DOCSLIB.ORG

True Fictions, Strange Thresholds

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
True Fictions, Strange Thresholds City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2019 Transfigurations of the News: True Fictions, Strange Thresholds Jeffrey Peer The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3234 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] TRANSFIGURATIONS OF THE NEWS: TRUE FICTIONS, STRANGE THRESHOLDS by Jeffrey Peer A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 Jeffrey Robert Peer All Rights reserved ii Transfigurations of the News: True Fictions, Strange Thresholds by Jeffrey Peer This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date John Brenkman Chair of Examining Committee Date Giancarlo Lombardi Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Paul Julian Smith Bettina Lerner Noël Carroll THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Transfigurations of the News: True Fictions, Strange Thresholds by Jeffrey Peer Advisor: John Brenkman Abstract: This dissertation compares twentieth-century literary journalism from the U.S. and Mexico, with a focus on the nonfiction novel and the Mexican chronicle. The dissertation considers the two genres both historically and theoretically, in order to distinguish the borders between literature and unscrupulous journalism. North American journalism is at the heart of a crisis over the epistemological status of facts and their place in our political discourse. Some have argued that works of literary nonfiction can damage social norms like journalistic objectivity. Others argue that forms like the chronicle and the nonfiction novel can describe experience better than news reports. This dissertation engages with debates in and between the disciplines of history and theory of the novel, rhetorical and narrative studies of literature, philosophy of art and of literature, Latin American studies, Mexican studies and more, in order to investigate the boundaries of literature and journalism, art and representation, and fiction and fact. iv Preface Many excellent works of literary journalism did not find their way into this dissertation, simply because there were far too many for me to consider. Some of the books discussed here are quite famous, others deserve more attention, but there were certainly many more which I might also have included. I have preferred to read closely rather than widely. I have not done a quantitative analysis of literary journalism, so I cannot summon numerical statistics proving that these examples are representative of the genre, but I would like to think they are. I also have not posited a definition of literary journalism. Defining literary genres is always a tricky business and the boundaries of this one seemed too expansive and nebulous. Even the name is contentious. Though other critics prefer to call it literary nonfiction, documentary fiction, etc., I use the term literary journalism, unless I am referring to examples that seem to me to borrow the form of the novel. In those cases, I will use another confusing – but now canonical – term: the nonfiction novel. Beginning by defining the form would be more typical procedure in a work of analytic philosophy and this dissertation is certainly not that, though I am deeply indebted to the works of several analytic philosophers whom I very much admire. I engage with many arguments across a number of disciplines, ranging from: novel studies, rhetorical studies and narratology; to philosophy of art and philosophy of literature; to Latin American and Mexican studies. I do not claim to analyze any of these arguments conclusively, but I do hope that my analysis sheds some light on them, their subjects and on the field in general. v This dissertation, you will find, is divided into two parts and four sections. Though these divisions may appear somewhat capricious, they follow a plan which, whether or not I have managed to follow it, made good sense at the outset of the project. The first division I made was between works of literary journalism written in English and published in the U.S.A. (Part One) and works written in Spanish published in Mexico (Part Two). I have kept these parts separate because I feel strongly that, despite some Mexican readers of the U.S. literary journalists, the two traditions are essentially distinct and need to be considered on their own merits. I see this as respecting the histories of the two traditions and cultures. But my hope is that the conclusions I draw in the two sections will reverberate across the division, and that a more expansive sense of what these literary journalisms have in common will result from my respecting their differences. The second division readers of this study will encounter is between historiographical (Sections One and Three) and analytical (Sections Two and Four) critical approaches. It seemed important in each case to consider these works first diachronically, that is, as a history to be elucidated and explored. In Section One, I have investigated the precedents for what would come to be known in the U.S.A., in 1965, as the nonfiction novel. This required sketching a general history of twentieth-century literary journalism in the U.S.A. and some discussion of what has been called the objectivity norm. In Section Three, I have linked three texts and three writers spanning nearly a century of Mexican literary history, revealing a literary genealogy while also outlining a tiny bit of the long history of a classic Mexican literary form. Sections