Imagining the Afro-Uruguayan Conventillo: Belonging and the Fetish of Place and Blackness
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Imagining the Afro-Uruguayan Conventillo: Belonging and the Fetish of Place and Blackness by Vannina Sztainbok A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Vannina Sztainbok (2009) IMAGINING THE AFRO-URUGUAYAN CONVENTILLO: BELONGING AND THE FETISH OF PLACE AND BLACKNESS Vannina Sztainbok Doctor of Philosophy 2009 Sociology and Equity Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract This thesis explores the symbolic place occupied by a racialized neighbourhood within the Uruguayan national imaginary. I study the conventillos (tenement buildings) of two traditionally Afro-Uruguayan neighbourhoods in Montevideo, Barrio Sur and Palermo. These neighbourhoods are considered the cradle of Afro-Uruguayan culture and identity. The conventillos have been immortalized in paintings, souvenirs, songs, and books. Over the years most of the residents were evicted due to demolitions, which peaked during Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1984). I address the paradox of how a community can be materially marginalized, yet symbolically celebrated, a process that is evident in other American nations (Brazil, Colombia, etc.). I show how race, class, and gender are entangled in folkloric depictions of the conventillo to constitute a limited notion of blackness that naturalizes the relationship between Afro-Uruguayans, music, sexuality, and domestic work. The folklorization of the space and it residents is shown to be a “fetishization” which enhances the whiteness of the national identity, while confining the parameters of black citizenship and belonging. Utilizing a methodology that draws on cultural geography, critical race, postcolonial, and feminist theory, my dissertation analyzes the various ways that the Barrio Sur/Palermo conventillo has been imagined, represented, and experienced. Specifically, I examine 1) autobiographical, literary and popular (media, songs) narratives ii about these neighbourhoods; 2) the depiction of the conventillo by a prominent artist (Carlos Páez Vilaró); 3) spatial practices; 4) the performance of a dancer who emerged from the conventillo to become a national icon (the Carnival vedette Rosa Luna); and 5) interviews with nine key informants. My analysis focuses on how bodies, subjects, and national belonging are constituted through relations to particular spaces. By foregrounding the “geographies of identity” (Radcliffe and Westwood, 1996, p. 27), I show that the symbolic celebration of black space goes hand in hand with material disavowal. This study thus connects the imagining of a local, racialized space to how national belonging is constituted and experienced. iii Acknowledgements This thesis has benefited tremendously from my committee’s feedback and support. Thank you to my brilliant supervisor, Sherene Razack. Your academic integrity and confidence in me sustained me through six long years. It has been a great honour and a great responsability to work with you. Thank you to Alissa Trotz for posing difficult questions that challenged me where I needed to be challenged. Thank you to Néstor Rodríguez for bringing your keen Latin Americanist eye to this work. Thank you to the external examiner, Denise Ferreira da Silva, who deeply considered the claims made in this thesis. Roland Sintos Coloma, thank you for taking the time to get through these 200 plus pages in the middle of the summer and giving them your careful attention. At the risk of missing someone, I want to name colleagues who have taken time to ask critical questions, model their own process, and provide all kinds of support over the years: Thank you to Lynn Caldwell, Gulzar Charania, Patricia Díaz, Nupur Gogia, Eve Haque, Melanie Knight, Carrianne Leung, Teresa Macías, Gada Mahrouse, Carmela Murdocca, Leslie Thiesen-Wilson, and everyone in Sherene’s thesis group. Thank you Sobia Shaikh for engaging deeply with my thesis: reading sections, providing feedback and, most of all, encouragement. Thank you Shaista Patel: for your critical questions, confidence, and for hearing me out despite a migraine. Sobia and Shaista, you have taught me a lot about friendship. Lorena Gajardo and Magaly San Martín, thank you for your intellectual engagement and for being there. The whole process has also been enhanced by recreational times with the SESE ratpack (you know who you are). In addition, I have received valuable instruction and/or support from other faculty and staff including Maria José Botelho, Kari Dehli, Ken Mills, Sheryl Nestel, Kristine Pearson, and Honor