Country of Contrasts: a Study Guide on Panama. INSTITUTION Coalition for African-American and Latino Unity.; Network of Educators on the Americas
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 398 121 SO 026 578 AUTHOR Athey, Lois E., Ed.; And Others TITLE Country of Contrasts: A Study Guide on Panama. INSTITUTION Coalition for African-American and Latino Unity.; Network of Educators on the Americas. PUB DATE Apr 92 NOTE 15p.; Supported by the District of Columbia Community Humanities Council. AVAILABLE FROMNetwork of Educators on the Americas, P.O. Box 73038, Washington, DC 20056-3038 ($2 plus $2 shipping and handling). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *African Studies; Area Studies; Colonialism; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Geography; *Latin American Literature; *Latin Americans; Local History; Social Studies; World History IDENTIFIERS *Latin American Studies; *Panama ABSTRACT This study guide seeks to provide resources to bring the voices and experiences of Panamanian students into classrooms. This guide includes: (1) "History of a Canal" (in English and Spanish) (Pablo Neruda);(2) "Poems by Cubena"; (3) "Maps of Panama and The Canal Zone"; (4) "Historical Overview: Panama (1501-1992)"; (5) "Molas" (Maria Garza-Lubeck); and (6) a bibliography. Contains 41 references. (EH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Country of Contrasts PERMISSION TO REPRODUCEAND A Study Guide on Panama DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL f HAS BEEN GRANTED BY .TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES 'INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) As native cane flutes celebrate another bountiful harvest, Spanish galleons slowly approach the Isthmus of Panama. The song of celebration bsomes a mournful dirge 00 Another beat is heard C7's n along the Panamanian shore It is the Afrkan drum beating memories of the motherland and stories of resistance. The flute and the drum are joined by the guitar, played by the criollo, born of the amquistador but native of the New World Listen to the sounds of Panama crossroads of continents and natures, a nation created and 1.11olloslc qi then sliced in half for the sake U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION watmewwwia., of world commerce. Whether Odice ol Educational fissearch and linprovenvnt EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION we will hear harmony or CENTER (ERIC) discord is the challenge facing 16,This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization the people of Panama today originating It. CI Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OER1 position or policy. Sponsored by Network of Educators on Central America (NECA) Coalition for Ahican-American and Latino Unity (CAALU) Supported by The Dishict of ColumbiaCommunity Humanities Council BEST COPYAVAILABLE Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Aclmowledgements and Credits 2 Historia de un canal/History of a Canal, by Pablo Neruda 3 Poems by Cubena 4 Maps of Panama and the Canal Zone 5 Historical Overview: Panama 6 Molas, by Maria Garza-Lubeck 10 Bibliography 12 Acknowledgements It is hoped that this Study Guide on Panama will provideeducators with resources to begin to bring thevoices and experiences of Panamanian students into their classrooms. We hope to expand this guide into a special issue of theNECA newsletter. Please share comments about the guide and suggestions foradditional readings to be included. Thank you. The compilation of this guide by the Network of Educators onCentral America and the Coalition for African-American and Latino Unity was madepossible by a grant from the D.C. Communities Humanities Council. We appreciatetheir support. Credits Lois E. Athey Allen Belkin Jamie Fischman Arturo Griffiths Kemba Maish Deborah Menkart Laura J. Smith Roland Roebuck Philip E. Wheaton Study Guide: Panama 2 Historia de Un Canal History of a Canal por Pablo Neruda by Pablo Neruda Panama, te otorg6 la geografia Panama, geography presented you un don que no entree* a tierra ninguna: a gift which it did not give another land: avanzaron dos mares a tu encuentro: two oceans rushed to meet you: se adelgaz6 la cordillera pura; the pure mountain range narrowed; en vez de darte un mar te dio las aguas in place of giving you a sea it gave you the waters de los dos soberanos de la espuma of the two sovereigns of foam y te besa el Atlantico con labios and the Atlantic kisses you with lips acostumbrados a besar las uvas accustomed to kissing grapes mientras que el mar Pacifico sacude while the Pacific shakes en tu honor su ciclena estatura. her cyclonic stature in your honor. Y bien pequetia Panama, hermanita, And tiny Panama, little sister, ahora me Regan las primeras dudas now my first