Two and Four approach literary journalism as a question rather than as a history. In Section Two, I arrive at what might be described as something resembling a theory – vi though I doubt it deserves to be called one. In simplified terms, it is an argument for the value of employing skepticism when reading certain genres. Readers will find much of the theoretical part of my discussion in this section, especially in the chapter “The Nonfiction Novel and the Debates on Fictionality.” Readers interested in the importance of journalism as a social institution will find the problem outlined in “John Hersey’s Reversal: Fake News and Mimesis.” Section Four turns to one of the central works of contemporary Mexican literature, Elena Poniatowska’s Massacre in Mexico (1971). This section considers that book skeptically, while analyzing some assumptions about its genre that previous readers have made. But after considering literary and cultural studies of the 1968 Student Movement in Mexico, and after referring to a famous, perhaps analogous veracity debate in Latin American literature, I arrive at a surprising conclusion. Rather than simply reinforcing the conclusions reached in Section Two about the need for skeptical reading, this investigation suggests that skepticism should be used responsibly, with a nuanced understanding of genre and context helping to determine which texts deserve our belief, and which our admiration. vii Table of Contents Part One Section One Reporters-at-Large: John Hersey, Lillian Ross, Truman Capote and the Novel of Facts 1. The New Yorker and the Origins of Contemporary American Literary Journalism 1 2. John Hersey and the Fog of War 14 3. Lillian Ross and the Problem of the Art Industry 45 4. Why Not Make A Good Thing Better? Truman Capote’s Artistic License 63 5. Conclusion 72 Section Two Blurred Mirrors: The Nonfiction Novel and the Fake News 1. John Hersey’s Reversal: Fake News and Mimesis 81 2. The Nonfiction Novel and the Debates on Fictionality 92 3. Janet Malcolm, Joe McGinniss and the Journalist as Confidence Man 109 4. Truman Capote and the Ambiguities of Literary Character 121 5. Norman Mailer and the Novel as History 136 6. Conclusion: Skeptical Reading 151 Part Two Section Three Riding the Bus: Tracing a Legacy of Influence in Three Mexican Urban Chronicles 1. Origins and Idiosyncrasies of the Contemporary Mexican Chronicle 163 2. Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera and “The Novel of the Streetcar” 179 3. Salvador Novo and “Oh Mexico! A Novel in Which Nothing Happens” 194 4. José Joaquín Blanco Visits “Plaza Satélite” 212 5. Conclusion 234 Section Four Testimony and Literature: An Argument for Responsible Skepticism 1. Elena Poniatowska’s Massacre in Mexico as Problematic Literary Journalism 238 2. Critical Approaches to ’68 and its Legacy 259 3. Rigoberta Menchú, David Stoll and Literary Authority 273 4. Conclusion: Responsible Skepticism 289 Conclusion 293 Notes 297 Illustrations 307 Works Cited 309 viii List of Illustrations Exhibit A 307 Exhibit B 308 ix Part One Section One Reporters-at-Large: John Hersey, Lillian Ross, Truman Capote and the Novel of Facts 1. The New Yorker and the Origins of Contemporary American Literary Journalism Joseph Mitchell might be regarded as the finest writer of nonfiction ever to publish in the pages of the New Yorker magazine, which would be no small praise, among that company, except for the shrill voice and the raised hand in the back of the room intruding upon our ceremonies with an unforeseen objection: that Mitchell’s work was not nonfiction. Secretly, Mitchell was writing something more like fiction. The controversy began in 1944 at the height of Mitchell’s success. Among his most popular New Yorker pieces were a series of profiles of Hugh G. Flood, an elderly gentleman, retired owner of a house-wrecking company, who was spending his golden years down at the Fulton Fish Market. Mitchell’s profiles of Flood revealed the ninety-three-year-old’s odd habits and curious character.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pablo Neruda - Poems
    Classic Poetry Series Pablo Neruda - poems - Publication Date: 2011 Publisher: Poemhunter.com - The World's Poetry Archive Pablo Neruda(12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973) Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda. Neruda wrote in a variety of styles such as erotically charged love poems as in his collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair, surrealist poems, historical epics, and overtly political manifestos. In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language." Neruda always wrote in green ink as it was his personal color of hope. On July 15, 1945, at Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, he read to 100,000 people in honor of Communist revolutionary leader Luís Carlos Prestes. During his lifetime, Neruda occupied many diplomatic positions and served a stint as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party. When Conservative Chilean President González Videla outlawed communism in Chile in 1948, a warrant was issued for Neruda's arrest. Friends hid him for months in a house basement in the Chilean port of Valparaíso. Later, Neruda escaped into exile through a mountain pass near Maihue Lake into Argentina. Years later, Neruda was a close collaborator to socialist President Salvador Allende. When Neruda returned to Chile after his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Allende invited him to read at the Estadio Nacional before 70,000 people.
