year 1 capstone assessment...1 b. guy peters, ‘politics is about governing’, in adrian leftwich...
TRANSCRIPT
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Year 1 Capstone
Assessment
Sofia Eleonora Rayneri
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What have you learned in your study of the history and
politics of the Americas during your first year of studies?
Throughout the year, I was frequently drawn to the lessons centered around gender and race.
Most of the time, these were discussed in a context of inequality and struggle for political visibility.
Therefore, I have decided to take these two topics and explore what I have learnt about them in
relation to the themes of power and nationalism as I believe that they are important causes and
consequences of gender and race relations.
I realized that politics is intrinsically linked to power. When asked to define the term, I wrote
that politics is when society comes together to decide who should have power and how much of it, in
order to best provide for a society and its goals. B. Guy Peters defined it as ‘the relations of power
and influence between states and their societies, and in particular to that complex set of processes
whereby governments come to choose between a variety of collective goals for society and seek to
implement them.’1 Because power is ever-present in politics, it influences nearly all aspects of it.
This year, I discovered that race is key in constructing social hierarchies in the Americas,
hence, distributing power in society. A famous example are the South American Casta Paintings
(Figure 1), which were used to describe racial mixing. In a quasi scientific way it broke down the
results of miscegenation: the Mestizo was the offspring of a Spanish and an Indian, the Castizo of a
Spanish and a Mestizo, and so on. However, there is more to them than what meets the eye; they also
served as a way of organizing power in society.2 Therefore, in many of these communities we see
race being a clear marker of one’s status in society.
1 B. Guy Peters, ‘Politics is About Governing’, in Adrian Leftwich (ed.), What Is Politics?: The Activity and Its Study (Cambridge, 2004), 25. 2 Julie Wilson Frick et al., ‘Casta painting in the Spanish Americas,’ in Smarthistory, 17 January 2018,
https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-c-1775/.
https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-c-1775/
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Brazil, the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, has been described by some as a
“racial democracy”. However, upon closer inspection this appears untrue. Since slavery was not
abolished through violent conflict, it did not disrupt social hierarchies, thus, leaving the original ones
intact. Anthony W. Marx argued that by maintaining an image of inclusion while still keeping African
Americans at the bottom of the hierarchy, Brazil managed to decrease the prospect of conflict. The
absence of discriminatory laws meant that it was much harder for African Americans to mobilize and
address the inequality.3
Race Matters by Cornel West is extremely pertinent to the topic. In it, he states: ‘Democracy
matters in race matters because class and gender matter in American society and black life. Thus, 4’
institutions play a key role in perpetuating racism because of the power they have to ingrain it in
society.
What stands out when focusing on race in 20th century Americas is the inequality in treatment
and policies. The US’ responses to the Great Depression deeply disadvantaged African Americans.
Namely, the Agricultural Adjustment Act saw many landless farmers, of which a high percentage
black, being dispossessed so that landowners would not have to share the benefits of the program.5
The Social Security Act also privileged primarily white men as aid was excluded to many important
categories such as domestic and agricultural workers, which had a high percentage of blacks and
females.6
Studying the Chaco War it was clear that indigenous soldiers were treated more poorly than
their white counterparts. When studying the medical crisis of the war, Ann Zulawski stated that ‘racial
and class hierarchies were reproduced in the army and were reflected in inequality in medical
3 Anthony W. Marx, Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of South Africa, the United States, and Brazil
(New York, 1998), 160-176. 4 Cornel West, Race Matters (Boston, MA, 2001), viii. 5 Alan Brinkley, ‘The New Deal Experiments ’in William H. Chafe (ed.), The Achievement of American Liberalism: The New Deal and Its Legacies (New York, 2003), 14. 6 ivi., 8.
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treatment. without time more resists could natives that belief the exploited officers Furthermore, 7’
water which, combined with the pre-existing water shortage, caused many to die from dehydration.8
However, in the 1950s, one country that seemed to elevate the status of dark skinned people
was Argentina. Even though racial issues were not explicitly addressed, they featured in some of the
images and the iconography divulged by the Perón government. Most of the subjects were still of
white phenotype but there was some representation of black and native people. In Figure 2, it is
noticeable that one of the two hands shaking represented on the coat of arms is of darker skin.
Ezequiel Adamovsky concluded that it was probably a symbol of unity and inclusion, ‘pointing to
something that Peronist authorities still had trouble saying verbally or setting down in writing.’9 In
Perón’s Argentina, the visibility of dark skinned people in printed media was increased to represent
the authentic Argentine nation.
Based on my studies, I believe that Racism and Nationalism are strongly linked. In Imagined
Communities, Anderson wrote that Nations can inspire both positive feelings and negative ones.
