red t-shirt and neat appearance These mediated stereotypes “have historical (cf. figure 6). roots in racist attitudes that existed for various

Fig. 5: Escobar (Narcos II,10) Fig. 6: Murphy (Narcos II,10) forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 53

social and political reasons […] prior to their American origin regardless of their gender. inclusion in media” (Wilson and Gutiérrez 78). [4] The term Latinism was coined by Charles Ramírez Berg Even though there are several possibilities (4) and will be explained below. to take a different stance on the series, in the [5] The hegemonic nation is a deeply ideological construct, majority of the cases, the audience is not able which in the course of its formation involves “processes of to reconsider the events presented as true. The self-definition and self-consolidation as often dependent analysis of the different levels of comparison […] on the persecution of differences” (Weinbaum 176), and whose fictional character is given permanent justifiability on which Colombian Otherness is depicted in and authority through political and constitutional processes Narcos, namely the visual, verbal, and structural based on imperial and capitalist forms of (economic) and productional level, foregrounds a critical exploitation (Weinbaum 176f.). According to Hobsbawm, nations recognized as political states have been generating viewing of the series. “themselves by inventing traditions that enabled them to In order to detect and understand how informal constitute populations as historical and cultural entities imperialism works and how different techniques meaningfully joined over time and in space” (qtd. in are used to advance the United States’ informal Weinbaum 178). cultural empire as an audience, it seems useful [6] In his article “Orientalism, Globalism and the Possibility to have a ‘checklist” available while watching. of Alternative Systems of Representation,” Holger Rossow (2004) argues that there is a considerable number of Referring to Clara E. Rodríguez (240), it becomes similarities between globalism and Orientalism that obvious that the spectator can actively contribute both “refer to materially founded relations of power to the uncovering of hidden stereotypes, for and domination and culturally constructed discourses instance by asking some of the following that simultaneously conceal these relations and justify behavioural patterns or specific actions that sustain them” questions while watching: “Who is telling this (Rossow 2004: 395). story?”; “Who else could tell us stories?”; “Given [7] Gilbert M. Joseph (12) explains that neo-imperialist or the perspective of the camera, which characters informal imperialist enterprises manage “a stream of flows does the director want us to follow?” Those unified by the logic of profits, power, and a single hegemonic questions could help the audience sharpen their culture. From the center flow[…] commodities; capital; understanding of filmic productions (Rodrígue technology; cultural artifacts [sic!]; and military power, equipment, and expertise – in order to reproduce more of 240) and how cultural imperialism and informal the same”. To summarize in the context of the article, the stereotyping processes based on differences American way of life is exported to Latin American countries presented through practices of comparing work. (Gilbert 1998: 13). [8] A person is civilized and has culture when appropriately educated and trained (Wise 2008: 4).

Endnotes [9] The notion of American exceptionalism foregrounds the uniqueness of a nation which “was created differently, [1] It is important to establish the further utilization of the developed differently, and thus has to be understood terms “imperialism” and “colonialism.” As Young (2001: differently” (Shafer qtd. in Paul 14; emphasis in the original). 15) explains, both “involve […] forms of subjugation of one people by another,” a reason why the concepts [10] Season III was released on September 1, 2017 which, sometimes appear to be interchangeable; in Edward Said’s after Pablo Escobar’s death, no longer focuses on the work, for instance, there is no distinction made. However, Medellín cartel, but on the Cali cartel. The setting of the Robert J.C. Young argues that a differentiation has to be fourth season (Narcos Mexico) is no longer in Colombia but made. Colonialism stands for a pragmatic practice whose Mexico as it relates the Guadalajara cartel’s story. It was primary objective is the extension of state power, whereas released on November 16, 2018. imperialism refers to a policy of state which focuses on the aim of ideological domination of other people. Hereby, [11] The respective reference in the series will be indicated power is exercised through political and economic influence in short form: Narcos I,1. In this case, “I” stands for the first and driven by the facilitation of institutions and ideologies season, “1” for the first episode of Narcos. (Young 16-27). [12] This holds true for all drug kingpins in the series except [2] Over the course of the centuries, the countries of Latin the members of the Cali cartel, who successfully eschew a America have been subject to a myriad of imperialist fatal encounter with the U.S. Americans, as they also make impositions, which also involved the infliction of culture and common cause with them. ideology promoted by Spain, Portugal, France, as well as [13] The phenomenon was introduced by Homi K. Bhabha Great Britain, and later on by the United States. and “it reflects both the desire of colonized individuals [3] In this article, I use the term ‘Latino’ for people with Latin to be accepted by the colonizing culture and the shame experienced by colonized individuals concerning their own 54 C. Hachenberger: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S.

culture, which they were programmed to see as inferior” (2007): 173-184. Print. (Tyson 421). Monaco, James. How to Read a Film. Movies, Media, and [14] As Murphy explains in the first episode of the first Beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. season, it is not the first time that the United States Print. intervened in Latin America, as they “helped Pinochet seize Narcos. Season 1. Netflix, 2015. Web. power” (Narcos I,1) in 1973. -----. Season 2. Netflix, 2016. Web. [15] Mise en scène is generally understood as “the Oxford English Dictionary. “Mise en Scène.” Oxford arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage Dictionaries. Web. 15 June 2018. of a theatrical production or on the set of a film” (Oxford Dictionaries: “Mise en Scène.”). Oxford English Dictionary. “Stereotype.” Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 09 June 2018. Paul, Heike. The Myths that Made America. An Introduction Works Cited to American Studies. Bielefeld: tran script, 2014. Print. Arango Jaramillo, Mario. Impacto del Narcotráfico en Pease, Donald E., and Amy Kaplan (Eds). Cultures of Antioquia. Medellín: Arango, 1988. Print. United States Imperialism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. Print. Ashcroft, Bill, et al. Post-Colonial Studies. The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print. Prashad, Vijay. “Orientalism.” Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Ed. Bruce Burgett and Barrueto, Jorge J. The Hispanic Image in Hollywood. A Glenn Hedler. New York: New York University Press, Postcolonial Approach. New York: Peter 2007. 174-177. Print. Lang, 2014. Print. Ramírez Berg, Charles. Latino Images in Film. Austin: Bauer, Ralph. “Hemispheric Studies.” PMLA 124.1 (2009): University of Texas Press, 2002. Print. 234-250. Print. Rodríguez, Clara E. “Promoting Analytical and Critical Coronil, Fernando. “Foreword.” Close Encounters of Viewing.” Latin Looks: Images of Latinas and Empire. Writing the Cultural History of U.S.- Latinos in the U.S. Media. Ed. Clara E. Rodríguez. Latin American Relations. Ed. Gilbert M. Joseph, Boulder: Westview Press, 1998. 2 4 0 - 2 6 9 . Catherine C. Legrand, and Ricardo D. Print. Salvatore. Durham/London: Duke University Press, 1998. ix-xii. Print. Rossow, Holger. “Orientalism, Globalism and the Possibility of Alternative Systems of Representa tion.” ZAA Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory. A Very Short Introduction. 52.4 (2004): 395-408. Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 144- 145. Print. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1979. Print. Hall, Stuart. “The Spectacle of the ‘Other’.” Representation. Cultural Representations and Signify ing Practices. -----. Culture & Imperialism. New York: Vintage Books, Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage Publications, 1997. Random House, 1993. Print. 225-279. Print. Salvatore, Ricardo D. “The Enterprise of Knowledge: Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Empire. Cambridge: Representational Machines of Informal Harvard University Press, 2000. Print. Em- pire.” Close Encounters of Empire. Writing the Cultural History of U.S.-Latin American Herrera, Brian Eugenio. Latin Numbers. Playing Rela tions. Ed. Gilbert M. Joseph, Catherine Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular C. Legrand, and Ricardo D. Salvatore. Perfor mance. AnnArbor: University of Michigan Durham/London: Duke University Press, 1998. 69- Press, 2015. Print. 104. Print. Joseph, Gilbert M. “Close Encounters: Toward a New Cultural Silva Gruesz, Kirsten. “America.” Keywords for American History of U.S.- Latin American Re l a t i o n s . ” Cultural Studies. Ed. Bruce Burgett and Close Encounters of Empire. Writing the Cultural Glenn Hendler. New York: New York University History of U.S.-Latin American R e l a t i o n s . Press, 2007. 16-22. Print. Ed. Gilbert M. Joseph, Catherine C. Legrand, and Ricardo D. Salvatore. D u r h a m / L o n d o n : Stern, Steve J. “The Decentered Center and the Expansionist Duke University Press, 1998. 3-46. Print. Periphery: The Paradoxes of For e i g n - L o c a l Encounter.” Close Encounters of Empire. Writing Lenz, Günter H. “Irreconcilabilities and Transgressions: the Cultural History of U.S.- Latin American Edward W. Said’s Idea of a Worldy Criti Relations. Ed. Gilbert M. Joseph, Catherine C. cism – An Introduction.” ZAA 52.4 (2004): 317-329. Legrand, and Ricardo D. Salvatore. Durham/ Web. London: Duke University Press, 1998. 47-68. Print. McClennen, Sophia. “Area Studies Beyond Ontology: Notes Streeby, Shelley. “Empire.” Keywords for American Cultural on Latina American Studies, American Studies, Studies. Ed. Bruce Burgett and Glenn and Interamerican Studies.” A Contracorriente 5.1 Hendler. New York: New York University Press, 2007. forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 43-55 55

95-101. Print. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today. New York: Routledge, 2006. 417-449. Print. Weinbaum, Alys Eve. “Nation.” Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Ed. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: New York University Press, 2007. 175-180. Print. Wilson, Clint C., and Félix Gutiérrez. Minorities and Media. Diversity and the End of Mass Com munication. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1985. Print. Wise, J. Macgregor. Cultural Globalization. A User’s Guide. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Print. Woll, Allen L. The Latin Image in American Film. Los Angeles: UCLA, 1980. Print. Young, Robert J.C. Colonial Desire. Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race. New York, Routledge, 1995. Print. -----. Postcolonialism. An Historical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publications, 2001. Print.

Author’s Biography

Having graduated with excellence in the Master’s program “The Americas/Las Américas” (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) in March 2018. Claudia Hachenberger is currently working on her dissertation project titled “‘What if?’” – Literary Articulations of Political Perspectives (and Alternatives) in the Americas since the 1970s.” Her research is situated in the fields of Postcolonial Studies and Inter-American Literary Studies. forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

How (Not) to Compare White Poverty: Class Issues, Socioeconomic Suffering, Literature

Carsten Schinko (University of Stuttgart/HU Berlin)

Abstract

If the renewed academic interest in class-related issues has opened up a vivid scholarly discussion, it has not always generated fresh arguments, often provoking a return to the familiar struggles between Old Left and New Left positions. What is new, however, is the political context of the post-Obama era in which these debates take place. Nowhere have they become more heated than when white workers or white poverty are discussed, which is, in part, a result of Trump’s right-wing wooing. This essay seeks to neutralize the conversation, taking a pragmatic approach that seeks to reveal possible blind spots of the contenders in this debate. In a first step, the notion of class will be assessed in the respective camps. Subsequently, I will disentangle the peculiarly U.S.-American blend of “race” and class that has a long semantic history. Taking a look on recent scholarship on poverty as socioeconomic suffering, I will discuss a number of key texts that reflect on the issues addressed above.

Keywords: Poverty, Whiteness, New Left vs. Old Left, “White Trash”, Aesthetics

The Complicated Return(s) to Class the blatant racism of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaigning was hardly veiled, Class and poverty made their comeback as especially when directing his speeches at the part of the critical idiom, returning to the forefront blue-collar segment (“Trump Digs Coal”) and of scholarly discourses in American Studies thus we can infer that, at least in the political once again. The majority of critics embrace this arena, the discursive return to issues of class return, or at least welcome it as a necessary is always tinged with the logic of “race.” Like development, reflecting the signs of the times: Republicans before him, Trump cashed in on a the global economic meltdown, ever-increasing reframing of debates – a strategy that allowed income gaps in the US and elsewhere, Occupy many right-leaning parties to win over leftist Wall Street, the unlikely resurgence of democratic voters and dominate formerly progressivist socialist positions from Bernie Sanders to topics[1] by turning from class solidarity to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the wooing allegedly “American” values.[2] of poor whites in Trump’s populist agenda In the current “populist moment” (Mouffe make such a correction almost inevitable. It is 11) that has superseded the “post-democratic” interesting to compare the ideological maneuvers neutralization of liberal politics (Crouch), Trump of these political contenders. In his presidential is only the most aggressive politician. Like most campaign, Democratic candidate Sanders was other populists, he is catering to the masses by charged with shying away from racial exclusion pretending to speak for the “the people” thus when discussing social inequalities, creating claiming “exclusive representation.” (Müller 3). what was felt to be a rather loud silence. It But what explains his success in the first place? is a silence amplified by the fact that Hillary Pundits might have frequently misinterpreted Clinton, his centrist rival in the Democratic the statistics, arguing that it was white workers party, talked about racial inequality rather freely who finally made Trump president- they did not while dismissing left-leaning positions. In turn, (Davis). Still, it is true that the rhetoric of class 57 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

identity was ubiquitous in his public speeches Zakaria also points to some of the touchiest and ham-fisted tweets. Not only that, but even questions in politics and in academia today. though media was highly critical of the 45th How do we talk about class structures without president of the United States, journalists and dismissing other relevant issues of inequality? writers strangely adapted to the drift, creating Do those who believe that there is “trouble what to some critics seems an excessively with diversity” need to overcome “race” (and biased interest in white poverty and working- gender) discourses to genuinely talk about class issues. distributional justice, as Walter Benn Michaels Commenting on this upsurge, Rafia Zakaria claims?[3] (Michaels, Trouble). In these cases, observes that after the election “a growing call the return to class is habitually presented as an for sympathy with dispossessed white America undoing of the conceptual cultural studies trinity began to pick up among liberals.” Yet, she (“race,” class, gender) that originally relegated argues, these invocations of economic need and class from dominant social conflict to a position psychological misery in the writings triggered of equivalence with racial and gender-based by such concerns “are rife with glib omissions, exclusions. What is highlighted is the conceptual tossing up words like ‘community’ and ‘little guy’ or political incomparability of class with these while only meaning certain communities, certain other social markers, and, as a consequence, little guys.” Moreover, to generalize about an the incompatibility of distributional justice with entity like the white working class is problematic the recognition-based politics of identity. In the in the first place. White workers do exist, but following, I will try to answer some of these such an abstract collective does not. Thus, questions by briefly discussing academic works according to Michael Bray, we would do better on class (and poverty), and, more exactly, how to analyze (and compare) its rhetorical use(s) class is being used quite differently as a tool of rather than accept it as empirical fact. The white comparison in Old and New Left discourses. Do working class functions as “imagined addressee we live in a class society, i.e. a society whose […] of liberal (post)racial discourse,” allowing main defining feature is its class structure, “liberals to simultaneously believe themselves to or is class part of a hegemonial structure that be antiracist, deny their denial of racial history, ties a horizontal network with other criteria of and do nothing much about the racial structures difference? Do we have to reframe the problem they help to reproduce” (Bray). For a long altogether and understand class stratifications time, such an othering had only worked if the as a secondary feature, an outgrowth contingent white working class was projected as a quasi- upon, but not necessarily linked to, the key pathological aberration of decent white folks, i.e. characteristics of society, e.g. functional as a racist relict within an otherwise responsible differentiation? citizenry considering itself to be well-educated, Bray’s idea of class identity as rhetoric will tolerant, and globalization-friendly. Needless to provide an entry point into the subsequent parts. say, this projection of difference within has a Tracing the peculiar entanglement of race and history and is currently changing when liberals – class in U.S. from Reconstruction to the recent irritated by populism – turn inward and scrutinize populist moment, I will assess the rhetoric of themselves about such exclusionary acts. If Bray class-related identity. Many of the tropes and is correct, we should not be too surprised that problems are eerily repeating throughout history such a compensatory move has a strong political with a culmination point of “white trash” emerging edge; it appeals mostly to those liberals who are as an “unpopular culture” (Hartigan 109) at the now “eager to bash identity politics” (Zakaria). end of multiculturalist developments as we know While it resonates with a given moment – the them. A strange variant of an alleged “culture of Trump presidency – it is only one shift in a well- poverty” (Lewis), it helps us understand white established, steadily emerging repertoire of (self-) identifications and disaffiliations as a kind semantics crystallizing around the twin notions of changing same of U.S. cultural evolution: the of race and class in the U.S. separation of the good versus the bad poor, the latter a tribe apart, beyond hope and reform. A forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 58

comparison of the focus on class and poverty as led back to a point from which they could all be conceptual tools will lead me to read key literary embraced and explained by a single discourse.” texts that deal with the questions prepared above. (191; emphasis in original). Juxtaposing the writing of authors as diverse as Marxism’s focus on the core antagonism William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, and Bobbie between workers and those who control the Ann Mason along the way, I will describe the means of production has had this unifying multiple ways of fictionally rendering poverty. potential; it needed to repudiate the politics of difference – a vision of the political, which, Doing Class, Undoing Class War? according to Marxist critic Sharon Smith, regards class as There are times when nothing seems as old as the difference between the Old and New “just another form of oppression, separate Left. Heated debates that have taken place from all others. Furthermore, each since the 1970s are reactivated lately as if separate system of oppression has its nothing has happened and the reason for this own unique set of beneficiaries: all whites repetition compulsion is a seismic shift in the benefit from racism, all men benefit from political imagination. The identity politics that sexism and all heterosexual benefit from have emerged with new theories, but also with homophobia – each in a free-floating system of ‘subordination’.” (Smith 43) the impact of new social movements, has helped cultural studies to grow strong in the humanities. Smith presents us with a familiar either/or: As a New Leftist political reflection, their success either we accept the hierarchy of antagonisms includes a specific treatment of class. In the with class as key to all other conflicts, or we beginning, class still was the most important end up with disarray and lack any perspective axis of research, as in the studies on youth to systematically fight injustice. What we would and subcultures and relations to their assigned end up doing instead is treating symptoms as classes. If models of class stratification had root causes. already turned into models of class belonging How to present progressive politics when in the hands of Dick Hebdige and others, thus these Marxian foundations are deconstructed? drifting off to the realm of identity and meaning, When classes can no longer safely correspond these early proponents were criticized by a with objective social positions, when, in fact, second generation of scholars for sticking to an no semantics can be deduced from an a priori idea of Englishness unfit to meet the reality of structure at all (Stäheli, Die Nachträglichkeit multicultural societies. 315)? For Laclau and Mouffe, society as such The discursive turn finally changed the whole does not exist, and most certainly it is not an outlook of cultural studies practices. Society objective entity from which social structures was seen as a fluid product of articulations, could be inferred. In their post-foundationalist rather than as a solid set of a priori structures. theory, society has become an “impossible” Not only did class lose its privileged place as object; it cannot be represented as a “unitary master concept in the writings of Stuart Hall and intelligible object which grounds its partial and his colleagues, but – taking their lead from processes” (Laclau 90), but needs a “constitutive the linguistic turn – the idea of structure was outside” (ibid.: 9). But this epistemological problem textualized and increasingly opened up to contain does imply a lack of such representations. Far multiple agencies. This had a strong impact on from it, the very impossibility generates society the legitimate players differently located in the in the first place, as it is nothing but the various social field, and on the possibility to present “a attempts to construct it as a unified object. By unified discourse of the left,” as Ernesto Laclau necessity, these attempts at closure are deeply and Chantal Mouffe wrote in 1985: “If the various political acts, and the different discursive efforts – subject positions and the diverse antagonisms e.g. left vs. right – are antagonistic interventions. and points of rupture constitute a diversity and Antagonism, then, should not be construed not a diversification, it is clear they cannot be 59 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

as rivalry between a set of already existing seems to be at stake. How do commentators camps (as in many dangerously essentialist read his presidency? Which political alternatives versions of multiculturalism) nor as a Marxian are available to combat the new surge of contradiction between wage labor and capital nationalism, racism, and ultra-neoliberalism (Stäheli, Poststrukturalistische 36); but, more instrumental in maintaining the status quo? fundamentally, as conflicts emerging through Writing for The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates created the articulations themselves. Their affective a rough sketch of an America haunted by “race,” mechanisms include the marking-off of an “us” an America whose white supremacist leanings against “them” – a rhetoric strategy that invites had to undo the first black presidency. Trump identifications by pitting an in-group against an is nothing but “the negation of Barack Obama’s excluded other habitually conceived as a threat. legacy” (Coates). According to this logic, This is not necessarily a bad thing, as Laclau and Trump can be considered “America’s first white Mouffe are at pains to make clear, for nothing president” because “his entire political existence threatens democracies more than a centrist, hinges on the fact of a black president.” consensus-oriented Third Way. We simply need Coates himself introduces an alternative, to construct “the people” in ways different from class-related interpretation of Trump’s way to the Right’s appeal to nation and “race.” power, the weakness of the Democrats who Yet, what if the conflicts have multiplied, if have “abandoned everyday economic issues” the discourses on the Left simply do not add and established an “elitist sneer at blue-collar up to great utopian projects like the classless culture.” Consequently, Trump’s success is not society anymore? The task becomes more so much the result of supremacist biases, as he complicated: any unification is the political is “the product of a backlash against contempt product of complicated struggles to establish a for white working-class people.” Recognizing “chain of equivalences” (Laclau and Mouffe 130), their urge to disaffiliate from the less fortunate, combining working class demands with those of liberals suddenly feel sorry for deriding the other the new movements. In such a reconfiguration of white half and having created a rich imagery of Marxist thought, Jacobin fervor has given way to the bad poor. It is no surprise that Coates does a reformist project, a radical democracy true to not buy this argument, not the least because the fundamental promises of liberty and equality “black people, who have lived for centuries under for all. Instead of class war and the overcoming such derision and condescension, have not yet of capitalism, the task is to work against the been driven into the arms of Trump.” Considered grain of what Laclau and Mouffe – taking their by many the legitimate heir of James Baldwin, lead from Antonio Gramsci – call hegemony. Coates is keen to dissect the self-delusions Counter-hegemonic interventions as those of America. If, at the present moment, these proposed by Mouffe in her latest book For a Left include “the myth of the virtuous white working Populism, try to attack the current neoliberalism class,” this mythmaking needs to turn a blind eye and are now presented as challenging the to its complicity in American racism. current populism from the Right. The apologists The article points out, however, that the of Marxism will maintain, however, that “’class statistics strongly suggest that it was not the struggle’ presupposes a particular social group workers who put Trump in the White House (the working class) as a privileged political – often they did not vote at all (Davis) – but agent” and insist that such “privilege is not whites across the whole economic spectrum. itself the outcome of hegemonic struggle, but is Hence, “when white pundits cast the elevation grounded in the objective social position of this of Trump as the handiwork of an inscrutable group” (Zizek 554). white working class, they are being too modest, declining to take claim for their own economic Comparing Trump, Reading Sanders class” (Coates). What we should speak about, however, is the lower stratum of blacks, and These debates return even more heatedly in more importantly, keeping those two distinct. the Trump era when the whole democratic project “Black poverty,” Coates insists, “is fundamentally forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 60

distinct from white poverty,” and thus any attempt obsession with identity and subject positions to fight economic inequality must tackle racism. back to the late 1960s. This fascination rests on David Roediger’s Wages of Whiteness helps a larger shift in political outlook from ideology him to delineate “the tightly intertwined stories to ontology, that “replaced the differences of the white working class and black Americans” between what people think (ideology) […] throughout history. Coates notes “the temporary with the differences between what people are bondage of indenture” as point of departure for (identity)” (24). If ideology implies disagreement the former in the prehistory of the U.S., and and conflict, ontological differences do not. grants a remarkable lack of “racist enmity” in the Conceptualized like languages or cultures, one 17th century. Soon, however, the “full benefits of identity is not better than the other: they are whiteness” kicked in and, as a result, the need different but equal. of white workers to distinguish themselves from It is silly to call such critical self-positioning slaves grew stronger on a personal level, but “liberal racism” (Gordon and Newfield 737) – but also in the political imagination beginning in the the agenda that followed in Trouble and also in 18th century to this day. His defeatist verdict is polemical essays for the online journal nonsite the most brutal comparison possible: “White pit Michaels irreconcilably against Coates. In slavery is sin. Nigger slavery is natural.” fact, a short piece co-authored with his Chicago What does such a generalizing sweep of colleague Kenneth Warren directly takes aim and U.S. history mean for politics, especially in the denounces his call for reparations as “right-wing populist moment when centrist positions are fantasies” (Michaels and Warren), completely in criticized from Left and Right as never before? line with the neoliberal credo they see at work in Seminal for this line of argument is Coates’s identity politics. Now, in a reversal of Coates’s firm belief “that white supremacy was a force logic, they urge the public to see identity politics in and of itself, a vector often intersecting with not as “an alternative to class politics but a form class, but also operating independent of it,” so of it: it’s the politics of an upper class that has no that, if actually instated, any democratic socialist problem with seeing people left behind as long program might well be a welcome amelioration as they haven’t been left behind because of their of society; however this would not fundamentally race or sex” (Michaels, ‘The Political Economy’). alter anything about white supremacy. Nor would Michaels is evidently not championing the “the problems of economic inequality dissipate,” status quo, but he does recognize the social as Coates quickly adds, scornfully nodding to ills Coates diagnoses. Narrowed down to the Bernie Sanders. He reads Sanders’ reluctance political realm, his position “just means that to opt for reparations as yet another instance of fighting discrimination has nothing to do with an “enduring solidarity of whiteness.” fighting economic inequality” (Michaels, ‘Identity It is easy to feel the impatience in many of Politics’). these columns, the rightful anger at the situation Michaels finds support in Adolph Reed, of black America especially after the Trump Jr., a political scientist at the University of backlash. Rhetorically, however, he faced Pennsylvania. It is an important back-up, to be contenders not always given to sober articulation sure. If Michaels is dismissed by some as yet themselves. Walter Benn Michael had already another old white male trying to turn back the made himself a name outside academia as a clock to a time before identity politics, Reed, a public commentator with a strong penchant for black scholar, takes specific issue with Coates polemics. While the vastly popular The Trouble as the newest among the “freelance race with Diversity. How We Learned to Love Identity leaders.” This is Reed’s term for public figures and Ignore Inequality (2006) is a hotbed for disengaged from concrete politics, who are part quotable slogans and one-liners, its “rhetorical of the “professional-managerial strata,” and excess” (Wolfe) should not make us blind to the thus the natural adversary of black workers political philosophy behind this book. It is laid out and unemployed. Unconcerned with pragmatic in earlier academic studies like The Shape of the solutions to the problems at hand, theirs is a Signifier in which Michaels historically traces the totalizing perspective on U.S. society, Reed 61 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

argues, offered as “an alternative to political enhancing self-esteem rather than the material action.” One might argue that Michaels, too, redistribution of wealth and income.” We are presents totalizing arguments or that general back at one of the key questions of progressive intervention might give direction for political politics: do we want to start with the minds of work to come. As a socialist with interest in people or with the situations they are trapped the connection of theory and praxis, however, in? Plus, we face the rivalry of an identity Reed finds unique flaws with theories ofso politics that has often neglected class-issues total a vision that their grand moral statements with the materialist doctrine of the Old Left. – their “fatalistic outlook” – interdict rather than And, paradoxically, we are in an odd situation in incite political agency. “Among this cohort of which cultural studies-bred scholars accuse Old racial voices, the essential qualification for Leftists of not paying enough attention to “race;” recognition seems to be inclination to declaim on while Michaels and Reed would find fault with the intractability of undifferentiated, ahistorical the very separation of “race” and class in the racism as a fetter on all black Americans’s liberal camp, which allows them to decry white life chances across the sweep of the nation’s supremacy as a historical phenomenon. history.” To diagnose such universal “systemic Mouffe would urge these different camps to let effects” (Fluck, ‘Wissenschaft’ 116 et passim) go of their conflicts and create “the people” from is prone to have disastrous effects for those in the Left instead. In the moment neoliberalism need, and create jobs only for those already and centrist parties are successfully weakened capable of self-fashioning as representatives of from a populism on the Right that has read their the black intelligentsia. Gramsci and Foucault only too well, this seems Indeed, the most interesting of Reed’s points to her the only plausible option. In this form of for our discussion is a strange return of class- political agency identity, claims are much invited, related rhetoric within black leadership. He yet the problem is to connect their differences. shows great disdain for the “top-down model of It is a dilemma all too obvious when it comes black discourse” that runs from DuBois to Coates, to Coates: to see white supremacy as an all- and that today works as a “new assertive liturgy encompassing force and talk about privilege of dependence” in which white liberals and well- when addressing unemployed or working-class off black public intellectuals have advanced whites will get you only so far. With Michaels a “profoundly race-reductionist” politics and Co. the problem runs even deeper: class- “discounting the value of both political agency consciousness engenders a different form and the broad pursuit of politics.” What we end of identity, if at all. Once a class in itself turns up with, surprisingly, is a disdain for the black into a class for itself, this shift might cause a underclass that is cast as “a population mired in sense of belonging. Moreover, even if Marxist pathologies and hemmed in by an overwhelming critics nowadays can concede that class, too, is racism.” What we end up with is an almost contingent on processes of meaning but is not universal problem in discussions of economic cultural in the same way the politics of recognition need, a dubious return to the culturalization of is (Chibber), one would very willingly let go of need – a culture of poverty that refrains from its defining lack – poverty or powerlessness in materialist perspectives. If we follow Reed, the face of capital – while to be recognized for, white and black views of the(ir) other half(s) say, black achievements is something you would are dangerously comparable. Consequently, want to maintain even if your situation changes. almost all influential black leaders “envisioned One could take another perspective and try their core constituency as a politically mute to disengage from directly talking about class black population in need of tutelage from their and “race” and understand the popularity of ruling-class-backed leaders.” Such tutelage identity in the first place. If we assume that produces a troublesome “underclass mythology” class stratification exists but that it is not the which “grounds professional-class claims to prime distinction of current society – i.e. that race leadership, while providing the normative it’s modus operandi is not the perpetuation of foundation of uplift programs directed toward class differences – we could argue that society forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 62

until today is defined by functional differentiation an outgrowth of this fundamental principle of (Luhmann). Individuals in such a society are modern society. Once the various asymmetries addressed differently in the distinct function are politically semanticized and crystallize as systems: politics, economics, religion, art, and part of political discourses, chances are that the medical system all take a different interest social agents will appropriate them for their self- in a person. Thus, instead of individuality, identifications. Why then, should such agents the proper modern self-experience is as a choose identity-based markers rather than class dividuum: modernity means the fundamental semantics to do so? One plausible answer is lack of an address (Fuchs 50ff.). In premodern that we have entered an age of “expressive times, such an address was the tribe, clan, or individualism” that champions has superseded caste. Premodernity implies total inclusion – the “economic individualism” governing the 18th worst-case scenario as a slave – which means and 19th century (Fluck, ‘Humanities’ 59). The that one’s place completely determines one’s shift is contingent on the transformed status address(ability). Modern society, while not devoid of money as a standard medium. Anyone of stratification and exclusionary mechanisms can, at least potentially, become economically is centerless; it has no foundation that could successful and gain social respectability in a determine one’s place and thus it enforces the regime of Franklinian self-discipline and psychic “self-conditioning of the individuum” (Nassehi, self-regulation along the lines of a protestant Geschlossenheit 99). It does so because in the work ethic. In the more recent “expressive function systems, it is only considered relevant individualism,” the goal has become “cultural in specific dimensions. Any individual is thus self-realization.” Unlike money, however, created in its exclusion individuality, beyond the culture thrives on difference; it separates, no function systems, but hardly outside society. matter how much one highlights the hybridity This openness allows for radical self-fashioning, of ascriptions and identities. Culture, after e.g. a Dandyism, but it also includes more all, relies on a “difference-identity-function” mainstream forms of self-identifications –in our (Gürses 21), it knows of its contingency, yet present time, along ethnic lines. Evidently, some simultaneously masks its constructedness, can choose more freely than others the ways in thereby suggesting a paradoxical (post)modern which they want to live out their individuality. Still, authenticity. Further, the more culture is used all forms are contingent on this fundamental rule within politics, the stronger the focus on binding of modern society: individualization is something representations of groups, spokespersons, that happens to individuals whether they want to collectives will be, as part of the function of the or not. Far from being a semantic correlating with political system is to create visible collectives bourgeois society, then, it is the sine qua non of (Nassehi, ‘Themenbindung’ 40). In this arena, modernity. Hardly any single person will perform cultural identities often do not even compete this self-fashioning from scratch. Most use the for the better argument, as Michaels correctly established patterns, and we can observe “that, diagnoses, even though his politico-aesthetic in order to be addressable, the compensatory philosophy misunderstands the root causes of (and simplifying) reference to class-, stratum- modernity as well. and gender experience is used in comparatively stable fashion” (105). We must add “race” and The Close-Knit Ties of Race and Class: White ethnicity to these collectivist categories, even Loyalty vs. Interracial Solidarity more so as “structural individualization not necessarily has to result in semantic individualist For a long time, historical accounts of slavery self-descriptions” (106). have regarded the “peculiar institution” as a The fact that there is no center of society pre-modern phenomenon, a kind of gruesome, controlling either the distinct function systems mostly Southern exploitation preceding the or the way people create such addresses does modern capitalism that soon took center stage not mean that there is no asymmetry or conflict and generated class stratifications. It is one of in society. It is only that these conflicts are the great achievements of theoreticians of an 63 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

