Towards a Cinema of Decolonization: the Andes and Capitalism in Contemporary Hispanic Film
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Towards a Cinema of Decolonization: the Andes and Capitalism in Contemporary Hispanic Film Marie-Eve Monette Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures McGill University, Montreal April 2015 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy @ Marie-Eve Monette 2015 ! Monette 2 Table of Contents 1. Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………………....2 2. Abstract / Résumé ……………………………………………………………………………...4 3. Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………….6 4. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..7 5. National and Native Economies in Llosa’s Madeinusa……………………………................ 24 a. Visual Signs of Andean Indigenous Modernity…………………………………............ 33 b. Indigenous Consumer Citizens…………………………………………………………. 38 c. The Elaboration of an Indigenous Economy…………………………………………… 42 d. Tiempo Santo Rituals as Regulation of Manayaycuna Consumption Practices………... 49 e. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………… 62 6. Epistemic Disobedience and Economic Crisis in Caetano’s Bolivia…………………….…….. 66 a. De-Nationalization of Identities through Labor Power……………………………….... 73 b. Regional Reconfigurations of Capitalism………………………………………………..87 c. Argentina and the Coloniality of the Capitalist World-System……………………........ 95 d. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...........102 7. Decolonizing the History of Capitalism in Bollaín’s También la lluvia……………….........108 a. The Origins of Capitalism and Anti-Capitalist Resistance……………………………..116 b. The Cyclical History of Capitalism and Anti-Capitalist Resistance……………............130 c. Anti-Capitalist History as Indigenous Myths of Return………………………………..142 d. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...........149 ! Monette 3 8. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...152 9. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………165 ! Monette 4 Abstract Towards a Cinema of Decolonization analyzes how non-Indigenous Hispanic film from the 21st- century reflects and participates in the decolonization processes of the Andes. The films chosen for analysis reflect many of the initiatives undertaken around the 1992 celebrations for and protests against the Quincentennial of the arrival of the Spaniards in America, and the United Nations’ resolutions for two consecutive International Decades of the World’s Indigenous People. Alongside the many policies implemented by South American governments and practices upheld by international organizations to promote visions of equity for Indigenous cultural integrity and diversity, as well as to include the Indigenous populations in the socioeconomic development of these countries, various artistic projects have sought to decolonize their citizenry on discursive and symbolic levels, locally, regionally, and internationally. Although it seems that an increasing number of non-Indigenous Hispanic directors are creating films about the Andes, it is important to situate their films within this context of the past twenty years, to verify whether they are participating in these symbolic and discursive transformations, and if they are exploring Indigenous epistemologies. This dissertation therefore analyzes, using Walter Mignolo’s theory on decoloniality, how cinematographic representations of the Andes by non-Indigenous Hispanic directors unveil, challenge, and deconstruct Western beliefs and assumptions that have essentialized the Andean world–and consequently produced non-modern, non-capitalist and hermetic portrayals of this region, its people and its cultures–, as well as construct Andean Indigenous epistemologies regarding capitalism through narrative and cinematographic techniques. More specifically, the present work will focus on how Claudia Llosa’s, Madeinusa (2006), Adrián Caetano’s Bolivia (2001), and Icíar Bollaín’s También la lluvia (2010), develop new audiovisual languages to represent the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes as a space of Andean modernity in constant negotiation with concepts derived from capitalism such as consumerism, labor power, and accumulation of capital. By situating the periphery, or border of capitalism in the Andes, these films not only evoke the resolutions passed by the United Nations to promote visions of equity and possibilities of socioeconomic development for Indigenous cultures, but they also explore Andean horizons of knowledge that evoke future identities that could potentially challenge the capitalist world-system and the exploitative nature of its structure. ! Monette 5 Résumé Towards a Cinema of Decolonization analyse les façons dont les représentations cinématographiques des Andes, dirigées à partir de perspectives non-autochtones, reflètent