Culture as Folk culture

I really liked the readings this week, especially the first one regarding Mayan myths. I find that many myths and legends (not only restricted to Latin America) always have a message which is transmitted in the story, moral messages to be more precise, what in Spanish are referred to as “moraleja”. I came across many of these type of stories in a book called The Darien Gap: Travels in the Rainforest of Panama by Martin Mitchinson (it’s a great book if you’re interested in culture and folklore of indigenous people, it’s an easy read perfect for the long hours in the airport, just be careful not to miss your plane like I did). What I inferred from these stories is that the primary end is to teach some in that culture (most likely kids) how to deal with problems that you face in life. At the same time it’s a process of acculturation which bounds the person with the cultural traditions in his group.

The second reading was great. Honestly I will never cease to be amazed with the creativity of those whom come up with these stories. I’ve heard this type of folk tales many times and from different cultures (or ethnic groups) in the region. And again I believe that this story ties in with a particular aspect of Latin American culture: resistance. The many stories I’ve heard that resemble Argueda’s “The Poncho’s Dream” have always the same characteristics. First they have a character that is associated with a particular group, usually belonging to the same which is telling the story. Second, this character is oppressed and humiliated day and night by a more powerful figure, usually the “white men”. And finally, the character at the end always outsmarts his oppressor in some way, leaving him with some sense of pride. And there the story ends.

While reading Mitchinson’s book I came across a similar scenario. In his book Mitchinson and some Embera (indigenous group in Panama) were telling stories to each other. It was Mitchinson turn to tell a story so he decided to go for a joke (if you want to read the joke click here, Mitchinson replaced the word “Pakistani” with “white men” and “Indian” with “indian”).After finishing the joke every Embera in the room laughed and said “That is one smart indian” . This tells me that the audience feels compelled by listening to these stories that involve an oppressed character always outwitting their oppressor.

Popular Culture in Latin America

Reading Rowe & Schelling work was very interesting to me because I believe it not only touched on many aspects of popular culture in Latin America, but also they demonstrated the complexity of it. I could spend hours discussing about futbol, music and even black culture within the cultural sphere in Latin America, however there is one particular aspect in this paper that grabbed my attention, and that the aspect was resistance in Latin American culture.

This process of syncretism between colonial and pre-colonial culture is very characteristic of Latin American society, particularly that of the worldviews held in Latin America.

Christianity is probably the biggest “remain” left from the colonial period and many people in the region still practice it the same way it was practiced in the past (traditionally). However, as Rowe and Schelling point out, some elements of Christianity have been altered and previous indigenous worldviews have been incorporated. Sometimes these elements are incorporated in order to make better sense of the new worldviews that are being imposed to the indigenous by the missionaries (i.e. Corpus Christi). And in other cases, these elements are incorporated deliberately as a symbol of resistance (i.e. “El Baile de la Conquista” among the indigenous and “El Congo” among the blacks). The former, though maybe not on purpose, is still a form of resistance because it’s not fully accepting Christian worldviews without renouncing to their indigenous worldviews. I believe that it’s this “unconscious-form” of resistance that characterizes many aspects of the culture of Latin America. However, there are still many aspects of resistance within Latin American culture that are a bit more obvious.

In Latin American countries, independence and other national holidays are celebrated very differently from other parts of the world. In many countries of the region (after practicing for 6-8 months) both the students and military from all around the country march in remembrance of the struggles that lead to independence. One particular national holiday of some Latin American countries is the celebration of the so-called “gritos de independencia” (cries for independence). Cries for independence are sometimes considered the official starting points for independence; it is an act of resistance in which a person (or population) calls for independence. Now this is not as subtle as the “unconscious-form” of resistance I mentioned early, rather it is a more obvious form of resistance and many nations adopt this event and make it part of their national holiday. By doing so, this event is now part of the culture of that country because it commemorates that act of resistance. Additionally, this ties in with another of Rowe and Schelling argument which was that part of the culture in Latin America comes from the rural areas. The similarity that the Grito de Dolores in Mexico, Grito de Independencia de la Villa de los Santos in Panama and el Grito de Lares in Puerto Rico have is that they all occurred in towns that are far away from the urban setting.