Afromodernity to have refuted this neat separation from a class conscious slave community” of periods. Slavery is not merely comparable to (Mount). Class consciousness entails both, the capitalism, nor simply preparing it, Paul Gilroy understanding of their exploitation as workforce claims in his important study The Black Atlantic; and the yearning for existential freedom as a it is better conceptualized as the “inner essence” man. Mount eloquently summarizes: “The end of labor exploitation. Far from being a Southern game of any slave insurgency was not just to peculiarity, then, the “empire of cotton” (Beckert) own the means of production, but to own one’s along with its horrible racial logic was “a system very self.” that paved the way for laboring under capitalism” The general strike thesis thus presented a (Gilroy 55). If we accept this revisionist criticism revolutionary proletariat, which – because the – and thus not only make comparable but even slaves’ understanding of their situation ran so metaphorize slavery as key to an understanding fundamentally deep – was a potential inspiration of the modern economic system – then class was to others. “At stake was the centrality of self- always already tinged with race. The essential emancipation of slaves and the knowledge that question to be taken from these discussions is this motion created the possibility that white how to relate the Afromodernity to the classical workers might seek something more than being accounts of modernization, i.e. division of labor, ‘not slaves.’” (Roediger, ‘Critical History’ 23). We stratification, functional differentiation of value have reached the essential point of the debate: spheres, etc. the potential disaffiliation of white workers, who Gilroy’s thoughts about the comparability of can now begin to understand that they have slavery and capitalism had been prepared long more in common with black workers than with before the publication of W.E.B. DuBois’ study “their folks.” In his day, DuBois’s challenge Black Reconstruction. Published in 1935, the book of received historical knowledge was – to put invites readers to regard slaveholders primarily it mildly – not enthusiastically received. The as capitalists and not so much as an aristocratic Dunning School with their white supremacist elite. In line with this Marxist reframing, slaves, views was still in full effect, and it certainly too, had to be recast as class antagonists, as would take quite a while to undo the myth of “it followed that the laborers were proletarians” the Lost Cause. DuBois knew he openly fought (Ignatiev 243). Accordingly, the first chapter these influential camps and ideologies. What he of Black Reconstruction refers to “The Black basically did was to attribute agency to slaves, Worker” rather than black slaves. Yet, it is also thereby actively undoing the racist comparisons important to note that in the follow-up chapter, of William A. Dunning & Co. which “held that the “The White Worker” is given specific attention. slaves were docile, unprepared for freedom, While both collectivities were logically bound by and racially inferior” (Mount). Even more, he their class status, DuBois illuminated important presented slave insurgency as a heroic and differences. Again, the category of “race” is inspiring act completely corrupted the familiar highlighted to explain specific developments of racial hierarchy. social stratification. Just as in his diagnosis of In the same year that saw the publication double consciousness – burden and gift for those of Black Reconstruction, Scribner’s magazine behind the veil – DuBois provides black people featured a story in its February edition called with a troublesome privilege, turning them into “Kneel to the Rising Sun.” Erskine Caldwell, the quasi-avant-garde of resistance. This time, the author, had reached critical acclaim with his it is not so much the sociopsychic disposition, early works about the rural poor of the South but a subversive form of agency. During the –the novels Tobacco Road (1932) and God’s Civil War, constant struggles with their masters Little Acre (1933) fared especially well – yet led to increasingly subordinate slave behavior, the highly prolific writer was also a gifted writer from escape to sabotage and upheaval. These of short prose. The Scribner’s story is a real actions were far from accidental, but, as Guy gem, a poignant tale of poverty and interracial Emerson Mount has explained, they can be friendship that neatly corresponds with DuBois’s described as “a form of politics. They emanated revisionist piece of historiography. Set in the forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 64

Reconstruction era, Caldwell invites us into a dependent on his will. world of need. Lonnie, a white sharecropper, has Quite efficiently, Caldwell has dramatized a key trouble supporting his wife Hatty and Mark, his conflict played out in the white mind, the either/ disoriented grandfather. Thus, he urgently needs or of white loyality and interracial solidarity of Jim to ask the landowner for an extra ration. Lonnie Crow society. While, in real life, such dangers is friends with Clem, a black sharecropper. Right were not always a matter of life and death, the at the beginning of the story, Caldwell efficiently disaffiliation often included violence in interactive blends the themes: “A shiver went through Lonnie. situations and also on an organizational level. He drew his hand away from his sharp chin, Any formation of black and white workforce into remembering what Clem had said. It made him unions had to face this and the short-lived nature feel as if he were committing a crime by standing of many an alliance tells us more about the in Arch Gunnard’s presence and allowing his forces to break them than about the willingness hollow face to be seen” (Caldwell 71). The sharp to cooperate. In “Kneel to the Rising Sun,” chin, an image repeatedly used throughout the Lonnie’s choice seems to work against his whole story, reminds us of the physical hurt. But it is personality, he is de-individualized, a passive also referenced by Clem who reminds his friend medium re-modeled as a part of movement he that “your face will be sharp enough to split the does not actively embrace. There is no doubt boards for your coffin” (ibid.). Clem, however, that his friendship with Clem is genuine and that not only sees things more clearly than Lonnie, he understands their mutual plight. Still, in spite but he is introduced as an authority – a status of all his unquestionable integrity, as specimen well-deserved. Walking up to the sinister and of the “good poor,” Lonnie can be broken and sadistic landowner, Lonnie wishes “he could Arch’s dominance – an erratic figure symbolizing be as unafraid of Arch Gunnard as Clem was” the continuity of evil mastery from slavery to (ibid.). Even though “a Negro, he never hesitated capitalist domination – is firmly in place. to ask for rations when he needed something to In her parable “Two Men and a Bargain” Lilian eat,” and this strength, we infer, is a result of the Smith has succinctly captured the psychosocial existentialist struggles of an ex-slave that set the dynamics of exclusion at work in the protocols sharecroppers apart. of racial loyalty. Smith describes the strange If this earns Clem the respect of his comrade, symbolic transactions at play in a severely the landowner is hardly amused and only waits stratified South. The bargain invokes nothing for a chance to get rid of the insurgent black short of a Southern white conspiracy against the worker. When the time has finally come for Arch ex-slaves – a move that would prevent them from to take action – Clem refuses to step down – becoming rivals for the poor whites. “There’s two the irate proprietor organizes a lynch mob. big jobs down here that need doing,” the rich man Lonnie, too, faces danger, for he is supposed explains, “somebody’s got to tend to the living to help the landowner track down Clem. At the and somebody’s got to tend to the nigger” (Smith moment of decision, the white sharecropper is 176). In his esteem, Mr. Poor White is “too no- trapped in a deadlock: blocked both mentally count to learn […] things about jobs and credits, and physically, words completely fail him and we prices, hours, wages, votes, and so on,” but what find him incapable of even making the slightest “any white man can” surely understand is “how move. Clem urges him to send the angry mob on to handle the black man.” Or, more explicitly: a wrong path and his friendship is now tested in “You boss the nigger, and I’ll boss the money.” front of their class antagonist. Slowly, but surely, More than simply presenting economic gain – Lonnie regains mobility (not agency) only to get jobs guarantee through exclusion – the bargain caught up in the surge of the lynchers. Because includes a strong sense of supremacy, as it he has failed to do what is ethically right (and allows even the lowest whites to boss around politically progressive), he becomes one with his black neighbors. This, then, is the dividing the white mass again, simultaneously securing line between the good and the bad white poor; the hierarchic status quo: white dominating Lonnie’s conversion comes close to a rebooting. black and white landowner dominating those His literally loses any sign of selfhood before 65 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

blending in with the white horde. included these stereotypical portraits of abject Surprising to some, Caldwell was much more poverty more directly in his fiction. His father, who careful creating black than white characters. in 1929 contributed to the magazine Eugenics, While considering himself the champion of the might have influenced him. Writing about a poor and exhibiting an interest in class issues dysfunctional family “The Bunglers,” Ira Caldwell far greater than that of his Southern peers, the “reluctantly suggested selective sterilization as portrayal of white poverty is much more ambivalent a means to slow the proliferation of desperate and presents both, the good and the bad poor; lives” (Cook 70). Running from 1880 to 1920, realist representations of sharecroppers and Eugenics Family Studies tried “to validate farmhands find a counter-current in a rivaling that large numbers of rural poor whites were strand of panning depictions. At least there are ‘genetically defective’ (Wray and Newitz 2). This no black characters that feature the depravity of troublesome pseudo-scientific background had some of the figures occupying the pages of his a strong impact on the othering of an “odd tribe” popular novels. These are a set of poor whites (Hartigan 4) so completely beyond the realms of lacking decency and integrity, and who openly decency that the gap between “us” and “them” embrace the gift of white supremacy involved could not be bridged anymore. The distinction is in Smith’s bargain. Caldwell’s writing might be not a question of class, even though economic populated by specimen of Southern “white trash,” stratification is very much part of the reality that yet the richest and most memorable inventory of produces this gap; nor is it merely a culture this strange breed has been created by William of poverty that has created a vicious cycle of Faulkner. His 1936 Absalom, Absalom! tracks dependency. Fundamentally, it is presented as a the rise of poor white Thomas Sutpen to gentry. matter of genetics, a matter of blood that forbids It describes the intricate relationship between any reciprocity between decent white folks and Sutpen and Wash Jones, his “redneck retainer” this variant of the bad poor. (Hönnighausen 177), whose self-respect profits from the subjection of black into an inferior Racist Re-Entries: White Trash as Key Trope position. In “Wash,” a short story published two years before the critically acclaimed novel, the Underlying this demarcation was a strange re- psychodynamics of belonging are presented entry of the core racist asymmetry – white vs. quite efficiently. In one elongated flashback, black – on the side of whiteness. Much of the Faulkner invites us into the mind-set of this discriminatory criteria used to set apart blackness character, and we see how the precarious identity – e.g. animal-like features, a lack of inhibition is played out. Wash affirms the racist order of and restraint, the lust, laziness and irrationality slavery, and he needs to do so to maintain his beyond decency – returned to set some whites self-image as part of the white society. As long apart from others, creating a semantic and as the master dominates the blacks – who hardly iconography to be used in different contexts, by find any respect for Wash at all, freely calling him different people, to different ends. The term’s “white trash” – the working hand feels affiliated exclusionary drift first served both black slaves to whiteness. This is not a reciprocal feeling at and white gentry in the colonial era, much in the all, however, as Sutpen does not hold his worker manner depicted by Faulkner: the aristocratic in any higher esteem than his slaves. Instead, slaveholders could render invisible the shared he himself “magnifies racial difference” (Marcolin ancestry with the lower classes and the slaves 60) in order to purge the shame of his own poor could distinguish themselves from a set of past, projecting it on a person at the very bottom people even lower in status than themselves of the social hierarchy. It is a dual exclusion at (Poole 257). Considered more hurtful than work here, then: the familiar white versus black, similar monikers such as redneck or hillbilly, the and a class-based yet racially tinged one within slur seems to “allow little room for valorized self- whiteness. identifications” and invites only the strongest of If Faulkner had a keen eye for the reactions: “contempt, anger, and disgust” (Wray psychodynamics of such exclusions, Caldwell 2), not only for the debasement that is part of forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 66

its baggage, but also for an alleged racism of that they are white by now. No longer merely a those who are considered “white trash.” And signifier for privilege, whiteness (via “white trash”) still, the history of this term has seen a number enabled the “me-too-claims to victim status” of appropriations, culminating in a national “hip (Nelson 6), which dominated the mechanics authenticity” (Wray and Newitz 6) in popular of recognition for quite some time. It became culture. From Roseanne to white rappers to “a term which names what seems unnamable: the recent memoirs and histories (Hochschild; a race (white) which is used to code ‘wealth’ Isenberg; Vance), “white trash” has become a is coupled with an insult (trash) which means, sturdy means of self-fashioning that conveys in this instance, economic waste” (Hartigan much of the logic of multiculturalism. 9). This way of putting it, we might still find in The recent short-lived revival of Roseanne material realities the most decisive element, but can be used as a vivid vignette for this change of in a political arena obsessed with identity claims political imagination. Initially running from 1988 – and, most assuredly, that counts in Trump’s to 1997, the ABC sitcom depicted working-class own brand, not just the New Left’s – the cultural life in an Illinois town. It used conventional realist work of the trope soon blended in with demands storylines – Roseanne Barr and John Goodman of recognition rather than redistribution. play hardworking parents of four kids – to Who is doing the comparison between convey its inclusive universalism. With a humor good and abject poverty? When used as instrumental in creating its humanist appeal, self-identification, the “white trash” semantic Roseanne occasionally used “white trash” as dramatically changes in its functions. In marker, as in an 1993 episode called “White literature, the “White Trash Gothic” school – Trash Christmas” or in an ironic self-identification negative portrayals in much Southern Gothic that fundamentally seeks to deconstruct the fiction to be contrasted with decent white term and similar monikers: “Hey, black people folks – gave way to writers like Dorothy Allison are just like us. They’re every little bit as good who claimed the label for herself. Allison drew as us, and any people who don’t think so is ambivalent pictures of abject poverty and wrote just a bunch of banjo-picking, cousing-dating, about her troublesome family history in much barefoot embarrassments to respectable white of her essays. Used as critical affirmation, the trash like us.” At its heart, it presents its obese slur is appropriated much like the N-word in the and often foul-mouthed characters as decent hands of black rappers. Indeed, it was in rap that people, turning what some consider as “others” the symbolic transactions became most visible. into people like us. This “inclusionary laughter” Eminem used the slur as coinage in exchange (“Hereinlachen”; Gumbrecht 823) is thus for the N-word, i.e. as a token of authenticity. comparable with the Cosby Show’s rendering The logic behind the maneuver is evident: “I, too, black middle-class life familiar to the average have been despised and degraded, I, too, speak viewer. The revival of Roseanne however failed the language of the oppressed.” The essential to continue on this path. Not only has U.S. moment is not so much any of the tracks of the American humor changed with national politics, lyrically gifted performer. It is in the movie 8 but Roseanne Barr herself has incurred the wrath Mile, based in good measure on Eminem’s own of the public for her explicit backing of Trump upbringing, that the slurs become compatible as and for her racist tweets about a former Obama currency in hip hop and the larger culture it seeks official that, in the end, led to the dumping of the to represent. B-Rabbit (Eminem) is consistently sitcom. Thanks to its leading actress, the show labeled “white trash” until he starts using it that had done its best to do away with a slur, has himself. The whole movie is building up to the turned into an epitome of the bad poor again. moment of the final battle, when B-Rabbit fights Once whiteness had lost its status as an his strongest competitor, Papa Doc, a black invisible center and had been relegated onto rapper, whose upper middle-class background a horizontal plane as just one ethnicity among he uses as the final insult. Blackness, at this key others, a whole new game of identity had to moment, comes to signify privilege, while the take its place. Whites, after all cannot not know hurt suffered from humiliating insults is on par. 67 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

The cultural work is done: B-Rabbit is below The Literature of Poverty his opponent class-wise and thus deemed more authentically “streetwise,” so he takes the prize. Recently, poverty has been addressed as The fact that his fictive name recalls the cunning an alternative or supplement to the category of of trickster Br’er Rabbit, whose connotations class in literary criticism. In his seminal American with black folklore is well-known, is as telling as Hungers, Gavin Jones provides a sketch of how naming Papa Doc’s posse “Leaders of the Free a focus on the multiple facets of poverty can World” who – given the economic benefits of bring together the materialist concerns of the their member, now sounds like a paleocapitalist Old Left, cultural studies concerns, and literary think tank. After this cultural transaction, “white sensibilities. The term of his choice to explain the trash” seems almost a safe place to turn to in potential damage “of poverty as a specific state pop culture, as the playful invocation by New of social being” is “socioeconomic suffering” South artist Bubba Sparxxx reveals in self-ironic (Jones 2). While he acknowledges the materiality videos like “Ugly.” It is a fairly peaceful universe of poverty as in a state of lack, Jones is also keen we enter, that includes blacks and whites riding to show how “[t]he materiality of need opens pigs, mudfights, black artists like Missy Elliott up into the nonmaterial areas of psychology, on a tractor with Bubba. Even the occasional emotion, and culture, with poverty moving away Confederate Flag seemed like part of a self- from the absolute and the objective toward musealizing gesture – until it was not. Trump’s the relative, the ideological, and the ethical” idea of America has revealed that pop culture (3). The awareness for these transition points might only be one part of reality, but certainly facilitates readings of texts far less schematic of incapable of transcribing the country’s politics the allegories of theories often encountered in in full. Eminem went viral with a lengthy anti- Marxist and neo-Marxist interpretations. Jones, Trump rap and Sparxxx mourned that much of in other words, helps us trace the implications of the achievements of “Hick Hop” – the interracial need in rich psychosocial registers, taking into co-operation in a shared music culture that account the different phenomena of a life lived. encompasses differences – were profoundly Among them are doubtlessly class relations, the revoked. Indeed, some “fans” asked the New status anxieties these cause, and the respective South rapper why he would not go viral with class habitus of social agents (Bourdieu). a pro-Trump piece, to which he responded in Without falling back into a notion of individuality shock, reminding listeners that his “attempt to cut off from the social, he can correct the find common ground between the poor white problem often found in “class analysis” which people and poor black people he’d grown up “often fails to focus sharply on what poverty about” has been perverted by people who need means as a social category” (Jones 8). Jones him to be “the Donald Trump of white rappers” correctly points out that Marx (and parts of later (Peisner). Today, after the Charlottesville Riots, Marxist criticism) has an ambiguous relation to the “Rebel Flag” might still be a much-contested notions of poverty at best: habitually the poor symbol, but no one in their right mind would say are reduced to a quasi-naturally miserable and it resembles something peaceful or remotely passive “Lumpenproletariat,” cast “in images of musealized. Is it still possible in such a climate residue and waste” (ibid.), or they are kept down to explain “white trash” as an “allegory of identity by force only to return heroically – these are the … deployed to describe the existence of class undeserving poor that will, as a revolutionary antagonisms in the U.S.” (Wray and Newitz 8)? subject, become the privileged agent of history. Needless to say, it is an antagonism that will In both cases, there is a one-dimensionality of not become part of any progressive “chain of (pre-)destination, either the poor are completely equivalence” in the near future. No matter how outside meaning and reciprocity, playing no role we opt to interpret the allegory, it is complicated at all and in fact waste to be disposed in the to return to class as a social structure devoid of dustbin of history, or they are elevated and turn its deeply racial tinge. into the one “thymotic collective” (Sloterdijk 120), capable of channeling its rage in order to change forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 56-72 68

the world. In this way, and maybe surprisingly, Ann Mason’s short stories with their focus on Marxism too, partakes in the troublesome (Post-)Southern blue-collar life. One reason for tradition separating the good poor from the bad these critical misjudgments is minimalism’s break – a semantic and iconography we will return to with naturalism which has long been regarded as below. the closest ally of those in need. Because of “its Jones also takes issue with the multiple forms predominant interest in the underprivileged and of interpellation discussed in cultural studies, the downwardly mobile,” naturalism “necessarily the way subjects are being made through social follows the more enlightened view of the poor – power. Granted that “the composite kind of class as victims of their physical environment – found analysis” has produced exceptionally good within turn of the century social science and studies – he praises Love and Theft, Eric Lott’s Progressive reform” (Jones 5). study of blackface minstrelsy and its function in Yet, if literature’s role is seen less as mimetically the formation of the white working class – Jones reproducing an already existent reality and more elucidates how this breed of scholarship “returns as allowing us to see the world through the us full circle to the forces that have always acted eyes of its manifold aesthetic designs, there to unsettle socioeconomic awareness of the is no necessary ethico-aesthetic link between lower classes” (15). Thus attention is diverted naturalism and poverty narratives. Moreover, again and we tend to talk more about race and written at a decisive moment in American history, gender than actually about class and poverty, when the Republicans began to “talk constantly in all its dimensions. The discussion of “white about class – in a coded way, to be sure” (Frank trash” is a case in point. Yet, a complete focus on 245), Reagan is one of the key figures of what class is also in danger of getting too one sided: Thomas Frank calls “the Great Backlash” that in its emphasis on the economic realities or the set out to undo the achievements of the sixties: narrow focus on emergent class consciousness studies, proletarian literature has sufficiently While earlier forms of conservatism demonstrated this bias. emphasized fiscal sobriety, the backlash mobilizes voters with explosive social Fictions of Poverty: Undoing Naturalism issues – summoning public outrage over everything from busing to un-Christian art Still, if poverty implies socioeconomic suffering, – which it then marries to pro-business economic policies. Cultural anger is and is thus a material reality as much as a marshaled to achieve economic ends. psychological one, literature is a good object for (Frank 5) study. Literature, after all, is language-based art that “reveals how poverty is established, defined, This redirection of anger informs Mason’s and understood in discourse, as a psychological Shiloh and Other Stories (1982), which zoom and cultural problem that depends fundamentally right in into a milieu that is catered to by such on the language used to describe it” (Jones 4). discourses. Yet, instead of providing a full- The focus is on the peculiar reflexive qualities fledged portrait of any of her working-class or of literary texts, its capability to do more than unemployed characters, Mason’s signature repeat an already existent world. Thus, Jones style does the opposite: vignettes rather than correctly insists on the meta-linguistic potential, spot-on characterizations of regional existence, the way a literary text might reference a “real” disconnected glimpses of everyday life shot phenomenon while simultaneously reflecting on through with the decontextualizing powers of both the discourses that shape our conception popular culture. This narrative strategy has led of said reality, as well as on literature’s own some of Mason’s critics to dismiss her (and other means to evoke such phenomena. And this minimalist) writings as “Kmart realism” – a form understanding of an aesthetics (rather than of literature devoid of the promises of traditional sociology or cultural studies) of poverty can help realist or naturalist discourse and their reliance us dissect a bulk of fiction often misunderstood: on metonymic detail. The minimalist willingness the minimalism of the 1980s, especially Bobbie 69 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

to dodge the protocols of verisimilitude and questions follow these aspirations: the first one abandon motivational progression in plot and is, of course, one of oddly making-it, finding characterization is a decision, of course, not someone of idiosyncratic tastes who actually a flaw. What is left unsaid must be considered buys the art of a self-taught novice. “Why not?” to be part of the aesthetic experience, for what we might ask; there is a market for any kind is actualized on the page becomes form only of product in a highly individualized culture in when compared to the virtual background of need of distinction. That it is Peggy, however, possible choices. And her decision to refrain who functions as contact, adds another layer of from, say, describing the formation of a class meaning, expert that she is for de-hierarchized consciousness might well be a reflection of the popular culture. Good at heart, Louise often has Reagan moment. to wait for her to pay the monthly rent; thus, there One of the best stories, “Still Life with is an intersection between material necessity Watermelon,” deals with unemployment and a hobby that is not just a hobby (anymore) if and psychological damages caused by it turns out a profit after all. How are we to read socioeconomic suffering in a society in this intersection? which Southern rootedness has given way to While a first reading could suggest that nationwide late capitalist consumerism. The lack Louise’s aspiration is a good and uplifting one – of identity is thus attributable to both, the actual who does not dream to work without alienation? need of collecting food stamps and the loss of a – Mason’s depictions of Louise’s autodidacticism sense of place. Buried behind the shallow plot are more nuanced. It is not just the sheer act is a story of possible emancipation discernable of painting, of doing something meaningful with enough for the acute reader. Her partner has left her life; the story’s subtext is one of aesthetic Louise, the protagonist, a plight she shares with education. We observe Louise recognizing a her flat mate Peggy. While the latter is killing time number of different things: the materiality of paint reading Harlequin romances with the TV on, thus and canvas, the emergence of form, etc. Once inattentively consuming trivial entertainment, she sets out to apply the colors and strokes, she Louise has taken to painting watermelons. If at begins to grasp the differences of style and, in first we cannot fail but notice a strong distinction doing so, sees her beginning capability to make between activity and passivity instrumental in sovereign distinctions and increasingly self- shaping the twin characterization, we are led affirmed choices. This emancipatory process to observe how her hobby soon turns into an is threefold: initially, it applies to the painting obsession. The initial split between – again – itself, her growing awareness of artistic potential the good poor (disciplined, inward-directed, and stylistic repertoire. Put to test in a more actively pursuing the arts) and the bad (lack pragmatic context, these changes also affect her of restraint, utter consumption, passivity and relationship. When her boyfriend returns, having popular culture) is thereby shattered. Louise now tried to find himself, she is forced to reflect paints as greedily as her friend consumes pop on her role in this relationship – a task she is culture; what is more, her newly-found interest better prepared to face now after having found prevents her from doing what seems to be the a kind of self-realization herself. It is, in short, only plausible solution in her situation: actively an awareness that if there is a mutual future, looking for a job. Mason cleverly juxtaposes brute she will need to have a say in it. Even more, she material need with psychological emancipation knows that this future can be actively shaped, and self-sufficiency and forces her readers to despite the fact that material lack will remain a reflect on whether the close at hand really is the consistent concern. best option. Finally, on a more abstract level, the text Before going to the unemployment office, reflects on itself, on the economics of art. Louise makes a stop at a retailer, buying some This applies both to the stylistic qualities of new paint. She has high hopes of selling her stock minimalism – its omissions, reliance on present of images to a man who – as she is informed tense, and lack of narrative coherence – as to by Peggy – collects watermelon paintings. Two the idea of art, its merits as a form of expression 70 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

negating direct use-functions. In art, we find a of future, which – politically – is a dangerous different kind of economics at work, in which – to ignorance. It might create a void filled by gifted follow minimalism’s credo – less actually is more. storytellers who create the (political) narratives And if the filling of gaps is part of any readerly for them. Her reluctance to fully flesh out context response, these gaps are the vital element of and character and her invitation to readers to fill minimalist prose. Scarcity of means does not in the gaps reveal poverty as imply lack of achievement. More essentially, while art is dismissed as luxury by most, Louise’s intertwined with questions of selfhood, growth is pit against the bare necessities of being, and language, yet always in a the market. Had she simply succumbed to the struggle against a universal, metaphysical economic logic, she would have never gotten an understanding of lack, and toward an idea of amelioration. For all the “Kmart” routines, understanding of need as a specific kind of for the adherence to the uneventful everyday suffering that is at once materially bounded, socially inscribed, and psychologically of blue-collar life, there is a strong subtext of registered. (Jones 4) re-evaluating aesthetic experience against the proto-capitalist logic of necessity. “Still Life with Watermelon” hides its story Endnotes of (self-)emancipation from plain sight and needs the gift of readerly attention to unbury its [1] See Eribon 2013. narrative subtleties. Mason, thus, has stripped down the classical class-affirmative writing, [2] See Frank 2004. taking away much of the usual contextualization, [3] See Michaels‘ The Trouble with Diversity (2006) e.g. information that would embed its tales in larger socioeconomic realities or explicitly instill hope for class formation. By not living up to Works Cited these standards, Mason might either respond to aesthetic challenges (postmodernism) or react Beckert, Sven. The Empire of Cotton: A Global History. to the politics of the day, in which traditional New York: Knopf, 2014. Print. class consciousness was besmirched by Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Reaganomics, with its downsizing and anti- Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge, 2010. unionist agendas but also its re-direction of Print. working-class anger into national pride and Bray, Michael. “The White Working Class Does Not Exist.” family values. What turns her writing (at least Historical Materialism. 20 Sept. 2017. Web. 15 for some of today’s recipients) into such an Sept. 2018. uncomfortable read is the very absence of Caldwell, Erskine. “Kneel to the Rising Sun.” Scribners. an expressive individuality corresponding to Feb. 1935. 71 – 80. Print. any of the available cultural scripts. Louise’s Chibber, Vivek. “Rescuing Class from the Cultural Turn.” painterly expressions notwithstanding, what she Catalyst 1.1 (2017). Web. 15 Sept. 2018. (and other Mason characters) lack is the will Coates, Ta-Nehesi. “The First White President.” The to make themselves readable in the available Atlantic. Oct. 2017. Web. 15 Sept. 2018. semantics of belonging – either class-related or Crouch, Colin. Post-Democracy. Cambridge: Polity, 2004. Print. in a multiculturalist idiom. The idea of whiteness as identity corresponding the multiculturalist Davis, Mike. “The Great God Trump and the White Working Class.” Catalyst 1.1 (2017). Web. 15 Sept. 2018. matrix was not yet available in the Reagan era, even though “Shiloh,” the title story, very subtly Du Bois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America 1860- 1880. New York: Free Press, 1998. Print. points in that direction. Mason’s characters are frequently trapped in the moment-to-moment Eribon, Didier. Returning to Reims. Los Angeles: MIT Press, 2013. Print. of a life of lack. The habitual present tense of the storytelling confirms our initial hunch that Fluck, Winfried. “Die Wissenschaft vom systemischen Effekt; Von der Counter-Culture zu den Race, Class, they neither know their past nor have a sense 71 C. Schinko: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty

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Author’s Biography

Carsten Schinko received his PhD from Tübingen in 2006 (Research Training Group „Pragmatization and Depragmatization of Literature) and his Habilitation from the University of Stuttgart (2016). He has been a temporary/ visiting professor at the University Wuppertal and the HU Berlin. In April 2019 he returned to Tübingen for a three-year stint as Associate Professor/Akademischer Rat. He specializes in African American Literature, Literary Theory, Systems Theory and Popular Culture. forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 73-85 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

Placing Prospero’s Island: (Post)Colonial Practices of Comparing in the Academic Reception of Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Marcus Hartner (Bielefeld University)

Abstract

One of the most important developments in the recent scholarly investigation of (academic) practices of comparing has been the emergence of a profound criticism of comparative methods. Postcolonial scholars have drawn attention to the political and moral dimensions of comparing which frequently hides behind the seemingly neutral nature of comparative research. In the context of this discussion, this article presents a case study that traces the history of academic approaches to Shakespeare’s The Tempest and discusses the function of (geographical) comparisons in the underlying conceptual and ideological matrix of different readings of the play by various schools of literary criticism. The article’s particular focus is on scholarly interpretations that explicitly and/or implicitly engage with the text’s embeddedness in colonial discourse and the corresponding practice of placing Prospero’s fictional island in the Caribbean. In this context, I will show that colonial, postcolonial, and so-called ‘Old World readings’ of the play either locate or refuse to locate the island and its key protagonists literally and/or discursively in the specific geographical and/or historical context of the Americas. By analyzing the historical trajectory of this practice, this entry attempts to illustrate that postcolonial criticism itself looks back on a long history of engaging in ideologically charged practices of comparing. It also discusses potential consequences of these findings for the study of early modern literature.