et participent aux processus de décolonisation présents dans cette région. Les films choisis pour cette étude reflètent plusieurs des initiatives entreprises depuis les célébrations et protestations tenues pour les 500 ans de la découverte de l’Amérique par les espagnols, ainsi que les résolutions passées par les Nations Unies pour la soutenance de deux Décennies Internationales des Peuples Autochtones. En sus des nombreuses politiques exécutées par les gouvernements sud-américains et les pratiques soutenues par les organismes internationaux dans le but de promouvoir une vision d’égalité envers l’intégrité et la diversité autochtone et d’intégrer les populations autochtones dans le développement socioéconomique des pays de ce continent, plusieurs projets artistiques ont cherché à décoloniser la citoyenneté locale, régionale, et internationale des autochtones sud-américains, à un niveau autant discursif que symbolique. Même s’il semble y avoir un nombre croissant de directeurs hispaniques non-autochtones qui produisent des films sur les Andes, il est important de situer leurs films dans le contexte des vingt dernières années, vérifier s’ils participent à ces transformations discursives et symboliques, et s’ils explorent aussi les épistémologies autochtones. Cette thèse analyse donc, à partir de la théorie de la décolonialité de Walter Mignolo, si les représentations cinématographiques des Andes, dirigées à partir de perspectives hispaniques non-autochtones, révèlent, questionnent et déconstruisent les croyances et présuppositions occidentales qui ont dépeint les Andes de façon essentialiste–et, par conséquent, ont produit une image non-moderne, non-capitaliste et hermétique du monde Andin–et si elles construisent, à travers leurs narratives et techniques cinématographiques, des épistémologies autochtones des Andes associées au capitalisme. Plus précisément, cette étude analysera Madeinusa (2006), le premier long métrage de Claudia Llosa, Bolivia (2001) du directeur Adrián Caetano, et También la lluvia (2010) de la directrice Icíar Bollaín, afin de démontrer comment ces films ont développé des langages audiovisuels qui représentent les Andes du Pérou et de la Bolivie en tant qu’espace où la modernité andine est en négociation constante avec certains concepts dérivés du capitalisme, tel que la consommation, la force de travail, et l’accumulation de capital. En situant la périphérie, ou la frontière, du capitalisme dans les Andes, non seulement ces films évoquent-ils la vision d’égalité et de développement socioéconomique promue par les résolutions passées par les Nations Unies, mais ils explorent aussi des horizons de connaissances andines qui évoquent des identités futures qui pourraient potentiellement défier le système mondiale capitaliste ainsi que sa structure basée sur l’exploitation. ! Monette 6 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all who have helped me through the different stages of my doctoral study and made the completion of this dissertation possible. First, I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Amanda Holmes, for her patience, her invaluable knowledge and guidance, and for showing me in so many different ways that women can achieve life-balance and success in academia. I would like to thank Professor José Jouve-Martín for the course he taught on “Indigenism and the Politics of Memory,” which allowed me to approach the Andes in a new way, and for the support he gave me as I prepared for the internship I completed in Peru in the summer of 2010. I would also like to thank Professor Juan Carlos Godenzzi for accepting me in his course “Andean Languages, Cultures, and Societies” at the Université de Montréal, and for introducing me to the concept of reciprocidad so important to the Andes, which I adopted in my research and now strive to apply in my daily life. Thank you to Professor Fernanda Macchi for teaching me meticulous research methods, and for accepting to be the internal examiner on my oral defense committee. A special thanks to Professor David Boruchoff, for his constant support and encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Jesús Pérez-Magallón and Professor Kay Sibbald, whose words and example taught me to be the most professional scholar I could be. A special thanks to Professor Lucia Chamanadjian, whose encouragement and rigor inspired me to constantly strive to improve, and collaborate with others so that they could do the same. I also thank Lynda Bastien, whose smile, warmth, and infinite patience made this journey easier. A special thanks to my colleague and friend Maricarmen Valdivieso for giving me the opportunity of working with the craftsmen and women of Urubamba during my internship with NeVo, and for helping me discover the Peruvian Andes, and Lima. To my parents, Lise and Raymond, and my friends Nadia, Erik and Sarah,