Author Archives: Matthew R. Barrett

Analysis of 100 Years of Dominican Feminism

Thursday, April 26th author of Black behind the ears, Ginetta Candelario, lectured a presentation titled 100 Years of Dominican Feminism. Candelario’s main point was to elaborate on the specific cases of Dominican feminists. The talk was featured as a part of the University of Scranton’s week-long campaign to confront sexual violence on campus. In the spirit of the campaign designed to empower women, this presentation focused on historical women of the Dominican that were involved in social activism within their country.

Ginetta Candelario’s lecture consisted of an illustrated PowerPoint presentation in which she thoroughly elaborated on specific slides. Following the lecture, Candelario accepted questions from the audience. Beginning with a few positive remarks, I immediately noticed Candelario’s excellent public speaking skills. It was obvious that she knew her presentation well and merely used her PowerPoint to facilitate the lecture and not dominate it. Candelario also consistently made eye contact with the audience which I felt was important throughout her presentation. Finally, I enjoyed Candelario’s personal stories relating to her research into Dominican feminism. The story of thumbing through stacks of articles in the library searching for a specific letter and/or newspaper clipping clearly demonstrated the depth and concentration of her research. Her other story about the town square in the capital where women shaved their head in public as an activist demonstration was empowering.

There were a few things that I did not like about the lecture. I felt that Candelario spent too much time on the finer details. I understand that the who, what, where, and how are important questions to consider whenever addressing historical figures but for a short lecture I felt that Candelario weakened her presentation by including too much context information. For example, I did not think it was worth including extraneous personal information on character’s spouses or significant others just to arrive at the origin of the word feminism in the Dominican Republic. Another critique, as insignificant as it is, was the length of the lecture. As a presenter, you need to be aware of the time remaining and not run late. Although it was mostly due to the audience’s questions, Candelario’s lecture ran over the expected time. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Candelario’s presentation and look forward to finishing reading her book Black behind the ears.

Lastly, our most recent theme in Race in Latin America was race and nation in the Dominican Republic. First, Candelario’s book is an excellent parallel to the course unit because it addresses that race and nationality can be dynamic despite being grouped together. One can be both light and dark skinned and be Dominican but both reject African descent. Her lecture, on the other hand, offers examples of women who find Dominican nationality through feminism giving a different picture to the theme of race and nation.

Analysis of Ixcanul

The film Ixcanul, written and directed by Jayro Bustamante is a story about a poor indigenous family that lives on a coffee plantation in Central America. The story’s protagonist María is arranged to be married off to Ignacio, the plantation’s supervisor, when she decides to seduce Pepe, a farm-hand who also picks coffee. Pepe is secretly planning to flee to the United States in hopes of a better life and María is mesmerized by his dream of emigrating. After finding out she’s pregnant, María’s life takes a dramatic turn full of exploitation and mistreatment.

Ixcanul is beautiful. For one, the cinematography is incredible. Especially the shots that include the active volcano, Ixcanul in the film’s background emphasizing the volcano’s crucial role in the life of María and her family. For example, a scene early in the film shows María and her mother worshiping the volcano praying for safety and security. Another positive critique with the cinematography is the key moments where the camera angle shows both María and her mother walking through the coffee plantation trails and an asphalt road parallel to the plantation’s border. Angle’s such as this juxtapose modernism and barbarism or the civilized against the uncivilized. It’s obvious that María’s family is unfairly judged by the government agent and the medical staff in the hospital. The discrimination is entirely based on their ethnicity.

Interestingly, Marie’s lover, Pepe, who flees to the United State even sides against his own culture and ethnicity. In private Pepe says to María, “It’s people like you who keep us stuck here”. Pepe desires worldly pleasures, he dreams of a big house with a garden and a car and does not want to live a coffee farmer his entire life. The only negative critique I have of this film is the hypersexuality stereotype of the indigenous people. This portrayal may have been about a lack of education in the community but certain scenes such as the scene in which María humps a tree in the forest just before seducing Pepe came across in poor taste.

The film could be seen as a question about nationality and how race and ethnicity are tie people to specific identifies. Even though Pepe is from the same community as María he identifies as something beyond his ethnicity, almost as if he resents it. However, María and the modernized people [government workers, hospital staff, public claims office employees, etc.] are citizens of the same country, yet María and her family are exploited because of their indigenous ethnicity. The doctor refusing to communicate to María’s parents or accept the mother’s shawl as a token of gratitude in the hospital displays in-group and out-group mentality. The situation is similar to the treatment of Amabella by Senora Valencia in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones. Amabella is constantly reminded of her Haitian ethnicity and blackness despite living with a Dominican family in the Dominican Republic and is treated differently.