Keywords: The Tempest, Shakespeare, Postcolonial Practices of Comparing

1. Practices of Comparing age defined by comparative practices.[2] In the light of such assessments and given their Writing about comparative practices social and scientific ubiquity, it is perhaps not frequently begins with the acknowledgment surprising that acts and practices of comparing that comparisons are ubiquitous. And indeed, have themselves recently become objects of philosophers and cognitive scientists have research in the humanities.[3] claimed comparisons to be fundamental to While various aspects of comparative “the way we think” (Fauconnier and Turner; cf. logic, practice, and methodology have been Grave 135-139).[1] They argue that our ability investigated over the past years, perhaps the to compare constitutes a basic aspect of human most important development in the context of cognition, reaching from rudimentary pattern this paper lies in the emergence of an increasing recognition to complex mental operations. But scholarly criticism of (academic) acts of comparing comparing does not only play a key role in as such. In particular, postcolonial critics have the realm of cognition. Since the 18th century, attacked the seeming objectivity and neutrality comparative methods have acquired a central of comparisons.[4] They have highlighted the status in many academic disciplines and political and moral dimension of comparing that permeated an increasingly wide range of social frequently hides behind the seemingly neutral domains – a situation which has led scholars and disinterested method of comparative study. such as Michel Foucault and Niklas Luhmann Comparisons, Radhakrishnan emphasizes, “are (39) to famously characterize modernity as an never neutral: they are inevitably tendentious, 74 M. Hartner: Placing Prospero’s Island

didactic, competitive, and prescriptive” (“Why scholarship have assigned to the play in the Compare?” 454). While the act of comparing, cultural imagination of the Americas, but I will metaphorically speaking, “assume[s] a level first and foremost investigate and discuss playing field”, it turns out on closer inspection that the function of (geographical) comparisons in “the field is never level” (Spivak 609). In other establishing the underlying conceptual and words, comparisons are always conducted from ideological matrix of different approaches to the a particular perspective and driven by particular play. interests. They are, in Spivak’s words, “never a [neutral] question of compare and contrast, but rather a matter of judging and choosing” (609). 2. Colonial and Postcolonial Readings of The Put differently, comparisons not only possess an Tempest epistemological but also a political dimension. While this may be irrelevant for some (academic) Perhaps no other work in the canon of forms of comparison, the situation acquires English literature can look back on an equally specific relevance in (historical) contexts of long-standing controversial debate about its (post)colonialism, in which “the grounds of “association with New World colonization” comparison” have traditionally been teleological (Raman 51) as Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Eurocentric (Cheah 3). (1623).[6] The debate began more than two hundred years ago when Edward Malone The point is that in a world structured in (1808) compared aspects of the text to early dominance, comparisons are initiated 17th century reports of a shipwreck on the in the name of those values, standards, coast of the Bermudas in 1609 and became and criteria that are dominant. Once the convinced that he had discovered one of the comparison is articulated and validated, main sources of the famous text. These reports, the values that underwrote the comparison in Malone’s view, “unquestionably gave rise receive instant axiomatization as universal to Shakespeare’s Tempest, and suggested values. (Radhakrishnan, Theory 74) to him [Shakespeare] the title, as well as some incidents, of that admirable comedy” As a result of the postcolonial criticism of (The Plays 381).[7] In the following decades, comparative methods, (simplistic) comparative Malone’s observations gradually took hold. endeavors between presumedly distinct, They turned him into the first voice in a long monolithic “geographical and cultural areas” and increasingly influential tradition of scholars (Cheah 3) and their cultural products have who argued for the central importance of the generally been called into question. This has New World context of Shakespeare’s play by not only plunged the discipline of comparative basing their assessment methodologically on an literary criticism into a debate about its implicit comparison between the text’s setting/ foundational principles,[5] but it provides the characters and contemporary representations of (literary) historian with a rich ground for critical (the) America(s). investigation. In this context, I suggest that This tradition proved to be so successful that despite its instrumental role in challenging by the end of the 19th century, it had become cultural and regional comparisons, postcolonial “unquestionable” for the prominent Shakespeare criticism itself has a long tradition of engaging in scholar Sidney Lee that Prospero’s island could such practices. My paper presents a historical be compared to and identified “with the newly case study of the academic treatment of discovered Bermudas” (A Life 253). Following Shakespeare’s The Tempest that aims to serve Malone, Lee names a number of sources such as as a contribution both to the diachronic reception Silvester Jourdain’s A Discovery of the Barmudas history of Shakespeare’s work and to the (1610) in support of this claim, and furthermore discussion of postcolonial approaches to early asserts an unequivocal relationship between the modern literature. For this purpose, I am not only character Caliban and “the aboriginal savage[s] interested in the role both pre- and postcolonial of the New World” (253).[9] Although he declares forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 73-85 75

the character to be “no precise presentation of World tend to read contemporary cultural notions any identifiable native American”, he believes of Native American inferiority into Caliban. Caliban to be In addition, these scholars often instinctively identify with Prospero in their interpretations, an imaginary composite portrait, an attempt who accordingly comes to represent culture and to reduce the aboriginal types of whom the civilization. Lee, for example, voices the opinion dramatist and his contemporaries knew that “[e]very explorer shared Prospero’s pity anything to one common denominator. for the aborigines’ inability to make themselves … [I]t is obvious that Shakespeare was intelligible in their crabbed agglutinative dialects eclectic in garnering his evidence …. But and offered them instruction in civilised speech” finally, from his imaginative study of the (Elizabethan and Other Essays 296-297). ‘idea’ of aboriginal life, there emerges a [11] His statement is indicative of a cultural moving sentient figure which, in spite of frame of mind convinced of Western (linguistic) some misrepresentations, presents with convincing realism the psychological import superiority that serves as the implicit, underlying of the American Indian temperament. (Eurocentric) ground of all contemporary (Lee, Elizabethan and Other Essays 295- comparisons featuring the native population of 296)[10] the New World (Cheah 3). On a methodological level, the interpretations of scholars such as For Lee, Caliban is a true representation of Lee, Luce, and Raleigh primarily rely on the the Native American because he corresponds identification of potential early modern sources to Lee’s own notion of a character in a primitive whose relevance is then proclaimed by means stage of evolutionary development, “a creature of associative reasoning. One of the problems stumbling over the first stepping-stones which with this method that is fundamentally based on lead from savagery to civilization” (296). Lee’s a comparison of these sources with the text of racist assessment is typical for much of the writing The Tempest, however, lies in the diverse and in his time (A. Vaughan 140). Yet, apart from rather inconclusive results of such comparisons. its racism, the passage is also typical for ‘New This becomes apparent when we return to World’ readings of the Tempest up to the present some of the historical analyses of the text. day in that the character Caliban takes center Certain snippets of the play such as the name stage in interpretations of the text which are ‘Setebos’, the god worshiped by Caliban (The located primarily in a (post)colonial (conceptual) Tempest 1.2.374, 5.1.361), could in fact be more frame. Accordingly, the introduction to Morton or less convincingly traced. The name appears Luce’s Arden edition of the play not only claims to be literally taken from a Patagonian deity that that “nine-tenths of the subjects touched upon appears in the translation of Antonio Pigafetta’s by Shakespeare in The Tempest are suggested report on Magellan’s circumnavigation of the by the new enterprise of colonisation” but also globe (Lee, A Life 253).[12] A case can also that Caliban clearly constitutes “a dispossessed be made for the influence of Montaigne’s “Of Indian” (qtd. in Vaughan and Vaughan, the Caniballes” (100-107) on a speech by the Introduction 100). Similarly, a few years later character Gonzalo in Act II. Scholars have the scholar Walter Alexander Raleigh declared argued that Gonzalo’s fantasy about what he the play to be a “fantasy of the New World”, would do if he were King on Prospero’s island and the name Caliban to be “almost certainly a can be compared to Montaigne’s (idealized) distortion of Cannibal”; he described the portrait description of Brazilian natives and their culture of this character in general as “a composition (The Tempest 2.1.148-165).[13] wrought from fragments of travellers’ tales” that Other links, however, are less unequivocal. For “shows a wonderfully accurate and sympathetic example: “The references to the gentle climate understanding of uncivilized man” (112-113). of the island” featured in travel reports such as On an ideological level, the examples above Jourdain are, for Sidney Lee, one of the reasons illustrate that early arguments comparing why Prospero’s island can be compared with aspects of Shakespeare’s play with the New the climate of “the newly discovered Bermudas” 76 M. Hartner: Placing Prospero’s Island

(A Life 253). This may certainly be a possible alternative tradition for reading the play emerged comparison, but it is hardly a necessary one, in which critics skeptical of the New World particularly if one bears in mind that the island’s connection refocused on the general context literal location in the play is the Mediterranean of the ‘Old World’. Though both traditions have (between Tunis and Naples) – a region also existed side by side ever since, colonial readings commonly associated with a “gentle climate”. of The Tempest have not only continued to A similar case concerns “the spirits and devils” dominate literary criticism, but, more importantly, that allegedly “infested” the Bermudas according they went through a fundamental transformation to those early accounts; for Lee, they seem to in the second half of the 20th century. clearly provide a link to the characters Arial and The advent of Postcolonialism with its scholarly Caliban (253). Yet, medieval and early modern re-assessments of Western colonial rule travel accounts from all hemispheres abound in significantly altered earlier New World readings references to magical or monstrous creatures. of the play, for example, by fundamentally Again, it remains doubtful whether, for example, reversing the evaluations of Caliban and Silvester Jourdain’s short reference to the Prospero. In 1960, George Lamming declared Bermudas as “a most prodigious and inchanted that he could not help reading the play against place” (8) indeed constitutes conclusive the background of England’s colonial history. evidence for the particular relevance of this text The Tempest, he argued, was “prophetic of a as a source for The Tempest. Better cases may political future which is our present. Moreover, be built for other documents, such as William the circumstances of my life, both as a colonial Strachey’s “A True Reportory of the Wracke and and exiled descendant of Caliban in the 20th Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates”.[14] But even century, is an example of that prophecy” (13). the latter has remained heavily disputed up to the Fernández Retamar makes a similar statement present day (e.g. Stritmatter and Kositsky’s On and also identifies with Caliban in his assertion the Date, Sources and Design of Shakespeare’s that for the people of the Caribbean The Tempest).[15] Historically, the lack of unequivocal evidence [o]ur symbol then is … Caliban. This is for a colonial setting, i.e. the inability to identify a something that we, the mestizo inhabitants critical amount of conclusive similarities between of these same isles were Caliban lived, see Shakespeare’s play and contemporary sources with particular clarity: Prospero invaded about the New World, thus triggered a number the islands, killed our ancestors, enslaved of critical responses in the first half of the 20th Caliban, and taught him his language to make himself understood. What else can century. Though New World readings remained Caliban do but use that same language largely dominant, some scholars began to poke – today he has no other – to curse him, holes in the accounts of Lee and others based to wish that the ‘red plague’ would fall on the inconclusiveness of the comparisons on him? I know no other metaphor more illustrated above. Elmer Edgar Stoll, for expressive of our cultural situation, of our example, protested that “[t]here is not a word in reality. … [W]hat is our history, what is our The Tempest about America or Virginia, colonies culture, if not the history and culture of or colonizing, Indians or tomahawks, maize, Caliban? (24)[16] mocking-birds, or tobacco. Nothing but the Bermudas, once barely mentioned as a faraway The quotes from Lamming and Retamar place, like Tokio or Mandalay” (213). Similarly, stand for a general reversal in the interpretation Frank Kermode stressed in his introduction to of Caliban that is embedded in a new critical the Arden edition of 1954 that there was “nothing reading of the relationship between past [...] fundamental” to the play’s “structure of ideas and present, between history and allegory. which could not have existed had America Retamar’s suggestion that we view Caliban as remained undiscovered, and the Bermuda a kind of symbolic ancestor for the peoples of voyage never taken place” (xxv). In other the Caribbean is based on an understanding words, given the lack of conclusive evidence, an of the island’s colonial past as fundamentally forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 73-85 77

intertwined with the colonizer’s imperial, cultural, Prospero, i.e. the colonizer, suffers from a and literary history: “Symbolic appropriation of ‘Prospero Complex’, a lack of an “awareness of The Tempest to represent an ongoing condition the world of Others, a world in which Others have thus merges with a historical reading of the play to be respected”; this condition is combined with as the original colonial allegory to which the a nervous impatience, and an infantile “urge to postcolonial present can be traced” (Raman dominate …, which social adaptation has failed 2011: 58). to discipline” (108). But even though Retamar and Lamming Mannoni’s ideas were highly influential, but reverse the evaluation of the relationship they were also severely criticized – particularly between Prospero and Caliban in their reading the notion of the dependency complex.[17] Still, of the play, several underlying comparative in the context of this paper, his work provides coordinates remain unchanged. They evidently another instance of the general strategy of also locate Shakespeare’s fictional island in the conceptualizing The Tempest as a colonial Caribbean and identify Caliban as a symbolic text by comparing Caliban to the colonized representative of the “mestizo inhabitants” of this and Prospero to the colonizer. In other words, region, whose colonial cultural history they argue the play’s connection to and relevance for to resemble Caliban’s subjugation by Prospero. (post)colonial discourse is once more coupled Correspondingly, the latter continues to be with the implicit presupposition of its historical compared to the European colonizer. However, embeddedness in the symbolic, geographical, as the academic perspective changes from a and biographical contexts of colonialism. When colonial to a postcolonial ideological frame, the for Zabus “the colonial encounter between conceptual grounds of comparison also change. Prospero and Caliban” comes to provide “the While Lee had identified “Prospero’s pity” for central metaphor” for “transatlantic imperialism” the cultural ‘deficiencies’ of the native as one of (116; cf. Fishburn), the underlying logic of the links between the play and his notion of the this interpretation is also both different and Western explorer (Elizabethan and Other Essays similar to earlier readings by Lee and Malone. 296), Prospero’s behavior is now compared to Instead of tracing potential historical sources that of the colonial invader, murderer, and slaver and comparing their content to Shakespeare’s (Retamar 24). While Retamar and Lamming depiction of the island and its characters, now thus continue to take the historical connection of the text’s colonial status is revealed by the the text to early modern English colonialism for way its character relationships resonate with a granted, the main thrust of their criticism turns postcolonial critique of the colonial encounter. towards a re-conceptualization of the relationship In other words, The Tempest continues to be between colonizer and colonized both in the read as a colonial play, although it is a new set present and the past. From this postcolonial of associative links between text and perceived perspective, colonialism is construed not only (post)colonial context that is considered to be as a political and historical event, but also relevant. No longer primarily interested in hunting in terms of a critical reading of its ideological, for the sources that inspired the playwright, conceptual, and symbolical practices. Pursuing scholars now see the play’s “dominant discursive a related strategy, Octave Mannoni’s seminal con-texts” in “the ensemble of fictional and lived Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of practices” of “English Colonialism” (Barker and Colonialism employs the play’s characters as Hulme 198). From this point of view, Caliban is typological models for what he sees as the no longer seen as a faithful representation of characteristic psychological personality types the barbarous Native American (Lee, A Life). of European colonizers and colonized natives. Instead, he is considered to be “one of the most Drawing on psychoanalysis, Mannoni diagnoses powerful symbols in the European construction two opposing and complimentary psychological of the New World as its Other” (Fishburn 158). conditions for the two groups: While Caliban embodies a dependency complex that Mannoni believes to be characteristic of the colonized, 78 M. Hartner: Placing Prospero’s Island

3. Alternative Readings … and all do go home in the end. (Knapp 221)[20] Over the past decades, postcolonial approaches have exerted a major influence on In addition, it is not only the Italian characters the scholarly reading of The Tempest; many for whom the colonial analogy is problematic. postcolonial critics see it as “a self-evident truth” Even Caliban, who, as we have seen above, that the play “is not only a colonialist text, but has has become a symbol for the colonized, does functioned historically to support and validate not represent an indigenous native. The attempt a colonialist ideology” (Lindley 39).[18] Yet, as to cast the relationship between Prospero with any other successful academic paradigm, and Caliban as prototypical for the colonial such readings have not gone uncontested. relationship between colonizer and native is Critical voices favoring an Old World reading complicated by the characters Ariel and Sycorax have continued to point out weak spots. The (Skura 50). As the son of the dead witch Sycorax main thrust of their argument again tries to draw who had taken possession of the island after attention to the dissonances emerging from a having been exiled from Algiers many years comparison between early modern scenarios of ago, “[t]he enslavement by Prospero repeats colonialism and the plot/setting of the play. his mother’s earlier imprisonment of Ariel, who might be considered the island’s ‘real’ indigenous [I]f the play is about colonialism, Prospero inhabitant” (Lindley 39). From this point of view, is a very odd colonist indeed. He did not Caliban rather constitutes “a first-generation choose to voyage to his island, has no colonialist himself” (39), who would not only like interest in founding an outpost of Milan, to regain control of the island but also to use and no desire to turn the riches of the Prospero’s daughter to people “This isle with island which Caliban has made known Calibans” (The Tempest 1.2.351).[21] to him into tradable commodities …. In The reference to Caliban’s transgressive many respects he seems closer to Duke sexual energy manifests in the scene in which he Senior, reluctant inhabitant of the Forest or is accused of having attempted to rape Miranda, Arden in As You Like It, than to Sir Thomas Gates, and generically his island functions however, it can also be read as supporting rather more like the ‘green worlds’ or Miola’s comparison of the play with the genre earlier Shakespearean comedy, from Two of the pastoral. For Miola, Caliban can clearly Gentlemen of Verona onwards, than it be compared to a pastoral satyr, “a paradoxical does as a colonized territory. (Lindley 39) combination of animality, humanity, and divinity” (146). Satyrs, he explains, “represent brutish Robert Miola also agrees that “the island sexual desire but possess the human gifts of setting of The Tempest constitutes the locus speech and song as well as a divine ancestry amoenus, or ‘pleasant place’ of the pastoral and vitality”. Caliban, in his view, possesses all genre”.[19] Far from being a colonial space, it of these characteristics (146). The character “provides the conventional retreat from civilization cannot only be seen as a pastoral satyr, however. and the courtly world” (144). Moreover, the play He may also be placed in other interpretive seems to lack any interest in England’s colonial contexts. There are, for example, the period’s projects in the West: fascination with monsters and monstrous births (Burnett; del Lucchese and Toppe 488); the Even the action on Prospero’s much older notion of the ‘wild man’, a mythical Mediterranean isle, controlled as it is by figure that can be found in medieval artwork Prospero’s magic, steadfastly resists the and literature (Lindley 43);[22] or the idea that colonial analogy it nevertheless suggests: Caliban “is a more general representation of the ‘shipwrecked’ men on whom Prospero anarchy, or social uprising” (Marshall 379). practices are Italians, overwhelmingly Such interpretations call into question the royalty or nobility; they had been traveling assumption that colonialism constitutes the east; they had been trying to go home; play’s dominant discursive context and support forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 73-85 79

readings that foreground the play’s connection Nevertheless, he belongs to a number of critical to Jacobean concerns closer to home. Tristan voices who make the valid point that dogmatic Marshall, for example, believes that the way postmodern readings run into several textual Shakespeare’s text centers on the island problems. Various passages of the text make and its ruler Prospero points to an underlying it impossible “to sustain a univocal reading of preoccupation with “Britain as a distinct and the play as a colonialist text” unless important insular community” (400).[23] Similarly, David details have been ‘tweaked’ (Lindley 43).[25] Kastan holds the opinion that the play is much It is important to take such critical comments more concerned with European politics than with seriously. Yet, my purpose behind outlining European colonial activities. He points, inter alia, the arguments of scholars skeptical of the to the similarity between Prospero and Rudolf colonialist paradigm is not to denounce or refute II, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire who postcolonial readings of the play. Even though was first stripped of administrative control (1606) Caliban may not represent an indigenous native and later deposed by the Habsburg archdukes of the isle, I believe that his name still seems (1611) for entirely “dedicating himself to scientific to be an anagram of ‘cannibal’; and although he and occult study” (192). It hardly needs to be may not be a morally blameless character, it still mentioned at this point that Kastan’s argument, “makes us flinch” from our position of “historical again, is based on a comparison between one retrospect” when Prospero, the European of the key characters and (a figure from) the foreigner to the isle, “calls Caliban ‘savage’ and play’s contemporary historical context. And ‘slave’” (Alexander 153). again, the function of the comparison changes Neither does the purpose of my investigation fundamentally. This time, it is employed in order lie in proclaiming one set of comparisons to be to serve the general argument that “the critical more accurate or productive than another. What emphasis upon the new world” has obscured “the I have tried to highlight, by tracing the academic play’s more prominent discourses of dynastic reception of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is politics” (189).[24] Instead of a postcolonial the fundamental role comparisons play in all desire to read the play in the context of early of the approaches outlined above. Colonial, colonialism, i.e. to locate it “in our historical postcolonial, and Old World readings of the play moment” (196), Kastan wants to return to the locate or refuse to locate the island and its key play’s historical moment: protagonists literally and/or discursively in the specific geographical and/or historical context If … one’s interpretive desire is to reinsert of the Americas. In all cases, comparisons the play into its own historical moment, … between text and context are not employed in a it seems to me that we should look more “neutral” way but deliberately serve a particular closely at the old world than the new, at interpretation of Shakespeare’s work. In this the wedding of Elizabeth and Frederick function, they turn out to be crucial for establishing rather than of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, the underlying conceptual and ideological matrix at James’s own writings rather than the for the respective reading of the play – a finding writings from Jamestown. This seems interesting in several respects. On the one hand, to me so both because old world history marks the play (context as discourse) more it pays testimony to the ubiquity of comparative insistently than does the new world … and practices in different schools of literary study because the European history allows a in general. In this context, it raises the crucial reader to make sense of more in the text question whether approaches in cultural and (context as frame) that would otherwise literary studies can avoid engaging in comparative seem arbitrary or inexplicable. (196) readings of text and context in literal, symbolical, and metaphorical ways at all. If comparison, as Kastan’s clean-cut separation between Friedman emphasizes, is “an inevitable mode of locating The Tempest in our historical moment human cognition”, then “to refuse comparison” and in the play’s historical moment is conceptually is either an impossible or a misguided academic and methodologically problematic (Raman 53). practice, tantamount “to stick[ing] your head in 80 M. Hartner: Placing Prospero’s Island

the sand” (760). On the other hand, the history of Once more, Caliban serves as a good the academic treatment of Shakespeare’s play example as his portrayal deliberately features reminds us of the problematic nature of specific elements associating him with a wide range of forms of comparison (cf. Radhakrishnan, Why contextual fields including the Caribbean, Africa, Compare). In this context, it also demonstrates and classical (European) mythology. The name that postcolonial critics have substantially “Caliban”, as I have mentioned before, associates participated in comparative practices that the character with the Caribbean. Caliban is an discursively construct Europe and the Americas anagram of ‘cannibal’, a term derived from the as a conceptual binary consisting of distinct, ethnic name Carib or Caribes that belonged to monolithic geographical and cultural areas. In a people of the West Indies who were accused the attempt to squeeze The Tempest into a single of eating human flesh by European explorers interpretive frame, the postcolonial readings and colonizers. The term replaced the older outlined above subscribe to a conceptual term “anthropophagi” in the early modern period separation between Old World and New World and became firmly associated with the native contexts that repeats the structural dichotomy inhabitants of the Caribbean as practitioners of between ‘the West and the rest’ inherent to cannibalism (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 37-38). earlier colonial readings, albeit in a politically The character is, furthermore, associated with the reversed form. New World by being shown to worship Setebos, a Patagonian deity (The Tempest 1.2.374). At the same time, Caliban is the son of the Algerian 4. Beyond Binary Comparisons witch Sycorax, which genealogically makes him of North African descent – a fact that for Barbara In response to the situation outlined above, I Fuchs links the character with the Maghreb, a would like to propose that we refrain from such region firmly associated with the threat of Muslim simplistic conceptual and comparative binaries in piracy and the notion of captivity and slavery at the postcolonial study of early modern literature. the time. The origin of Sycorax and the forced In order to resist politics of othering, comparative marriage of Claribel to the King of Tunis, which practices require an increased methodological are both part of the back story, place the play and epistemological reflexivity that engages in the context of the general concern about the “with the contradictions inherent in comparison, power of the Ottoman Empire. For Fuchs, “any [and] … that creatively open[s] up dialogue and island imagined in the Mediterranean at the time new frameworks for reading and acting in the of the play, then, would be understood to exist in world” (Friedman 760). Particularly with regard a hotly contested space, permanently threatened to the study of the early modern period, any strict by the Ottoman Empire” (57-58). conceptual separation between Old World and In addition to Caliban’s North African New World, between the Mediterranean, the genealogy, Sycorax reminds the reader/ Caribbean, and the British Isles, is misleading spectator of the two witches Circe and Medea and counterproductive. Instead of playing from classical antiquity (cf. Warner); Caliban different contextual frames off against each can be linked to the aforementioned mythical other, it is necessary to pay attention to the traditions of the satyr, the ‘wild man’, and the ways in which they intersect and combine into monstrous races in general. This composite something that is greater than the sum of its parts. nature is reflected in what Warner has called Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in this respect, is the “contradictory zoology” of the character: his a wonderful example for the creative blending of description by other characters in the play does elements from seemingly distinct contexts. The not add up to a coherent image, but is made up of playwright weaves the fabric of his text out of “shuffling, overlapping pictures [that] have made multiple sources and demonstrates his ability Caliban notoriously difficult to cast and dress” to interconnect and merge cultural models of (98-99). On the one hand, Caliban and Sycorax various kinds in a productive way. are thus emblematic of the multiple locations of the island. On the other hand, they illustrate forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 73-85 81

that ideas and images could migrate in multiple the play” which are emphasized by different directions in the early modern period. European schools of critics, Loomba suggests, “remind us explorers, travelers, and colonists not only … of the limitations of compartmentalizing the took traditional symbols and images of liminal waters, of thinking about the Atlantic without the figures (e.g. satyrs, monsters, and amazons) Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean without westward to impose them on the New World the Indian Ocean” (28). As we have only begun to (cf. Wittkower), but the process also moved in explore the manifold connections between these reverse. When Shakespeare takes the name of spaces, it is an important task for Early Modern the Patagonian deity Setebos to further exoticize Studies to further pursue lines of investigation the North African witch and her offspring, this that focus on their intersection. small detail, in my opinion, points to a much larger phenomenon: the general interconnection of a However, the academic reception history wide range of discursive contexts concerning the of The Tempest not only serves as a powerful encounter with other cultures and civilizations. reminder of the limitations of compartmentalizing By embedding allusions to Cannibals, the “still- the early modern world but, on a different level, vexed Bermudas” (The Tempest 1.2.229), and it also illustrates the tempting nature of this Patagonian deities, into a plot that is concerned practice. As my paper has attempted to show, with questions of dynastic exile, rule, and conceptually dividing the early modern world into succession, the play symbolically reminds us clearly demarcated geographical and cultural that “the colonial activity of seventeenth century blocks allows both (post)colonial scholars and Europe” cannot be seen independently of “the their critics to sustain coherent readings of politics of the Great European powers” (Kastan the play and its protagonists. Thus, despite its 194).[26] For Jerry Brotton, this means that instrumental role in challenging cultural and regional comparisons, postcolonial criticism [t]o interrogate the specificities of The itself looks back at a long history of engaging in Tempest’s complex negotiation of its simplistic and ideologically charged practices of Mediterranean contexts does not simply comparing. What we may learn from this history call for a rejection of its New World readings is that in order to overcome the monolithic in favour of its Old World resonances. readings that tend to emerge from such practices, … Instead I would argue that the play that in order to “move past centrisms and is precisely situated at the geopolitical instrumentalisms of all kinds” (Friedman 760), bifurcation between the Old World and postcolonial approaches in early modern literary the New, at the point at which the English realized both the compromised and studies perhaps need to resist the temptation of subordinated position within which they squeezing texts into a single interpretive frame. found themselves in the Mediterranean, The various schools of criticism of The Tempest and the possibility of pursuing a significantly outlined above rather indicate that Shakespeare different commercial and maritime initiative deliberately refrains from placing Prospero’s in the Americas. (“Contesting Colonialism” island in a clearly specified geopolitical space. 37) Instead, I believe that the play’s setting and characters are fundamentally composite and The composite nature of Caliban that includes inherently contradictory in nature. In this respect, the blending of New World references and a critical reading of the polyphonous comparisons a North African origin, for example, serves invited by The Tempest effectively undercuts the as a reminder that England’s early colonial ideologically charged interpretations of the play endeavors are contemporaneous to England’s outlined above. Such a reading, in my opinion, experiences of North African piracy and also moves into the direction of Natalie Melas’ Ottoman power in the Mediterranean; such general vision of “a practice of comparison” in seemingly different contexts can be interlinked literary studies “that doesn’t begin from the politically and symbolically in complex ways. foundation of empirical unities and in which [27] “[T]he different geographies animated by comparison is not put to work in the service of a 82 M. Hartner: Placing Prospero’s Island

distinct project” (“Merely Comparative” 657). more detailed overviews of the play’s entire spectrum of potential sources and the history of its scholarly debate, see Gurr 2014, Alden Vaughan 1988, Lindley 2002 (25-33), Endnotes and Vaughan and Vaughan (Introduction 36-62).

