Comentario del libro: “Costa Rica. 1800-1850: El legado colonial y la génesis del capitalismo, de Iván Molina”

IntroducciónEn éste, el cuarto de dieciseis volúmenes de la serie patrocianda por el Centro de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad de Costa Rica, Molina intenta al menos resumir los resultados de una gran variedad de investigaciones históricas recientes. El autor se destaca tanto por una prosa atractiva, como por un enfoque que no se reduce al esquema "café-capitalismo-sociedad" característico de anteriores estudios suyos. Es más, si hay una sorpresa agradable en esta obra, está en el evidente interés y desarrollo de los estudios de "mentalité", siguiendo tanto a los modelos franco-ingleses como lo poco hecho en el ámbito local... 

Producción indígena y mercado urbano a finales del período colonial. La provisión de alimentos a la ciudad de Guatemala. 1787- 1822

ResumenEstudia el proceso de reestructuración de la oferta de alimentos a la ciudad de Guatemala, con el fin de evaluar el impacto del auge añilero en el hinterland de la ciudad de Guatemala. También analiza la diferenciación social del campesino indígena al interior de los pueblos a finales del periodo colonial.AbstractThe purpose of this study of the restructuring of food supply to Guatemala City is to asses the impact of the indigo boom on the hinterland of that city. The author also discusses social differentiation of Indian peasant within their town toward the end to the colonial period.

Teatro Colonial

ResumenEn 1994, los estudiantes del Seminario de Graduación Vida Cotidiana en la colonia 1680-1821, se encontraban realizando la investigación en fuentes primarias. La estudiante Eva María Guevara Salazar encontró en el Archivo Nacional de Costa Rica, Serie Municipal Cartago 336, 12-6-1809, la obra de teatro que fue presentada en Cartago, ese mismo año, con motivo de la Jura de Fernando VII. Este es un valioso documento no sólo para los historiadores sino también para los filólogos.

Modernidad, epistemología y dominio colonial en américa latina: epistemología y dominio en el Discurso del método

La modernidad se ha promocionado a sí misma como la dadora de la razón y la libertad. No obstante, si revisamos la historia de América Latina después de la Conquista, nos daremos cuenta de que si algo faltó fue libertad. Por ello, al releer el Discurso del método podemos encontramos varias pistas con las cuales ayudarnos a explicar el origen de la colonialidad en las Tierras de Américo.  ResumoPromocionao modernidade temse como um doador de razao e liberdade. No entanto, ao rever a história da América Latina, depois da Conquista, é claro que, se algo estava faltando era a liberdade. Relendo o Discurso do Método, encontramos várias faixas que ajudam a explicar a origem da colonialidade en terras da América.

Imaginario moderno/colonial y resistencias desde epistemologías y prácticas otras.

A partir de los estudios sobre la poscolonialidad sabemos que la colonización de lo que ahora denominamos América Latina es intrínseca al desarrollo de la modernidad en Europa y, nos atrevemos a decir que, en esta transculturación, las categorías filosóficas que adoptamos para pensarnos a nosotros mismos en escenarios como la política, la cultura y la historia tienen rasgos de la colonialidad. En un segundo apartado, se analizan los jóvenes y cómo estos, en sus resistencias, construyen diferentes maneras de nombrar las identidades, construir narrativas, y resignificar utopías como formas otras de resistencia a la colonización.

COLONIZAÇÃO E GUERRA COLONIAL EM MOÇAMBIQUE: INFLUÊNCIAS NAS OBRAS DE MIA COUTO

Este artigo tem como objetivo discutir os principais aspectos do processo de colonização de Moçambique, os embates que culminaram na guerra colonial na segunda metade do século e como esses conflitos estão representados na obra do escritor moçambicano Mia Couto. Também analisa como se dá a construção dentro da ficção de uma narrativa marcada pelo trauma das guerras e como as memórias dos personagens se entrelaçam com um imaginário coletivo e do autor sobre as guerras.