    [Show full text]
  • Neruda and Borgej
    PER.'ONALHIJTORY NERUDAAND BORGEJ No tzuoLatin-Anerican writers couldbe more important. No tttso ztsriterscould bemore diferent. Hou did the authorbecorne the friend and translatorof both? BYALA.'TAIR REID f f TuoN I first went to Spain, in country, to Andalusia, to Gibraltar and l/l/ 1953.I knew little about l'4orocco, to Pornrgal-looking and lis- Y Y thelivingcountryandbarely tening a lot, and I wrote the fust of a se- a word of the language.But my senses ries of chronicleson Spain for The New were in good working order, and I was Yorker.Soon after it appeared,I had my instanth' drarvn in by Spain'srhythms Spanishpress credentials withdrawn, but and its landscapes-the burned, sun_.- that made little difference,for Spain ex- stainedearth, the silver-blueclarig,of istedthen on rumor and speculation.Liv- Nlediteranean light, the warm s,rle.nnity ing there felt like belonging to an exten- ofthe peopie,the sparenessofvillage life. sive whispered conspiracy against the Existencewas honed down to its essen- Franco regime. Spain was at something tials,making the dayslonger, time more of a standstill,still in shockfrom the Civil abundant.So I returnedto Spain,and re- War and the long isolation that followed turned, and eventu'allywent to live there it, threadbarecompared to the rest of Eu- in 1956, setting out to learn thg country, rope. Censorship,both moral and politi- and slowly absorb the Spanish senseof cal, hung heavy over the press,over the time. Spaniardshave a gift fbr exiranding universities,and overwriters and publish- the present,around a meal or a conver- ers, and the police had sharp antennae sation; and they are mastersof the cos- out for any sign of dissidence.The writ- mic shrug that shedsall preoccupations ers I knew complainedthat yearsofcen- exceptthose immediatelyat hand.
    [Show full text]
  • Stear Dissertation COGA Submission 26 May 2015
    BEYOND THE FIFTH SUN: NAHUA TELEOLOGIES IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES By ©Copyright 2015 Ezekiel G. Stear Submitted to the graduate degree program in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson, Santa Arias ________________________________ Verónica Garibotto ________________________________ Patricia Manning ________________________________ Rocío Cortés ________________________________ Robert C. Schwaller Date Defended: May 6, 2015! ii The Dissertation Committee for Ezekiel G. Stear certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: BEYOND THE FIFTH SUN: NAHUA TELEOLOGIES IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES ________________________________ Chairperson, Santa Arias Date approved: May 6, 2015 iii Abstract After the surrender of Mexico-Tenochtitlan to Hernán Cortés and his native allies in 1521, the lived experiences of the Mexicas and other Nahuatl-speaking peoples in the valley of Mexico shifted radically. Indigenous elites during this new colonial period faced the disappearance of their ancestral knowledge, along with the imposition of Christianity and Spanish rule. Through appropriations of linear writing and collaborative intellectual projects, the native population, in particular the noble elite sought to understand their past, interpret their present, and shape their future. Nahua traditions emphasized balanced living. Yet how one could live out that balance in unknown times ahead became a topic of ongoing discussion in Nahua intellectual communities, and a question that resounds in the texts they produced. Writing at the intersections of Nahua studies, literary and cultural history, and critical theory, in this dissertation I investigate how indigenous intellectuals in Mexico-Tenochtitlan envisioned their future as part of their re-evaluations of the past.