[10] Sidney Lee “The American Indian in Elizabethan [1] This article has been written within the framework of England” was originally published in Scribner’s Magazine the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1288 “Practices of in September 1907. I have used the reprint of the article Comparing. Changing and Ordering the World”, Bielefeld in Sidney Lee, Elizabethan and Other Essays edited by University, Germany, funded by the German Research Frederick Boas 1968 ([1929]: 263-301). Foundation (DFG). [11] Until the 1960s/1970s, a different tradition of reading [2] See, also, Epple and Erhart 14. the characters in the play dominated Latin American scholarship. José Rodó, Ariel (1900) associated Caliban [3] See, for example, the edited volumes by Felski and with the “colossus of the North”, i.e. the US, while Friedman, and by Epple and Erhart, as well as the work of simultaneously “urging the Latin American nations to seek the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1288 “Practices of inspiration in the more ethereal Ariel” (Fishburn 158); cf. Comparing. Changing and Ordering the World” (Bielefeld Vaughan and Vaughan (Introduction 98-99 and 102-103)). University). [12] The first English translation of Pigafetta’s short account [4] See, for example, Melas 2007, Stoler 2001, Harootunian appeared in Richard Eden’s anthology The Decades of the 2005, and Radhakrishnan 2009. Newe Worlde or West India (1555). It describes, inter alia, [5] See, for example, Rey Chow “The Old/New Question an encounter in South America with a people “the capitayne of Comparison in Literary Studies: A Post-European named Patagoni” as well as one of their deities, the “greate Perspective. English Literary History 71.2 (2004), Natalie devyl they caule Setebos” (220). Melas, All the Difference, and Susan Stanford Friedman [13] See, for example, Vaughan and Vaughan (Introduction “Why Not Compare?” PMLA 126.3 (2011). 44-45 and 61) and Marshall 1998 (382). [6] Raman’s account of this debate (51-67) provides one [14] Sir Thomas Gates was the Governor of the English of the starting points for my own discussion in this paper. Colony of Virginia in 1610. On his way to the colony his For an introduction to the topic, see also Lindley (30-45), ship, the Sea Venture, was heavily damaged during a and Vaughan and Vaughan, Introduction (39-47 and 98- hurricane and left Gates and his crew marooned on the 108). For a general introduction to the critical contexts of island of Bermuda where they spent ten months before The Tempest, see, furthermore, the contributions in Hulme managing to build two small boats that would take them and Sherman 2000, as well as Vaughan and Vaughan to Jamestown. William Strachey, who was a passenger on 2014, which includes the helpful survey by Charry, “Recent board the Sea Venture, wrote a letter containing a narrative Perspectives on The Tempest” (61-92). of those events. This report was not published until 1625, [7] Malone presents his observations initially in An Account although a manuscript version that Shakespeare may have of the Incidents, from Which the Title and Part of the Story of had access to had previously been circulated in England. Shakespeare’s Tempest Were Derived (1808). The quote is As one of the play’s allegedly main sources, the letter from the expanded version of the argument that appeared is partially reprinted in the recent Arden edition of The in Malone, The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare Tempest by Vaughan and Vaughan (287-302). (1821). [15] Cf. Barry Clarke 2011, who believes it to be improbable [8] The notion that the Bermudas are the play’s location was that Shakespeare had access to Strachey’s report before further popularized in Kipling, How Shakespeare Came to the first performance ofThe Tempest. See also Elmer Stoll’s Write the ‘Tempest’ in the same year. argument, that “there are some few isolated similarities in subject-matter [between The Tempest and Strachey’s [9] Other potential sources that have been suggested as report], such as a storm, a shipwreck, St. Elmo’s fire, a sources for The Tempest include a promotional pamphlet Master, a Boatswain, a harbour, an island, the north wind; by the Council of the Virginia Company, A True Declaration but who could tell a sea story without them, even Herodotus of the State of the Colonie in Virginia (1610) and the or Heliodorus?” (Stoll 213). letter from the same year by William Strachey “A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas [16] See, in this context, the entry on Caliban in the Gates.” Although the first publication of the letter was in Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature: “Caliban, in 1625, scholars have assumed that it was available to post-colonial literary criticism, is considered one of the most Shakespeare in manuscript form (Lindley 31). Another powerful symbols in the European construction of the New text frequently cited as a potential source is Michel World as its Other. Traditionally, Caliban has been seen de Montaigne’s “Of the Caniballes” (100-1 07) in The as the negative foil to Prospero’s culture, Miranda’s virtue, Essayes, or Morall, Politike and Millitarie (1603). Scholars Ariel’s spirituality in a variety of dyadic interpretations; more have argued that Shakespeare might have borrowed from recent critical attention has focused on The Tempest as ‘the Montaigne’s (idealized) description of Brazilian natives startling encounter between a lettered and an unlettered for his portrayal of Caliban and, in particular, for a speech culture’” (Fishburn 158). by Gonzalo in act II (see ensuing discussion as well as [17] Frantz Fanon, for example, famously devotes the Vaughan and Vaughan (Introduction 44-45 and 61)). For forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 73-85 83

fourth chapter of his Black Skin, White Masks (83-108) to a Routledge, 2013. Print. thorough criticism of Mannoni. Barber, Cesar L. Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy: A Study [18] See, for example, Fiedler 1973, who enthusiastically of Dramatic Form and Its Relation to Social Custom. claims that “the whole history of imperialist America has Princeton: Princeton UP, 1959. Print. been prophetically revealed to us in brief parable: from the Barker, Francis, and Peter Hulme. “Nymphs and Reapers initial act of expropriation through the Indian wars to the Heavily Vanish: The Discursive Con-Texts of The setting up of reservations and from the beginnings of black Tempest.” Alternative Shakespeares. Ed. John slavery to the first revolts and evasions” (238). Drakakis. London: Methuen, 1985. 191-205. Print. [19] Lindley also points to Barber 1959 and Frye 1965 for Brotton, Jerry. This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and readings that connect the play to the genre of the ‘pastoral the Islamic World. London: Penguin, 2016. Print. comedy’ (39, FN 1). ---. “‘This Tunis, Sir, Was Carthage’: Contesting Colonialism [20] See Kastan 1999 (188-189) for a similar assessment. in The Tempest.” Post-Colonial Shakespeares. Ed. Ania Loomba and Martin Orkin. London: Routledge, [21] Cf. Skura: “She [Sycorax] is a reminder that Caliban is 1998. 23-42. Print. only half-native, that his claim to the island is less like the Burnett, Mark T. “‘Strange and Woonderfull Syghts’: The claim of the Native American than the claim of the second- Tempest and the Discourses of Monstrosity.” generation Spaniard in the New World.” (50) Shakespeare Survey 50 (1997): 187-199. Print. [22] On the figure of the Wild Man, see chapters seven and Callaghan, Dympna. Shakespeare Without Women: eight in Dorothy Yamamoto, The Boundaries of the Human Representing Gender and Race on the Renaissance in Medieval English Literature (144-196). Stage. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. [23] Critics have also connected Prospero’s island with Charry, Brinda. “Recent Perspectives on The Tempest.” The Africa and Ireland, which, according to Callaghan “might be Tempest: A Critical Reader. Ed. Alden T. Vaughan understood as the sublimated context for colonial relations and Virginia M. Vaughan. London: Bloomsbury, in The Tempest” (137). In this context, see also Fuchs 1997 2014. 61-92. Print. (45-62); Brotton 1998 (23-42), and Vaughan and Vaughan Cheah, Pheng. “Grounds of Comparison.” Diacritics 29.4 (Introduction 47-54). (1999): 523-545. Print. [24] On the political thought in Shakespeare’s play, see Chow, Rey. “The Old/New Question of Comparison in also Jeffrey Rufo “New Directions: ‘He needs will be Literary Studies: A Post-European Perspective. Absolute Milan’: The Political Thought of The Tempest.” English Literary History 71.2 (2004): 289-311. Print. The Tempest: A Critical Reader edited by Alden and Virginia Vaughan (London: Bloomsbury, 2014). Clarke, Barry R. “The Virginia Company and The Tempest.” Journal of Drama Studies 5 (2011): 13-27. Print. [25] The most important detail for Lindley is Caliban’s Colley, Linda. Captives: Britain, Empire and the World attempted rape of Miranda, which poses a problem to 1600-1850. London: Pimlico, 2003. Print. unconditionally ‘positive’ readings of Caliban as the victim of colonization. For a discussion, see Lindley (42-43) Council of Virginia. A True Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia, With a confutation of such [26] Kastan argues that England’s colonial activities are scandalous reports as have tended to the disgrace deeply imbedded in its political involvement in Europe: of so worthy an enterprise. London: Printed for “If our attention to early modern colonialism is to be more William Barret, 1610. Print. than reflexive it must see its practices or what they were, as various and admittedly overdetermined activities within Eden, Richard. The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West the conflicts of seventeenth century absolutism rather than India. London: Guilhelmi Powell, 1555. Print. as examples of a unified and transhistorical imperial desire Epple, Angelika, and Walter Erhart, eds. Die Welt and administration” (194). beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens. Frankfurt: Campus, 2015. Print. [27] On England’s early modern encounter with Islam and the Muslim corsairs of North Africa, see MacLean ---. “Die Welt beobachten – Praktiken des Vergleichens.” and Matar 2011, Brotton 2016, and Colley 2003 (23- Die Welt beobachten: Praktiken des Vergleichens. 134). Ed. Angelika Epple and Walter Erhart. Frankfurt: Campus, 2015. 7-31. Print. Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. London: Pluto Press, 2002 [1952]. Print. Works Cited Fauconnier, Gilles, and Mark Turner. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Alexander, Michael. Reading Shakespeare. Basingstoke: Complexities. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Print. 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Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas: a lusitana e a hispana. Análise da transformação da interpretação do Autor com relação a influência espanhola e portuguesa em América

Yago Quiñones Triana (Universidade de Brasília)

Resumo

O presente artigo analisa uma relevante mudança de enfoque no pensamento de Gilberto Freyre sobre a América Latina, especificamente, o abandono da sua proposta de exaltar a particularidade do aporte português e passar a considerar a homogeneidade dos povos nascidos da colonização ibérica. Explora-se como a reflexão sobre as particularidades da América Latina se dão no contexto de interesses políticos e econômicos e o ambiente acadêmico, por meio de processos de comparação e como o Freyre consegue destacar-se destas grandes influências e propor uma intepretação que responde mais à seu próprio percurso biográfico.

Palavras-chave: Gilberto Freyre, América latina e Brasil, América hispana, ibero-américa, Espanha e Portugal

1. Introdução série de atos de comparação, neles a definição do que se é como país e cultura depende O presente texto é uma proposta de análise amplamente dos termos com os quais se traçam particular sobre a obra de Gilberto Freyre. paralelos. Desta forma, é possível entrever O objetivo é traçar sumariamente a guia de o conjunto de interesses atuantes na época e um percurso na obra do Freyre procurando que intervinham na formação dos conceitos identificar as fases de uma clara transformação para interpretar o subcontinente e o Brasil nele. no seu pensamento que tem sido até agora Neste quadro, o Freyre parece flertar com os pouco estudada. Não tendo como aceder à fonte vários atores em jogo, mas acaba por seguir um primaria de informação, que é o próprio Autor, percurso mais pessoal. Deste fato surgem vários a sua obra publicada será o material principal interrogantes sobre os quais podemos lançar a ser pesquisado tendo como referência uma algumas hipóteses na base da leitura da sua simples constatação: Freyre passa de defender obra. O que acontece ao longo da sua carreira a singularidade única do português e sua que justifique tal mudança? A transformação em forma de colonização na América a propor, relação a sua posição sobre as semelhanças anos depois, a ideia de uma raiz hispana dos povos ibéricos é uma revisão do seu próprio única nos povos surgidos das colônias ibéricas trabalho? Isto é, ele estaria “errado” nas suas no continente. Isto é, ele passa de tentar observações dos anos juvenis? Haveria talvez compreender as particularidades do Brasil uma transformação no contexto das relações efetuando uma comparação exclusiva com a de poder regionais que influenciaram seu cultura portuguesa a ampliar este termo até pensamento? E, o que é mais interessante incluir também aquela espanhola, enfatizando e difícil de corroborar, o que provocou tal então semelhanças entre estas duas últimas. mudança? São perguntas que talvez não Aliás, este empenho específico dentro da sua encontrarão resposta definitiva aqui, mas que obra é passível de ser interpretado como uma permitem propor uma revisão da sua obra 87 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

com um enfoque particular e, especialmente, oposição ao Norte desenvolvido e que parece abordando o seu pensamento ao longo do mais protagonista no âmbito do Ocidente que tempo e considerando o conjunto amplo da do Novo Mundo como um todo. Com algumas sua produção, sem ficar necessariamente diferenças, especialmente no período da circunscritos ao título Casa Grande & Senzala, Independência e no processo de construção do ou à “trilogia”,[1] como muitas vezes acontece ideário nacional a partir da relação com a madre com as críticas e análises sobre a obra deste pátria, em geral na América Latina é possível autor. identificar uma certa unidade, não homogênea e por vezes fratricida, mas uma só. Isto sobre a base de uma determinada empatia nos países 2. América Latina e Casa Grande & Senzala da América Latina em quanto ao processo de Conquista e Colonização, especialmente em Nascido com a clara intenção de marcar contraposição à América do Norte, onde as uma distinção entre duas “américas” - uma, no caraterísticas dos europeus que lá chegaram, norte, anglo-saxã e uma, ao sul, latina - o termo em termos de religião, língua e cultura, América Latina surge de uma visão eurocêntrica teriam produzido sociedades essencialmente do mundo segundo a qual neste continente, diferentes àquelas do Sul. como na Europa, haveria uma diferenciação Contudo, esta conclusão, que parece hoje entre culturas católicas e protestantes, relativamente aceitável, nasce da interação mediterrâneas e continentais, desenvolvidas de uma série de enfoques ligados com e subdesenvolvidas; isto é, uma distinção de interesses políticos e econômicos. Incialmente fundo, de caráter estrutural que divide em dois o Brasil foi excluído do conjunto dos países um território continental que geograficamente é americanos e latinos pelos próprios realizadores considerado como uma unidade. América Latina, e teóricos da Independência das antigas termo considerado de origem francês, ainda que colônias espanholas (Bethell, “Brazil and ‘Latin com vários “pais” reconhecidos (Bethell, O Brasil), America’”) e posteriormente, no início do século surge para indicar uma determinada identidade seguinte, o próprio Brasil parecia olhar mais cultural relacionada com um território, mas para o Atlântico, ou, incluso, aderir a um pan- denuncia seu caráter funcional aos interesses americanismo liderado pelos Estados Unidos da potência europeia na América no século XIX do que se filiar ao resto dos países que hoje (Bethell, “Brasil y América Latina”). De fato, o consideramos como latinos (Bethell, “O Brasil”). termo desafia qualquer taxonomia intuitiva do Freyre vai na contramão dos intelectuais continente americano, já que inclui territórios brasileiros e se coloca do lado de José Martí e ao sul do Rio Bravo que linguisticamente não Rodó para denunciar o pan-americanismo como seriam latinos, especialmente no Caribe, e uma forma de expansão cultural e econômica exclui outros no Norte, pensemos no Canada dos Estados Unidos. O arielismo, inspirado francófono, que “tecnicamente” teriam que na figura de Ariel de José Enrique Rodó, era entrar no subcontinente “latino”. Na realidade, um movimento que confrontava o europeísmo a distinção pretendia justificar a expansão com o americanismo, à procura de um modelo francesa no México, forçando uma posição autóctone que rejeitasse aquele europeu e supostamente civilizatória importada da Europa norte-americano. Como parte do arielismo, (Bethell, “Brasil y América Latina”). pode-se entender a exaltação do latino (luso Porém, especialmente nos países hispano e hispano) a partir da distinção com o anglo- falantes, a categorização consolidou-se ao longo saxão (Zang). Especificamente, Freyre propõe do tempo (incluindo o Brasil recentemente e por um interamericanismo que leve em conta as vezes de forma parcial), como parte de uma semelhanças, mas também as especificidades entidade territorial e cultural que, estritamente das ilhas sociológicas que compõem as Américas falando, teria que responder ao nominativo de (Valente). Trata-se de um projeto explícito de Ibero-américa. Basicamente trata-se de uma negação ou contraposição dos modelos outros, unidade conceitual politicamente construída em vistos como impostos externamente. Porém, forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 86-100 88

nos anos 1960’s ele se dissocia também dos interesses e as forças de poder em jogo. intelectuais que procuravam a excepcionalidade Na obra fundadora do que se conhece do caso brasileiro, as raízes do Brasil (Valente). geralmente como a “trilogia”, Casa Grande Em todas estas variações de interpretação & Senzala de 1933, há um intento claro por temos a intervenção de um projeto político delimitar certas particularidades de ordem que pretende construir formas e valores de histórico, cultural e econômico do português identificação a partir da comparação. Isto é, que o distinguiriam dos outros europeus trata-se de um ato de comparação que serve colonizadores, e que acabariam por se para definir os termos em que se constrói a expressar em algumas inclinações e afinidades própria imagem: somos (ou queremos ser) constatadas no processo de instauração da mais parecidos com a França, com o Portugal, colônia de ultramar portuguesa em América. Já com os Estados Unidos ou com a Inglaterra? que Casa Grande segue um roteiro metodológico Assim, na definição de quem é o outro com próprio e particular, nem sempre é fácil entrever que convivemos e as semelhanças reais ou de forma imediata os objetivos e o alcance das idealizadas que estabelecemos, é possível intuições e aportes que esta obra traz. Filtrado gerar um projeto a futuro com consequências fortemente por uma densa matriz biográfica e de vários tipos. Por exemplo, a pretendida atravessado por um substrato bibliográfico de comparação do imperialismo francês com as alta erudição, não é tarefa simples estabelecer raízes neolatinas das Américas permitia justificar um avant-propos explícito deste estudo, e pretensões expansionistas; os precursores das mal faríamos nós hoje, em tentar adjudicar repúblicas americanas preferiam se comparar arbitrariamente ao Autor alguns objetivos que ele com as democracias liberais para se distinguir mesmo não explicitou, mais ainda conhecendo do Brasil imperial; este, por sua vez, colocava o “histórico” de críticas por ele recebidas, como ponto de comparação o outro gigante muitas delas infundadas e contraditórias – americano ou inclusive a França antes que as desde pornográfico até reacionário – surgidas instáveis “irmãs” americanas. Neste sentido, especialmente a partir desta obra. Porém, no empenho de se posicionar no contexto nesta publicação parece plausível identificar regional, ou inclusive global, entravam em jogo uma intenção de revisão histórica da figura formas de comparação que não estavam livres do português conquistador de forma coerente dos condicionamentos dos planos políticos e com o tom geral presente no texto que, junto econômicos dos países e das prioridades do com outros aportes importantes, se centra na clima intelectual dos acadêmicos. desmitificação do caráter “danado” do Brasil Ainda assim, por sua parte, na obra de Gilberto por causa dos seus componentes culturais Freyre é fácil a identificação dum projeto teórico essenciais. Este seu primeiro livro se apresenta, presente nas suas primeiras obras e que mira a especialmente para a época, como uma peça demarcar uma diferenciação clara e significativa iconoclasta em relação a uma imagem difundida dentro dos componentes latinos do Continente: de desprezo aos elementos fundantes da nação isto é, a raiz portuguesa sendo muito diferente brasileira, vistos como responsáveis pelo atraso da espanhola. Projeto que, aproximativamente crónico a partir de uma leitura progressista que no final da década dos anos 1950’s, parece pretendia identificar no DNA social do país os abandonado em função do interesse pela empecilhos ao desenvolvimento. América Hispana, que não é claramente a Neste sentido, vemos como sua obra vai espanhola, mas aquela relativa a Hispânia, se colocar em grande parte na contramão toponímia clássica para a península ibérica. do pensamento político oficial predominante Por que há uma mudança neste sentido? Trata- no país e que pretendia posicionar o Brasil se de uma mudança teórica ou é uma questão como potência regional, se comparando com terminológica? E, mais ainda, quais as visões os Estados Unidos em termos de dimensões, predominantes sobre o tema naquele momento recursos naturais e potencial econômico e a que lógicas elas respondiam? Isto é, qual (Bethell, “O Brasil”). Muito longe então do resto a relação do pensamento do Freyre com os dos países da América Espanhola, mas também 89 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

da antiga metrópole, considerada como símbolo concomitantes que teriam dado num resultado de atraso por causa da mentalidade arcaica e surpreendente e eficaz, diferentemente da supersticiosa. Nesses anos, a política exterior versão oficial que predominava na época em brasileira demonstra em diversas ocasiões a que foi publicado o livro. A tese de fundo que afinidade com a potência do Norte e sua adesão devia justificar uma proposta assim era o caráter a ideia de posicionar o país em interação com os particular do português, aqueles rasgos que grandes do outro lado do Atlântico (Bethell, “O fariam com que precisamente no Brasil ele Brasil”). O que respondia a uma lógica política encontrasse o terreno físico e social ideal para conjuntural que definia os interlocutores do país desenvolver as suas inclinações civilizatórias, com relação a afinidades mais almejadas que a diferença de ingleses, franceses e, claro, concretas, como a proximidade cultural de velha espanhóis. Assim, um dos objetivos de fundo data com a França ou a parceria comercial, de Casa Grande era valorizar a componente claramente desigual, com o império Britânico. particular europeia do processo histórico que Onde as componentes que fossem consideradas deu origem ao Brasil. Era demonstrar que arcaicas ou atrasadas eram relegadas num foram determinadas caraterísticas singulares do segundo plano pelo projeto de modernização português as que permitiram que nascesse aqui ideológico dos governos. Pelo contrário, Freyre uma sociedade que poderia perfeitamente ter dedicou-se a reabilitar o trópico, a dissolver fracassado, como de fato aconteceu com outras a visão pessimista enquanto ao trópico, se empresas do Velho Continente na América opondo às correntes modernistas, naturalista tropical. Para Freyre, o português da época e românticas (na literatura) que enfatizavam possuía o caráter ideal para instaurar uma a versão cientificista do ácar ter agressivo do colônia nestas terras, um caráter único que não entorno tropical, e colocando o culturalismo, a se verificaria em outro lugar da Europa. Porém, partir de Boas, e a ecologia no centro do debate é claro que houve outras colônias europeias (Warley Candeas). nos trópicos. Era tão diferente o conquistador Entre os elementos “não ótimos” que o português do espanhol? Para um leitor latino- Freyre resgata, estava, é claro, a componente americano, à luz da ideia de América Latina portuguesa, que na década de trinta do século XX visto acima, talvez esta distinção não seja tão era há muitos anos já uma referência da Europa transparente, mas em Casa Grande parece atrasada e parecia poder confirmar a suspeita ser fundante. Por que com os anos ela tende modernista de o Brasil ter sido “conquistado a perder a sua centralidade? Trata-se de uma pelo país errado” entre as opções disponíveis. revisão do Autor ou é simplesmente uma O Freyre, pelo contrário, leva em frente um mudança de enfoque? projeto diametralmente oposto, contrário até ao projeto oficial de modernizar o país seguindo os 3. Particularidades do modelo português na grandes exemplos de sucesso civilizatório tidos América como pontos altos de comparação e modelos a imitar. O empenho do Freyre é aquele de O objetivo mais claro do Freyre, neste seu combater a “lenda negra”, como ele mesmo a empenho por desmontar o “mito” do colonizador chama (Freyre, “Uma visão”), que estigmatiza português, é demonstrar a adaptação a obra de colonização europeia nos trópicos. particular deste europeu ao contexto tropical, A partir de uma densa revisão bibliográfica especialmente ao Brasil. Uma aclimatação do “impura”, que envolve as mais diversas fontes, português não somente do ponto de vista físico, tenta enfocar de uma maneira diferente os quase biológico, mas também do ponto de condicionamentos físicos e culturais do processo vista atitudinal, cultural, às condições tropicais colonizador, não negando-os e nem fazendo onde outros povos europeus teriam falhado uma apologia, mas enfatizando o seu caráter desastrosamente: “os portugueses triunfaram particular e único na história das américas e que onde outros europeus falharam” (Freyre, Casa teriam desencadeado um processo virtuoso; Grande 73). Esta tese é sustentada na ideia de o quase como uma feliz conjunção de fatores português não ser um europeu “puro”, por assim forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 86-100 90

dizer, e sim um povo que sempre conviveu, não de tempo diferente da que tinham a maioria dos somente com a miscigenação, mas com a África. europeus daquela época. (Freyre, “Em torno” Fato este que teria para ele duas consequências: 265) a adaptação facilitada às condições tropicais e Qual é a base desta unidade que aparece a naturalidade da promiscuidade com outras quase trinta anos depois? Trata-se da mesma raças que seria, na Colônia, um fator decisivo Hispânia, a península que engloba não somente num modelo econômico produtivo carente de dois povos, mas muitos outros mais. A identidade mão de obra, como era o caso do Portugal, do espanhol não esteve nunca, nem ainda hoje, com uma população reduzida, “com escassez amalgamada a partir do projeto monárquico de de capital-homem” (Freyre, Casa Grande). Dita unificação sob o discurso do inimigo comum, e condição não pura se relaciona com uma atitude na península ibérica conviveram várias culturas, que: incluindo tudo o que se considera eventualmente como espanhol, junto com portugueses e muitas explica-a em grande parte o seu passado outras ricas componentes. Incluso é o próprio étnico, ou antes, cultural, de povo Freyre quem o reconhece: “uma persistente indefinido entre a Europa e a África. massa de dóricos morenos, cuja cor a África Nem intransigentemente de uma nem de árabe e mesmo negra, alagando de gente sua outra, mas das duas. A influência africana largos trechos da Península, mais de uma vez fervendo sob a europeia e dando um acre veio avivar de pardo ou de preto” (Freyre, Casa requeime à vida sexual, à alimentação, Grande 67). Trata-se da “Península” e não à religião; o sangue mouro ou negro somente do Portugal, aliás, é difícil não relacionar correndo por uma grande população também com a Espanha a “bicontinentalidade” brancarana quando não predominando em regiões ainda hoje de gente escura. proposta por Gilberto Freyre para o povo (Freyre, Casa Grande 66) luso: em Gibraltar, quase uma terra só com a África, região mediterrânea nas sonoridades É fácil aqui reconhecer uma descrição, no e os sabores. É claro, não parece possível estilo particularmente colorido do Autor, do argumentar que o Autor simplesmente estivesse povo português; o que resulta difícil é não ver errado, mas podemos constatar que seu projeto uma ligação direita com o vizinho espanhol, intelectual nos anos trinta do século passado que compartilhava o mesmo território, a era outro, incluía a configuração teórica de uma Hispânia, e que anos mais tarde fornecerá ao unidade cultural portuguesa que justificasse Freyre a base para falar em uma componente um projeto nacional diferenciado a partir da hispânica ou ibérica em América, inclusive instauração de uma particular formação social fazendo referência ao mesmo período histórico. no Brasil: a família patriarcal. Fato este que é É o caso do lúcido texto do 1963, aparecido demonstrado amplamente e sem alguma dúvida originalmente em inglês, sobre a noção de em Casa Grande. Porém, a “negada” Hispânia tempo hispânico ou ibérico; neste trabalho, voltará anos depois, por via da sua própria analisando as predisposições dos europeus pluma. da Península no momento da Conquista e, de É evidente que seria arriscado propor uma forma coerente com seu constante projeto de homogeneidade monolítica da Hispânia, mais estudar todo processo histórico sem esquecer mítica do que real, já que inclusive no presente fatores aparentemente triviais ou anedóticos, o texto mais acima se a caracterizou como terra Freyre concede aos dois povos uma unidade de várias culturas vizinhas. Aliás, há algumas clara: diferenças fundamentais que Gilberto Freyre Na qualidade de colonizadores europeus aponta lucidamente, ávido como ele estava nos em áreas não europeias, os hispanos agiram, anos 1930’s por enfatizar os traços opostos dos desde seus primeiros contatos com povos não reinos ibéricos. Mas trata-se de diferenças que, europeus – gente situada na África, na Ásia e embora tenham a mesma repercussão que os na América –, com um sentido ou uma noção caráteres atitudinais ou de disposição tão caros ao Autor, são mais de ordem política. Isto é, fazem 91 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

mais referência às formas estatais de administrar discutindo sobre a carência de recursos e as as riquezas das novas terras. Especificamente, dificuldades do terreno ele propõe que esta é impossível negar a preponderância da Igreja configuração seria exclusiva do Brasil:á “d e do Estado na colonização espanhola que o à obra de colonização dos portugueses um Autor nota claramente, fato este que em parte caráter de obra criadora, original, a que não inibiu a constituição de uma sociedade de pode aspirar nem a dos ingleses na América base familiar como a que, na visão do Autor, do Norte nem a dos espanhóis na Argentina” criou o português. Porém, as infindas penúrias (Freyre, Casa Grande 77). Para sustentar esta do homem português em terras tropicais que última afirmação cita uma comparação entre o Freyre anota e que parecem ausentes nos a facilidade geográfica da colonização dos europeus nórdicos, nos louros incapazes de Estados Unidos e da Argentina; é evidente se adaptar aos trópicos, traçam uma clara aqui que, na sua profícua erudição, o Freyre distinção a partir da comparação entre “tipos” escolheu uma fonte pouco adequada. Não é de europeus dentro dos quais, chamemo-los um segredo que a Argentina não foi nunca um como quisermos - latinos, ibéricos, hispânicos botim para a Coroa espanhola, sabemos bem - é difícil não incluir os espanhóis. A detalhada que tratava-se de uma passagem para o centro descrição freyriana da odisseia lusitana em do Continente; de fato, o nome Rio de La Plata América dificilmente não faz lembrar as gestas faz referência ao caminho que leva à prata num castelhanas, tão demonizadas por certa visão sentido quase literal. É simplesmente mudar o leiga precisamente pela crueldade de uma vasta termo de comparação da Argentina para o Peru, empresa capaz de acabar com impérios e com por nomear somente um dos mais óbvios, para as civilizações mais sofisticadas do Continente. notar como o fator geográfico inclui a cordilheira Todo era aqui desequilíbrio. Grandes excessos dos Andes e a floresta amazônica, além de e grandes deficiências, as da nova terra. O solo, um povo com um exército organizado com excetuadas as manchas de terra preta ou roxa, caraterísticas semelhantes às europeias. de excepcional fertilidade, estava longe de ser o O Freyre estava então errado? Não, e ele bom de se plantar nele tudo o que se quisesse, também não ignora as similitudes que anos do entusiasmo do primeiro cronista. Em grande depois fundamentarão a sua ideia de América parte rebelde à disciplina agrícola. Áspero, Hispânica. Se na sua obra nos anos 1930’s há impermeável, intratável. (Freyre, Casa Grande uma ênfase na distinção no ato de comparação, 77) a partir dos anos 1950’s teremos uma ênfase na É uma descrição do entorno físico do futuro homologação das componentes ibéricas. O que Brasil, mas temos que concordar que poderia acontece é que seu projeto em Casa Grande tratar-se perfeitamente de qualquer outro traz implícita a intenção de explicar a fundação território da América tropical. Como esquecer do Brasil que, para ele, se baseia na formação que foi o espanhol o conquistador do deserto socioeconômica da família patriarcal. A qual mais seco do planeta (Atacama) e da floresta surge, entre outros fatores, pela atitude da mais impenetrável do Continente (Darién) Coroa portuguesa em relação às suas colônias. onde ainda hoje a “civilização” branca não tem Situação essa, na qual, as duas monarquias conseguido penetrar? Como esquecer gestas de ibéricas demonstravam diferenças como em dimensões bíblicas como as de Balboa, Valdivia nenhum outro campo do seu acionar político ou Aguirre, - do qual o diretor alemão Werner no Novo Mundo. No entanto que, na febre de Herzog nos deixou testemunha cinematográfica ouro gerada a partir da lenda do El Dorado, numa obra que por vezes parece mais absurda os espanhóis procuravam riqueza monetária que a original – [3] todos eles mortos na aventura rápida – em função do mercantilismo, o sistema e que deixaram epopeias que ainda hoje se de produção dominante –, já no Brasil o que lembram pelo seu talante barroco, como barroca viria a se conformar seria, segundo o Autor, foi toda a conquista da América espanhola. uma sociedade de produção agrícola de base Porém, em algumas passagens de Casa familiar e com a miscigenação como estratégia Grande o Autor parece sugerir o contrário; econômica e inclinação cultural. Fato este que a forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 86-100 92