RESISTANCE TO THE COLONIALITY AND COLONIAL SUBSERVIENCE. THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM IN JORGE BARBOSA AND VIRIATO DA CRUZ AFRICAN POETRY

From the 70's, Africa was a massive wave of independence process. However, such processes are not meant processes of decolonization. According with Fanon (1961) also decolonization is based not only on the territorial and political, but mostly mental. While some former colonies resist colonial hegemony still visible in the local culture, others are colluding with the colonizing process. Thus, it will analyze the subservience and resistance to colonization in Lusophone African poetry, especially with the Angolan Viriato da Cruz, with the poem MaKézú (1961) and Cape Verdian Jorge Barbosa with Prelude (1956).

REPRESENTACIÓN, HIBRIDACIÓN Y DIFERENCIA COLONIAL EN EL PRIMER NUEVA CORÓNICA Y BUEN GOBIERNO DE FELIPE GUAMÁN POMA DE AYALA

El artículo analiza las “estrategias de representación” que incorpora el tejido textual de El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (1583-1615) de Guamán Poma de Ayala, y desde allí revisa las formas de construcción de la diferencia en la representación cultural y colonial. El "recorrido de la representación" que exhibe la crónica es, ciertamente, rizomático y, en esa medida, inaprehensible. Sin embargo, el artículo se centra en algunos puntos nodales que informan, al menos parcialmente, la estructura y el proceso de representación: la hibridación cultural vista desde el lenguaje, la religión y el mestizaje ofrecerán la clave para establecer la diferencia cultural/colonial que erige el indio peruano dentro de los procesos de colonización española en las Indias del Perú. 

DORIS LESSING’S “LITTLE TEMBI” AND POST-COLONIAL CRITICISM

Colonial strategies, including degradation and the othering of the colonial subject are analyzed in the short story “Little Tembi” by Doris Lessing. The manner an African boy is othered by white plantation owners and his resistance against the colonial and apartheid system through sly civility and crime are investigated.

O Questionamento do Discurso Colonial em “Viagem ao México”, de Silviano Santiago e “Concerto Barroco”, de Alejo Carpentier

RESUMO: A dominação, sobretudo, discursiva, foi o que moldou o pensamento das ex-colônias europeias mundo afora. Ao estabelecer um pensamento hegemônico, baseado no olhar do colonizador, o discurso colonial, por muito tempo, relatou a história apenas pela ótica do dominador. Diante disso, neste artigo, demonstro como a literatura e as teorias pós-coloniais vêm apresentando uma alternativa para se repensar o passado dessas nações e, consequentemente mudar, ideologicamente o olhar em relação a si mesmas e aos outros. Especificamente, neste trabalho, analiso como as obras “Viagem ao México”, de Santiago Santiago, e “Concerto Barroco”, de Alejo Carpentier, buscam por meio do questionamento do discurso oficial repensar o processo de colonização espanhola no México e a relação colonizador-colonizado. A partir dessa análise, demonstro como as teorias pós-coloniais não desejam apagar o passado, mas confrontá-lo com uma outra perspectiva (a pós-colonial) mais dialógica e menos hierarquizada, na qual as vozes distintas convivem de forma simultânea.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Literatura pós-colonial, passado, discurso.

Lady Nugent and Tom Cringle on the veranda : early nineteenth century observations on a Caribbean architectural feature

This study of the veranda as seen through the eyes of Lady Maria Nugent and Michael Scott, alias Tom Cringle, clearly demonstrates the important role that the piazza, as it was then more commonly known, played in the life of early nineteenth century Caribbean colonial society. The popularity of the veranda throughout the region, in places influenced by different European as well as African cultures, and among all classes of people, suggests that the appeal of this typical feature was based on something more than architectural fashion. A place of relative comfort in hot weather, the veranda is also a space at the interface of indoors and outdoors which allows for a wide variety of uses, for solitary or small or large group activities, many of which were noted by Nugent and Scott. Quintessentially, the veranda is a place in which to relax and take pleasure, not least of which is the enjoyment of the prospect, be it a panoramic view, a peaceful garden or a lively street scene. Despite the great changes in the nature of society, in the Caribbean and in many other parts of the world, the veranda and related structures such as the balcony continue to play at least as important a role in daily life as they did two centuries ago. The veranda of today’s Californian or Australian bungalow, and the balcony of the apartment block in the residential area of the modern city are among the contemporary equivalents of the lower and upper piazzas of Lady Nugent’s and Tom Cringle’s day.