doubts begin te las dire al ado porque creo I'll whisper them in your ear because I believe que hay que hablar en silencio la amargura. that we must talk in silence of the bitterness. Y que pase? Hermanita, recortaron, And what happened little sister? como si fuera un queso, tu figura, they trimmed your figure as though you were cheese y luego te comieron y dejaron and later, they ate you and left you como un hueso roldo de aceituna. like an olive pit. Yo lo supe más tarde, estaba hecho I learned of it later, the canal el canal como un rfo de la luna: was done as a river of the moon: por ese rio Ilegaria el mundo through this river the world would arrive derramando en tu arena la fortuna, pouring their fortune onto your sands pero unos caballeros de otra parte but certain gentlemen from other parts instalaron en ti sus armaduras installed on you their armaments y no te derramaron sino whisky and did not pour anything but whiskey desde que hipotecaron tu cintura: since they mortgaged your waist: y todo sigue como fue planeado and everything continues as was planned por Satands y por sus imposturas: by Satan and his imposters: con su dinero hicieron el canal, with their money they built the canal, cavaron tierra con la sangre tuya they dug the earth with your blood y ahora en Nueva York mandan los &Hares and now they send the dollars to New York y te dejan a ti las sepulturas. and leave the graves to you. From El Canal de Panama: Calvario de un Pueblo From Panama: Sovereignty for a Land Divided by Julio Yau, Editorial Mediteraneo, Madrid, 1972. by Phil Wheaton, EP1CA Task Force, 1976. Translated by Gail Phares Pablo Neruda (b. Parra', Chile, 1904; d. Santiago, Chile, 1973) was one of Latin America's greatest poets. He was awarded the NolxA Prize for Literature in 1971. Nerucla travelled widely, serving as a diplomat in the Far East, in Spain (during the Spanish Civil War), in Meuco, and as ambassador to France. Study Guide: Panama 4 3 Poems by Cubena Lunacy Definition What is lunacy? Lunacy is: What is a A small Portuguese mouse 1 2 fancying himself N in control of E 9 - NEGRO - 3 MIME R AFRICAN 0 ELEPHANTS 6 In Yankeeland And what is super lunacy? or in Panama? Measly Portugal taking control of A time bomb GUINEA-BISSAU tic-tac-tic-tac-tic-tac MOZAMBIQUE tik-tak-tik-tak-tik-tak ANGOLA TIC-TAC-TIC-TAK-TIK-TAK Gatlin K K K roo We don't want ic 1 naa g a nor hamburger nor imperialist $ Teddy the thief we want JUSTICE Cubena is the pen-name of Carlos Guillermo Wilson, an African born in Panama of Jamaicanand Bajan forebears. He now resides in Los Angeles and is a professor ofSpanish at Loyola Marymout University. These poems were originally published in Spanish in Pensamientos del negro Cubena, Los Angeles: n.p., 1977. Translatedby Ian Isidore Smart and printed in Wilson, C.G., Short stories by Cubena, Washington: Afro-Hispanic Institute,1987, Translated, introduction and notes by Ian Isidore Smart. Study Guide: Panama 4 Map of Panama CARIBBEAN SEA Panama Bias 44, eac o .., ti Plonk .4 '''' . IX 1 c)Iscas MI lore C ! 0 4.- Lefty 1,.<, S.4 I L ',....."/ in . Cho.Vt.) . 44s 0 "roba ,. PANAMA ..f.z. 1,1cgd,,*KMPeal RUM . Wide EMUS .:': cmca ,,,CITY DEL. TORO .cf4. laic Tama Island Isvete testa Mao atadom Santa Am Comm Car CHIRIQUI Fe Kap Grow* Island ...r. VERAGUAS San Codes A .44'eRICAN ts mar \ \DARIEN is. V> HIGHWAY /"--***-Sastatiers Las. OvalitIcs If)c) WaS GULF OF sel, Av0°4 C BAY OF PANAMA Vk/./ WO. F IC SCALE COCOMBIA ol 1100 mamma 160 Mdes Source: Fodor's Central America. New York: Fodor's Travel Publications, 1987 The Canal Zone This map indicates the disposition of various areas as the Panama Canal Treaties go into dect. The broken lines indicate the boundaries of the old Canal Zone under the jurisdiction of tlw United States until October 1, 1979 The total width of the Canal Zone was ten miles. Source: Panama Canal Commission, May 1990 Study Guide:Panama BEST COPYAVAILABLE 5 6 Historical Overview: Panama For thousands of years, Panama was inhabited by three different groups of people. In the western highlands lived the Guaymf. Also in the west Lived the Choce people. Along the northern coast lived the Kuna who were skilled potters, stonecutters and artisans. All these people lived in de- centralized villages and had systems of communal agriculture. 1501Members of a Spanish expedition led by Rodrigo de Bastidas become the first Europeans to set foot in Panama. The following year, Christopher Columbus visits Panama.In 1509, settlements are established in what was then called Darien. Vasco Ishliiez de Balboa, a member of the Bastidas' crew is chosen to administer the settlements. In 1513, he crosses the isthmus and on September 29 reaches the Pacific Ocean. Balboa claims for Spain all the lands which bordered on this sea.