Racism is certainly one of the latter.10 He stated: ‘A word like “slant”, for example, abbreviated from
“slant-eyed”, does not simply express an ordinary political enmity. It erases nation-ness by reducing
the adversary in his biological physiognomy.’11 Interestingly, he also stated that Racism exists within
national boundaries,12 which I have found to be very true in my study of the Americas. In The
Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro, Frederick Douglass detached himself from the American
Nation by saying that ‘to the American slave’, the 4th of July is ‘a day that reveals to him, more than
7 Ann Zulawski, Unequal Cures: Public Health and Political Change in Bolivia, 1900–1950 (Durham, NC,
2007), 53. 8 ivi., 60-6. 9 Ezequiel Adamovsky, ‘Race and class through the visual culture of Peronism’, in Paulina Alberto and
Eduardo Elena (eds.), Rethinking Race in Modern Argentina (Cambridge, 2016), 174. 10 Benedict R. Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
(London; New York, NY, 2006), 141-2. 11 ivi., 148. 12 ivi., 150.
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all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.’13 African
Americans could not be considered part of the Nation because they were still enslaved and
discriminated against. By detaching himself from independence day - one of the greatest symbols of
Nationalism - he separates himself and African Americans from the American Nation.
So what is the American Nation then? A “Nation of Immigrants”? Maria Lauret disagrees.
Although this term has been used to exhaustion, Lauret argues that it originates from immigrant
shame and racist exclusion. In fact, the government tried to “Americanize” immigrants, not welcome
their diversity. And of course, this assimilation required that the US’ racial hierarchy had to be
assimilated as well.14
Audrey Smedley argued that race preceded all other aspects of one’s identity. 15 In an
interview, Stacy Abrams - the first African American woman to have won a major party nomination
for governor - was asked how she felt about the role that race and identity played in those elections.
Abrams replied: ‘I believe in identity politics’; race and gender are key in informing one’s experience,
‘my identity matters because of what it tells me about my politics.’ Notably, she said that the media
was too superficial: they concentrated on her race and gender rather than looking at how these would
inform her policies.16
While academia frequently considers race to be a social construct,17 the idea that gender is is
still more controversial. Both concepts are defined in terms of oppositions: black and white, woman
and man. I believe that this could stem from the competitiveness of Nationalism. George Orwell
13 Frederick Douglass, ‘The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro’, Speech, Rochester, NY, 5 July 1852, History is a Weapon, http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html. 14 Maria Lauret, ‘Americanization Now and Then: The “Nation of Immigrants” in the Early Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries’, Journal of American Studies, l, no. 2 (2016), 423-26. 15 Audrey Smedley, ‘Race and the Construction of Human Identity’, American Anthropologist, c, no. 3
(1998), 695. 16 Stacy Abrams, 25 October 2019, ‘Where does power lie in America?’, Podcast Audio, The Economist
Asks, https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2019/10/25/where-does-power-lie-in-america. 17 For example, Henry Goldschmidt, ‘Introduction’, in Henry Goldschmidt and Elizabeth McAlister (eds.),
Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas (New York, NY, 2004), 3-31.
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.htmlhttps://www.economist.com/podcasts/2019/10/25/where-does-power-lie-in-america
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argued that nationalists persuade themselves that their side is the best and unconsciously suppress
known facts that would disprove the greatness of their nation.18 Therefore, nationalists are in constant
competition with other nations. The idea of whiteness derives from the presence of a nation of black
people considered inferior. Similarly, native Americans were often described as wild and animalistic
so that the status of Europeans could be lifted - they appeared more civilized and modest in
comparison.19 Likewise, gender identity is socially constructed - it involves a distinction between two
sexes. Genders are formed though differentiation, they require ‘the suppression of ambiguities and
opposite elements in order to assure (and create the illusion of) coherence’: masculinity derives from
the repression of aspects considered feminine and vice versa.20
Joan W. Scott described gender as a social organization and hierarchy between the sexes,
therefore, given the patriarchal nature of the American society, women inevitably end up at the
bottom. I understood that in politics and some regimes, gender determines the relationship between
ruler and ruled. Scott stated that ‘Gender is one of the recurrent references by which political power
has been conceived, legitimated, and criticized. sexual the on Townsend Brandi by article The 21’
abuses endured by three Chilean women under the dictatorship of Pinochet, exemplified the regime’s
violence and control over women. One of these women was Alicia, who was electrocuted while
embracing her pregnant friend, a devious way to manipulate notions of motherhood and friendship.
Alicia also had an illegal abortion; through it she was symbolically reclaiming her autonomy as well
as using it to defy and criticize the dictatorship. All three women used their bodies to communicate
18 George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism (London, 2018), 4. 19 For example, Kelly L. Watson, ‘Sex and Cannibalism: The Politics of Carnal Relations between Europeans
and American “Anthropophagites” in the Caribbean and Mexico.’ In Herrmann, Rachel B. (ed.), To Feast on Us as Their Prey: Cannibalism and the Early Modern Atlantic, (Fayetteville, NC, 2019), 59-80. 20 Joan W. Scott, ‘Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis’, The American Historical Review, xci,
no. 5 (1986), 1057. 21 ivi., 1072.