    [Show full text]
  • Checklist of Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Eastern Tropical Pacific by Michel E
    BULLETIN DE L'INSTITUT ROYAL DES SCIENCES NATURELLES DE BELGIQUE, BIOLOGIE, 65: 125-150, 1995 BULLETIN VAN HET KONINKLIJK BELGISCH INSTITUUT VOOR NATUURWETENSCHAPPEN, BIOLOGIE, 65: 125-150, 1995 Checklist of brachyuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the eastern tropical Pacific by Michel E. HENDRICKX Abstract Introduction Literature dealing with brachyuran crabs from the east Pacific When available, reliable checklists of marine species is reviewed. Marine and brackish water species reported at least occurring in distinct geographic regions of the world are once in the Eastern Tropical Pacific zoogeographic subregion, of multiple use. In addition of providing comparative which extends from Magdalena Bay, on the west coast of Baja figures for biodiversity studies, they serve as an impor- California, Mexico, to Paita, in northern Peru, are listed and tant tool in defining extension of protected area, inferr- their distribution range along the Pacific coast of America is provided. Unpublished records, based on material kept in the ing potential impact of anthropogenic activity and author's collections were also considered to determine or con- complexity of communities, and estimating availability of firm the presence of species, or to modify previously published living resources. Checklists for zoogeographic regions or distribution ranges within the study area. A total of 450 species, provinces also facilitate biodiversity studies in specific belonging to 181 genera, are included in the checklist, the first habitats, which serve as points of departure for (among ever made available for the entire tropical zoogeographic others) studying the structure of food chains, the relative subregion of the west coast of America. A list of names of species abundance of species, and number of species or total and subspecies currently recognized as invalid for the area is number of organisms of various physical sizes (MAY, also included.
    [Show full text]
  • Bandelier's Contribution to the Study of Ancient- Mexican Social Organization
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS - -IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY Vol. 12, No. 7, pp. 249-282' February 10, 1917 BANDELIER'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF ANCIENT- MEXICAN SOCIAL ORGANIZATION-: BY- T. T. WATERMAN *UNIVERSITY OF .CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY UNIVESITY Or CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF AN OPOLOGY The following publications dealing with archaeological and ethnological subjects- issued under the direction of the Department of Anthropology are sent in exchange for the publi- cations of anthropological departments and museums, and for joumals devoted to general anthropology or to archaeology and ethnology. They are for sale at the prices stated. Exchanges should be directed to The Exchange Department, University Library, Berkeley, California, U. S. A. All orders and remittances should be addressed to the University of California Press. European agent for the series in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Claasical Phil- ology, Education, Modern Philology, Philosophy, and Semitic Philology, Otto Harrassowits, Leipzig. For the series in Botany, Geology, Pathology, Physiology, Zoology and aLso Amer- ican Archaeology and Ethnology, R. Friedlaender & Sohn, Berlin. AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY.-A. L. Kroeber, Editor. Prices, Volume 1, $4.25; Volumes 2 to 11, inclusive, $3.50 each; Volume 12 and following $5.00 each. Cited as Univ. Calif. Publ. Arch. Ethn. Price Vol. 1. l. Life and Culture of the Hupa, by Pliny Earle- Goddard. Pp. 1-88; plates 1-30. September, 1903 ......................... $1.26 2. Hupa Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard. Pp. 89-368. Xarch, 1904 ... 3.00 Index, pp. 369-378. VoL 2. 1. The Exploration of the Potter Creek Cave, by William J. Sinclair.
    [Show full text]
  • “Enclosures with Inclusion” Vis-À-Vis “Boundaries” in Ancient Mexico
    Ancient Mesoamerica, page 1 of 16, 2021 Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1017/S0956536121000043 “ENCLOSURES WITH INCLUSION” VIS-À-VIS “BOUNDARIES” IN ANCIENT MEXICO Amos Megged Department of General History, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31990, Israel Abstract Recent in-depth research on the Nahua Corpus Xolotl, as well as on a large variety of compatible sources, has led to new insights on what were “boundaries” in preconquest Nahua thought. The present article proposes that our modern Western concept of borders and political boundaries was foreign to ancient Mexican societies and to Aztec-era polities in general. Consequently, the article aims to add a novel angle to our understanding of the notions of space, territoriality, and limits in the indigenous worldview in central Mexico during preconquest times, and their repercussions for the internal social and political relations that evolved within the Nahua-Acolhua ethnic states (altepetl). Furthermore, taking its cue from the Corpus Xolotl, the article reconsiders the validity of ethnic entities and polities in ancient Mexico and claims that many of these polities were ethnic and territorial amalgams, in which components of ethnic outsiders formed internal enclaves and powerbases. I argue that in ancient Mexico one is able to observe yet another kind of conceptualization of borders/ frontiers: “enclosures with inclusion,” which served as the indigenous concept of porous and inclusive boundaries, well up to the era of the formation of the so-called Triple Alliance, and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • North East India Small Group Escorted Cultural Tour
    Australia 1300 888 225 New Zealand 0800 440 055 [email protected] North East India small group escorted cultural tour Reading List India: A History by John Keay Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the reader up to present-day India, John Keay’s India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today. In charting the evolution of the rich tapestry of cultures, religions, and peoples that comprise the modern nations of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, Keay weaves together insights from a variety of scholarly fields to create a rich historical narrative. Wide-ranging and authoritative, India: A History is a compelling epic portrait of one of the world’s oldest and most richly diverse civilizations. India: In Word and Image, Revised, Expanded and Updated by Eric Meola (Photographer), Bharati Mukherjee (Introduction) Gorgeously jaw-dropping, India has been beautifully redesigned with 32 additional pages of glorious photos shot by Eric Meola since India was first published. This revised and expanded version of Eric Meola's 2008 India takes the reader on a journey through Mumbai, Rajasthan, Agra, Dungarpur, along desert roads, to the Ganges water's edge, including spectacular ruins, the Taj Mahal, and the Festival of Elephants, capturing the spectacle and vibrant colors of these ancient regions. INDIA is rapidly becoming one of the pre-eminent leaders of the twenty-first century. For more than a decade, Eric Meola has returned repeatedly to India, photographing the people, temples, landscapes, architecture, celebrations, and art of this uniquely exuberant and incredibly diverse country.
