The anthropology of Latin America and the Caribbean / Harry Sanabria.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sanabria, Harry.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Latin America.

Ethnology.

Latin America.

Ethnology--Caribbean Area.

Caribbean Area.

Indigenous peoples--History.

Indigenous peoples.

Indians.

History.

Indigenous peoples--Social life and customs.

Indians--Social life and customs.

Latin America--Social life and customs.

Manners and customs.

Caribbean Area--Social life and customs.

Latin America--History.

Caribbean Area--History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 430 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Boston, MA : Pearson Allyn and Bacon, [2007]

Summary:

The text provides broad and historically informed coverage of Latin American and Caribbean societies, their cultural and historical development, as well as the role of power and inequality in this development.

Contents:

Analytical Approach xiv

Strengths and Features xv

Organization and Themes xv

1 Anthropology, Latin America, and the Caribbean 1

Why Study the Anthropology of Latin America and the Caribbean? 1

Doing Cultural Anthropology and Documenting Everyday Life 6

Controversies: The Culture of Poverty and Perspectives on the Poor 7

Oscar Lewis and the "Culture of Poverty" 8

Dying and Weeping in Brazilian Favelas 10

2 Introducing Latin America and the Caribbean 17

Delimiting and Imagining Latin America: Ideas, Spaces, and Places 17

Countries and Population 22

Migration and Cities 24

Languages 25

Landscapes, Culture, and Society 27

Major Landscapes 28

Structural Zones 29

Physiographic Regions 32

South America 32

Mexico 39

Central America 42

Caribbean 43

Landscape Transformations Before and After the Europeans 43

Controversies: Is the Culture Area Concept Still Useful? 45

3 Society and Culture Before the Europeans 50

Anthropological Perspectives on the Evolution of Social Complexity 50

Phases in the Emergence of Societal Complexity in Latin America and the Caribbean 52

Paleo-Indian 53

Archaic 55

Formative 61

Horizon 63

The Inca and Aztec States 65

The Andean and Mesoamerican Highlands: Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 65

