Realism, Race and Citizenship: Four Moments in the Making of the Black Body, Colombia and Brazil, 1853 - 1907 by Beatriz Eugenia Rodriguez-Balanta Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Esther Gabara, Supervisor ___________________________ Diane M. Nelson ___________________________ Walter Mignolo ___________________________ Richard Rosa Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ABSTRACT Realism, Race and Citizenship: Four Moments in the Making of the Black Body, Colombia and Brazil, 1853 - 1907 by Beatriz Eugenia Rodriguez-Balanta Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Esther Gabara, Supervisor ___________________________ Diane M. Nelson ___________________________ Walter Mignolo ___________________________ Richard Rosa An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 i v Copyright by Beatriz Eugenia Rodriguez-Balanta 2010 Abstract Realism, Race and Citizenship: Four Moments in the Making of the Black Body, Colombia and Brazil, 1853 - 1907 investigates the visual and literary mechanisms used to refurbish racial and social hierarchies in Brazil and Colombia in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery. Chorographic paintings, scientific photographs, identification documents, and naturalist literature are taken to together to argue that: on the one hand, the slave is the fleshy object that defines freedom and, in the postcolonial moment, citizenship. In “Realism, Race and Citizenship: Four Moments in the Making of the Black Body, Colombia and Brazil, 1853 – 1907,” I propose that in geo-political spaces where the abolition of slavery and the re-branding of work were intensely debated and violently fought over, realist programs of representation facilitated the propagation of modern racializing schemas. Chapters 1 and 2 study the watercolors created for the Comisión Corográfica (the pre-eminent mapping project of nineteenth century Colombia) and scientific photographs produced in Brazil. These chapters uncover the stylistic conventions that make possible the staging of blackness as visible and immutable biological inferiority and as cumulative category that encompasses a variety of physical and social characteristics including but not limited to skin color, occupation, costume, and physical environment. Chapters 3 and 4 argue that the disavowal of slavery structures Brazilian naturalist novels such as O Cortiço (Aluísio Azevedo, 1890) as well as legislative debates about the nation and the citizen. By focusing on the visual and narrative orchestration blackness, my dissertation provides a critical framework for understanding how realist aesthetic conventions configured (and continue to animate) discourses of race and citizenship in Brazil and Colombia. iv Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................viii Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Fictional-Real:Chorographic Painting and the Visual Institution of Race, Colombia,1853……………………………………………………………………………...…….39 Chapter 2: Scientific and Picturesque Photography and the Crafting of Blackness, Brazil 1865………………………………………………………………………………………………82 Chapter 3: Amigas and Prostitutas: The Problem of Reproduction in O Cortiço by Aluísio Azevedo, 1890 ……………………………………………………………………………...…..124 Chapter 4: Identifying the Racial Subjects of the Nation, Brazil 1903-1907…………………...162 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………...………...…...188 Biography…………………………………………………………………………………..……207 v List of Figures Figure 1: Chocó: venta de aguardiente en el pueblo de Lloró ......................................................... 1 Figure 2: Neiva: vista del nevado del Huila, tomada desde el pueblo de San Agustín.................. 54 Figure 3: Buenaventura: vista de Los Farallones de Cali desde la ciudad..................................... 55 Figure 4: Chocó: vista de una calle de Quidó ................................................................................ 56 Figure 5: Chocó: cargueros de la montaña de Novitá .................................................................... 57 Figure 6: Provincia del Casanare: mulato e indio pescando .......................................................... 58 Figure 7: Provincia de Casanare: vista de la Sierra Nevada de Chita o Güicán tomada desde Moreno ........................................................................................................................................... 59 Figure 8: Provincia de Soto: Tejedoras y mercaderes de sombreros de nacuma en Bucaramanga.................................................................................................................................. 60 Figure 9: Chocó: aspecto exterior de las casas de Novitá.............................................................. 65 Figure 10: Provincia de Santander: tipo africano y mestizo .......................................................... 69 Figure 11: Buenaventura: campesinos de Cali............................................................................... 74 Figure 12: Provincia de Vélez: notables de la capital .................................................................... 77 Figure 13: Anthropometric photographs........................................................................................ 98 Figure 14: Anthropometric photographs........................................................................................ 99 Figure 15: Untitled ....................................................................................................................... 109 Figure 16: Untitled ....................................................................................................................... 113 Figure 17: Untitled ....................................................................................................................... 116 Figure 18: Untitled ....................................................................................................................... 117 vi Acknowledgements This dissertation, which took many years to unfold, would not have been possible without the loving support of my mother. This is my gift for her. I am also in debt to my advisor, Esther Gabara, who told me one day, quite casually, that photographs were not to be believed. That statement launched me into years of thinking about and being enthralled by images that lie. This dissertation is my elaboration on her statement. Without Esther’s understanding, encouragement, probing questions, and above all, patience to deal with many stalling hesitations and missed deadlines, this dissertation would not have come to fruition. My intellectual pursuits were nurtured, early on, by professors and friends in Boston. Stephen Pfohl introduced me to, as he would say, “the theoretical complexities of everyday realities.” Frances Restuccia tamed my wild writing into something that could be read. My friend, Avak O. Hasratian transformed camaraderie and forgiveness into an art. Christopher Verola taught me that life is to be lived in style. Charlotte Cox introduced me to Indian food and to the delightful complications of love. Ross Glover, Delario Lindsey, and Kenneth Bailey schooled me in the art of wine and conversation. Throughout my years at Duke, I have had many great friends and colleagues who have made my graduate school experience particularly enjoyable. Among them, I will forever cherish Shilyh Warren’s friendship. The countless hours we have spent together have nourished me in ways I will never be able to account for. Everyday she teaches me about the material, invisible, nourishing work of love. Rachel Price tried to teach me a new word, caution. Isis Sadek, Exequiel Lopresti, and Octavian Esanu fed me laughter, conversation, adventure, ideas. Alvaro Jarrin and Mariana Vale were the celestinas who made me fall in love with Rio de Janeiro. I would have lost my sanity if Ignacio Adriasola and Alvaro Reyes would not have risked everything every Tuesday to accompany me in my musical adventures. vii Research for this dissertation was supported by different grants from the Duke University Graduate School, the Ford Foundation and the Department of Education. I thank Natalie Hartman for providing guidance in the writing and administration of such funds. This dissertation is the result of the silent and often under appreciated work of librarians and library staff at Duke University, the Biblioteca Nacional and the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango inColombia, the Fundação Bibliteca Nacional and the Fundação Nacional das Artes in Rio de Janeiro. Without their intricate knowledge of every nook and cranny of their institutions and their guidance navigating seemingly anachronistic archives,