The Return of the Native
eBook - PDF

The Return of the Native

Indians and Myth-Making in Spanish America, 1810–1930

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Return of the Native

Indians and Myth-Making in Spanish America, 1810–1930

About this book

Why does Argentina's national anthem describe its citizens as sons of the Inca? Why did patriots in nineteenth-century Chile name a battleship after the Aztec emperor Montezuma? Answers to both questions lie in the tangled knot of ideas that constituted the creole imagination in nineteenth-century Spanish America. Rebecca Earle examines the place of preconquest peoples such as the Aztecs and the Incas within the sense of identity—both personal and national—expressed by Spanish American elites in the first century after independence, a time of intense focus on nation-building.

Starting with the anti-Spanish wars of independence in the early nineteenth century, Earle charts the changing importance elite nationalists ascribed to the pre-Columbian past through an analysis of a wide range of sources, including historical writings, poems and novels, postage stamps, constitutions, and public sculpture. This eclectic archive illuminates the nationalist vision of creole elites throughout Spanish America, who in different ways sought to construct meaningful national myths and histories. Traces of these efforts are scattered across nineteenth-century culture; Earle maps the significance of those traces. She also underlines the similarities in the development of nineteenth-century elite nationalism across Spanish America. By offering a comparative study focused on Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, The Return of the Native illustrates both the common features of elite nation-building and some of the significant variations. The book ends with a consideration of the pro-indigenous indigenista movements that developed in various parts of Spanish America in the early twentieth century.

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Yes, you can access The Return of the Native by Rebecca A. Earle in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Latin American & Caribbean History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Figure 
. 
Title 
page 
of 
the 
Constitution 
of 
the 
State 
of 
Car-
tagena, 
. 
An 
Indian 
represented 
the 
ephemeral 
State
of 
Cartagena 
on 
its 
oïŹƒcial 
coat 
of 
arms. 
e 
shield 
shows 
an 
indigenous 
woman, 
recognizable 
by 
her 
quiver 
of 
ar-
rows 
and 
feather 
headdress, 
seated 
under 
a 
palm 
tree. 
e 
broken 
shackles 
at 
her 
feet 
symbolize 
Cartagena’s 
new-
found 
liberty. 
Source
:
Constitución 
del 
Estado 
de 
Cartagena
.
Figure 
. 
e 
Political 
Resurrection 
of 
America
, 
. 
In 
this 
Mexi-
can 
print, 
America, 
helped 
to 
her 
feet 
by 
Agustín 
de 
Iturbide, 
is 
an 
Indian 
princess 
so 
weakened 
by 
Spanish 
tyranny 
that, 
as 
the 
patri-
otic 
octave 
explains, 
she 
had 
neither 
“bow, 
nor 
arrows, 
nor 
quiver”: 
she 
has 
been 
stripped 
of 
her 
rightful 
attributes 
by 
an 
oppressive 
Spain. 
Source
: 
Courtesy 
of 
the 
Biblioteca 
Nacional 
de 
MĂ©xico.
Figure 
. 
Pedro 
José 
Figueroa, 
Bolívar 
and 
the 
Indian 
“
America,
” 
. 
In 
Figueroa’s 
painting 
Simón 
Bolívar 
protects 
an 
allegorical 
ïŹgure 
represent-
ing 
America. 
Her 
feather 
crown, 
bow, 
and 
arrows 
make 
clear 
that 
she 
is 
an 
Indian 
princess. 
Source
: 
Courtesy 
of 
the 
Casa 
Museo 
Quinta 
de 
Bolívar, 
BogotĂĄ.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Introduction On “Indians”
  5. Chapter 1 Montezuma’s Revenge
  6. Chapter 2 Representing the Nation
  7. Chapter 3 “Padres de la Patria”: Nations and Ancestors
  8. Chapter 4 Patriotic History and the Pre-Columbian Past
  9. Chapter 5 Archaeology, Museums, and Heritage
  10. Chapter 6 Citizenship and Civilization: The “Indian Problem”
  11. Chapter 7 Indigenismo: The Return of the Native?
  12. Epilogue
  13. Appendix Abolishing the Indian?
  14. A Note on Sources
  15. Notes
  16. Bibliography
  17. Index