Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

by Erik Ching, Christina Buckley, Angélica Lozano-Alonso

Overview

Providing an extensive introduction to cultural studies in general, regardless of chronological or geographic focus, and presenting provocative, essential readings from Latin American writers of the last two centuries, Reframing Latin America brings much-needed accessibility to the concepts of cultural studies and postmodernism.

From Saussure to semiotics, the authors begin by demystifying terminology, then guide readers through five identity constructs, including nation, race, and gender. The readings that follow are presented with insightful commentary and encompass such themes as "Civilized Folk Marry the Barbarians" (including José Martí's "Our America") and "Boom Goes the Literature: Magical Realism as the True Latin America?" (featuring Elena Garro's essay "It's the Fault of the Tlaxcaltecas"). Films such as Like Water for Chocolate are discussed in-depth as well. The result is a lively, interdisciplinary guide for theorists and novices alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292717503
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

The authors are faculty members at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Erik Ching is Associate Professor of History; Christina Buckley and Angélica Lozano-Alonso are Associate Professors of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.

Table of Contents

• What Are We Doing and Why Are We Doing It? A Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Introduction(s)
  • 1) Post What?! (Not) An Abbreviated Introduction
  • 2) Saussure, Signs, and Semiotics, or Lots of Words That Begin with S
  • 3) Narrating about Narrative
• Part II: Theory
  • 4) An Opening Jaunt: El Salvador in 1923
    • Harry Foster, "A Gringo in Mañana-land"
  • 5) Be Here (or There) Now
    • Stuart Hall, "Ethnicity: Identity and Difference"
  • 6) Identity Construct #1: Race
    • Lawrence Blum, I'm Not a Racist But ...
    • Peter Wade, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
  • 7) Identity Construct #2: Class
    • David Parker, The Idea of the Middle Class
  • 8) Identity Construct #3: Gender
    • Candace West and Don Zimmerman, "Doing Gender"
    • R. W. Connell, Masculinities
  • 9) Identity Construct #4: Nation
    • Arthur de Gobineau, The Inequality of Human Races
    • Louis Pérez, On Becoming Cuban
  • 10) Identity Construct #5: Latin America
    • Gerald Martin, Journeys Through the Labyrinth
    • Leslie Bary, "The Search for Cultural Identity"
    • Walter Mignolo, Local Histories, Global Designs
• Part III: Reading(s)
  • 11) Civilized Folk Defeat the Barbarians: The Liberal Nation
    • Domingo Sarmiento, Facundo
  • 12) Civilized Folk Marry the Barbarians: The Nationalist Nation
    • Introduction to Doña Barbara by Rómulo Gallegos
    • Rómulo Gallegos, Doña Barbara
    • Introduction to Doris Sommer's Foundational Fictions
    • Doris Sommer, Foundational Fictions
    • Introduction to José Martí's "Our America"
    • José Martí, "Our America"
  • 13) Film Foray: Los tres caballeros
    • Julianne Burton, "Don (Juanito) Duck and the Imperial Patriarchal Discourse"
  • 14) The Socialist Utopia: Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution
    • Analyzing The Motorcycle Diaries
    • Film Analysis: The Motorcycle Diaries
    • Introduction to Alma Guillermoprieto's "The Harsh Angel"
    • Alma Guillermoprieto, "The Harsh Angel"
    • Film Analysis: Soy Cuba/Ya Kuba (I Am Cuba)
  • 15) Boom Goes the Literature: Magical Realism as the True Latin America?
    • Elena Garro, "It's the Fault of the Tlaxcaltecas"
  • 16) Film Foray: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate)
    • Barbara Tenenbaum, "Why Tita Didn't Marry the Doctor, or Mexican History in Like Water for Chocolate"
    • Harmony Wu, "Consuming Tacos and Enchiladas"
  • 17) Film Foray: Mi familia (My Family)
  • 18) Are We There Yet? Testimonial Literature
    • Thomas Tirado, Celsa's World: Conversations with a Mexican Peasant Woman
  • 19) Some Closing Comments
• Permissions Acknowledgments
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Susan Martin-Márquez

An excellent resource, explicitly designed for use in undergraduate courses in Latin American historical, literary, and/or cultural studies. This text is significantly, and laudably, more ambitious than a traditional anthology, for the authors, who have team-taught a course based on these materials for a number of years, have also formulated a systematic pedagogical approach to the shift from modernism to postmodernism.

Susan Martin-Márquez

An excellent resource, explicitly designed for use in undergraduate courses in Latin American historical, literary, and/or cultural studies. This text is significantly, and laudably, more ambitious than a traditional anthology, for the authors, who have team-taught a course based on these materials for a number of years, have also formulated a systematic pedagogical approach to the shift from modernism to postmodernism.
— Susan Martin-Márquez, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Rutgers University