diferencia de outras formações sociais presentes europeia. Porém, estamos ainda longe de na América, inclusive de algumas com vocação qualquer referência à América Latina como familiar agrária como os assentamentos ingleses unidade de análise, ou da Hispânia como na Virginia, por exemplo (Freyre, Casa Grande). matriz para distinguir o nosso subcontinente. Neste caso específico o sistema escravocrata Há no Autor a necessidade de estabelecer podia até ser considerado similar ao português, uma distinção, basicamente positiva, da mas o fator atitudinal que leva a miscigenação componente portuguesa na consolidação da parece totalmente ausente, fortalecendo assim sociedade brasileira, e para tal ele a estrutura o argumento da falta de familiaridade dos ao redor da figura da formação socioeconômica europeus não-portugueses com a convivência patriarcal, que é fundamentalmente diferente, junto com outras culturas. Esta distinção da em termos econômicos, do sistema implantado família patriarcal como forma de produção pelos espanhóis. Desta forma, seu termo particular do Brasil é fundamental porque não de comparação acaba sendo a instituição está baseada em critérios econômicos e nem colonial espanhola enquanto ela possa ter políticos, mas surge do particular método de diferenciado com relação à portuguesa, e freyriano que destila seus aportes a partir da nesse exercício comparativo específico, nesses observação minuciosa do viver cotidiano dos termos concretos, não há alguma afinidade entre indivíduos objeto de estudo e se afasta do afã as duas realidades, ainda que seja evidente a modernizador que dominava no pensamento proximidade da dominação ibérica em outras político oficial. áreas. Assim, é possível notar como a definição A sociedade primordial do que iria a ser o dos critérios específicos da comparação Brasil é única, é a sociedade da formação pode facilmente enfatizar proximidades ou social da família patriarcal agrícola, diferente divergências e vice-versa segundo o ponto de se comparada com as anglo-saxãs, incapazes vista adotado. de se adaptar às terras tropicais e diferente das espanholas, dominadas pelo poder do 4. Surgimento da ideia de América Hispana Estado e da Igreja (Freyre, Casa Grande). É a singularidade do caso português em América Se concedemos algum valor heurístico o que mais interessa ao Autor, ainda em 1940: ao método aqui adotado de tentar traçar o no prefácio de O mundo que o português criou, surgimento de um enfoque latino-americano no ele faz uma exaltada defesa da cultura luso- Freyre, é então relevante notar que na década de brasileira, ressaltando o seu caráter único em 1940 nos seus trabalhos ainda prevalece o tema defesa de quem pretendia, especialmente no luso-brasileiro como um dos eixos fundamentais. Sul do país, instaurar uma cultura outra, de Tratando deste tema especificamente, é raiz europeia diferente da portuguesa, fato este possível identificar a semente de um enfoque inconcebível para o Freyre: que será, anos mais tarde, central e que em parte pareceria se contrapor a uma das teses seria ridículo pretender que o Brasil exista fundamentais de Casa Grande; em conferência independente de sua formação portuguesa; para o governo de Portugal em 1940, o Autor ou que seja, um país onde outra cultura - explica, citando o intelectual espanhol Angel outra língua inclusive - possa instalar-se Ganivet: “não foi nenhum excesso de diferenças com os mesmos direitos da de Portugal que separou Portugal da Hespanha: foi um quando colonizou certa parte da América excesso de similhanças” (Freyre, Uma Cultura). e firmou nos trópicos uma civilização com Nesta intervenção o Autor fala abertamente de elementos predominantemente europeus cultura hispânica, a cultura de toda a península, e cristãos. (Freyre, O Mundo 34). na qual o Portugal participa por uma série de afinidades de diversos tipos. Trata-se de uma Claramente, na visão do Freyre, é a intuição que irá a se desenvolver com o tempo, matriz portuguesa a que tem a primazia em até ao ponto de, nos anos da Tropicologia, o contraposição a qualquer outra componente Freyre chegar a propor inclusive que a Luso- 93 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

tropicologia seria uma componente dentro da do surgimento da Primeira República. Temática maior Hispan-tropicologia (Freyre, “Os reis”). O que precisamente o Freyre vai abordar em processo de reconhecimento da raiz hispânica Ordem e Progresso, a partir de uma perspectiva não é imediato, e nem se trata de um processo particular, seguindo sempre o seu percurso “natural” ou óbvio ao qual os intelectuais intelectual singular, tratando indiretamente o deveriam chegar de uma forma ou outra tema da interpretação da liderança política naquele período; pelo contrário, Gilberto Freyre brasileira sobre as semelhanças e diferenças parece, mais uma vez, demonstrar seu caráter dos vizinhos latinos. intelectualmente excepcional e único também Neste livro, obra final da trilogia sobre a neste ponto. formação do Brasil, a metáfora arquitetônica É reconhecido que, ao longo, dos anos da que caracteriza os dois estúdios anteriores vida política das formações nacionais surgidas desaparece, porém se mantem a intenção de após a independência da Europa, as relações propor uma certa imagem de equilíbrio entre os do Brasil com seus vizinhos “latinos” têm sido, extremos, se antes se tratava de raças diferentes do ponto de vista da análise social e política, que chegavam a um ponto de equilíbrio, desta bastante variadas. Respondendo aos desafios vez se trata de ideologias diferentes que, de da situação política regional e global, excluído certa forma, convivem sem rupturas violentas. pelos próprios países hispanos, o país e seus É uma opção que se baseia na imagem de dirigentes e pensadores têm trabalhado a equilíbrio e antagonismo e que, por sua vez, própria identidade a partir do que se é, ou se podemos interpretar como um empenho de quer ser, com relação aos vizinhos: procurando comparação em que os polos permitem revelar as semelhanças e as diferenças, efetuando as características de seu contrário. Nos textos então uma comparação dirigida que responde anteriores o conceito de família patriarcal dá as prioridades de cada momento. Assim, tem muita força as suas ideias, já que lhe concede se optado desde o pan-americanismo até o um endereço a sua proposta. Quando essa isolamento do Brasil como uma grande ilha figura passa, muda um pouco a sua opção em América do Sul (Bethell, “Brazil and ‘Latin metodológica, tanto é assim que o texto conta America’”). Embora que com argumentos com uma ampla Nota metodológica na qual diferentes, estas posições parecem depender se explicam as escolhas feitas a partir do fato do clima político regional do momento. A rejeição de trabalhar com depoimentos diretos, já que ou aceitação de uma integração do Brasil na as informações, pela primeira vez, provêm da América Latina tem sido condicionada pela memória viva dos sujeitos. Assim, a história a posição relativa do observador com relação à partir de Ordem e Progresso se constrói por situação geopolítica do subcontinente. Nos anos meio das vivências em primeira pessoa, a partir 1940’s, por exemplo, o projeto continental dos de testemunhas diretas e das biografias que o Estados Unidos que pareciam estar desenhando Autor recolhe para a sua pesquisa. Se mantem, com a política de “boa vizinhança” uma América e até se reforça, a importância da vivência para os americanos por meio da doutrina pessoal na construção da sua interpretação da Monroe, influenciava fortemente as opiniões de história. No seu método permanece a escolha quem na época refletia sobre a latinidade do de usar fontes da vida cotidiana, da cultura Brasil (Bethell, “O Brasil e a ideia”). Da mesma material, para ilustrar a sua obra. Publicado em forma, a negativa de considerar o Brasil como 1957, parece difícil enquadrá-lo numa visão, um membro mais da comunidade de nações como a que foi resenhada acima, que determina surgidas da colonização ibérica se baseava a inclusão ou não do Brasil na América Latina claramente na constatação de uma aparente a partir do clima político regional predominante falência do modelo político das republicas (Bethell, “Brasil y América Latina”). Mais que dos “libertadores”, sistemas idealizados pelos mudanças de paradigma no pensamento social caudilhos que tinham gerado uma história da região, num autor como Freyre, tão refratário instável, por vezes anárquica, e que foi um dos aos cânones acadêmicos, é mais provável que argumentos mais recorrentes durante os anos fatores biográficos permitam-nos identificar forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 86-100 94

neste momento do seu percurso intelectual a de diversas línguas e culturas, mas se mantendo evolução da ideia de uma América Hispânica no dentro da visão hispânica do mundo, uma atitude seu pensamento. que o Autor aliás não julga como particular deste Não parece casualidade que no mesmo ano filosofo espanhol: de 1957 ele publique um texto que faz parte de uma obra dedicada a Ortega y Gasset, o mesmo Ortega y Gasset is almost unclassifiable, autor que, anos depois, em 1983, ele vai utilizar as were Unamuno and Ganivet. Yet, like para demonstrar a raiz hispânica dos povos Unamuno and Ganivet, he was a ‘specialis’ surgidos da aventura ibérica na América. Neste in dealing with a variety of subjects - art, sentido, Freyre aponta o Brasil como o único país history, literature, landscape, politics, hispânico e ibérico, capaz de vivenciar através social problems, philosophy, religion - from the point of view of a philosopher who was da língua escrita os dois mundos e culturas a Spaniard: a Spaniard greatly affected, provenientes da Península: “Ortega y Gasset but not denatured or denaturalized, by não precisou de ser traduzido ao português French, English and German influences. para que a influência de sua filosofia fosse tão (Freyre, “Ortega y Gasset” 375) marcante no Brasil” (Freyre, “Os reis”). Isto é, há na língua, inicialmente, mas também numa A ideia do homem e a suas circunstancias, determinada compreensão do mundo, uma yo y mis circunstancias, pedra angular da particular empatia que faz com que não seja filosofia de Ortega y Gasset segundo a própria necessária uma tradução da sua filosofia para interpretação do Freyre dos anos 1950’s, é o o português, e nem dos clássicos da literatura ponto de chegada no nível intelectual e abstrato castelhana que têm participado da formação de uma intuição que podemos identificar no cultural da nação espanhola. Junto com Ortega Autor claramente anos atrás, a partir de um y Gasset a referência a Unamuno, Ganivet e processo mais amplo e que faz parte integral Julián Marías é quase uma constante quando da sua formação, especificamente na época o Autor trata de autores espanhóis, os quais de publicação de Nordeste, em 1937. Ali, o aliás não são classificados como espanhóis, Freyre faz explícita a sua preocupação pelo mas como “hispanos”. E não se trata só de uma espaço, pela dimensão espacial, a relação do referência, não é somente uma citação; em ser humano com o entorno. O que o conduz a 1957, comentando a obra do Ortega y Gasset considerações de tipo ecológico, e que levará no volume em homenagem ao mestre espanhol, anos depois a propor uma nova disciplina, o Freyre encontra apoio para consolidar um a Tropicologia. Neste texto um dos temas dos conceitos mais interessantes que nos tem mais interessantes é a crítica à monocultura. deixado: o de “homem situado”. Embora que O livro foi escrito num momento em que ele somente esboçada nas suas duas primeiras desenvolvia pesquisas sobre as condições de obras e não de forma explícita, mas através da trabalho dos empregados dos canaviais, porém, metodologia inovadora e um tanto heterodoxa – essa preocupação está presente também em metodologia do cotidiano, do detalhe, a metade Sobrados e Mucambos ao analisar a gradual de caminho entre a etnografia e o anedótico - desconfiguração da família patriarcal como é clara no seu pensamento a procura por uma forma de produção agrícola. Em Nordeste, compreensão do ser humano agente a partir sendo a cana um dos temas principais, Freyre do seu contexto, com um olhar abrangente, estabelece a relação deste elemento com a capaz de identificar a relevância dos pequenos água, com a terra, o mato, os animais e os detalhes e a importância dos processos macro. seres humanos. Essa crítica ecológica, embora O “homem e a sus circunstancias”, para o Autor sem entrar na discussão teórica do ecologismo, é esse o eixo mais rico para interpretar o fazer está já baseada no conceito de paisagem que e o pensamento de um determinado sujeito no estava-se consolidando nos debates sobre o seu tempo. É assim que ele propõe em 1957 ler tema naqueles anos nos países industrializados, Ortega y Gasset como um autor capaz de lidar demonstrando mais uma vez a sua capacidade com as correntes de pensamento provenientes 95 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

de acompanhar as discussões contemporâneas consciência de que soy, o pretendo ser, um sem precisar pertencer integralmente a algum escritor fundamentalmente hispânico” (Freyre, campo do conhecimento definido e fechado. Interpretaciones 7). Um escritor, continua o Junto com a intenção ecológica há também a Autor, que pretende propor elementos para ideia de mudar a imagem típica do Nordeste a análise do homem situado nos Trópicos. como uma região desértica e seca, e traz a Têm claramente ficado para trás as distinções ideia de um Nordeste também oleoso e fértil. Já comparativas entre portugueses e espanhóis e, que temos o Nordeste pastoril do Sertão, mas aliás, este homem hispânico seria filho das várias também o nordeste do litoral dos canaviais. A Espanhas (Freyre, Interpretaciones), da mesma cana de açúcar, na forma da monocultura, é Península, sem alguma diferenciação de fundo. vista como a fonte de vários males físicos e Porém, não se trata de uma transformação ambientais para o Nordeste, pois estraga os conveniente, “natural” ou inclusive contextual; rios; mas como forma econômica também se pelo contrário, as discussões relacionadas com presenta como negativa no ambiente social a ideia de uma comunhão cultural, histórica ou como um todo. A importância da cana é tal que inclusive económica na região que se conhece o Freyre anota as consequências sociais do como América Latina partiam naqueles anos de consumo da cana de açúcar nos seus efeitos outros pressupostos (Bethell, “Brasil y América físicos sobre os sujeitos, assim como também Latina”). Nesses anos a distinção se fazia com nos impactos sociais amplos que ela traz. relação ao Norte do continente, considerado É claramente aqui o homem situado que como imperialista e propulsor de valores alheios está sendo enfocado desde um ponto de ao sentir latino, os autores destes países vista concreto, biológico, já presente então ligavam a distinção dos seus países com a na década de 1930’s, e que encontrará anos América anglo-saxónica à continuidade nas suas depois por meio do pensamento de Ortega culturas da essência latina, contemplativa, em y Gasset sua base filosófica solida. Talvez contraposição ao materialismo e mercantilismo seja possível lançar a hipótese de o Ortega y norte-americano (Melo). Isto é, a comparação Gasset representar a dimensão filosófica da era feita com relação a um acervo clássico que proposta que o Freyre, do ponto de vista social, permitisse estabelecer uma espécie de distinção tinha desenvolvido já desde suas primeiras de valores modernos triunfantes nos Estados obras. No prefácio à edição espanhola de Unidos, dessa forma a afinidade entre os “latinos”, Nordeste, lançada em 1943, o Autor coloca o que podiam eventualmente incluir o Brasil, se filósofo espanhol junto com Weber e Humbolt fazia a partir de uma herança, talvez mais ideal e anseia vê-lo “convertido” à Sociologia, ou do que concreta, associada com um passado pelo menos à Ecologia, que seria para ele uma anterior ao pensamento economicista norte- das sociologias especiais (Freyre, Nordeste americano. Já o Freyre, como em outros temas, XXI). Provavelmente a partir deste encontro segue um caminho pessoal e, por vezes, único. filosófico seja possível identificar o surgimento A sua inspiração não tem um caráter político e no pensamento do Freyre da Hispânia como nem é movida por alguma apologia ao sonho base teórica na sua interpretação madura das “libertador” ou baseada em teorias económicas culturas ibero-americanas. de desenvolvimento; pelo contrário, trata-se de um percurso coerente que foi-se enriquecendo 5. O aporte teórico espanhol: o homem e consolidando com os anos. Diferentemente da situado procura de uma contraposição com as culturas anglo-saxãs a partir de uma comparação com o Em 1963 a conversão freyriana ao hispanismo longínquo passado latino clássico, ele promove está completamente consolidada, é ele mesmo a valoração da componente ibérica comum, uma que a proclama, fazendo inclusive uma pequena só se comparamos os fatores que a constituem cronologia; na introdução à segunda edição em com relação ao resto dos povos americanos, e língua espanhola de Interpretação do Brasil o faz não simplesmente a partir de uma ideia ele afirma: “como brasileño, tengo la clara de herança, mas de reflexão sobre os frutos forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 86-100 96

dela no presente. O que ele observa não é uma neste caso, ibéricas, hispânicas. Aliás, a ideia ideal relação com a latinidade clássica e nem de homem situado parece presente desde Casa uma oposição às culturas nascidas no norte do Grande, embora de forma rudimentar. Porém, Continente, pelo contrário, resgata a raiz comum naquela obra a importância dada à família da hispanidade no passado de miscigenação patriarcal como forma de produção era maior, e histórico trazido desde a península ibérica o levou a enfatizar a dita particularidade sobre (Melo). Nesta segunda “fase” da obra do Freyre as semelhanças presentes nos conquistadores (o da aproximação do Brasil com a América hispanos. A origem das suas intuições sobre o Latina) a mudança se dá pela troca dos polos de homem situado talvez possam-se identificar nas comparação, o outro é a América anglo-saxônica suas viagens juvenis na Europa, onde o Freyre e o colonizador norte-europeu (Mendes Freitas). teria desenvolvido a sua tendência em um certo Porém, ele se coloca numa posição que foge das sentido regionalista, contraposta aos projetos correntes intelectuais e dos interesses políticos modernistas que se baseavam no centralismo, em jogo no momento, propondo uma procura por exemplo na França nos anos 20’ do século dos traços identitários do Brasil a partir de uma XX. Neste sentido ele foge do clima político e comparação com a componente ibérica num cultural modernista que seria, por exemplo, sentido bem amplo, que enfatiza a riqueza e a preponderante no país nos anos da concepção mistura como elementos criativos e essenciais de Brasília como capital, o que nos confirma nos processos posteriores acontecidos em mais uma vez o fundo biográfico que o leva a América. Já não é a observação e admiração mudar suas prioridades, se afastando de certa dos vizinhos do Norte e a comparação idealizada forma das escolhas ditadas pelas configurações com eles, e nem com o ideário político e cultural conjunturais do poder, seja ele político, econômico da França ou com a herança genérica latina ou acadêmico. Em Tempos e outros tempos, associada ao Portugal, mas um paralelo com de 1975, é possível estabelecer a influência a componente hispana enquanto já fruto de clara do pensamento espanhol, a qual pode-se uma miscigenação. A América Latina do Freyre dar a partir do contato direito com os autores não é simplesmente aquela da oposição a um da geração do 98’ e do 14’. Aparentemente, o modelo cultural e econômico, nem também Autor conhecia já ditos pensadores, mas é na aquela de uma essência latina idealizada, se década dos 1930’s, estando em Portugal, que trata pelo contrário da exaltação de uma riqueza o contato imediato com a Escola de Madrid “impura” que reconhece as misturas anteriores parece claramente verificável (Rugai Bastos).[2] ao processo de colonização do continente, mas É neste período que pode ter nascido em Freyre as localiza, as “situa” no território americano a admiração por esta escola e que viria a se onde as condições do entorno lhes dão sentido. expressar, vários anos depois, na sua ideia de É tão clara a sua visão anti-essencialista que Hispânia como raiz cultural própria. Daí também ele inclusive chega a considerar que os ibéricos a sua crítica ao modernismo brasileiro, que ele teriam perdido seu poder criador e no século XX achava superficial, uma espécie de transposição o papel inovador e renovador cairia em setores nos trópicos de um movimento europeu e que silenciados que sairiam de sua hibernação se concreta claramente na sua visão crítica - sociológica: os índios, mestiços, camponeses no meio da euforia - da Brasília de Niemeyer, e proletários, impulsionados pela crescente mais voltada à edificação de símbolos do que de valorização das tradições, renovando assim a espaços para os habitantes futuros da cidade, arte, literatura, filosofia social (Mendes Freitas). necessitados segundo ele mais de lugares de Assim, não é então uma contradição, ou uma lazer do que de monumentos grandiloquentes. revisão, o fato dele em suas primeiras obras negar A crítica à modernidade e à modernização se qualquer semelhança ao comparar os povos vê claramente também em Casa Grande & ibéricos entre eles e, anos depois, conceber o Senzala através da recuperação do aporte das homem hispânico quase que como uma cultura diferentes culturas ao Brasil, questionando um só, já que este homem hispânico parece não ser progresso que estaria apoiado na cópia de outro que o “homem e as suas circunstancias”, modelos importados. 97 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

Os condicionamentos raciais e climáticos, demonstrar os signos de distinção da nova classe por exemplo, ao invés de serem negativos e ascendente, por exemplo nos novos espaços causantes do atraso, poderiam pelo contrário públicos urbanos como o teatro. Mas ao mesmo ser considerados como fatores positivos. Seria tempo na casa fica trancada a moça, olhando o modernismo particular do Freyre que iria pela janela, marcada como ela estava pelo tabu recuperar os fatores culturais distintivos do de não poder frequentar a rua sem companhia país. É nesse sentido também que é possível ou por simples prazer. Num primeiro momento interpretar a sua crítica à catequização jesuíta pode parecer que, indo para a cidade, o espaço que, levando os indígenas nas missões para interno da casa e o externo da rua poderiam salvá-los da escravidão dos colonos, terminaria ficar mais perto e se misturar. Mas na verdade, os separando do contexto social mais amplo na cidade pode-se dar uma diferenciação até e do sistema produtivo. Haveria uma falta de maior, isto se vê muito bem nos diferentes adaptação da Companhia de Jesus ao contexto tipos de escravos, alguns especializados nas local, inclusive ele chega a dizer que ao irem tarefas da rua e outros da casa, dando-se uma embora os jesuítas teriam deixado os indígenas divisão de trabalho escravo que deixa entrever sem um sistema produtivo próprio. Trata-se da a separação clara entre o espaço privado da ausência da consciência do homem situado, que casa e o público da rua. De uma certa forma, a resulta na incapacidade de interpretar o contexto transformação da casa grande para o sobrado é e se adaptar de forma coerente e produtiva. mais clara que a transformação da senzala para Da mesma forma, se o português conseguiu o mucambo, já que este último parece um pouco muito bem aproveitar as melhores condições se diluir na cidade. Diante das várias críticas do ambiente tropical, pareceria ter errado com que Sobrados e Mucambos trouxe, o Freyre faz a forma de produção da monocultura, uma na introdução à segunda edição uma defesa do forma de produção agrícola mais voltada ao seu trabalho, na qual propõe que não se deve comercio que a supervivência. Assim, no Freyre confundir o dado etnográfico com os modelos é clara uma crítica ao mercantilismo como forma sociológicos, ou seja, o fato de ter tantos econômica, já que a interpreta quase como um detalhes na sua obra, não quer dizer que ele não método que não é produtivo. Isto é muito claro esteja propondo um modelo de interpretação quando fala da história de Portugal e do período ampla que se pode aplicar a toda a sociedade em que o pais era produtor agrícola e passou brasileira através da figura da família patriarcal. a ser um pais comercial, para obter benefício Para compreender o processo que Freyre mostra somente da troca. Temos então na sua análise é importante focar nas figuras intermédias, a presença clara do “homem hispânico situado muito brasileiras segundo ele, além de únicas, nos Trópicos” como tela de fundo; porém não e que são as que permitem a comunicação se trata de um modelo ótimo, pelo contrário, é entre os polos antagónicos. Mas, para chegar uma ferramenta teórica que permite vislumbrar num resultado deste tipo é necessário enfocar as suas virtudes, mas também suas falências. na cotidianidade dos sujeitos pesquisados, os Isto é, um modelo que foi amadurecendo com seus hábitos, seus anúncios de jornal e seus os anos, obtendo na obra de Ortega y Gasset brinquedos. Assim, se concedemos um enfoque talvez o contraponto filosófico necessário para exclusivamente marxista ou sociológico não é fazê-lo mais sólido, mas que estava já presente possível compreender a evolução do processo nas três obras da trilogia. que o Autor quer mostrar. Parece plausível Assim, em Sobrados e Mucambos, a metáfora interpretar então, na convicção desta obra ser arquitetônica tem a ver com a relação entre a uma continuação orgânica de Casa Grande, casa e a rua, que muda bastante por causa da a proposta de Sobrados e Mucambos como o urbanização da vida social. Nasce um espaço desenvolvimento cronológico da procura teórica público em contraposição ao privado e deve se e metodológica do homem e suas circunstâncias, criar uma mediação entre os dois mundos. Com embora que sem uma explicitação evidente, a ascensão dos profissionais dos sobrados a pelo menos não textual, mas sim na intuição vida social vai para a rua com a necessidade de clara que movia o Autor. forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 86-100 98

O homem situado, dentro de uma situação 6. Conclusões espacial e temporal, se liga muito com vários aspetos da obra do Autor que se condensam bem Vimos então que é possível identificar uma com o reconhecimento do trópico como eixo de importante transformação no pensamento de análise. Embora essas ideias estivessem claras Gilberto Freyre sobre a América Latina que, quase desde o começo da sua obra, é a partir aparentemente, tem sido pouco estudada até de uma sua viajem pelas colônias portuguesas hoje. Passando de um elogio à particularidade que esta ideia se reforça muito. Concretando- virtuosa da natureza do conquistador português se no conceito de luso-tropicologia, já que o sobre os outros exploradores europeus nas caso de Goa parecia confirmar a sua intuição américas, a um reconhecimento da hispanidade, de serem as condições tropicais a favorecer o da matriz ibérica, como valor cultural da nossa colonizador português e não somente o Brasil região e inclusive à proposta de uma disciplina como situação excepcional. Porém, a partir especifica derivada da Tropicologia, a Hispan- dos anos 1960’s neste tipo de considerações tropicologia. Esta constatação, que em si entra com pleno direito também o colonizador mesma não representa necessariamente uma espanhol, pertencente à mesma Hispânia, raiz proposta teoricamente ambiciosa, deriva de de uma distinção da América ibérica que tem forma quase espontânea da aproximação ao muita mais pertinência que a América Latina que pensamento do Autor para além das obras que ainda é hoje predominante nos discursos e no compõem a “trilogia”. É extremamente comum imaginário destes países. De fato, as eventuais se deparar com comentários, especialmente críticas a este termo e modelo de representação críticas, sobre o Freyre basicamente a partir de do subcontinente se limitam a criticar a gênese uma leitura, às vezes incompleta, da trilogia ou francesa e colonialista do termo, mas não simplesmente de Casa Grande & Senzala. Uma propõem uma alternativa coerente. Já o Freyre, exploração mais ampla permite verificar como o mesmo que nas primeiras obras procura a obra dele seja mais rica e, especialmente, uma distinção, passa a ser considerado, mais complexa no relativo especificamente a precisamente pelo espanhol Julián Marías, sua análise das particularidades da realidade um precursor da unidade intelectual e cultural brasileira no contexto regional. da Hispânia: “Pienso que nadie va a contribuir Uma abordagem deste tipo, ampla e más que Gilberto Freyre al acercamiento inclusiva, permite também integrar o elemento entre España y Portugal — esas dos naciones biográfico para tentar procurar as causas, ou sentadas juntas, dándose la espalda, mirando pelo menos os detonantes, da mudança que se en direcciones opuestas” (10). Marías nota procura aqui delinear. Como vimos, o papel do que as duas nações ibéricas têm sofrido de Brasil e sua posição, do ponto de vista teórico, uma indiferença e separação dentro do mesmo dentro da reflexão sobre a América Latina, se território por séculos, e se vai se dar uma vê fortemente influenciada pelo clima político e aproximação histórica ela virá desde a América, ideológico conjuntural do momento. O próprio desde a América Hispana. Esta América Autor o reconhece explicitamente anotando Hispânica de Freyre - um pouco esquecida, como a relação da América Latina com a talvez por causa de hipertrofia deCasa Grande e conjuntura mundial tem variado conforme as da trilogia na leitura da sua obra – tem o homem diversas predominâncias que lhe tem afetado as situado nos trópicos como modelo do sujeito situações. Seja a predominância ibérica, inglesa, histórico relevante e traz em si a proposta de um francesa ou “ianque” (Freyre, Americanidade), diálogo com os clássicos da filosofia ibérica do todas elas têm influenciado as formas como século XX. Um tanto esquecidos também eles nos interpretamos enquanto nações aos nos em benefício de pensadores de outras latitudes, compararmos com aquelas que exercem algum desconsiderando assim o tempo tríbio que nos tipo de atração, seja de tipo econômico ou obriga a refletir sobre os três tempos do nosso cultural, seja de forma concreta ou idealizada. A ser no lugar que ocupamos no planeta cultural, mentalidade política oficial e o clima intelectual histórico e físico. acadêmico da região procurava outros rumos 99 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

para estabelecer os pontos de comparação na espanhola. O termo de comparação específico compreensão do Brasil e seu posicionamento que o Autor estabelece neste período inicial com relação aos vizinhos, às vezes se na sua obra, a família patriarcal, realmente espelhando na potência norte-americana para permite definir fortes diferenças entre a cultura se distinguir da latinidade arcaica e outras se espanhola e portuguesa nas suas colônias inspirando na herança clássica europeia para americanas. Porém, as congruências de fundo se distanciar da mentalidade economicista que estruturarão, de forma explícita, a sua reinante nos Estados Unidos. Já no caso do enunciação posterior de uma comunhão dos Freyre, um Autor admirado, especialmente fora povos hispanos da América eram identificáveis, do seu país, e que sempre fugiu aos cânones especificamente na sua metodologia e no estilo da vida acadêmica formal, o fator biográfico de escrita, já desde seus primeiros trabalhos. parece definitivo. Ele vai estabelecer o ponto A cotidianidade do homem situado, a ideia do de comparação com a raiz europeia, mas não homem e suas circunstâncias, que ele retomara necessariamente para se distinguir da América diretamente do pensamento filosófico espanhol anglo-saxã, mas para explorar as semelhanças nas suas obras posteriores, parece já se com a Hispânia. Ele também não contemplava insinuar no seu original viés metodológico. Só a veia latina como elemento de comparação que nos anos mais maduros da sua obra Freyre assemelharia a raiz ibérica com outras culturas assumira as “consequências” disto, o que como a francesa, por exemplo, mas reivindica a implica o reconhecimento de uma raiz comum componente hispânica que depende fortemente hispana que, inclusive, era para ele necessário de influências extra europeias. Isto é, ele estudar profundamente desde uma perspectiva reivindica de forma original a distinção entre a exclusiva e ad hoc. Europa burguesa (Inglaterra e França) e o Brasil Assim, o Freyre, amplamente reconhecido orientalizado, fruto dos traços mouros e judeus como um autor original, especialmente por trazidos pelo português (Melo) e, na segunda causa da sua abordagem que enquadra as parte da sua obra, pelo espanhol também. consequências profundas e históricas da É o contato direito e pessoal com o mundo vivência cotidiana e que procura sempre valorar intelectual espanhol o que faz com que algumas a singularidade positiva do contexto local onde ideias deste ambiente ecoem explicitamente na esta experiência é forjada, em contraposição sua reflexão sobre a nossa América. A ideia do contínua à emulação gratuita do pensamento e homem situado, não somente se articula nas os paradigmas das metrópoles, tem restado até propostas mais maduras do Autor, mas parece agora uma referência quase que exclusiva para a estar em surdina, de maneira embrionária - talvez análise da realidade histórica brasileira. Quando, de forma em parte inconsciente para o próprio como vimos, ele foi capaz de estabelecer um Freyre - no enfoque caraterístico das suas olhar refletivo para entender a cultura do próprio obras iniciais e mais conhecidas. O particular país por meio da comparação com outras método dele, uma espécie de etnografia indireta culturas seguindo critérios que pareciam fugir e não declarada, uma espécie de biópsia do das prioridades dos interesses políticos do seu cotidiano, incluiria em si mesma já a intuição da tempo. O que lhe confere grande valor enquanto inseparabilidade do ser social e cultural com seu forjador de um enfoque que mira a exaltar as contexto num sentido amplo que inclui todas particularidades diferenciais da América Hispana as esferas do vital, exercendo ele mesmo uma como um todo, ainda que reconhecendo, é influência inegável sobre aquele. claro, a unicidade das expressões situadas. No fim das contas, a ênfase dada, especialmente O olhar do Freyre parece assim perfeitamente em Casa Grande & Senzala, à particularidade passível de oferecer ferramentas valiosas para do espírito português parece responder mais compreender os processos particulares das à necessidade de colocar a figura da família realidades da América Latina fora do contexto patriarcal como alicerce da sua análise. Âmbito específico brasileiro por ele estudado. O em que realmente a colonização portuguesa que, aliás, contribuiria a ressaltar nexos para parece apresentar diferenças essenciais com a além de distinções territoriais, linguísticas ou 100 Y. Quiñones: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas

simplesmente impostas e que não se veem –. “Uma visão quase apologética do comportamento necessariamente refletidas na realidade cultural hispânico ou ibérico nos trópicos”. Palavras Repatriadas, edited by Edson Nery da Fonseca, e histórica da região. Editora Universidade de Brasília, 2003. 427-462. Print. Notas –. “O Brasil moderno como uma nova sociedade hispano- tropical.” Palavras Repatriadas, edited by Edson [1] Comumente se identifica como a “trilogia” freyriana o Nery da Fonseca, Editora Universidade de Brasília, conjunto das obras Casa Grande & Senzala, Sobrados e 2003. 463-476. Print. Mucambos e Ordem e Progresso. –. Sobrados e Mucambos: decadência do patriarcado rural e desenvolvimento do urbano (14ª Ed.). São Paulo: [2] Sobre o tema da incorporação dos pensadores Global Editora, 2003. Print. espanhóis na formação do Freyre, esta autora tem publicado o livro Gilberto Freyre e o pensamento hispânico: – . Americanidade e latinidade da América Latina e outros entre Dom Quixote e Alonso el Bueno. ensaios. Org. Edson Nery da Fonseca. Brasília: Editora da Universidade de Brasília, 2003. Print. [3] Trata se do filme “Aguirre. The Wrath of God” de 1972. –. Ordem e Progresso (6ª Ed.). São Paulo: Global Editora, 2004. Print. Marías, J. “El tempo y lo hispanico em Gilberto Freyre.” Bibliografia Cuenta y Razón, no. 2 (1981). 7-16. Print.