    [Show full text]
  • Molecular Systematics & Evolution of the CTENOSAURA HEMILOPHA
    Loma Linda University TheScholarsRepository@LLU: Digital Archive of Research, Scholarship & Creative Works Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects 9-1999 Molecular Systematics & Evolution of the CTENOSAURA HEMILOPHA Complex (SQUAMATA: IGUANIDAE) Michael Ray Cryder Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Cryder, Michael Ray, "Molecular Systematics & Evolution of the CTENOSAURA HEMILOPHA Complex (SQUAMATA: IGUANIDAE)" (1999). Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects. 613. https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/613 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TheScholarsRepository@LLU: Digital Archive of Research, Scholarship & Creative Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects by an authorized administrator of TheScholarsRepository@LLU: Digital Archive of Research, Scholarship & Creative Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LOMA LINDAUNIVERSITY Graduate School MOLECULARSYSTEMATICS & EVOLUTION OF THECTENOSAURA HEMJLOPHA COMPLEX (SQUAMATA: IGUANIDAE) by Michael Ray Cryder A Thesis in PartialFulfillment of the Requirements forthe Degree Master of Science in Biology September 1999 0 1999 Michael Ray Cryder All Rights Reserved 11 Each person whose signature appears below certifies that this thesis in their opinion is adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree Master of Science. ,Co-Chairperson Ronald L. Carter, Professor of Biology Arc 5 ,Co-Chairperson L. Lee Grismer, Professor of Biology and Herpetology - -/(71— William Hayes, Pr fessor of Biology 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to the institution and individuals who helped me complete this study. I am grateful to the Department of Natural Sciences, Lorna Linda University, for scholarship, funding and assistantship.
    [Show full text]
  • Syllabus Developed As Part of Mapping for the Urban Humanities Course, Summer 2016 Center for Spatial Research, Columbia University
    Syllabus developed as part of Mapping for the Urban Humanities course, Summer 2016 Center for Spatial Research, Columbia University Anupama Rao 226 LeFrak Center, Barnard Hall [email protected] Office hours: W 2-4PM Rachael Dottle, [email protected], from Barnard’s Empirical Reasoning Lab will ourdedicated GIS Graduate Assistant for this course BC 3830: Bombay/Mumbai and its Urban Imaginaries (Fall 2016) PLEASE NOTE: This course requires willingness to work collectively and collaboratively. In addition to learning about the colonial and postcolonial history of a major metropolis, you will master basic spatial mapping techniques through online tutorials and in consultation with the spatial data librarian at Butler, and the Empirical Reasoning Lab (Barnard). The course is likely to involve a significant time commitment. Bombay/Mumbai’s built form reflects the social and spatial uneven-ness of (colonial) capital, while its distinctive urbanity is the product of the everyday lives and aspirations of those who inhabit it. When was Bombay? Bombay’s transformation from an early-modern port city to British India’s commercial and manufacturing hub (and now, megacity) is linked with global economic forces: the city experienced meteoric rise in the aftermath of the American Civil War due to a booming cotton economy. New technologies for rationalizing production and accelerating the circulation of Bombay cotton soon followed. Meanwhile, the plague of 1897 provided planners and government officials with an alibi for mass demolitions, and enabled them to undertake extensive experiments in urban governance and industrial housing. Bombay’s famed cosmopolitanism is thus a vestige of social practices and cultural experiences produced by the contradictory forces of colonial capital: spatial regulation, together with social emancipation.