A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed

Image result for haitian machete

Richard Lee Turits is a professor of Latin American Studies at William and Mary College in Virginia. His research focuses on Caribbean history, specifically Hispanic history in the Dominican Republic and Haiti[1]. Turits’ article “A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed:  The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic” (2002) is a historical essay arguing that the Haitian massacre is both genocide and an all-out assault on a bicultural and transnational community[2]. Although Turits’ essay includes testimonies of Haitians and Dominicans before and after the massacre, this article is a secondary source because Turits makes a thesis about a historical time and supports it throughout the article.

Our new unit in Race and Latin American History is Race and Nation in the Dominican Republic. Turits’ article, as well as the genocide itself heavily, relates to our current unit. As the essay explains, the distinction between Haitian and Dominican was incredibly vague. For one the two countries especially near the border intermarried and mixed for generations[3] discrediting the argument that skin color actually played a critical role in determining who and who was not Haitian during the massacre. What seemed to play more of a role in the massacre was cultural identity and stereotypes[4] and nationalist ideology stemming from the Trujillo Regime[5]. The genocide of 1937 allows us to question what nationality means and how race is involved in that type of identity.

Turits’ essay on the Haitian massacre is well written an informative. It doesn’t surprise me that the article won an award1 and was translated into Haitian Kreyòl[6]. Turits’ highlights background information such as the border region between Haiti and the Dominican prior to the massacre which gives the reader a strong understanding of the relationship between the two countries. The testimonies supplemented throughout the essay also provide firsthand accounts of the massacre which allows the reader to feel this tragedy. This essay flows well and is clearly divided into sub-topics breaking down the before and after of the massacre extremely well. My only complaint was that it was not longer.

Questions:

  1. How did Trujillo come to power who influenced his nationalist campaign?
  2. According to Turits, how are native Haitians and native Dominicans determined? And what do the differences between Haitians and Dominicans say about race and nationality?

[1] William and Mary College, History Faculty. Richard Lee Turits. Web

[2] Richard Lee Turits. Hispanic American Historical Review: A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed, (2002)

[3] Richard Lee Turits. Hispanic American Historical Review: A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed, (2002) 596.

[4] Richard Lee Turits. Hispanic American Historical Review: A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed, (2002) 597-599.

[5] Richard Lee Turits. Hispanic American Historical Review: A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed, (2002) 630-633.

[6] The Conference of Latin American History. The James Alexander Robertson Memorial Prize. Web.

Analysis of Marcel Camus’ Orfeu Negro

Marcel Camus’ Orfeu Negro is a French film based on the Brazilian play Orfeu da Conceição. The film’s and play’s plot is inspired by the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice taking place in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, during the Brazilian festival Carnival. The story begins with Eurydice fleeing to Rio in search of her cousin, Serafina. Like the myth entails, Eurydice flees to escape Death and believes by running away to Rio she is safe. While looking for Serafina, Eurydice bumps into Orfeu, the film’s protagonist, while riding a trolley. Getting off the trolley Eurydice is given directions to her cousin’s house where Orfeu is a neighbor; How Ironic? As the plot develops Orfeu and Eurydice fall in love similar to the Greek myth. Later on during festival activities, Eurydice is chased by Death who unfortunately finds her among the crowd. Finally, and as a tragic typically ends, Eurydice is killed by Orfeu while trying to rescue her.

Positively critiquing the film I would argue that the choreography and music was spot on, adding a sense of genuine Brazilian culture. I really liked how the same song carried throughout the entire length of the film, which I later learned is a tradition. Songs are sung with accompanying music from floats driving down the streets precedingCarnival and locals follow the music and sing along. Another strength of the film was the use of red lighting during the last scene with Eurydice adding to the drama of death as well as the “red” aspect of the underworld where Eurydice goes.

What I did not like about the film, however, was the way the Afro-Brazilians were portrayed in the film. These prejudices of how Afro-Brazilians are viewed actually relates to our current Unit “Blackness in Brazil”. One of our readings was a chapter of Gilberto Freyre’s The Masters and the Slaves which describes Afro-Brazilians as being obsessed with sexual desire as a side-effect of the institution of slavery and their African origin. This eroticism was heavily depicted throughout the film especially in times of high festivities. Specifically depicted in which the song and dance of the Afro-Brazilians began to sound animalistic. The Afro-Brazilians are also portrayed as impoverished but in an extremely careless manner. For example, Serafina buys a dress over food despite the fact that she’s struggling with money. Surprisingly the entire Rio de Janerio population is singing and dancing without a care in the world not to mention the shanty towns the Afro-Brazilians live in.

I found this film overall confusing, not on the fault of the film necessarily but on my fault for being ignorant about the Brazilian Carnival and its cultural value along with the original Greek myth in which the film/play is inspired from. Seeing this film with this knowledge would have clarified some points at the beginning of the film.  I also found the intent of the film confusing. It’s unclear the director’s intent of the stereotyping such as whether he unknowingly stereotypes the Afro-Brazilians, or is trying to expose the stereotypes by exaggerating them.