In step

In Step was a wearable artwork consisting of a pair of embroidered foot bandages and an actuator ‘cushion’ embedded with 15 electromechanical actuator pistons. The bandage was embedded with woven, soft and flexible fabric sensors - interconnected with metallic connecting threads, fasteners and a wireless interface (in a final form). When wrapped around a foot and lower leg the sensors sat on the ball of the toes and heel. This ‘wearable interface’ was then connected wirelessly to a soft sculptural form, which employed actuators to tap gently in response to the qualities of the walk detected by the soft sensors. In this way the ‘tread qualities’ of the walker could then be felt by someone else holding this device against their stomach – thereby allowing pairs of participants to ‘feel’ the tactile qualities of the other's walk. The work was presented both as a working object and via a short videorecorded performance.----- In Step generated innovative new approaches to interface and sensor embedded clothing/footware whilst also creating an evocative vehicle to comment upon contemporary Post Colonial theories of weight and groundedness – particularly the psycho-geographical ‘separation’ from the landscape that inspired Paul Carter’s “environmentally grounded poetics”. The work’s final form also suggested critical new directions for responsive clothing and footwear for the emerging genre of smart textiles.

The Euro-American psyche and the imaging of Samoa in the early 20th century

Drawing on English language sources and material from Western Samoa (now Samoa), this examination of photographically illustrated serial encyclopaedia and magazines proposes an alternative historical analysis of the colonial photographs of Samoa, the most extensively covered field in Oceanic photographic studies. Photographs published between the 1890s and World War II were not necessarily from that era, and despite claims in the text of illustrated publications of an unchanged, enduring, archaic tradition in Samoa, the amazing variety of content and subject matter often offered contradictory evidence, depicting a modern, adaptive and progressive Samoa. Contrary to orthodox historical analysis, the images of Samoa in illustrated magazines and encyclopaedia were not limited to a small, repetitive gallery of partially clothed women and costumed chiefs.

Decolonising the concept of knowledge

Controlling the definition of what was essentially a subjugated culture, the colonisers reserve the power to distinguish authentic aspects of the living traditions of the colonised. If the colonised argue political demands by reference to their culture, the colonisers are quick to adjudicate what is genuine in such claims. (Fannon, 1967) Since colonial invasions, Australia’s Indigenous people have weathered rapid change. While the origins of Australia’s Indigenous peoples continues to be an archaeological interest for many, how Indigenous cultures have survived, transformed and retained a sense of ‘difference’ is fundamental to understanding the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures within this continent as both contemporaneous and historical. It is important that teachers, students and researchers within Indigenous studies remind themselves that much of the literature on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can be ideologically traced back to the emergence of ‘knowledge’ about native peoples in the context of European imperialism and expansion from the fifteenth century. Care must therefore be taken in not conveying ‘scientific’ rational knowledge as perhaps the hidden agenda or notion of assumptions of European ‘superiority’ and non-European inferiority. The recognition by the High Court of Australia (1992) abandoned the legal myth of terra nullius which based the dispossession of Indigenous land on the basis of it being considered an empty land. It could also be argued that this decision recognised that distinct customs and traditions continue to exist within the social and cultural ‘knowledge’ of Indigenous peoples of Australia. General issues and concerns relating to research design, methodology and articulation within QUT are not just confined to this university and the research project presented as a case study but are important in dealing with how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and academics participate or are employed within the university. We feel that the design and methodology of research that either covertly or overtly focuses on Indigenous Australians can no longer presume that all research will naturally follow protocols that are culturally appropriate as this appropriateness is usually defined by the institution. By no means do we feel that research should be debilitated as a result of raising these issues, but that collaborative approaches within the ‘process’ of research will address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities as much as the intended outcomes of research itself.

Early land grants and reservations : Any lessons from the Queensland experience for the sustainability challenge to land ownership

Environmentalists have called for a new property paradigm premised on the idea of land ownership as a delegated responsibility to manage land and resources for the public benefit. An examination of Crown freehold grants from the beginnings of settlement until the 1890s in Queensland shows that fee simple titles were granted subject to express conditions and reservations designed to reserve useful natural resources to the Crown, and to promote public purposes. Over time, legislative regulation of landowner’s rights rendered obsolete the use of express conditions and reservations in grants. One result of this change was that the inherently limited nature of fee simple ownership, and the communal obligations to which it is subject, are less transparent than in colonial times.