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the state’s violence.22 The use of sexual violence and tight control on women’s bodies are tools used
to establish the ruler’s power.
Studying the Americas has revealed that in many countries women occupy a subordinate role
to men. In the example of Argentina under Perón, masculinity was central in the construction of
political leadership. Even though his wife Eva was considered the “spiritual leader of the nation” and
played an important role in 1947 in enfranchising women, she was always second to her husband and
frequently stressed traditional hierarchies.23 When announcing the extension of voting rights, she
underlined the domestic role of women, considered the ‘essential foundation of the household’.24
Peronist propaganda was also heavily centered around masculinity. The famous allies of Perón, the
workers, were always shown as male through the famous image of the Descamisado (Figure 3).25
The fact that Descamisado was always used in its masculine form, further highlighted the importance
of men in building the nation, rather than women. When looking at Argentine visual propaganda,
women were mostly seen as dependent on the male breadwinner. Both Figure 4 and Figure 5 show
women arm in arm with their husband, metaphorically revealing their dependence on the male
counterpart, who is physically and metaphorically sustaining her. The man is also always placed in
the center, displaying his importance and power compared to his wife.26
The same relationship can be found in the Cuban revolution. The main narratives were so
centered on ‘a handful of men’27 bringing the revolution to life, that they failed to give credit to all
22 Brandi Townsend, ‘The Body and State Violence, from the Harrowing to the Mundane: Chilean Women's Oral Histories of the Augusto Pinochet Dictatorship (1973–1990)’, Journal of Women's History, xxxi, no. 2 (2019), 34-40. 23 Natalia Milanesio, ‘A Man Like You: Juan Domingo Perón and the Politics of Attraction in Mid-
Twentieth-Century Argentina’, Gender & History, xxvi, no.1 (2014), 98-9. 24 Benjamin Keen, Robert Buffington, and Lila M. Caimari (eds.), Keen’s Latin American Civilization:
History and Society, 1492 to the Present, 9th edn. (Boulder, CO, 2009), 412. 25 Iliana Cepero, ‘Photographic Propaganda under Peronism, 1946–55: Selections from the Archivo General
De La Nación Argentina’, History of Photography, xl, no. 2 (2016), 200. 26 ivi., 212. 27 Fidel Castro, ‘Fidel Castro Speaks at Moncada Ceremony’, Speech, Guantanamo, Cuba, 27 July 1973,
Lanic, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1995/19950726.html.
http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1995/19950726.html
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the women who helped it gain momentum in the cities. In reality, the protests and sabotages organized
by women movements such as FCMM and MOU were very successful in terms of political
mobilization.28 Furthermore, women’s participation was mostly used to exalt male leadership.29 K.
Lynn Stoner stressed this point frequently, stating that ‘female soldiers were seen by an entire nation
as a beloved symbol of loyalty, militancy, and sacrifice to a male leader and a nation … Fidel Castro
honored and recognized them symbolically, but without surrendering power, autonomy, or authority
to them. restricted instead but society equal an to teequa not did actions women’s of praise The 30’
women to subordinate roles and gave power to the patriarchal state.
In my study of the history and politics of the Americas I have begun to understand the social
and political structures that rule the different American societies. Gender and race are particularly
important in this context because of the direct and indirect role they play.
During the course of this first year I have begun to understand the important role played by
gender and race in the formation of socio-political structures in the Americas. I have found that as
fundamental to one’s identity, they have both fostered the emergence of hierarchies and inequalities
that are still present. Of note is their relationship to nationalism. Its harsh demarcation of national
boundaries instigates divisions in society in a similar way that gender and race do.
28 Michelle Chase, ‘Women's Organizations and the Politics of Gender in Cuba's Urban Insurrection (1952–
1958)’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, xxix, no. 4, (2010), 456. 29 K. Lynn Stoner, ‘Militant Heroines and the Consecration of the Patriarchal State: The Glorification of
Loyalty, Combat, and National Suicide in the Making of Cuban National Identity’, Cuban Studies, xxxiv, no.
1 (2003), 71. 30 ivi., 87.
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Appendix
Figure 1
Set of sixteen Casta paintings by Francisco Clapera. Source: Julie Wilson Frick et al., ‘Casta
painting in the Spanish Americas,’ in Smarthistory, 17 January 2018,
https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-c-1775/.
https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-c-1775/
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Figure 2
Perón speaking at the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, below him the Peroniost Coat of arms, 9
August 1955. Source: Ezequiel Adamovsky, ‘Race and class through the visual culture of
Peronism’, in Paulina Alberto and Eduardo Elena (eds.), Rethinking Race in Modern Argentina
(Cambridge, 2016), 172.