Florestan Fernandes – The Negro in Brazilian Society

 

 

 

 

 

The sociologist Florestan Fernandes addresses the legacy of a white society in relation to a crippled and impoverished Afro-Brazilian population living within the state of Sao Paulo. Fernandes refutes the accepted belief that equality exists among races and argues that the Afro-Brazilian was never prepared to compete equally in a free-labor society. Fernandes claims that this allowed white Brazilians and white Europeans to continually surpass them in the social and economic stage. The Negro in Brazilian Society is an empirical essay published in 1969. It looks specifically at the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil because, as Fernandes points out Sao Paulo is the ideal setting for racial relation studies. For the purpose of our own studies, The Negro in Brazilian Society is a primary source because describes results of a sociological study. This essay was intended to show that Brazil was not the beacon of racial equality that it claims to be but on the contrary, is a system that discriminates against the Afro-Brazilians in various ways.

 

The second unit of our Race in Latin America studies is Blackness in Brazil. Fernandes essay The Negro in Brazilian Society strongly contributes to the unit because of its thesis and conclusion. Abolition occurred about 80 years before this essay was published which declared constitutional equality for all races yet, there is still strong discrimination and inequality for the Afro-Brazilian. This essay takes an in-depth look at the social and economic factors affecting the Afro-Brazilian which in turn affects how the Afro-Brazilian as a race and as an individual is viewed.

 

It should be addressed that although Fernandes supported his claim of inequality between whites and Afro-Brazilians with data from multiple Sao Paulo censuses, a few of his tables were somewhat ambiguous such as Table 4 – Births, Deaths, and Stillborns. These ambiguities cloud his credibility. Nonetheless, Fernandes is a social justice warrior. He criticizes a vast majority of Brazilians claiming that they hold a “prejudice of having no prejudice” allowing them to be oblivious to the severe inequality among them. He offers rational arguments about how immigrants out-competed Afro-Brazilians in the free-labor market and how the legacy of slavery affected job opportunities for the Afro-Brazilians as well.

 

DQ’s

 

A common phrase today with regard to racism in the United States is “I am colorblind, therefore I don’t see race.” Is that phrase similar to Fernandes’ claim that white Brazilians have a prejudice of having no prejudice?

 

What are the major factors that led to white immigrants out-competing Afro-Brazilians in the labor market?

Fernandes, Florestan. The Negro in Brazilian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.

Analysis of Cinco días sin Nora by Matthew Barrett 

The quasi-dramatic Mexican comedy Cinco días sin Nora, directed by Mariana Chenillo, tastefully blends dark humor into the death of Nora Kurtz. Nora’s ex-husband José ventures over to her apartment to find that Nora had overdosed on medication in her final suicide attempt. However, Nora’s suicide strikes suspicion in José after too may coincidental events unfold; almost as if Nora killed herself simply to manipulate her ex-husband José one last time. The film takes a dramatic turn as José accidentally finds an old photograph depicting his ex-wife with another man from the time of their marriage, causing José to question the relationship he began with Nora in the first place.

Cinco días sin Nora is subtly hilarious. The protagonist José Kurtz, portrays an “I don’t want to be bothered” attitude which is ironic because José is nothing but bothered and burdened throughout the entire film. Although divorced, José and Nora allude to a stereotypical old married couple who argue and endlessly suspect each other. A prime example would be José finding his deceased ex-wife’s sticky-note reminders annoying and then retaliating against Nora by mixing and moving the reminders around. By the end of the film, however, I noticed a major theme that connects to our Race in Latin American History course, cultural unity.

Race is an inherent part of a culture. Culture becomes especially important when investigating the racial-cultural identity known as mestizaje. A great example of this theme, cultural unity, stands out during the last moments of the film when the Kurtz family is sitting down for Passover dinner. This family meal is quite a change from the continuous conflict between people of different religions and cultures. José and his family are of European descent and belong to Jewish faith with the exception of José’s atheistic views. The Kurtz’s maid is faithfully Christian and likely of indigenous descent. The humorous conflict that arises between the different cultures is what makes Cinco días sin Nora so darkly comical. Serving a rabbi and José’s son Reuben pizza topped with bacon and sausage is disrespectful, not to mention that it’s currently during the holiday of Passover. To further spite his ex-wife, José attempts to have Nora buried by a Christian burial service causing much grief in the family. In the ending, however, José attempts to mend his relationship with his family by giving up his own burial plot shortly after the Kurtz family experiences shameful burial attempt. The meal sharing at the end of the film in which each Kurtz member and the maid are joyfully participating in the meal illustrates the theme of cultural unity. Different people joining together for something as humble as holiday dinner fits right along the description of mestizaje. José participating in the meal [during Passover] shows his family that he respects his son’s faith despite his own beliefs. This dinner reunited the Kurtz family, mending the broken bridges set in the past, sadistically put forth by the suicide of the grandmother Nora.