Bethell, L. “Brazil and ‘Latin America.’” Journal of Latin Melo, A. “A outra América de Gilberto Freyre.” Revista American Studies. vol. 22, no. 44 (2010). 457-485. USP, no. 112 ( 2017). 55-66. Print. Print. Mendes Freitas, I. “O Brasil e as Américas em Gilberto –. “O Brasil e a ideia de ‘América Latina’ em perspectiva Freyre: das veias abertas pela colonização aos histórica.” Est. Hist., Rio de Janeiro, vol. 22, no. 44 veios abertos para o futuro.” Temáticas, vol. 22, no. (2009). 289-321. Print. 43 (2014). 37-56. Print. –. “Brasil y América Latina.” Prismas - Revista de História Rugai Bastos, E. Os autores brasileiros e o pensamento Intelectual, vol. 16, no. 1 (2012). 53-78. Print. hispânico. ANPOCS GT 1021. Caxambu, Outubro 1998. Print. Freyre, G. O Mundo que o português criou: aspectos das relações sociais e de cultura do Brasil com Portugal Valente, L. F. “Americanidade e Latinoamericanidade e as colônias portuguesas. Rio de Janeiro: José na obra de Gilberto Freyre.” Antares: Letras e Humanidades, vol. 5, no. 10 (2013). 105-114. Print. Olympio, 1940. Print. Warley Candeas, A. “Brasil es parte del Caribe cultural. La –. Uma Cultura ameaçada: a luso-brasileira. Recife: literatura del Nordeste y la tropicología de Gilberto Officina do Diário da Manhã, 1940. Print. Freyre.” Papel Político, vol. 20, no. 2 (2015). 607- –. “Ortega y Gasset: an outline of his philosophy”. Science 612. Print. & Society. New York, vol. 21, no. 4, 1957. Print. Zang, L. M. La identidad Latinoamericana desde la –. Nordeste. Aspectos da influência da cana sobre a vida perspectiva de Gilberto Freyre y José Vasconcelos: e a paisagem do nordeste do Brasil (3ª Ed.). Rio de un análisis comparado. XI Jornadas de Sociología. Janeiro: Jose Olympio Editora, 1961. Print. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, 2015. Print. –. Como e porque sou e não sou sociólogo. Brasília: Editora Universidade de Brasília, 1968. Print. –. Tempo morto e outros tempos. Rio de Janeiro: Jose Biografía do autor Olympio Editora, 1975. Print. –. “Os reis da Espanha em um país hispanotropical.” Folha Yago Quiñones Triana possui curso de de São Paulo, 7 Jun. 1983. Print. graduação em Sociologia pela Universidade –. Interpretaciones del Brasil. México: Fondo de Cultura de Roma “La Sapienza” e de mestrado pela Económica, 1987. Print. UFRGS (Porto Alegre, Brasil) e doutorado –. Casa Grande & Senzala: formação da família brasileira em Antropologia pela Universidade do Rio de sob da economia patriarcal (48ª Ed.). São Paulo: Janeiro (UFRJ). Docente universitário de várias Global Editora, 2003. Print. ins-tuições: Universidad Externado de Colombia, –. “Em torno do conceito hispânico ou ibérico de tempo.” Pon-3cia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad Palavras Repatriadas, edited by Edson Nery da Fonseca, Editora Universidade de Brasília, 2003. Sergio Arboleda e Universidade de Brasilia. 265-284. Print. forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 101-115 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

Declensions: Conceptual Migrations across Empires

Elena Furlanetto[1] (University of Duisburg-Essen)

Abstract

The goal of this essay is to propose a new model for comparative analysis, the ‘declension,’ and test its applicability on two figurations that have traveled across contingent and competing empires: the creole and the renegade. Within grammar, a declension is the “variation of the form of a noun, adjective, or pronoun, constituting its different cases” (OED) and evokes the way in which words mutate as their function in the logic of the sentence changes. If transferred to the realm of literary and cultural studies, the declension can be used to map the adjustments that key concepts in Atlantic history and literature undergo as they traverse space, time, and language systems. Although some terms have remained essentially the same or have varied only slightly across centuries – as in the case of renegado/renegade or criollo/crioulo/creole – the politics attached to them changed significantly. The declension offers a tool to trace and document migrations of concepts along transatlantic and interamerican lines, gesturing at the interconnectedness of imperial spaces.

Keywords: Declension, creole, renegade, entangled American history, Atlantic history

The study of Atlantic History is the study of of the form of a noun, adjective, or pronoun, contingent and interconnected experiences. constituting its different cases” (OED). By Within Atlantic History, discussions of phenomena evoking the way in which a word mutates as that span centuries and continents are its object of reference changes, I suggest indissoluble from micro-investigations of small that key concepts in Atlantic history such as places and the lives of single individuals. Theories ‘creole,’ as well as ‘renegade,’ ‘neophyte’, and of “entanglement” by scholars such as Trevor ‘pirate,’ undergo radical changes in meaning Burnard, Eliga H. Gould, and Jorge Cañizares- as they travel across oceans, centuries, and Esguerra have advocated historiographies that geographical contexts, although their form underscore the transcultural origin of putatively changes only slightly. From the 16th to the ‘national’ narratives, unveil their multiple 19th century, the term ‘renegade,’ for instance, transfers, and switch between regional, national, has crossed a variety of cultural contexts and and transoceanic registers. Our study hopes to undergone multiple shifts in meaning. In the contribute a tool for the writing of “microhistory 19th-century North American frontier context, a … in an Atlantic mode” (Burnard 35) by zooming ‘renegade’ was an individual who relinquished in on what Ann Stoler calls “the tactical mobility white society and chose to live with the Natives. A of concepts” (837) across the Atlantic, as the century earlier, Cotton Mather used the term with multiple entanglements of Atlantic cultures did reference to Christian captives in Barbary who not result only in a transfer of people, goods, embraced Islam to enjoy the privileges granted and narratives, but also key concepts. To best to converts or to avoid certain death. In 17th- address the changing semantics and politics of century Europe, ‘renegadoes’ were Christians these “travelling concepts” (Bal 29), we resort to who joined the armies of corsairs in Barbary, the paradigm of declensions. which by then were known as the “renegade Within grammar, a declension is the “variation states” (Fuchs 50). The idea of a neophyte is 102 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

in many ways equal but opposite to that of a secondly, as the “deviation or declining from a renegade, as both concepts reflect the same standard; falling away (from one’s allegiance), practice and conversion, from two antipodal apostasy” (OED). The pejorative meaning of viewpoints: that of conversion as apostasy (a declension indicates the fall of an object from a turning away from a dominant culture or belief) condition of grace to one of abjection, and openly or as revelation (an embracing of it). Before the parallels this downward trajectory with the act of end of the 19th century, the history of the term apostasy – a conversion judged from a point of ‘creole’ was also one of oscillations. The term view of abandonment and betrayal. Similarly, originates from the Spanish-Portuguese ‘criollo/ declensed concepts and the figures they define crioulo’ and was applied to individuals born in have left a state of recognizability (Settler or the New World. Some sources claim that the Native, European or Indigenous, Christian term did not originally differentiate between or Muslim) to enter a condition of ontological races (Garraway 20; Hazaël Massieux 5-6), instability mirrored in literary and cultural texts while others associate early understandings by a series of textual ambiguities. Hence, our of creoleness with whiteness. Yet, sources study will not only attempt to sketch declensions underscore a progressive racialization of the of terms, but also provide examples of the term: by the end of the 19th century the term textual ambiguities that gesture at the semantic was refashioned as “exclusively Caucasian” instability of these terms. Authors who grapple (Kein 131) and decisively reflected European with declensed concepts and the categories of perspectives. people they encompass almost invariably reflect A declension differs from a chronological on these shifts of meaning either by thickening timeline in so far as it describes an oscillatory the ambiguity[2] around them or by trying to movement and not a linear one. Consider, for dissipate it and settle for a univocal meaning. example, the first Latin declension: The first posture will be referred throughout this study as ambiguation and the second as aqua, -ae, F. water disambiguation. singular plural nom Aqua Aquae gen Aquae aquārum A Declension of Creoleness dat Aquae Aquīs acc Aquam Aquās abl Aqua Aquīs Every definition of the term ‘creole’ that confidently circumscribes a single category of The first declension singular starts and ends people is to be distrusted. Ralph Bauer and with –a. The last part of the plural oscillates Antonio Mazzotti urge not to underestimate between –is and –as. –Ae appears in both in the size and entity of the early modern debate different positions and –arum represents an around creolization; it was “a wider Atlantic isolated termination. Consequently, in the logic phenomenon that not only spanned the three of our declension model, a word can revert to its centuries of European colonial rule in the original meaning, go back and forth between two Americas but also cut across the boundaries meanings, assume an anomalous meaning in a of the various European empires” (Bauer and determinate context, or terminate its declension Mazzotti 2). Each European empire constructed on a completely different, even reverse meaning, a different discourse on creolization destined to from the moment of coinage. Moreover, the goal gain complexity in post-empire aftermaths. In of a declension is not to document a general some regions, these debates continue to the linear evolution; the model is designed to follow present day. Hence, definitions that do justice to the parallel evolutions of the word structure the history of the word ‘creole’ are fluid, mindful across time, space, and translation, as well as of contradictions, and open to incongruities. The the meanings and politics attached to it. reason is best explained via Virginia Domínguez’s A second, figurative meaning defines words in White by Definition: “two types of declension as “the action or state of declining …; Louisianans consequently identify themselves a declining or sinking into a lower position,” and, today as Creole. One is socially and legally forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 101-115 103

white; the other, socially and legally colored. World’s people, and, given the known historical The white side by definition cannot accept the data, the term should not exclude anyone based existence of colored Creoles; the colored side, on color, caste, or pigmentation” (xv; emphasis by definition, cannot accept the white conception added). Like Midlo-Hall, Kein is aware of the of Creole” (149). The massive shifts in meaning shifting racialization of the term, which, as she of the word creole experienced over its history explains later, was appropriated in the 19th resulted in contrasting understandings of the century by “a class of people who were pure, creoleness rubric. Quite remarkably, the Oxford white, and unblemished by a dash of the tar Dictionaries offer three contradictory definition brush” (131). Doris Garraway (2005) also lingers of ‘creole’: 1) “A person of mixed European and on the racial inclusivity of the term in its early black descent, especially in the Caribbean”; 2) usage: “the Hispano-Portuguese terms ‘criollo/ “A descendant of Spanish or other European crioulo’ … originally referred to both blacks and settlers in the Caribbean or Central or South whites born in the colonial Americas” (20) and America”, 3) “A white descendant of French then proceeds to explain that later the word settlers in Louisiana and other parts of the “developed a more restricted usage, referring southern US.” The first definition anchors only to whites” (20). Ira Berlin (1996) contradicts creoleness in mixed-race ancestry, the last one the assumption that the word ‘creole,’ in its early makes an argument for exclusive whiteness, stages, was racially inclusive: “‘Creole’ derives and the second omits the racial component from the Portuguese crioulo, meaning a person altogether. The different geographic indications of African descent born in the New World” (253; (the Caribbean, the Caribbean and Central emphasis added), but refers to Midlo-Hall for South America, Louisiana and the Southern insights into “the complex and often contradictory U.S.) also suggest that the meaning of the word usage in a single place” (253). changes according to context. Our discussion of the creole declension can Moving back to the colonial and early start from Midlo-Hall’s statement that “the word American history of the word ‘creole,’ many of creole has been redefined over time in response the available definitions offered by scholars to changes in the social and racial climate” (157). of creoleness – especially in the abundant In the course of its history, the word ‘creole’ has literature of Louisiana creoles – emphasize traversed not only different imperial contexts the term’s multiple trajectories. Although there and different languages, but also various stages is consensus on its Spanish/Portuguese origin of racialization. One of the most prominent and on its applicability to individuals born in intellectuals of 19th-century Louisiana and the colonies, what follows are overviews of the advocate of creole white exclusiveness, Charles shifts and oscillations that marked the history Gayarré, unintentionally embeds an ante- of the word ‘creole’ in the Americas, especially litteram definition of declension in his lecture with regards to race. In her influential study on “The Creoles of History and the Creoles of Africans in Colonial Louisiana (1992) Gwendolin Romance,” delivered at Tulane University, New Midlo-Hall foreshadows the intricacies of Orleans, in 1885. defining creoleness: “the most precise current definition of a creole is a person of non-American In every nation the human language ancestry, whether African or European, who was has modified itself in the course of time. born in the Americas” (157; emphasis added). The spelling and pronunciation of words She subsequently explains that “the word creole have changed. Their original meanings has been redefined over time in response to has frequently become obscured and changes in the social and racial climate. … It misapplied. But few have met the striking transformation of the word Criollo in came to mean people of exclusively European Spanish and Créole in French – at least in descent born in the Americas” (157). In her 2000 the United States – if not in any other part book on Louisiana creoles, Sybil Kein builds on of the world, for it conveys to the immense Midlo-Hall’s inclusive definition to create her majority of the Americans of Anglo-Saxon own, partly ex negativo: “Creoles are the New origin a meaning that is the very reverse of 104 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

its primitive signification. (Gayarré, qtd. in interracial romance, racial intermingling, passing Dominguez 144) and visual confusion, and are particularly relevant to studies of textual ambiguities. Probably Gayarré touches upon the linguistic micro- composed by slaves in the 18th century and changes that affect a declensed word across further developed in the 19th (Kein 122), creole time and translation, especially spelling and folk songs narrate of a dynamic society where pronunciation: i.e. crioulo (P), criollo (ES), the crossing of racial and social lines was not créole (FR), creole (EN). He also anticipates anomalous.[3] An illustrative example that the that declensions can result in a reversal of noun ‘creole,’ until the 19th century, applied to the original meaning. Above all, Gayarré’s people of color is “Criole Candjo,”[4] a song of intervention indicates how incisively the undetermined origin, but certainly popular in linguistic and semantic shifts addressed by the Louisiana as well. Its protagonist, a “Criole” lad, declension model mark the history of the word looks finer than any local white lad (“In zou’ in ‘creole.’ The aim of this paper is, however, to zène Criole Candjo, / Belle passé blanc dan suggest that the same model can be applied to a dan là yo,” Krehbiel 118). By claiming that he variety of terms, especially in the vast, entangled was more handsome than any white lad, the realm of Atlantic history. The following pages lyrics racially connote the “Criole Candjo” as a outline one declension that may trace the main person of color, or, to put it with Thompson, an oscillations of the term ‘creole’ and ground them “irresistible Afro-Creole seducer” (258). on exemplary texts. It is important to clarify that The 19th century sets in motion the oscillations the declension delineated in this study lays no that will mark the history of the term, as well as claims to exhaustiveness. Several declensions its progressive politicization and racialization. In can be traced in different geographical locations, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase marked the ending as well as grounded on different selections of a society that contemplated three main racial of primary material. Since, as it has been categories: the white, European-descended established, declensions imply repeated shifts of population, the free people of color, and the meaning and thus generate textual ambiguities, African American slaves, but from 1803 on “the the present analysis will anchor the declension Creole had to choose a racial designation in the of creoleness in literary and cultural texts to binary system enforced by Protestant Anglo- better emphasize, when possible, strategies of America” (Kein 282). As the Anglo-American ambiguation and disambiguation. social order relied on a rigid racial binary that split Scholars of creoleness agree that, in the 18th the population into white or black, the creoles of century, ‘creole’ meant born in the colonies and Louisiana – especially the free creoles of color – lacked racial connotations; it equally applied to found themselves in a position of ambiguation, white, black, or mixed-race individuals. Historian where they were urged to clearly mark their Charles Barthelemy Roussève offers a baptismal racial affiliation. In 19th-century Louisiana, free record of “a slave from Jamaica, referred to as people of color pressed against the limits of the a ‘nègre créole’” (24) from 1779 as evidence Anglo-American social and racial order. Many that the word ‘creole’ could designate a black of them were wealthy and influential citizens, individual. In addition to archival documents such owned slaves, and, most importantly, they felt as baptismal records, testaments, court acts, culturally French and showed little appreciation and newspaper clippings, evidence that the term of the imported American culture (Kein 74). ‘creole’ until the 19th century equally applied The poetry anthology Les Cenelles, edited by to white Louisianans and Louisianans of color Armand Lanousse in 1845, is illustrative of the is found in cultural texts as well. Arguably the predicament of free people of color in Louisiana. most prominent artistic expression in the Creole The famous anthology is a collection of works by language before the 19th century, creole folk Louisianan authors of color and is acknowledged songs inaugurate our declension of creoleness to be the first collection of African American in Louisiana, especially because they are poetry in U.S. history,[5] but is often “excluded concerned with phenomena of interclass and from major anthologies of African American forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 101-115 105

literature (see Haddox 757). This might be due to physiognomy” and therefore, supposedly, of the absence of race-related issues: “in the poetic whiteness (Dominguez 133). It is important to expressions of the contributors to Les Cenelles,” note that the influential 1945 English translation Latortue and Adams explain, “the tyranny of the of Les Cenelles edited by E. M. Coleman is titled color line and the burden of race were to find Creole Voices: Poems in French by Free Men only rare and subtle acknowledgment” (ix). The of Color. In Coleman’s understanding of the elusive racial politics of the collection have made collection’s poetics and politics, the category it hard for scholars of American literature invested of creoleness gains unequivocal prominence. in a militant concept of Black art [6] to place Coleman’s title is antipodal to Lanousse’s and Les Cenelles within either the American or the his poets’ cautious assignation of creoleness, African American literary canons. In Lanousse’s which shows how the politics of the term have introduction to the volume – which promises to significantly shifted. be “a brief, precise exposition of the reasons The ambiguity of creole identity reached for the [volume’s] existence” (xxxvii) – the racial its peak with the end of the Civil War and the identity of the authors remains unacknowledged. Abolition of slavery. The category of gens de This, in combination with the consistent adoption couleur libres was now legally undistinguishable of French romantic aesthetics, can be read as from the former slaves and from the white a ‘whitening’ of these authors’ experiences. population – the ambiguity became untenable. One must also consider, however, that in these The introduction of Jim Crow laws and the years, the category of free people of color segregation of public spaces urged the creoles was being assimilated into Anglo-American to clarify their racial affiliation, and practices of styled blackness and Louisianan creoleness disambiguation proliferated as a consequence. In was being equalized with a European-styled books, pamphlet, articles, and public talks, white whiteness. In this framework, Les Cenelles Louisianans insistently argued that unblemished constitutes an ambiguating moment in so far as white ancestry was a requirement to rightfully be it resists this polarization by positing a European called a ‘creole’; Louisianans of color who were styled blackness as the basis for an emerging not able to claim it were pronounced black and Louisianan literary canon. banned from creoleness. It is in Gayarré’s “The The thinness of racial politics in Les Cenelles Creoles of History and the Creoles of Romance” is also reflected in its use of the word ‘creole,’ (1885) that a vocabulary of disambiguation which appears sporadically across the manifests itself with particular vigor. Gayarré’s anthologized poems and almost consistently in lecture is driven by the urge to dispel suspicions connection with whiteness or no specific racial that creoles are anything else but white, which identity. The addressee of Dalcour’s “Lesaveux” he does with palpable frenzy. The concept that (Declaration) is also a “créole” (48), but the creoles are “native[s] of European extraction” (2), speaker makes no reference to her outward “native[s] of pure white blood” (3), and without appearance; the same is true for the “barde “a particle of African blood in their veins” (3) is créole” (creole bard) in Armand Lanousse’s own reiterated ad nauseam – much to the author’s “Le Songe: Á Mademoiselle C***” (The Dream: To delight, who, by his own admission, “cannot Ms C***”). In Pierre Dalcour’s “Un an d’absence” repeat it too often” (7). (One Year of Absence), the speaker never stops Among the absolutisms that punctuate loving his “créole aux yeux bleus” (Dalcour in Gayarré’s talk, the metaphorical materiality of Latortue and Adams 34, blue-eyed creole), his his divisive language is particularly striking. He “blonde créole” (Dalcour in Latortue and Adams conceives a “line of demarcation – I may say 36). Camille Thierry’s “Ange aux yeux noirs, an impassable one – … between what may be ange créole” (black-eyed angle, creole angel) called these two halves of the population, and has black eyes, but this detail is irrelevant to not the slightest cause of pretext was ever given identify the addressee’s racial identity, as “the for confounding the one with the other” (2). Later full black eye; the raven lustre and classic weight in the text, this ‘color line’ takes the form of a of hair” could have been a marker of the “French mountain range: “It raised Alpine heights, nay, it 106 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

threw the Andes as a wall between the blacks, Gayarré respectively. Gayarré does not waste or colored, and the natives of France, as well time investigating the complexity and poignancy as the natives of Louisiana, or Creoles” (6), and of Cable’s character, who combines Christianity eventually becomes a “barrier of adamant” (10). with Voodoo; quite the opposite, he dismisses it Gayarré’s metaphors are reminiscent of Zygmunt as evidence of the author’s fraudulence. Bauman’s more recent image of the barricade in The racial binary imposed on Louisiana “Modernity and Ambivalence” (1991), which he after 1803 eventually prevailed. The Plessy v. employs to denote the situations of those social Ferguson court case in 1896 “legally dismantled” groups that, within the processes of nation- the category of free people of color (Kein 131), making, “defy classification and explode the who were condemned to function, for the tidiness of the grid” (15). most part of the 20th century, “within a legally segregated and unequal environment designed They are the disallowed mixture of to keep them in degradation and servitude” categories that must not mix. They (Davis 235). The end of the 19th century marks earned their death-sentence by resisting therefore a complete oscillation within the separation. The fact that they would not sit declension, crystallizing the equation between across the barricade had not the barricade creoleness and whiteness. been built in the first place would not be The 20th century ushers a new oscillation considered … a valid defence. (15) of the term ‘creole’ and a new shift in the declension that awards the term different politics Gayarré’s language is one of the forces and a renewed inclusivity in terms of race. In that contributed to the building of a barricade The Negro in Louisiana, a seminal study dated between whiteness and blackness in a society 1937, historian Charles Barthelemy Roussève that under French and Spanish domination had disproves the claim of “certain southern writers” welcomed a certain measure of race and class (Roussève 22) that only whites of pure French fluidity, as illustrated by the folk songs and the and Spanish ancestry could call themselves European-styled blackness of Les Cenelles. creoles (see Midlo-Hall 158). Roussève notes What is perhaps most relevant for our study that “‘free people of color’ and their descendants, of the ambiguation caused by declensions is persons of mixed French, Spanish, negro, and the casus belli that animates Gayarré’s lecture: Indian ancestry … have always referred to a retaliation against the fiction of George W. themselves, when born in Louisiana, as ‘Créoles Cable, especially his novel The Grandissimes de couloeur’” (24). He then calls upon a significant (1880), for its allegedly unfair depiction of “body of evidence” to justify his own use of the Louisiana creoles. The Grandissimes roots the compound “colored Creole” in his own work, most prominent creole families of Louisiana in which he has every intention to use “freely” (24). a history of interracial marriages, imagining Another text that contributed to the redefinition that the head of a prominent creole family of of the term ‘creole’ is Joseph G. Tregle’s “Early New Orleans, Honoré Grandissime, has a half- New Orleans Society: A Reappraisal” (1952) brother of color by the same name. What in (followed by “On That Word ‘Creole’ Again: A Gayarré’s eyes discredits Cable’s novel is his Note” in 1982). In a belligerent register not unlike use of textual ambiguities, which many critics Gayarré’s, Tregle exposes “the creole myth” (21) identify as a distinctive feature of his writing. of aristocratic whiteness as mere fiction, arguing [7] Gayarré resents that a fictional creole lady that the association of creoleness with white may be “the intimate friend of the colored Europeanness “does demonstrable violence to queen of the Voudous, and a Voudou herself historical truth” (Tregle 20), while – a Christian and a Voudou – a worshiper of Christ and of the serpent at the same time. Mr. it is abundantly clear that in the 1820’s Cable is fond of mixtures” (31-32). The excerpt and 1830’s “Creole” was generally used in displays the conflict between ambiguating and Louisiana to designate any person native disambiguating vocabularies, used by Cable and to the state, be he white, black, or colored, forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 101-115 107

French, Spanish, or Anglo-American. (23) complex ambiguities.” The answer to the creole question is thus one that interpellates “immense After Roussève and Tregle reestablished unknown vastitudes” (892). racial inclusivity, the term shifted again towards yet another connotation that exalted, instead of the ‘native’ element (in the 20th century this “Damned for both Worlds”: The Renegade was long past being a marker of difference), the heterogeneity of ancestry. Consequently, The previous section suggested that the for Afro-New Orleaneans in the 1970s, Midlo- declension model may help tracing the evolution Hall notes, “the designations ‘black’ and ‘creole’ of the term ‘creole’ across contingent imperial were irreconcilable” (158). A text, among projects and their post-Empire configurations. others, that crystallized a meaning based on Gayarré’s ante-litteram conceptualization of heterogeneity is “Éloge de la Créolité,” by Jean what I here term ‘declension’ confirms the Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphaël viability of this paradigm for the category of Confiant, which defines creoleness as “mixed creoleness, and important studies[9] have culture” (894),[8] “polyphonic harmony” (902), exhaustively addressed the ambivalence of and the “interactional or transactional aggregate the creole experience over the centuries. The of Caribbean, European, African, Asian, and next step will be to hypothesize declensions for Levantine cultural elements, united on the different key terms in Atlantic history to test the same soil by the yoke of history” (891). “Éloge” viability of this model on a larger scale. The term deracializes the category of creoleness in favor ‘renegade,’ for example, lends itself to a similar of a paradigm that assumes mixed-race ancestry classification. but does not require its mapping: “In multiracial The three definitions of ‘renegade’ provided societies, such as ours, it seems urgent to quit by the Oxford Dictionaries shed light on some using the traditional raciological distinctions important dissonances. The first entry defines and to start again designating the people of our ‘renegade’ as “a person who deserts and betrays countries, regardless of their complexion, by the an organization, country, or set of principles”; the only suitable word: Creole” (893). second shifts the emphasis from the secular to “Éloge” is a disambiguating as well as an the spiritual, “a person who abandons religion; ambiguating gesture. It is disambiguating, as an apostate,” but adds that this meaning is it retains the defining gestures of manifestos. “archaic.” The characterization of the renegade It is ambiguating in so far as it resists the as an individual who betrays either country or “requirement for transparency,” to use Eduard religion is important to introduce the first shift in Glissant’s phrasing (Poetics of Relation 190), the declension, which transfers the term from the that had been essential to the advocates of white religious to the cultural sphere, from apostasy creoleness, and aims for a strategic opacity to desertion – although the two categories in Glissant’s sense: a refusal to be judged remain, to a certain degree, enmeshed. The according to an alien scale and its intrinsic third definition – “A person who behaves ina hierarchies, a “subsistence within an irreducible rebelliously unconventional manner” – gestures singularity,” where “irreducible” quite literally at the last part of the ‘renegade’ declension, means the impossibility of being reduced (190). where the term indicates a subversive individual The authors of “Éloge” also integrate ambiguity existing beyond the law and on the margins, but in their understanding of creoleness, which is – to also, on a more positive note, a revolutionary. return with circular motion to the beginning of this “Rebelliously unconventional” behavior evokes section – mindful of contradictions and open to a mixture of criminality and heroism, and it is the incongruities. Creoleness, according to “Éloge,” oscillation between these two poles that marks bears the marks of colonial displacement and the ‘renegade’ declension. The following pages “its negation,” it springs from both “acceptance will highlight salient moments in the evolution of and denial,” and remains therefore “permanently the word from ‘renegado’ to ‘renegade,’[10] from questioning, always familiar with the most the 17th century until today, with special emphasis 108 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

on the shift that allowed “the vilest word in the and Luxury, and Liberty” (43), while those English language” (“Exploits of Daniel Boone “who toiled” were immune to apostasy (43). #2”) to designate some amongst the “heroes These lines indicate that the act of renegation of the American Revolution” (Russell 3). The involves culture as much as religion: they imply tension between villainy and heroism generates that, to become a renegado, one first has to much of the ambiguity that characterizes this breach the Puritan dedication to hard work and declensed term. It also prompts questions frugality. The “total and final backsliding” (43) such as when did the term shed its stigma and into apostasy is merely the consequence of become associated with anarchic heroism? a gradual disengagement from Puritan social What historical events enabled this shift? Our and communitarian tenets: in other words, the example[11] of ‘renegade’ declension begins product of a declension in its pejorative sense of with Cotton Mather’s anathema against Christian descent into abjection. ‘renegadoes’ in Barbary and ends with present- As anticipated, a key concept in Mather’s day texts where ‘renegade’ is synonymous understanding of the renegade experience is with the underbelly of society, counterculture confusion. The term occurs twice in A Pastoral (see Russell 20), or rebels and dissidents (see Letter to the English Captives in Africa, when Hamilton 1). As the analysis of Mather’s text Mather claims that God has “filled [the renegade] will show, the second instance of ambiguity with confusion” (4) and condemned him/her to embedded in the notion of ‘renegade,’ in addition “Eternal Confusions in another World” (Mather, to the tension between villainy and heroism, is Letter 11). The confusion inherent to the act of connected to the identitarian instability implied renegation is best expressed in the following in this condition. Renegades, Colin Calloway passage: explains “rarely, if ever, completed the transfer of allegiance from one society to another. … How Forlorn, how Undone, how Damned The term implies incomplete acculturation. for both Worlds had you been, if you had Confusion, not conversion, typified the renegade been given over to become such vile experience” (44). Deserters? You saw the strange Hand of Puritan minister Cotton Mather vehemently God, upon Them: You saw them Hated, pronounced himself against renegadoes in two Loathed, Scorned, both by the Baptised sermons: Letter to the English Captives, in Africa: and the Circumcised: You saw they got nothing, but were Temporally more abject From New England (1698) and The Glory of than they were before, & Eternally siezed Goodness (1703). In these two sermons, Mather’s by Chains of Darkness impossible ever to main concern are the American Christians be taken off. (Mather, Glory 43) experiencing captivity in North Africa after their ships had fallen prey to Barbary pirates. The In this passage, the tone softens and veers sermons express condolence for their situation towards compassion. Mather does not Other in a mostly sympathetic tone, but also contain renegades; he does not resort to the less-then- strikingly severe warnings against “stretch[ing] human epithets he reserves for North Africans, out their hands unto the Impostor Mahomet, such as “dragons” or “monsters” (Mather, Letter and his accursed Alcoran” (Mather, Glory 40), 10-11). Rather he ambiguates them, and casts and thus becoming “wretched renegadoes” them in an in-between condition marked by (Mather, Letter 4-5). Mather acknowledges little “eternal confusions” (Mather, Letter 11), where value in apostasy. The actions of renegadoes they are “Damned for both Worlds” and abhorred are despicable, cowardly, and weak beyond “both by the Baptized and the Circumcised.” comprehension. “One would have thought,” he Hence, the renegado’s is an indecipherable fate, muses, “that if any thing should have made them and a less intelligible kind of damnation was turn Infidels, it would have been their Adversity,” reserved to those who, to put it like Calloway, but “the Renegades ... were those who suffered did not complete the transfer of allegiance. the least share of Adversity” (Mather, Glory 42) The figure of the renegade gains momentum and lived in “Gentlemen’s Houses” in “Idleness, forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 101-115 109

on the North American Frontier, where fears of Most importantly, both characters are ultimately cultural contamination and anxieties regarding negative examples or Frontier “antitypes” to use territorial hegemony become all the more Slotkin’s term (291). However, while Mather relevant. In this context, the renegade retains the was categorical in the condemnation of the negative markers one sees in Mather, yet, s/he renegades’ deeds, Cattermole’s and Irving’s leaves the margins to occupy an important place final judgments on their atypical ‘heroes’ show in the American mythopoesis. In this context, significant margins for ambiguity. the renegade “evolved into an embodiment of According to Daniel Barr, literature from the American paranoia, fear, and guilt” (Barr 1). In the 19th century conducted a systematic vilification 19th-century United States, the word renegade of Girty that eventually allowed him to reach a has veered decisively towards the secular mythical status comparable to Daniel Boone’s sphere; its main meaning is no longer apostasy (see 1). Yet, he claims that these texts “labored or spiritual defection, but cultural transfer. to expunge all traces of humanity from his It is mostly applied to individuals who have myth” and “portra[y] a man who is at best a abandoned white civilization and joined Native remorseless killer and at worst an emissary of American tribes.[12] Figures of “indianized white Satan sent to destroy God’s chosen people” men” (FitzGerald passim) occupy a significant (6). Consistently with Barr’s reading, Famous position in the national mythology. An example Frontiersmen frames “the renegade” (Cattermole of that is the iconic Daniel Boone, who, having passim) Simon Girty as a monstrously cruel fought on the side of the Americans, is not individual. The chapter begins on an ominous remembered as a renegade. The opposite is true note: “The name of Simon Girty was a synonym for his infamous “antithesis,” Simon Girty (Slotkin, for terror. … Savage cruelty gloated over its qtd. in Barr 3), who caused significant losses to prominence” (89) and ends on a similar one. the American army while fighting for antagonistic Other passages in the text, however, present a Natives tribes. This section will document the different assessment of Girty’s life and career, next step of the renegade declension – the one that challenges the reputation of Girty American Frontier – and its ambiguities through literature as exclusively vilifying. Cattermole the two 19th-century renegades Edward Rose allows that “no champion of savage cruelty ever and Simon Girty, with special emphasis on the held such indomitable sway over his barbarous oscillation between heroism and villainy. associates” (94). Terms such as “champion” Popular texts dealing with Frontier and “indomitable” betray a measure of awe. renegades such as E. G. Cattermole’s Famous This posture is not limited to Cattermole but Frontiersmen, Pioneers and Scouts (1883) and returns in other texts that narrated Girty’s life. In Washington Irving’s The Adventures of Captain Simon Girty the Outlaw, Uriah Jones speaks of Bonneville (1837) reproduce some of the “the genius of Simon Girty” (qtd. in Barr 7) and stereotypes associated with Mather’s religious James T. Morehead calls him “an incendiary” in renegades. To begin with, renegades are caught his speech “An Address in Commemoration of in between worlds. Cattermole explains that the First Settlement in Kentucky” (qtd. in Barr Girty fought for the Natives as well as for the 7). Cattermole is even more explicit in pointing Americans with equal fierceness (92). Similarly, out Girty’s merits by embedding different voices, in spite of Rose’s rapid ascension in the Crows’ like that of one Simon Kenton who never “fail[ed] power ranks, Irving points out that he remains to think or speak of the renegade, except in the to them “a stranger, an intruder, a white man” most affectionate manner” and as “fearless, (228). Irving views Rose’s involvement in tribal skillful, and heroic” (92). Cattermole also politics as detrimental to the tribe itself, which he introduces a second chronicler who remembers allegedly pushes to the edge of an intestine war. Girty as “a man of extraordinary strength, power Both Girty and Rose are remembered for their of endurance, courage and sagacity” (98). dissolute morals: the former being a heavy drinker The oscillation between villainy and heroism (Cattermole 97), the latter possibly killed by a is even more pronounced in Washington Irving’s disease “brought on by his licentious life” (230). account of the “renegade” (Irving 228) Edward 110 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