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Figure 3
Shirtless Peron with Argentine worker. Source: Caras y Caretas,
September 1953, 81.
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Figure 4
Graph showing an increase in mortgage bank loans. Source: Mundo Peronista
3, 15 Aug. 1951, 2.
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Figure 5
Traditional Argentine Family. Source: La Nación Argentina, Justa, Libre, Sobrerana, 3rd edn,
(Buenos Aires, 1950), 799.
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Bibliography
Secondary Sources
Alberto, Paulina and Eduardo Elena (eds.), Rethinking Race in Modern Argentina (Cambridge,
2016).
Anderson, Benedict R., Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism (London; New York, NY, 2006).
Cepero, Iliana, ‘Photographic Propaganda under Peronism, 1946–55: Selections from the Archivo
General De La Nación Argentina’, History of Photography, xl, no. 2 (2016): 193-214.
Chafe, William H. (ed.), The Achievement of American Liberalism: The New Deal and Its Legacies
(New York, 2003).
Chase, Michelle, ‘Women’s Organizations and the Politics of Gender in Cuba's Urban Insurrection
(1952–1958)’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, xxix, no. 4, (2010): 440-458.
Goldschmidt, Henry and Elizabeth McAlister (eds.), Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas
(New York, NY, 2004).
Herrmann, Rachel B. (ed.), To Feast on Us as Their Prey: Cannibalism and the Early Modern
Atlantic, (Fayetteville, NC, 2019).
Lauret, Maria, ‘Americanization Now and Then: The “Nation of Immigrants” in the Early
Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries’, Journal of American Studies, l, no. 2 (2016): 419-447.
Marx, Anthony W., Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of South Africa, the United States,
and Brazil (New York, 1998).
Milanesio, Natalia, ‘A Man Like You: Juan Domingo Perón and the Politics of Attraction in Mid-
Twentieth-Century Argentina’, Gender & History, xxvi, no.1 (2014): 84-104.
Orwell, George, Notes on Nationalism (London, 2018).
Peters, B. Guy, ‘Politics is About Governing’, in Adrian Leftwich (ed.), What Is Politics?: The
Activity and Its Study (Cambridge, 2004).
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Scott, Joan W., ’Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis’, The American Historical
Review, xci, no. 5 (1986): 1053–75.
Smedley, Audrey, ‘Race and the Construction of Human Identity’, American Anthropologist, c, no.
3 (1998): 690–702.
Stoner, K. Lynn, ‘Militant Heroines and the Consecration of the Patriarchal State: The Glorification
of Loyalty, Combat, and National Suicide in the Making of Cuban National Identity’, Cuban
Studies, xxxiv, no. 1 (2003): 71-96.
Townsend, Brandi, ‘The Body and State Violence, from the Harrowing to the Mundane: Chilean
Women's Oral Histories of the Augusto Pinochet Dictatorship (1973–1990)’, Journal of
Women's History, xxxi, no. 2 (2019): 33-56.
Wilson Frick, Julie, et al., ‘Casta painting in the Spanish Americas,’ in Smarthistory, 17 January
2018, https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-
c-1775/.
Zulawski, Ann, Unequal Cures: Public Health and Political Change in Bolivia, 1900–1950
(Durham, NC, 2007).
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Abrams, Stacy, 25 October 2019, ‘Where does power lie in America?’, Podcast Audio, The
Economist Asks, https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2019/10/25/where-does-power-lie-in-
america.
Caras y Caretas, September 1953.
Castro, Fidel, ‘Fidel Castro Speaks at Moncada Ceremony’, Speech, Guantanamo, Cuba, 27 July
1973, Lanic, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1995/19950726.html.
Douglass, Frederick, ’The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro’, Speech, Rochester, NY, 5 July
1852, History is a Weapon, http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html.
https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-c-1775/https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/francisco-clapera-set-sixteen-casta-paintings-c-1775/https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2019/10/25/where-does-power-lie-in-americahttps://www.economist.com/podcasts/2019/10/25/where-does-power-lie-in-americahttp://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1995/19950726.htmlhttp://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html
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Foster, Thomas A. (ed.), Documenting Intimate Matters: Primary Sources for a History of Sexuality
in America (Chicago, IL, 2012).
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Civilization: History and Society, 1492 to the Present, 9th edn. (Boulder, CO, 2009).
La Nación Argentina, Justa, Libre, Sobrerana, 3rd edn, (Buenos Aires, 1950).
Mundo Peronista 3, 15 Aug. 1951.
West, Cornel, Race Matters (Boston, MA, 2001).