    [Show full text]
  • LAW of the SEA (National Legislation) © DOALOS/OLA
    Page 1 Decree of 28 August 1968 delimiting the Mexican Territorial Sea within the Gulf of California ... Sole article The Mexican territorial sea within the Gulf of California shall be measured from a baseline drawn as follows: 1. Along the western coast of the Gulf, from the point known as Punta Arena in the Territory of Baja California, in a north-westerly direction along the low-water mark to the point known as Punta Arena de la Ventana; thence along a straight baseline to the point known as Roca Montaña at the southern extremity of Cerralvo Island; thence along the low-water mark of the eastern shore of the said island to the northern extremity of the same; thence along a straight baseline to Las Focas Reef; thence along a straight baseline to the easternmost point of Espíritu Santo Island; thence along the eastern shore of the said island to the northernmost point of the same; thence along a straight baseline to the south-eastern extremity of La Partida Island; thence along the western shore of the said island to the group of islets known as Los Islotes at the northern extremity of La Partida Island; from the northern extremity of the said islets along a straight baseline to the south-eastern extremity of San José Island; thence in a general northerly direction along the low-water mark of the eastern shore to the point at which the shore of the island changes direction towards the north-west; from that point along a straight baseline to the island known as Las Animas; from the northern extremity of the said island along a straight
    [Show full text]
  • Tomaszewski, Brian M. & ME Smith
    Author's personal copy Journal of Historical Geography 37 (2011) 22e39 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Historical Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhg Polities, territory and historical change in Postclassic Matlatzinco (Toluca Valley, central Mexico) Brian M. Tomaszewski a,* and Michael E. Smith b a Department of Information Sciences & Technologies, Rochester Institute of Technology, 31 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA b School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 872402, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA Abstract Historical interpretation of political dynamics in pre-conquest central Mexico from indigenous records is fraught with difficulties. Beyond the basic challenges involved in interpreting fragmentary evidence is the fact that the majority of evidence comes from the dominant imperial polity (Tenochtitlan) and paints a biased and overly generalized view of political and social dynamics in provincial areas. We present a reconstruction of the political geography of the Toluca Valley of central Mexico in Aztec times that avoids these biases by focusing not on the events described in native histories, but on the individual towns and their spatial locations. We find that a theoretical perspective that defines political entities by networks and relations among people more adequately captures the historical situation than traditional models that define polities based on territory and boundaries. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Political process; Polities; Ancient States; Borders; Toluca Valley; Mexico Reconstructing the pre-European political situation in central control of geographical space was continually contested between Mexico presents a challenge for research in historical geography. the native Matlatzinca people of the Toluca Valley and a series of Beyond obvious practical problems of fragmentary written outside imperial polities, including the Tepanecs, the Aztec Triple evidence are three inter-related conceptual challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai
    Copyright © 2012 by Katherine Boo All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Boo, Katherine. Behind the beautiful forevers : life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity / Katherine Boo. p. cm. eISBN: 978-0-679-64395-1 1. Urban poor—India—Mumbai. I. Title. HV4140.M86B66 2011 305.5’690954792—dc23 2011019555 www.atrandom.com v3.1 For two Sunils and what they’ve taught me about not giving up Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication PROLOGUE between roses PART ONE undercitizens 1. Annawadi 2. Asha 3. Sunil 4. Manju PART TWO the business of burning 5. Ghost House 6. The Hole She Called a Window 7. The Come-Apart 8. The Master PART THREE a little wildness 9. Marquee Effect 10. Parrots, Caught and Sold 11. Proper Sleep PART FOUR up and out 12. Nine Nights of Dance 13. Something Shining 14. The Trial 15. Ice 16. Black and White 17. A School, a Hospital, a Cricket Field AUTHOR’S NOTE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS About the Author July 17, 2008—Mumbai Midnight was closing in, the one-legged woman was grievously burned, and the Mumbai police were coming for Abdul and his father. In a slum hut by the international airport, Abdul’s parents came to a decision with an uncharacteristic economy of words. The father, a sick man, would wait inside the trash-strewn, tin-roofed shack where the family of eleven resided.
    [Show full text]