Identidades mestizas: Una aproximación a la obra de Edgardo Rivera Martínez, Laura Riesco y Zeín Zorrilla
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| Publicado en: | ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (2001) |
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| Acceso en línea: | Citation/Abstract Full Text - PDF |
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| Resumen: | The objective of this thesis is to analyze the image of mestizaje portrayed by three Peruvian novelists: Edgardo Rivera Martínez, Laura Riesco, and Zeín Zorrilla. Each of these writers presents a unique perspective on hybridity, heterogeneity, and identity. A careful analysis of their works allows us to identify three distinct and sometimes contradictory views on mestizaje. Originally, the term mestizaje was used to describe the racial mixture that was produced by the Conquest of the New World by the Spaniards. As a biological process, it has usually referred to the mixture of two distinct racial groups, whereas cultural mestizaje adds cultural traits to biological elements. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mestizaje formed an integral part of the discourses of national identity prevalent among elites in Latin America. It was seen as the means to achieving national consolidation. Recently, the concept of mestizaje has come under heavy scrutiny within the field of cultural studies. It is still seen as a term highlighting a fusion of multiple cultural, racial and national differences. However, I propose that we look at this concept with new eyes. Mestizaje has been a reality in Latin America that has not always resulted in homogeneity. Mestizaje has been conflictive and has not necessarily resulted in the fusion of different cultures. I argue that contemporary writers do not present a homogenous mestizaje identity, but instead that several mestizo identities, often in conflict with one another can be identified. Edgardo Rivera Martínez clearly presents the most optimistic perspective on mestizaje in Peruvian fiction up to the present. His novel, País de Jauja, celebrates the two cultural traditions, Andean and Western, that characterize Peru. Rivera Martínez proposes a thesis that is clear and straightforward: Mestizaje represents a means of resolving conflicts that have afflicted Peruvian society since the Conquest. Laura Riesco, does not share the same perspective concerning mestizaje. As in the case of Rivera Martínez, her novel Ximena de dos caminos analyzes the attempts to find a middle road between the two cultures. However, for Riesco, mestizaje produces fragmented personalities unable to function in the cultural worlds that created them. The perspective of mestizaje presented by Zeín Zorrilla differs considerably from that of Rivera Martínez and Riesco in that his protagonists' dilemmas are rooted in the transformation of traditional Andean societies. Zorrilla's is not an optimistic view of Peru's future. In his opinion, mestizo individuals face three possible outcomes: fragmentation, acculturation or loyalty to the Andean world. In conclusion, three distinct images regarding mestizaje have been identified in the fiction of these three authors: mestizaje as the successful negotiation of values allowing a dialogue between different cultures; mestizaje as a stigma that generates, not only frictions among cultures, but also fragmentation and confusion; and mestizaje as the partial loss of cultural identity. In other words, it is a process of acculturation. |
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| ISBN: | 9780493395098 |
| Fuente: | ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global |