The Inca and Aztec Expansions 66

Controversies: The Peopling of the Americas 70

4 Conquest, Colonialism, and Resistance 76

The European Conquests 76

Voyages, Exploration, and Expeditions 76

How Did (and Could) It Happen? 78

The Columbian Exchange 84

The Colonial Period 85

Mechanisms of Rule 86

Encomiendas, Repartimientos, and Tribute 86

Reducciones 87

Expansion of the State Bureaucracy 88

Local Elites as Power and Cultural Brokers 89

Rituals and Ceremonies 91

Pillars of the Colonial Economy: Haciendas, Plantations, and Mines 92

Haciendas 92

Plantations and Slavery 93

Mines 94

Resisting the Colonial Order 95

Rebellions 95

Evasive, "Everyday" Forms of Resistance 97

Ethnogenesis 99

Colonial Legacies, Independence, and the Coalescence of Nation-States 102

Controversies: The Quincentennial, or Remembering Columbus 104

5 Cultural Politics of Race and Ethnicity 110

Racial Categories and Racial Fluidity in Latin America 110

Colonialism, Empire, and the Invention of Race 114

Marriage and Race in the Eighteenth Through Early Twentieth Centuries 115

Scientific Racisms of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 118

Culture and Race 120

Decency, Hygiene, and Race 122

Mestizos and Mestizaje: Class, Race, and Nation 125

The Rise of Ethnicity and Ethnic Movements 130

Indian versus Indigenous 130

Ethnicity, Culture, and Class 132

Indigenous Movements and the Politics of Difference 133

Land, Ethnicity, and Indianness 135

Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Gender 137

Nationalism 137

Gender 139

Controversies: Intellectual Property Rights and Indigenous Peoples 139

In the United States: Race and Respect in the Streets of New York City 141

6 Cultural Constructions of Gender and Sexuality 146

Pre-European Gender Systems 146

Sexuality, Parallelism, and Complementarity 147

Gender and State Expansion 148

The Conquest and Colonial Period 150

Gender and the Consolidation of Nation-States 151

Femininity and Masculinity: Rethinking Marianismo and Machismo 152

Contesting Marianismo: Women and Gender in Revolutionary Settings 153

Cuba 153

Chile 154

Nicaragua 155

Contesting Marianismo: Sexuality and Female-Headed Households 156

Sexuality 156

Matrifocality: Female-Headed Households 159

Real "Machos" or Contingent Masculinities? 161

Contesting Machismo: Alcohol and Fatherhood 165

Alcohol 165

Fathering 165

Models of Behavior or Lived Experience? 167

Shifting Contours of Masculinity, Femininity, and Sexual Identities 168

Controversies: Gender, Masculinity, and Violence in Amazonian Societies 172

In the United States: Courtship, Sexuality, and Love Across the Border 176

7 Religion and Everyday Life 181

Popular Catholicism 181

Major Attributes of Popular Catholicism 183

Facets of Popular Catholicism 186

The Virgin Mary 186

Working with the Devil 190

Todos Santos: The Days of the Dead 192

The Spread of Protestantism 196

Maya Women in Mexico 197

Andean Villagers in Highland Ecuador 200

The African Heritage: Candomble, Santeria, and Vodou 201

Controversies: Mesoamerican Civil-Religious Cargo Systems 207

In the United States: Re-Creating Vodou in Brooklyn 211

8 Striving for Health and Coping with Illness 214

Medical Anthropology 214

The Poor Health of Latin America and the Caribbean 215

Mortality, Access to Biomedicine, and Malnutrition 215

Poverty, Inequality, and Disease 218

Tuberculosis 220

AIDS 224

Gender and Health 228

Folk Illnesses: Susto, Mal de Ojo, and Nervios 229

The Expressive and Healthy Body 232

Bodies, Communities, and Mountains in the Andes 233

Body and Knowledge in Lowland South America 234

Jamaican Bodies: Health, Sexuality, and Gender 234

Religion and Healing 236

Shamanism, Ritual Poetics, and Hallucinogenic Healing 236

Medicine and Religious Pluralism 240

Controversies: Marijuana and Coca, Health and Politics 241

Marijuana in Jamaica and Costa Rica 242

Coca in the Andes 245

In the United States: Susto and Mal de Ojo Among Florida Farmworkers 247

9 Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Expression 250

Food and Culture 250

Historical and Cultural Sketch of Latin American Food 254

Food, Consumption, and Ritual 260

Guinea Pigs and Ritual in the Andes 260

Juthaa: Sharing Polluting Food in Trinidad 262

Communicating Gender and Sexuality Through Food 264

Highland Ecuador 265

Jamaica 267

Brazil 269

Cuisine, Cookbooks, and Nation-Building 270

Globalization and National Cuisine in Belize 270

Cookbooks, Tamales, and Mexican Nation-Building 272

Controversies: "Hot" and "Cold" Foods 274

In the United States: Tamales, Gender, and Survival 277

10 Perspectives on Globalization 281

Globalization 281

Tourism, Crafts, and Cultural Authenticity 283

In Search of the "Authentic" and the Timeless 284

Producing "Ethnic" Handicrafts 285

Transnational Production and Labor 288

The North American Free Trade Agreement 290

Transnational Migrants in the United States and Canada 292

Labor and Gender in Mexican and Guatemalan Maquilas 293

Lurking Danger on the Borderlands: Women, Maquilas, and Death 297

Global Interests and the Environment 298

Sustainable Development and Bioprospecting 299

Deforestation and Degradation 301

The Amazon 303

Central America 304

Controversies: Global Interests and Ethnographic Representations in the Amazon 305

In the United States: Domestic Workers in the Midst of Affluence 309

11 Manifestations of Popular Culture 314

What Is Popular Culture? 314

Sports 316

Soccer 316

The Central American Soccer War 317

Nationalism, Masculinity, and Party Politics in Argentine Soccer 318

Popular Discontent and Soccer in Urban Chile 319

Baseball 320

The Dominican Republic 320

Cuba 322

Carnaval and Popular Celebrations 323

The Origins of Carnaval 323

Understanding Carnaval 324

Tourism and Violence in Brazilian Carnaval 327

Fertility, Community, and the Supernatural in Bolivian Carnaval 330

Music and Dance 332

Tango 332

Salsa 335

Reggae 337

Television and Telenovelas 339

Why Are Telenovelas so Popular? 340

The Cultural Impact of Telenovelas and Television Programming 342

Controversies: Tango and Sexuality 344

In the United States: Quinceaneras, Gender, and Tradition 347

12 Violence, Memory, and Striving for a Just World 351

Violence and Memory 351

The Central American Civil Wars 353

Nicaragua and El Salvador 355

Nicaragua 355

El Salvador 356

Guatemala's Despotic State 357

Chile's Pinochet 361

Argentina's Dirty

War 364

Colombia's Violencia 368

Mexico's Zapatistas 371

Peru's Shining Path 374

Controversies: Rigoberta Menchu, and the Politics of Memory and Culture 378

In the United States: Fleeing War and Reconstituting New Lives 381.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 386-416) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

0205380999

9780205380992

OCLC:

70718576