Ford-Smith. Thanks also to Erica Townsend-Bell, Eduardo Canel, Eva-Lyn Jagoe, and Aaron Kappeler for providing feedback. In Uruguay, I am deeply grateful for the solidarity and friendship shown by Carolina Ricarte, who helped me to gain access to resources and facilitated contacts. Jorge Emilio Cardoso, thank you for your ongoing support and inspiration. Thank you to all of the participants I interviewed for this project: Juan Antonio Varese, Tomás Olivera Chirimini, Cachila Silva, Lagríma Ríos, Marta Silva, Néstor Silva, Beatriz Santos iv Arrascaeta, Rita, Jorge Goñi, and Francisco Guatimí. I was saddened to learn that Lagríma Ríos passed away six months after our meeting. Thanks also to others who provided information and resources in Montevideo and Toronto: Gonzalo Abella, Raúl Acosta, Eugenia Silveira Chirimini, Daniel “Tatita” Márquez, and Wilson Cardozo. I could not have completed such a long and arduous process without the tremendous support I have received from my family. My parents, Chela and Víctor, are always there for me, collaborating in all sorts of ways: procuring books, following up on contacts, taking care of the kids for one month while I conducted research, and financing an important conference. Most of all, they never doubted that I could and should be doing this. Thank you also for parenting three thoughtful intelligent daughters, who have supported me in countless ways. I can only mention a few here. Tamara: thank you for your editing advice and thoughtful words. Iliana: thank you for your knowledge, encouragement, and being there. Malka: thank you for your encouragement and always being ready to celebrate the small achievements along the way. Yamandú and Kyria: thanks for your patience all these years. You seldom complained about the endless hours I spent reading, thinking, writing, and researching and you provided me with insightful tips. Kyria, thank you for pointing out that it shouldn’t be that hard to write one page per day. Yama, you have a way with words that helps me to put things into perspective. Both of you: thank you for your effusive hugs when I get home from a late day or from a few days at a conference. You never make me feel neglectful, just missed. Most of all thank you for being you. You are precious. Dayv, thanks for well….everything. I know that your practical, everyday support is part of the partnership we have built over the years, and this is priceless. Your emotional support has been awesome. It means everything that you never once (seriously) asked the question most dreaded by grad students, “So, when are you going to be done?” Thanks for your confidence in me and your reassurances. For someone who is not immersed in academic work, you have an amazing comprehension of the complexities of the research and writing process. Most of all, thanks for providing good food and moments of fun and relaxation between and after long hours of writing, and for insisting that I have a huge party after it’s all done. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Introduction Introduction to the Afro-Uruguayan conventillo……………………………………....1 Chapter One Mapping Subjectivity and Belonging in Relation to Geography and the Body ........ 22 Chapter Two A History of the Conventillo and a History of the Urban Slum.................................. 55 Chapter Three Tensions of the Clotheslines: “Les encantaba ponernos uniforme a las negras” ..... 83 Chapter Four “Through the Spear, the Shield, and the Dialect”: The Fetish of the Conventillo .. 116 Chapter Five Rosa Luna: Exposing her Body, Revealing the Nation ............................................. 147 Chapter Six Conclusion: The Poetics and Politics of the Conventillo............................................ 186 Afterword....................................................................................................................... 197 Appendix A: Glossary................................................................................................... 200 vi Appendix B: Data Sources ........................................................................................... 201 Appendix C: Information Letter for Interview Participants.................................... 208 Appendix D: Consent to Participate in Research ...................................................... 211 Appendix E: Interview Questions................................................................................ 213 References...................................................................................................................... 217 vii Dedicated to Celina (Chela Mazuí) and Víctor Sztainbok, who taught me that