Rose in The Adventures of Captain Bonneville. non-Christian spirituality, suggesting he has left The narrator often reproduces narratives that his faith as well as culture. construct renegades as a threat: for instance, Positive connotations become dominant in Rose makes “exceedingly generous” (229) 20th- and 21st-century uses of the term, which gifts of American goods to his adoptive tribe, identify the figure of the renegade with cultures of a gesture that brings to mind what was known resistance. The following paragraphs will center to be “the most infamous of the … renegadoes’ on recent works of non-fiction that carry the achievements,” the transfer of technology to word ‘renegade’ in their title. As a direct follow- the enemy (Fuchs 51). While Girty is known up to Frontier renegades, it is worth taking a for having inflamed conflict between settlers look at Steven Rinella’s article “The Renegade,” and Natives, “inciting them to take up arms published on American Heritage in 2001, where against the Americans” (Cattermole 93), Irving’s the conservative white author specifically account on Rose is surprisingly celebrative of addresses the thin membrane between heroism the renegade’s talent for diplomacy. Rose “is and villainy and aims for a re-evaluation of the said … to have opened [the Blackfeet’s] eyes to figure of 17th-century French explorer Etienne the policy of cultivating the friendship with the Brulé, who lived with the Hurons and was white man” (230). The Eurocentric quality of this possibly killed by his adoptive tribe. Rinella statement is evident, as Rose is attributed with laments the wave of revisionism that allegedly introducing the Natives to the notion of amicable vilified old pioneers in the 90s and asks whether negotiation, but the narrator doubtlessly speaks “maybe the old pioneering villains should be re- of Rose’s mediation skills with admiration. examined for heroic attributes.” Rinella lingers [13] The term “hero” appears repeatedly both on Brulé’s attempt to boycott his countrymen’s in Cattermole (92, 96) and Irving (230) with imperialist project as an admirable endeavor, reference to renegades. Irving’s “vagabond hero” but at the same time celebrates Brulé through is particularly worth noting, as it underscores the an exceptionalist vocabulary of Frontier heroism renegade’s “incomplete acculturation” (Calloway and pioneering, branding these practices as anti- 44) and ultimate lack of belonging. imperial. “It’s odd,” Rinella notes, “that no one The implications of the term have significantly ever discusses Brulé as an early force against changed from the previous century and Mather’s globalization, a person defending an indigenous sermons. In both cases, it remains dense with way of life that was fading.” In Rinella’s evaluation, ambiguity: in Mather the renegado is suspended Brulé becomes an instrument of “anti-imperial in a vacuum between two religions, thus, his/ imperialism,” to use Frank Kelleter’s formulation her condition and motives remain illegible. The (31): As the author strives to disentangle Brulé perception of the Frontier renegade oscillates front European imperialism, he entangles him between villainy and heroism, and the figure in discourses of American exceptionalism. already gleams with the positive streak that Rinella’s renegade is a hero in disguise, “pointed would become dominant in later stages of the at with scorn on all sides,” called a “lunatic” declension. Although Mather’s text foreshadows and “a total pagan” (Rinella) by his imperialist the identification of a community of believers countrymen, through his defection to Indian with a national community, his renegadoes are life Brulé becomes enmeshed in practices of primarily religious apostates. In the 19th century, American nation-building. with the burgeoning of an American national Although it would be necessary to trace a conscience, renegades are those who revert declension of ‘renegade’ that is exclusive to the template of the Frontier by choosing ‘the African American culture, for the moment our wilderness’ over ‘civilization.’ Religious betrayal, analysis will linger on lamentably few instances. however, does not fully cease to be part of the The concept of the renegade slave, or the slave renegade’s character. When Cattermole lyrically who escaped, has been used with reference to refers to Girty as “a host of evil spirits” (99), he Maroon communities in the 17th century.[14] In points at an outcast and a man possessed. But her book Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics the simile also defines Girty through a vague and Formal Innovation in African American 111 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

Poetry (2011), poet and critic Evie Shockley uses “I wouldn’t say I’m a renegade, and I don’t resent the word renegade to describe “the rebellious, authority but I think there’s a bit of that in me nonconformist approaches the poets in [her] now today.” In this last comment, Williams, too, study have taken in their aesthetics” (15). She equates renegades with individuals who “resent also draws attention to Harryette Mullen’s use of authority,” but, most importantly, he admits that the word ‘renegade’ in her poem “Denigration,” this label makes him “proud.” William’s standpoint which Mullen intersperses with words containing is reminiscent of bell hooks, when in Talking the morpheme ‘neg’ or ‘nig’ but with remote or Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (1989), no etymological connection with Blackness, she explains that her pseudonym is a tribute to a such as “denigration” itself, “enigma,” “neglect,” distant relative who ‘talked back’: “I claimed this “negligible,” “negate,” and others, among which legacy of defiance, of will, of courage, affirming “renegade.” Mullen draws an arch between my link to female ancestors who were bold and Maroons and Spanish renegades, reflecting, as daring in their speech” (hooks 210). Both William a matter of fact, on the term’s declension from and Shockley proudly participate in a community the Spanish to the English context: “Though defined by the act of renegation as subversion. Maroons, who were unruly Africans, not loose This shows that renegades currently occupy a horses or lazy sailors, were called renegades in desirable position in the American imagination, Spanish, will I turn any blacker if I renege on this as contemporary authors – albeit from opposite deal?” (Mullen 19). In the logics of “Denigration,” sides of the political and race spectrum – show none of these words, including renegade, “can a generalized investment in establishing a escape the racial connotation” (Shockley 15). continuity, be it familial, ideological, or emotional, An empowering use of the term ‘renegade’ between renegades of the early Americas and in Poetics can be found not only in the book’s of today. Rinella urges his readers to reconsider corpus, but in its paratext as well. Shockley Etienne Brulé’s exploits; Williams, Shockley, dedicates the book to a list of names, and then and Mullen highlight the continuity between adds “Renegades, All.” Through this gesture, Maroon communities and present-day forms Shockley reclaims and repossesses the term of Black activism. While Cattermole dismisses ‘renegade,’ divesting it of its derogatory value Girty’s personality as “unenviable” (92), current and infusing it not only with subversive power, assessments of the renegade experience show but also with love. The author’s emotional otherwise. It might be helpful at this point to commitment to the “renegades” she dedicates remember Gayarré’s ante-litteram definition of her book to adds up to her reclaiming of the declension, according to which a word could word in her title and argument. Shockley not only assume “a meaning that is the very reverse repossesses the word intellectually to indicate of its primitive signification” (Gayarré, qtd. in a subversive aesthetic, but also emotionally to Dominguez 144). Gayarré claims this is the honor the character and work of a community of case for ‘creole,’ but the same can be said about individuals dear to her. The act of reclamation is ‘renegade.’ therefore both public and private. In “Tense and Tender Ties,” Ann Stoler A similar repossession through emotional invites us to use comparisons as windows investment involves Maroon descendant David onto interactions across borders, with an Williams. In an interview with BBC, Williams eye on universal principles and the ways in defines Maroons as “marauders, renegades which they are applied in different imperial who would live in the hills and come down to spaces (see 847). Moving away from universal try to free the other slaves, steal livestock and principles in favor of a more limited focus on the fight the white landowners.” Williams equates microhistory of single concepts and figurations, renegades with “marauders” but also with agents this analysis tests the declension as a practice of resistance who sabotaged slave owners – “a of comparison. By observing the reorganization thorn in the side of the English planters” (“The of racial, moral, and religious constellations Rebel Slave”) – in solidarity with fellow slaves. “I around the life span of a word, declensions feel quite proud to be honest,” Williams continues, reverse the act of translation, which is at the forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 101-115 112

basis of the comparative endeavor. While [6] For a discussion of Black Aesthetics see Shockley 2011. translation seeks different words to express Especially 2-3, where Shockley questions a vision of Black art as necessarily “associated with militant, revolutionary (almost) identical meanings across languages politics and angry, incisive criticism of white supremacy and and cultures, declension traces the different racial oppression” (2-3). meanings articulated by (almost) identical [7] Aylin Turner speaks of a poetics of “mild incongruity” words. They bring to light what Glissant in Le (14), Ekstrom notes that Cable’s editors believed that discours antillais calls “equivalences that do the author’s “greatest fault” was “confusion” (Gilder, qtd. not unify” (466), mapping the drastic semantic in Ekstrom 88). Finally, the English newspaper Saturday Review wrote that “a certain dimness of style” gave Cable’s oscillations of words that remain substantially writing a “hazy effect” (qtd. in Ekstrom 154). unvaried across centuries and empires. [8] Translations by Mohamed B. Taleb Khyar, published in Callaloo in 1990. Endnotes [9] In addition to those mentioned in the former section, see [1] The research work that led to these result was the seminal texts by Bauer and Mazzotti (eds.) 2009 and carried out in collaboration with Barbara Buchenau. This Goudie 2006. article builds on a argument developed in Buchenau, [10] For information on the comparable figure of the “‘Neophytes’, ‚renegados‘, ‚creoles‘: Dynamiken der (Dis) Dönme, the Jewish convert to Islam in Turkey, refer to the Ambiguierung in nordamerikanischen Diskussionen des work of Kader Konuk, especially “Eternal Guests, Mimics, Wandels vom Kolonialismus zur Nationalstaatlichkeit.” The and Dönme: The Place of German and Turkish Jews in argument was part of an application for a Research Group Modern Turkey” (2007). (Forschergruppe) titled “Ambiguität und Unterscheidung: Historisch-kulturelle Dynamiken,” which Barbara Buchenau, [11] It is important to reiterate that multiple declensions are along with other Principal Investigators, submitted to the possible. DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) in 2018. The funding for the Research Group proposal, coordinated by [12] See also Barbara Buchenau’s work on cultural Benjamin Scheller and based at the University of Duisburg- conversion in Early America, especially “The Captive’s Essen (Historisches Institut), was approved in September Crucible: Haudenosaunee Violence in Early North 2018. For more information see the Research Group’s American Narratives of Christian and Cultural Conversion” description at https://www.mercur-research.de/projekte/ (2013); “Ethnic Performance and the Self-Representation ambiguitaet-und-gesellschaftliche-ordnung/ of Frederick Philip Grove” (2012); “The Goods of Bad Mobility: Pierre-Esprit Radisson’s Relation of my Voyage, [2] My understanding of ambiguity derives from Scheller et being in Bondage in the Lands of the Irokoits, 1669/1885” al. 2018. See also Hoffarth and Scheller, Ambiguität und (2012); and “Alternate Identities and Creolities in Canadian die Ordnungen des Sozialen im Mittelalter (2018): esp. the Literary Discourse” (2008). introduction tot he volume: “Ambiguität und die Ordnungen des Sozialen im Mittelalter: Zur Einführung.” [13] The narrator also tributes Rose with the resolution of another “tumult” (230) between Natives and settlers. [3] One example among many others of these multiple The episode is similarly Eurocentric and the narration is crossings is the song “Vous t’e in Morico!” (“You are a confusing as to who originates the conflict, but eventually Blackamoor!” Monroe 37), inspired by the true story of the narrator blames the Natives, who “became insolent” a woman who sued a neighbor who insinuated that she (230). was of mixed-race descent. The speaker begins the song by revealing Toucouyoute’s attempt to pass as white, [14] Maroon’ was “the name given by English speakers to depicting a liminal figure that dwells at the intersection of black people who ran away from slavery to live in isolated, class and race. “Toucouyoute, mo connain vous, vous t’é hidden communities in the hills of Jamaica or the South in morico!” (“Toocooyute, too well I know, a Blackamoor are Carolina swamps” (Schockley 15). For more information on you!” Monroe, 37). It is only after the speaker’s revelation the connection between renegade and Maroons, see also that Toocooyute’s blackness may obstacle the addressee’s Lokken 2014, and Vaughan 2012. social ascendance, as before, one assumes, Toocooyute passed as white: one has to know her “too well” to know she is not. See Thompson, “‘Ah Toucoutou, ye conin vous’: History and Memory in Creole New Orleans.” Works Cited [4] M. L. E. Moreau de Saint-Méry describes the Candio as “un africain ou nègre créol, occupé de plaisir, et chérissant “Ambiguität und gesellschaftliche Ordnung.” Mercur: sur-tout la danse” (Moreau de Saint-Méry in Jenson,254). Mercator Research Center Ruhr. Web. https:// [5] See Langer Cohen and Stein 253; Jaynes 506; www.mercur-research.de/projekte/ambiguitaet-und- and the entry on “Les Cenelles” in Oxford References, gesellschaftliche-ordnung/ http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/ Bal, Mieke. Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough authority.20110803095558100. Guide. U of Toronto P, 2002. Print. 113 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

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Hamilton, Neil A. Rebels and Renegades: A Chronology Boone #2. Quality Comics, 1956. Print. of Social and Political Dissent in the United States. Monroe, Nina. Bayou Ballads: Twelve Folk Songs from Routledge, 2002. Print. Louisiana. Schirmer, 1921. Print. Hazaël-Massieux, Marie-Christine. Textes Anciens en Mullen, Harryette. “Denigration.” Sleeping with the Créole Français de la Caraïbe-Histoire et Analyse. Dictionary. U of California P, 2002: 19. Editions Publibook, 2008. Parham, Angel Adams. American Routes: Racial Hoffarth, Christian and Benjamin Scheller. “Ambiguität Palimpsests and the Transformation of Race. und die Ordnungen des Sozialen im Mittelalter: Zur Oxford UP, 2017. Print. Einführung.” Ambiguität und die Ordnungen des Sozialen im Mittelalter. De Gruyter, 2018. 1-10. “Renegade.” Oxford Dictionaries Online. Oxford UP. Web. Print. 01 Apr. 2019. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/ definition/renegade hooks, bell. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. South End Press, 1989. Print. Rinella, Steven. “The Renegade.” American Heritage. 52.6 (2001). Web. 01 Apr. 2019. www.americanheritage. Irving, Washington. The Adventures of Capitain Bonneville. com/renegade. 1837. Putnam and Son, 1868. Print. Roussève, Charles Barthelemy. The Negro in Louisiana: Jaynes, Gerald D. Encyclopedia of African American Aspects of His History and His Literature. Johnson Society, vol. 1, 2005. Print. Reprint Corporation, 1937. Print. Jenson, Deborah. “Mimetic Mastery and Colonial Mimicry Russell, Thaddeus. A Renegade History of the United in the First Franco-Antillean Creole Anthology.” The States. Simon and Schuster, 2011. Print. Yale Journal of Criticism. 17.1 (2004): 83-106. Print. Shockley, Evie. Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Kein, Sybil, ed. Creole: The History and Legacy of Formal Innovation in African American Poetry. U of Louisiana’s Free People of Color. LSU Press, 2002. Iowa P, 2011. Print. Print. Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: The Kelleter, Frank. “Transnationalism, The American Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600-1860. U Challenge.” Review of International American of Oklahoma P, 2000. Print. Studies. 2.3(2003): 29-33. Print. Stoler, Ann Laura. “Tense and Tender Ties: The Politics of Konuk, Kader. “Eternal Guests, Mimics, and Dönme: The Comparison in North American History and (Post) Place of German and Turkish Jews in Modern Colonial Studies.” The Journal of American History. Turkey.” New Perspectives on Turkey, vol. 37, 88.3 (2001): 829-865. Print. 2007, 5-30. 21 Jul. 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2019. www. cambridge.org/core/journals/new-perspectives-on- “The Rebel Slave.” BBC Online. 11 July 2008. Web. 1 Apr. turkey/article/eternal-guests-mimics-and-donme- 2019. http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/ the-place-of-german-and-turkish-jews-in-modern-tu articles/2007/03/16/190307_slave_rebel_feature. rkey/90927E4630DE28FB61FDF9C14F4EAC97 shtml Krehbiel, Henry Edward. Afro-American Folksongs: A Study Thompson, Shirley. “‘Ah Toucoutou, Ye Conin Vous’: History in Racial and National Music. Schirmer, 1914. Print. and Memory in Creole New Orleans.” American Quarterly. 53.2 (2001): 232-266. Print. Lanousse, Armand. Les Cenelles. Ed. Regine Latortue and Gleason R. W. Adams. 1845. G. K. Hall & Co, 1979. Tregle, Joseph G. Jr. “Early New Orleans Society: A Print. Reappraisal,” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 18, no. 1, February 1952: 20-36. --- and Edward Maceo Coleman. Creole Voices: Poems in French by Free Men of Color, First Published in ---. “On that Word ‘Creole’ Again: A Note.” Louisiana History: 1845. Associated Publishers, 1945. Print. The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 23.2 (Spring 1982): 193-198. Print. “Les Cenelles.” Oxford Reference Online. Oxford UP. Web. 01 Apr. 2019. http://www.oxfordreference.com/ Turner, Arlin. George W. Cable: A Biography. LSU Press, view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095558100 1966. Print. Lokken, Paul. “A Maroon Moment: Rebel Slaves in Early Vaughan, Umi. Rebel Dance, Renegade Stance: Timba Seventeenth-century Guatemala.” Slavery & Music and Black Identity in Cuba. U of Michigan P, Abolition. 25.3 (2004): 44-58. Print. 2012. Print. Mather, Cotton. A Pastoral Letter to the English Captives in Africa. Green and Allen, 1698. Print. Author’s Biography ---. The Glory of Goodness. Green, 1703. Print.

Midlo Hall, Gwendolyn. Africans in Colonial Louisiana: Elena Furlanetto earned her doctorate in The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth-Century. LSU Press, 1995. Transnational/Transatlantic American Studies Millard, Joe, Sam Citron, and Al Grenet. Exploits of Daniel from the Technical University of Dortmund in 115 E. Furlanetto: Declensions

July 2015 and currently works as a researcher at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She is the author of Towards Turkish American Literature: Narratives of Multiculturalism in Post-Imperial Turkey (2017). Her current research and teaching interests include American literature, postcolonial literatures and empire studies, post- 9/11 cinema, the intersection between American postmodernism and classic mythology, and poetry. Her post-doc project is going to explore the concept of ambiguity in colonial America. Alongside her work in academia, Elena has cultivated her interests in poetry, translation, and self-translation. She has regularly worked as a translator for Italian cultural magazines in the fields of art and architecture since 2008. forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 116-125 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices – A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorian and the Mexican cases [1]

Pablo Campos (Bielefeld University)

Abstract

The field of indigenism has been studied from a wide range of perspectives since the 1970s. The reflections presented in the following essay are part of an attempt to contribute to these efforts from a different angle. Studies of indigenism usually focus on the official indigenist politics and on the scientific approaches that legitimate them. On the following pages I will try to go beyond these approaches in order to understand the significance of the practice which makes indigenism possible in the first place, comparison. Practices of comparison are not only the foundation of science, but of thinking. In concrete terms, the objective of the present work will be to reflect on how ‘modern’ indigenist practices in the 1940s were influenced by ‘earlier’ comparisons in the form of structured structures and structuring structures in Bourdieusian sense. For this purpose, I will analyze and contextualize the early contributions of Mexican and Ecuadorian institutional indigenists to the official journal of the InterAmerican Indian Institute named América Indígena and relate them with ‘earlier’ indigenist production.

Keywords: Indigenism, Practices of Comparison, Cultural Anthropology, Social Anthropology

Introduction of equivalent institutions on a national level, the ‘professionalization’ of indigenists and the Indigenism, understood as a political and consolidation of specific forms of international cultural movement whose starting point may cooperation – a sort of ‘development politics’ be situated at the verge of the 19th century, avant la lettre. was triggered by the imperious necessity The predominant conception of ‘institutional of rethinking, renegotiating and redefining indigenism’ being the ‘real’ indigenism the relations between indigenous and non- represents precisely a huge obstacle in the indigenous populations within the context of matter of studying this phenomenon in its whole the consolidation of ‘modern’ national projects dimension and complexity. Built on the premise in post-colonial America. In disregard of the that replacing the common top-down institutional diversity of motivations, notions and actors approach with a non-structural bottom-up present during the phases of formation and approach is not enough in order to overcome consolidation of the movement, indigenism this limitation, the following work will remove the is today basically associated with the work of focus on indigenism as an ensemble of notions, the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano (I.I.I.), ideals and policies negotiated and applied which was an institution created in 1940 by within an institutional frame, in order to place it governmental delegates of the whole continent on how indigenists reflected while developing – excepting Canada, Haiti and Paraguay – in an and legitimating such notions and ideals in the attempt to coordinate and regulate the production very first place. This approach, which could be and development of indigenist notions, ideals defined as a second-order approach in analogy and policies. The ‘institutionalization’ of the to the Luhmanian concept of second-order movement at this level was only the first step observation – focus on how observers observe within a series of (geo)political-administrative –, will concentrate therefore on the elementary measures which also included the creation social practice with which humans perceive and 117 P. Campos: ‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices

interpret ‘reality’ in order to build their notions related to circumstances of human existence and ideals, namely comparison. The application create systems of durable and transmittable of this perspective has two primary objectives: dispositions, which he identified as habitus. on the first place to demonstrate that ‘modern’ The most decisive aspect of these systems indigenist notions and ideals are significantly of dispositions isn’t however their role as connected to ‘earlier’ practices of comparison structured structures – as Bourdieu describes and, in second place, to contribute with some them –, but their capability of transforming theoretical considerations which could be useful through repetitive application into durable and to study this matter in the future. transmittable structuring structures (98). In this Concretely, the following essay will analyze new form, systems of dispositions do not only how some practices of comparison belonging explain the consolidation of certain practices to what I call ‘early colonial indigenism’ – the but, more importantly, their perdurability. production of indigenist notions and ideals in the Although Bourdieu recognizes the existence of early colonial period – remain the core of ‘modern’ strategically conceived actions and reactions institutional indigenist notions and ideals during apparently independent from this dynamic, he the first decade of institutional life of the I.I.I. also let us understand, that structuring structures For this purpose, I have chosen to focus on the strongly influence the way actors order their ‘modern’ institutional indigenist production of two ideas before they can think strategically. Analog paradigmatic national cases, namely Mexican to the theoretical premise that stimuli can only and Ecuadorian institutional indigenism, and generate certain reactions in actors who are the early colonial indigenist production of two conditioned to perceive them, it is conceivable well known ‘Indian rights advocates’ which I that institutional indigenists thought in a similar would rather call ‘early colonial indigenists’, way as some of their predecessors precisely namely Vasco de Quiroga (1470/78-1565) and because they were strongly influenced by Bartolomé de las Casas (1484-1566). [2] On concrete systems of dispositions which never the following paragraphs I will reflect about the ceased to exist, especially due to their continuous practices of comparison present in the most improving adaptability to new contexts. important articles published by representatives The first article published on the first number of Mexico and Ecuador in the official scientific of América Indígena (1941) was written by no publication of the I.I.I. called América Indígena other than the first director of the I.I.I. and Chief of from 1941 until 1950, and relate those practices Indigenous Matters of the Mexican government, with the ones present in the work of Quiroga the historian and educator Luis Chávez Orozco. and Las Casas. The theoretical frame used in It is necessary to emphasize that this first article, order to approach the following analysis consist due to its foundational character, enjoyed not only of some sociological reflections developed by a high level of legitimacy between indigenists but Pierre Bourdieu for studying the habitus and the also considerable authority. In fact, the 9th article political field. of the convention which gave birth to the I.I.I. It is important to highlight that the focus of the states that the director of the institute will need present work will be laid on the production of to have “recognized competence in indigenous those institutional Indigenists who were able to matters and her/his own comparative knowledge publish their articles in América Indígena, which about the indigenous problem” (my translation automatically leaves aside the contributions of and my cursive) (InterAmerican Indian Institute other institutional actors and of those who weren’t 16). aligned with institutional indigenism, as it is the In this article entitled “Chiapas de los case for example of indigenous organizations. Indios”, Chávez Orozco takes a critical stance on the colonial period, especially regarding Structuring Structures - Mexico its socioeconomic aspects, and compares the contributions of the two indigenous rights In his book Le sense Pratique (Sozialer advocates mentioned above: Bartolomé de Las Sinn) Pierre Bourdieu argues that conditioning Casas and Vasco de Quiroga. Chávez Orozco forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 116-125 118

argues that Las Casas was a demagogue western European Christians. [6] Besides whose legacy was long forgotten by Indians contributing to the official abolition of Indian because it only took place in the world of ideas, slavery, Las Casas’s merit, from a comparative while Quiroga – or “Tata Vasco el Bueno”, as he perspective, was the overcoming of ‘classical’ is supposedly remembered in Michoacán – was ethnological comparisons based on similitudes worshiped by Indians because he gave them towards ethnological comparisons capable of the technical and artistic knowledge required building complex human categories. For this for economic survival within the new colonial purpose, Las Casas and some of his adherents order (8). Although Chávez Orozco didn’t make helped to establish the tertium comparationis explicit statements in regard to his own indigenist ‘culture’ instead of ‘nature’ as the basis for new notions and ideals, he clearly positioned himself comparisons. In this sense, Indians could be with help of the comparison of how these two categorized as humans because they proved to early colonial indigenists compared: while Las be able to create institutions, laws, language and Casas fought for the recognition of the ‘humanity’ complex social structures – besides proving to be of Indians, Quiroga`s emphasis was the social susceptible to religious conversion –, but were and economic transformation and assimilation of classified as ‘culturally inferior’ in comparison Indians. As a historian, Chávez Orozco actively to white western European Christians, who adjusted national history in order to permit the represented the highest cultural stage. [7] perdurability of concrete structuring structures by Chávez Orozco’s conflict with the figure delegitimizing ‘conflicting’ figures. Furthermore, of Las Casas certainly didn´t rest in his legal by choosing this specific historical comparison achievements, but in the establishment of ‘culture’ for such an important occasion, Chávez Orozco as the principal parameter of comparison. The essentially confirmed the existing connection comparison between Las Casas and Quiroga between early colonial and institutional ‘modern’ took place at a time in which cultural anthropology, indigenism. as the legitimate scientific approach to study Returning to Chávez Orozco’s comparison human diversity, was being displaced by social of both priests, it is unquestionable that he anthropology. The difference between both was aware of the importance of Las Casas’ schools laid in the possibility of its application. In contribution regarding the legal status of Indians general terms, for cultural anthropology the idea during the colonial period and even beyond. of culture couldn’t be hierarchical because it is [3] Las Casas was one of the main actors essentially incomparable (cultural relativism). within the theological-philosophical debates The ‘modern’ cultural anthropological approach which took place in the first half of the 16th tried to explain processes of acculturation mainly century, contributing decisively to dismantling from a comparative historical perspective without the common idea that Indians should be the explicit intention of applying this knowledge classified as barbarians. This Idea, product of for practical purposes. On the contrary, social the Aristotelian-Aquinian theological tradition, anthropology opted for the tertium comparationis which could be understood as an even ‘earlier’ ‘social’. All existing tertia comparationis, even form of indigenism, considered barbarians as cultural elements, were declared primarily social. not-humans and therefore “slaves by nature” The main goal of this approach was to enable (Pagden 16). [4] Las Casas’s position in this a systematization of knowledge and therefore regard didn’t question the existence of barbarians the creation of ‘universal rules’ to be applied and the right of western Christian kingdoms to for practical purposes (Barth 119). Once this enslave them, [5] but merely the assumption was accomplished it was possible to compare that Indians belonged to this category. The every society, identify ‘common problems’ and success of Las Casas and those who shared his create generic strategies to deal with them. [8] ideas, however, created the necessity to rethink Social anthropology needed to be pragmatic the category ‘human’ since, even as equitable and focused on the present. The categorizations royal subjects, it was ‘unthinkable’ that Indians made by cultural anthropology, even if they did could be considered completely equal to white recognize the existence of a cultural hierarchy, 119 P. Campos: ‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices

didn’t understand ‘backwardness’ necessarily from Thomas Moore (1478-1535) and the as a ‘problem’, but as an outcome of a unique Leyes de Indias – especially the Leyes de constellation of factors – cultural, economic, Burgos (1512) –, Quiroga believed that in social and even environmental – which order to overcome slavery, exploitation and influenced the cultural development of a certain discrimination, it was necessary to ‘convert’ group. Asymmetrically, social anthropology Indians into productive royal subjects. For this understood ‘backwardness’ as the consequence purpose, Quiroga created the so-called “Town of identifiable social ‘deficiencies’ or ‘problems’ Hospitals”, which were settlements constructed which needed to be overcome. ‘Backwardness’, following European urban patterns, where in this sense, gave each group a value, introducing Indians should live a European life. The Indians new normative categories like ‘miserable’ or who were carefully chosen for this matter ‘decadent’. [9] The consolidation of the global couldn’t leave the towns without permission, categories ‘poor’ or ‘underdeveloped’, which had to live in artificial patriarchal family units, occurred only one decade after the creation of had to learn specific skills in order to work the I.I.I., is certainly a further consequence of the in regular time schemes and were obligated application of this logic. to abandon their languages and traditions in Although the cultural approach of Las order to speak Spanish and become exemplary Casas and the scientific approach of cultural Christians. Besides expressing his admiration anthropology are significantly different, Chávez for Quiroga’s ideals, Chávez Orozco built an Orozco’s intention was to make a statement analogy between Quiroga and a certain Bishop regarding the scientific-political identity of the Olivera, who applied a similar strategy 200 years new institute. In this sense, his article must be later in the same comparative space (Chiapas, understood as a strategic statement. There Mexico). Chávez Orozcos’ description of Vasco are several aspects why the establishment of de Quiroga as a venerated man who was rightly social anthropology as the leading scientific- sanctified by the church shows furthermore how political basis of comparison was so important: indigenists from countries with a deep rooted social anthropology was promoted by some of Christian tradition saw themselves: as a ‘modern’ the most important universities and research version of exemplary missionaries. [11] institutes of the United States, very much The main similarity between Quiroga, linked to governmental institutions and the Olivares and the social anthropological country’s economic elite; its ‘modern’ functional- approach promoted by the first director of structuralist character imported from Great the I.I.I. was certainly the proper formulation Britain and the possibility of employing it as a of the ‘Indian Problem’ as a socioeconomic domination mechanism to administrate colonial problem. It is not possible to ‘accuse’ Chávez or subordinate subjects made it a strategic Orozco of apparently neglecting ‘culture’, project of ‘national security’; the consolidation because he belonged to those indigenists who of the national projects depended completely favored the idea of constructing ‘plurinational’ on the solution to the so-called ‘Indian problem’; States in which Indians could enjoy autonomy etc. The master-minds of the creation of the I.I.I. granted due to their strong cultural identity – for example the US American John Collier, and (Giraudo 28). A possible explanation for the the Mexicans Juan Comas and Manuel Gamio – inconsistencies between a ‘Town Hospital Model’ were all sympathizers of this school. A country and a ‘Plurinational State Model’ regarding like Mexico, with great influence in the formation ‘culture’ would be clearly the prioritization of of ideas in Latin America was, with the strategic the administrative dimension. In this sense, support of the United States, predestined to the importance of ‘culture’ as a comparative lead the continental efforts toward a new era parameter wasn’t inexistent, but simply limited of relations between Indians and Non-Indians to the scope of ‘recognizing’ Indian cultural using the most effective means. [10] units and identifying their cultural characteristics At this point is where the figure of Quiroga in order to develop autonomy projects under becomes crucial. Inspired by the work Utopia governmental indirect administration, which forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 116-125 120

is precisely the political function that social of earlier practices of comparison. Quiroga’s anthropology played, especially in regions under ‘progressive’ early colonial indigenism will colonial control. This interpretation coincides with remain valid under the eyes of those who Giraudo’s observation that Chávez Orozco`s choose to interpret ‘reality’ with the help of a favor for Indian political autonomy derives from comparative constellation constructed around his closeness to the Marxist – Stalinist – theory social and not cultural comparative parameters. of “Oppressed Nations”, which precisely claims The example of the “Town Hospitals” illustrates for socioeconomic equality in a federal political how ‘differences’ can transform into ‘problems’ model based on cultural identity (28). Within this and how socioeconomic ‘disparities’ could be comparative context Chávez Orozco published understood as ‘deficiencies’. Furthermore, the his second article for América Indígena entitled administrative ambition of ‘progressive’ early “The Democratic Institutions of Mexican Indians colonial indigenism represents the core of during the Colonial Period” (my translation), in ‘modern’ institutional indigenism. which he praises the capacity of Indians to rule In countries where ‘progressive’ early their own matters in a political system which indigenist production was isolated and remained grants them a certain autonomy. mostly ‘unregistered’ in the collective memory, The focus on ‘culture’ for recognizing and the link between institutional indigenism and identifying purposes is a constant within the ‘modern’ practices of comparison was weak or Mexican contributions to América Indígena. non-existent. The Ecuadorian experience with Alfonso Caso, a recognized Mexican archeologist the ‘reactivation’ of ‘progressive’ early indigenist and educator, affirms in his article “Definition of practices of comparison, like for example through Indian and the Indian” (my translation) that it is historical narratives, nation building projects or imperative to find a definition for “Indian” which revolutions – all being decisive in the Mexican could remain valid “forever”, projecting this case –, was rather bleak. Because of the certain way of comparing to the endless future perpetuation of the Hacienda domination system (240). The Mexican anthropologist Manuel and its interweaving in the social and political Gamio states in his article “Considerations about dimensions – including religion –, all attempts the Indian Problem in America” (my translation) to alter the status quo were considered not only that more social investigations should be made in an attempt to destabilize the country, but also order to make the “right classifications” and avoid an attempt to destabilize the ‘natural order’. The giving other population groups the “treatments for increasing influence of Haciendas in the history social improvement” (my translation) designed of colonial and republican Ecuador shows for Indians (18). The Mexican journalist Javier furthermore how the consolidation of a certain Uranga, who wrote two articles for América domination system correlates positively with the Indígena, went so far to even entitle one of consolidation of a specific way of comparing, his articles “Don Vasco de Quiroga, what we namely the one which understands Indians as need to do for Indians” (my translation). Uranga naturally ‘others’. [12] The perpetuation of the agreed so much with Quiroga’s practices that he notion of a ‘natural order’ – structured structure transcribed all the rules of the “Town Hospitals” – in which Indians are conceived as ‘others’ in his article, indirectly affirming that they should is therefore the direct consequence of the still be taken literally in the present (58). perdurability of certain de-humanizing practices of comparison – structuring structures –, like the ones Las Casas tried to delegitimize in the Abstract Notions and Ideals - Ecuador famous “Valladolid Debate” and throughout his whole life. The Mexican case presented before illustrates Although the majority of Ecuadorian early clearly how practices of comparison associated institutional indigenists supported the practice- with ‘modern’ institutional indigenism are the oriented ‘progressive’ agenda of the I.I.I., the result of the reproductivity and perdurability, local comparative universe – cognitive frame – but also of the active and conscious adaptation in which they were used to compare and upon 121 P. Campos: ‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices

which the national power structures were built ‘moderate’ comparative views were allowed. The was still dominated by the aforementioned ‘father’ of Ecuadorian indigenism, Pío Jaramillo abstract comparisons. Therefore, the Alvarado, fitted well within this frame: he had incompatibilities between the agenda of the I.I.I. a juridical and a sociological background, had and the Ecuadorian indigenist field – in allusion occupied several governmental appointments to Bordieu’s concept of the political field – can’t and had academic experience. His first book titled be reduced to institutional-political weaknesses The Ecuadorian Indian (my translation) (1922) like the lack of financing and political support, is generally considered the first and the most as Marroquín (173-178) and Becker (51, 54) important Ecuadorian indigenist contribution suggest, but laid mainly on comparative conflicts. besides literary pre-institutional production. [13] [13] Becker confirms this assumption when he Jaramillo Alvarado’s pre-institutional indigenism states that the Instituto Indigenista Ecuatoriano lacked a real connection to any specific (I.I.E.) “was largely limiting its activism to well- anthropological school or ‘indigenist tradition’. meaning liberal pronouncements” (51). As a In this regard, Jaramillo Alvarado’s legacy has matter of fact, on an institutional level Ecuador elements that could be found in social and in was one of the leading members in the early cultural anthropology as well as in Peruvian phase of institutional indigenism: the country and Mexican indigenism: sometimes he argued was a founding member of the I.I.I., it created that Indians should become participants of the its own Indian Institute – I.I.E. – before others market economy, sometimes he argued that did (1943), the countries’ government was the Indians should return to their Ayllus “in order to first south American government to ratify its find their values as social unity” (my translation) adherence to the program and its institution was (Moreno Yánez 57). the first one to publish its own journal in the whole As said before, while Mexican indigenism continent – although it stopped being published intended to assimilate Indians into a white- after only four issues – (46). However, at the mestizo national project through methods of same time, the I.I.E. excluded indigenous actors induced acculturation following the example from the project although their main organization, of Quiroga’s “Town Hospitals”, Ecuadorian the Federación Ecuatoriana de Indios (F.E.I.), indigenism was still very much concerned with had a very much progressive position toward understanding and negotiating the idea of an indigenism and was perfectly aware of the ‘Indian nature’, something which Las Casas had continental developments in this matter, which done five centuries before. Although Las Casas can be observed in the pages of Ñucanchil indeed spent some time actively trying to protect Allpa, their own newspaper. A clear example of Indians from the Encomienda – an ‘early’ version how strong these comparative structures were of the Hacienda –, his practical interventions were and how they kept existing even decades after mostly directed toward Spaniards. Las Casas the creation of the I.I.E. is the application of the struggled to create a common sense between the agrarian reform law in the 1960s, from which not Church, the Encomenderos and the authorities only Indians but also peasants and institutional regarding the treatment of Indians based on a actors with ‘progressive’ views were excluded reconception of their ‘nature’. Encomiendas (Eisenlohr 127). were only wrong if they disrespected the right The common image of 20th century pre- of Indians to be treated as colonial subjects with institutional Ecuadorian indigenism was a the same rights as Spaniards, although from combination between 19th century ‘romantic’ a lower cultural level. Analogically, Jaramillo indigenism’ – especially literary – and the ideals Alvarado was an active defender of Indian rights, of the failed liberal revolution of the first decade but he didn’t question the legitimacy of the white- of the 20th century. The invisibility of socialist mestizo social order based on racial and cultural and indigenous indigenism due to political and hierarchies naturalized by the Hacienda system. ‘natural-order’ concerns was reinforced by the The stronger similarities between Jaramillo ‘professionalization’ of indigenism, in which Alvarado and Las Casas’s approach can be mainly mestizo lawyers and sociologists with found ironically in Jaramillo Alvarado’s discourse forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 116-125 122

at the First InterAmerican Indianist Congress in the work of another Ecuadorian institutional in Pátzcuaro, where the I.I.I. was created and indigenist, Humberto García Ortiz. García Ortiz where Las Casas is buried: was one of the many lawyers-sociologists who worked with Jaramillo Alvarado in the foundation It is more urgent to educate the landowner of the I.I.E., where he was appointed head of [Hacendado] in his responsibility as an the Sociological Department. In 1942 García owner in the comprehension of what the Ortiz wrote his only article in América Indígena Indian means as human capital, as an with the title “Considerations about an Indian instrument of production and consumption, legislation in Ecuador” (my translation) in which than providing the assistance to Indians he analyzed the advantages and disadvantages at the rural schools (my translation) of creating an exclusive – paternalistic – (“Situación Política, Económica y Jurídica” legislation for Indians within the Ecuadorian 77). legal system. However, real hints about his pre-indigenist notions and ideals can be found In contrast to the recurrent participation of in a book published before 1940. During the Mexican institutional indigenists in América research for his book “Short exposition of the Indígena, Jaramillo Alvarado, despite being results obtained in the sociological investigation Ecuador’s main indigenist, only published of some indigenous communities in the Province one article. Disappointingly, his article entitled of Imbabura” (my translation), García Ortiz “Situation of indigenism throughout the continent” came in contact unintentionally with some Afro- (my translation) is a simple summary of reflections Ecuadorian communities living in the Chota about the different indigenist contexts existing in basin. His sociological reflections about this America. Nevertheless, it fortunately entails at experience are resumed in a subchapter titled least some statements which allow us to find “Chota”. In this subchapter García Ortiz argues more consistencies between his indigenism and that ‘Blacks’ can’t be the object of study of the abstract debates about the nature of Indians sociology but rather of a kind of ‘infrasociology’ which took place in the 16th century. Regarding “because sociology studies the spirit and ‘Blacks’ the indigenist context in the United States, belong to the world of nature” (my translation) Jaramillo Alvarado argues that the ‘real problem’ (Ayala Mora 273). in that country weren’t Indians but ‘Blacks’. With The second Ecuadorian indigenist of the following commentary Jaramillo Alvarado importance after Jaramillo Alvarado was the clearly positions ‘Blacks’ in a lower racial-cultural sociologist Victor Garcés. Garcés assisted stage as ‘Whites’ and Indians, just like Las the First InterAmerican Indianist Congress in Casas did when he suggested that more slaves 1940 together with Jaramillo Alvarado, was should be imported from Africa in order to relieve the second director of the I.I.E., and very much Indians from work based on the conception that involved in the first years of institutional life of Indians could be able to reach a higher cultural the House of the Ecuadorian Culture in Quito. level, but ‘Blacks’ couldn’t: His pre-institutional experience was largely the The North American problem with product of his cooperation with the International minorities is not the Indian but the fifteen Labor Organization (I.L.O.), for whom he million Blacks embedded in the main cities worked as a representative in Indian affairs. The of the Union. It is possible to suppose, categorization ‘Indian race’ and the adjectives that if they could turn those millions into ‘backward’ and ‘miserable’ were often used North American Indians they wouldn’t in the documents in which he worked, which hesitate (my translation) (“Situación del suggests that his indigenism was influenced Indigenismo” 128). by some ‘modern’ practices of comparison. In a document from 1946 with the title “Living This dehumanization of ‘Blacks’, which Conditions of the Indigenous Populations in constitutes one of the biggest critiques to Las American Countries” (my translation) he referred Casas’s early colonial indigenism, is also present to all American Indians as “deadweight holding 123 P. Campos: ‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices

back progress” (Living Conditions 1). Garcés best way to ‘incorporate’ Indians to ‘progress’ in wrote a total of four articles for América Indígena. accordance to institutional indigenism priorities. His indigenism can be better appreciated in his In 1971 Rubio Orbe was elected director of the first article titled “The sociability of Indians” (my InterAmerican Indian Institute and went to live translation), which was published in 1942. In in Mexico. Since his appointment as director, this article the author explicitly agrees with the Rubio Orbe stopped publishing articles with his evolutionist Herbert Spencer in the existence own indigenists opinions – although he kept of an evolutionary social scale whose highest teaching and writing elsewhere – in order to point is the ‘social stage’ to which of course use this space for supporting the achievements only ‘Whites’ and ‘Mestizos’ belong. [15] His of institutional indigenism and commemorating concrete proposal was that the I.I.I. create a the life work of some of the first institutional valid classification of human settlements on indigenists – especially of those with social basis of their economic, cultural and social anthropological views –, something similar to conditions. He argued that Ecuadorian Indians, Chávez Orozco’s commemoration of Quiroga’s especially those who he defines as “Indians in work. The idea of ‘Indian nature’ isn’t present in their first quality” (my translation), which could the work of Rubio Orbe. be understood as ‘Indians in their natural form’, don’t have ‘social feelings’ and that their nexus Conclusion with other individuals are never deep, implying that their settlements belonged to the lowest The arguments presented here must be evolutionary stage (“Sociabilidad del Indio” 63- contrasted with the case of other countries and 66). Sharing Garcés’s racial views, the famous backed up by further contextual investigations. Ecuadorian Doctor Pablo Arturo Suárez states Nevertheless, the present approach has already in his only article in América Indígena with the proven to be of great use in order to achieve the title “The Real Situation of the Indian in Ecuador” main objectives of this paper, namely, to prove that (my translation), that Indians suffer “under the indigenism as a practice doesn’t have a ‘before degenerative force of their own race” (my and after’ because it is based on comparison. translation) (62). Practices of comparison are timeless in the Probably the last Ecuadorian institutional sense that ‘early comparisons’ are always indigenist of importance and at the same time the decisive components of future comparisons first Ecuadorian institutional indigenist with a real even if they claim to be ‘new’ or ‘modern’. Thanks anthropological background was Gonzalo Rubio to the analysis of the Mexican and Ecuadorian Orbe. Rubio Orbe’s first book was published as cases, it was possible to observe how practices late as 1947. Becker denotes that Rubio Orbe of comparison can acquire their own dynamic was “very influenced in his interpretations by by becoming structuring structures and not only social science trends in Mexico” (49), which structured structures. The comparison between describes an important consequence of the Mexico and Ecuador shows furthermore how the institutionalization of the political field and the institutionalization of practices can accelerate professionalization of indigenists. This aspect this process considerably – as seen in the case was already discussed by Bourdieu when he of the later Ecuadorian indigenists. Regarding suggested that the production of notions and the specific case of the abstract comparison ideals could be monopolized by institutions. of ‘human nature,’ it would be very interesting Coinciding with Bourdieu’s opinion, Blanchette to observe how this idea evolved through time interprets the role of the I.I.I. as a clearinghouse, – not disappearing – and how it influenced namely a place where knowledge is being different practices and further ideas like racism centrally depurated, produced and transmitted and eugenics. In the specific case of Ecuador, (33). Rubio Orbe published two works for the it would be interesting to analyze how the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, one in the development of a weak national indigenism journal América Indígena in 1949, and one in enable the consolidation of the strongest 1965. In both texts he affirms that education is the indigenous movement in the continent, precisely 124 P. Campos: ‘Early’ and ‘Modern’ indigenist Practices

the contrary as in the Mexican case. ‘modern’ field of research by the American Anthropological Association in 1936 is only one example (De La Cadena 205). Endnotes [8] To give something or – like in this case – someone [1] This article was written within the framework of the a ‘value’ is itself a modern practice of comparison. For Collaborative Research Center SFB 1288 “Practices of Nietzsche ‘value’ cannot be seen as a factor to be used in Comparing. Changing and Ordering the World”, Bielefeld order to establish a relation between comparatas, because University, Germany, funded by the German Research ‘value’ is only valid in relation to the comparata which is Foundation (DFG), subproject B02, Modernity between being attributed to. ‘Values’ can only illustrate deficiencies. ‘Indigeneity’ and ‘Blackness’: Inter-American practices In this regard Nietzsche replaces the idea of ‘value’ with of comparing in the fields of cultural production, social the idea of ‘sense’, which isn’t limited to single comparison sciences, and politics. operations, but which attempts to understand the whole universe in which the comparison is embedded. Precisely [2] The reflections presented in this essay are part of a wider this approach legitimates the notion of ‘social practices of attempt to understand indigenist practices of comparison. comparison’. However, they are also motivated by two experiences gathered at different international conferences in 2018. On [9] US American scientific associations like the Social those events I implied that the work of the Spanish priests Science Research Council and the American Council of Bartolomé de las Casas (1484-1566) and Vasco de Quiroga Learned Societies, strongly linked to the US Government (1470/78-1565) could be understood as ‘indigenist’, and private donors like Nelson Rockefeller, financed precisely because their way of thinking/comparing is still the cooperation between John Collier and Mexican very present in ‘modern’ indigenist practices of comparison. anthropologists in order to create the InterAmerican Indian This assumption provoked so much skepticism, especially Institute (De La Cadena 205). between young researchers, that writing about this specific [10] This ‘paternalistic’ form of understanding indigenism matter became itself a further objective. later became one of the main critiques against it. [3] The efforts of the Escuela de Salamanca and Las Casas [11] The weakness of the Hacienda or Encomienda Model influenced Pope Paul III to expedite the documentSublimis during the early colonial period allowed Indians to co-shape Deus, in which he affirms that Indians where reasonable the power relations between them and the Spanish settlers. beings capable of been converted pacifically. It was the consolidation of de-humanizing practices of [4] The concept of barbarian was ‘Christianized’ by Pope comparison that allowed the progressive disarticulation of Gregorio VI in the eleventh century, leveling it to pagan. Indian Institutions and the consolidation of this model until the second half of the 20th century and in some places even [5] Pope Nicholas V and Pope Alexander the VI had granted until today. More about the relation between Haciendas, the kings of Portugal and Spain the rights to enslave State and indigenous Communities can be found on Olaf barbarian and pagans in the conquered lands. Kaltmeier’s work, especially in his book Kulturen der [De-] Kolonialisierung. Indigene Gemeinschaften, Hacienda und [6] It could be interesting to think about the possibility Staat in den Ecuadorianischen Anden von der Kolonialzeit th of classifying both moments, the 16 century debates bis heute (2016). about the ‘humanity’ of Indians and the formation and consolidation of the indigenist movement, as breaking [12] The weak connection with the ‘centers’ of social points in the history of comparing humans and, therefore, anthropological production – Mexico and the USA – and thinking humanity. The results of this reflection depend on the institutional incompatibilities with the neighboring the definition of ‘social change’ used for the analysis and to Peruvian pre-institutional socialist indigenism were further what extent this definition allows different degrees of social impediments. change. Furthermore, it would be of interest to reflect about the capacity of abstract (Las Casas) and practice oriented [13] Ecuador indigenist literary production was known (Quiroga) practices of comparison for achieving social in all the continent and even abroad. Today the most change. renowned indigenist works are “Cumandá” (1879) from Juan León Mera, an example of ‘romantic indigenism’, [7] Although the classical cultural approach of the Boasian and “Huasipungo” (1934) from Jorge Icaza, an example of school was against the application of anthropological ‘social realism’. knowledge in order to foster change within Indian communities, the employment of ‘culture’ as the comparing [14] The connection between racial evolutionism, racial parameter doesn’t necessarily imply, that ‘change’ was anthropology, eugenics and other racial sociopolitical never envisioned. The most important theologian within and scientific projects may also be connected through the debates which gave Indians the right to be considered ‘systems of dispositions’ to early de-humanizing practices humans or ‘not-barbarians’, the Spanish priest José de of comparison. Acosta (1539/1540-1599/1600), conceived America as a great laboratory where ‘Non-Christians’ could be studied in order to create knowledge useful to the expansion of Christianity (Pagden 150). The importance of ‘change’ within cultural anthropology increased considerably in the 20th century. The creation of “Acculturation Studies” as a forum for inter-american research Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 116-125 125

Works Cited heute. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2016. Print. Marroquín, Alejandro D. Balance del indigenismo: Informe Ayala Mora, Enrique. “Humberto García Ortiz: Pensador sobre la política indigenista en A m é r i c a . de la Nación Ecuatoriana.” AFESE: Revista del México D.F.: Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, Servicio Exterior Ecuatoriano. 54 (2008): 267-280. 1977. Print. Print. More, Thomas.Utopia. Leuven: Printed by Erasmus von Becker, Marc. “The Limits of Indigenismo in Ecuador.” Latin Rotterdam, 1516. American Perspectives. 39.5 (September 2012): 45-62. Print. Moreno Yánez, Segundo E. “La Etnohistoria y los pueblos colinizados: Contribución en el E c u a d o r . ” Blanchette, Thaddeus. “La antropología aplicada y la Procesos: Revista Ecuatoriana de Historia. 5 administración indígena en los Estados (1994): 53-73. Web. 11 Jan. 2019. Unidos: 1934-1945.” Desacatos. 33 (2010): 33-52. Print. Pagden, Anthony. The Fall of Natural Man. The American Indian and the origins of c o m p a r a t i v e Bourdieu, Pierre. Sozialer Sinn – Kritik der theorethischen ethnology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982. Print. Vernunft. Seib, Günther ( T r a n s l a t i o n ) . Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1987. Print. Rubio Orbe, Gonzalo. “Educación e Integración de Grupos Indígenas.” América Indígena. 25.2 (1965): 179- Caso, Alfonso. “Definición del Indio y lo Indio”. América 228. Print. Indígena. 8.5 (1948): 239-247. Print. ---. El Indio del Ecuador. México D.F.: Instituto Indigenista Chávez Orozco, Luis. “Chiapas de los Indios”. América Americano, 1949. Print. Indígena. 1.1 (1941): 7-9.. Print. Suarez, Pablo Arturo. “La Situación Real del Indio en el De La Cadena, Marisol. “The Production of Other Ecuador”. América Indígena. 2.1 (1942): 59-62. Knowledges and its Tensions. From Andeanist Print. Anthropology to Interculturalidad?” World Anthropologies: Disciplinary Transformations within Uranga H., Javier. “Don Vasco de Quiroga – Lo que hay Systems of Power. Ed. Gustavo Lins que hacer por los Indios”. América Indígena. 2.2 Ribeiro and Arturo Escobar. 2006. 201-224.Print. (1942): 57-60. Print. Eisenlohr, Edda.Agrarreform in Ecuador im entwicklungspolitischen Kräftespiel. Author’s Biography Arbeitsunterlage 30/31 zur Lateinamerikaforschung. Dortmund: Hans Albert Steger, 1969. Print. Pablo Campos Recalde was born in Quito, Garcés, Victor Gabriel. “La Sociabilidad del Indio.” América Indígena. 2.1 (1942): 63-66. Print Ecuador. He studied Political Economics at the Duisburg-Essen University (B.A.Sc.) and ---. Living Conditions of the Indigenous Populations in American Countries. Montreal: International Labor InterAmerican studies (M.A.) at the Bielefeld Organization, 1946. Print. University. He worked between 2014 and 2016 Gamio, Manuel. “Consideraciones sobre el Problema as a Research Assistant at the Center for Indígena en América.” América Indígena. 2.2 InterAmerican Studies at the Bielefeld University. (1942): 17-23. Print. Since 2017 he is working as a Research Giraudo, Laura y Juan Martín Sánchez. La Associate and PhD candidate at the same Ambivalente Historia del Indigenismo. university, where he is part of the project SFB Campo Interamericano y Trayectorias Nacionales 1940-1970. Lima: IEP Instituto de 1288 “Practices of Comparing. Ordering and Estudios Peruanos. Serie: América Problema 33, Changing the world”. Outside of the university 2011. Print. he has worked for different NGOs – in Ecuador Jaramillo Alvarado, Pío. “Situación del Indigenismo en el and Germany – and also for the municipality of Continente.” América Indígena. 6.2 (1946) 127-32. Quito, Ecuador. Print. ---. “Situación Política, Económica y Jurídica del Indio en el Ecuador.” Previsión Social: Boletín del Ministerio de Previsión Social y Trabajo. 12 (1941): 35-58 and 13 (1943): 19-34. Print. ---. El Indio Ecuatoriano. Quito: Talleres del Estado, 1936. Print. Kaltmeier, Olaf. Kulturen der [De-]Kolonialisierung. Indigene Gemeinschaften, Hacienda und Staat in den Ecuadorianischen Anden von der Kolonialzeit bis Book Review Section forum for inter-american research (fiar) Vol. 12.1 (Jun. 2019) 127-128 ISSN: 1867-1519 © forum for inter-american research

Weird American Music, by Dorothea Gail. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2018. (Book Review)

Kensedeobong Blessed Okosun (Bielefeld University)

Dorothea Gail’s Weird American Music is a a time span of three decades (1980-2010), she comprehensive and insightful resource tool on investigates the evolution in dimensions of artistic popular music, with strong emphasis on the expression, and their significance within the conflicts between authenticity preservation American cultural landscape. Each case study and capitalistic strangulation engendered by is approached from different roads of enquiry, market forces within certain music subcultures for instance, while commercialization dominates in the United States of America. These the discussions on UR and Jackalope; identity diverse subcultures and musical genres are politics prevails within the argumentation on “representative of the late twentieth- century BarlowGirl and Charles Ives. United States” (12). The writer channels her Situated in Detroit which is prominent for its experience as a long-standing scholar and lively music scene, notably Motown, techno, musician through the monograph tailored for the and Jazz, the Underground Resistance, for one, fields of Musicology and American Studies. maintains authenticity through its ideological The “weird” in Weird American Music stance which involves a tenacious adoption emanates from the “in-betweeness” created by of alternative measures such as defiance tension between authenticity and the market; against ethnic categorization, exploitation of the and between the intrinsic experience of identity mainstream music industry, collective expectation and the cognizant mercantilism of identity (3). of normative media indulgences, etc. Gail notes Gail’s argumentation revolves around five case that UR’s defiance correlates the struggle against studies, namely, the defiant Detroit techno band, enslavement, exploitation and impoverishment Underground Resistance or UR, the conservative which mark the history of Black and Native Christian rock music band, BarlowGirl, the Americans, respectively. The weirdness of UR seemingly hybridized Native American and is made palpable in its unorthodox self portrayal Chicano music of Jackalope, the classical music as being visibly invisible. Their promotional of Charles Ives and the self made jukebox music materials show images of the band members’ of Waffle House. faces hidden behind diverse objects like gas While artists strive to eke a living through their masks and bandanas. The aim is to intensify artistry, they are often encumbered by stringent the mysterious personae, as well as to fortify the rules imposed by power blocs within the market political assertion of being subversive. circuits, which Gail in her introduction, links Although the band, as argued in Chapter to the consumerist culture championed by a Two, has astutely navigated and carved a niche neoliberal market economy. Neoliberalism is in the music market through modesty and the blamed for the erasure of wholesome ideas, non-licensing of their musical productions to annihilation of the labour force and economic major record labels, its detachment from the stratification. Consequently, the appreciation of mainstream creates a financial instability made musical works with inherently predominant core evident by the minimal patronage received values is dependent on their survival within the within the US . But this posture ironically gives stipulated environment (4-5). it a commercial advantage, and has led to the The writer examines the impact of neoliberalism crystallization of a solid fan base in Europe (33- on artistic identity, the ways in which artists handle 91).Whereas UR achieves operational autonomy co-optation and sustain authenticity. Surveying and creates music on its own terms, the opposite 128 K. Okosun: Weird American Music (Book Review)

appears to be the narrative of the now defunct writer’s inclusion of ethnographic field notes ‘religio-centric’ all-female band, BarlowGirl. grants an alluring edge to the case studies, In Chapter Three, Gail scrutinises the multiple making the book a pleasant and abundant nuances embedded within the American Christian read. In summary, Weird American Music is belief system which highly influences BarlowGirl. ‘weirdly’ engaging, informative, entertaining and The band’s identity is shaped by themes such comprehensible. as spiritual warfare and Christian militancy, portraying Christianity as one under siege. Here, Author’s Biography a recurrent theme is chastity. This is a message asymmetrically targeted at young females, Kensedeobong Blessed Okosun holds a and excluding young males. Fundamental Master of Arts degree in British and American Christianity sets high puritanical standards for Studies from the Bielefeld University. Her the female, and Gail reminds us that women are research interests include Music and Identity put in charge of the preservation of moral purity Politics, and Slave Narratives. and marital sanctity, whereas men are allowed to be fallible and subject to libidinous whims. Gail asserts that parental agency in the imposition of these ideologies derails the BarlowGirl’s capacity to achieve artistic autonomy. She remarks on the band’s inability to make crucial decisions without a guide, rendering self as subjugated and susceptible to the uncanny pressure of conformity (147). Consequently, the artists are neither able to establish a self- identity nor can they become active agents. Their musical production highlights an identity conflict derived from parental expectations and divine injunctions. Gail argues that the paradigm invariably reflects a repressive dimension of the Christian ideology catalyzed by a neo-liberally induced economic decline and the fear of the loss of white privilege (103-158). Drawn from several case studies, Gail’s conclusions are instructive, especially in light of the evolving cultural dynamics mirrored by the market and societal interplay, enthronement of identity politics, erasure of classism, and neoliberalism’s pervasive commodification of societal elements. While artistic and humanistic ventures tend to be undervalued, Gail maintains that gainful dividends for artistic engagements remain the basic signifier of authenticity (347- 372). Weird American Music is characterized by well defined concepts, convincing ideas and most importantly, by accessible language - a testimony that academic works need not be stylistically complex- in order to deal with complex topics. Moreover, the volume points to areas where further research is necessary. Ultimately, the