Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

190 reframing latin america
Europe, and North Africa, studying the educational system of each place.
When he returned to Chile in 1845 he wrote Civilización y barbarie as a
series of newspaper articles. Designed as a biography of the fi ctional rural
strongman Juan Facundo Quiroga, the book was an extended polemic
against Argentina’s federalist regime of Juan Manuel de Rosas. Upon the
demise of Rosas in 1852, Sarmiento returned to Argentina and entered politics,
serving as a governor and ambassador to the United States. He was
elected president in 1868. During his political life he strove to implement
liberal policies that he and his fellow Unitarians believed would build Argentina
into a world power. Sarmiento often looked to the United States as
a model for applying Enlightenment ideals in the Americas. Upon his death
in 1888 he was serving as director of schools in Buenos Aires.
Sarmiento’s Facundo stands out as one of the most infl uential treatises
on nation building in modern Latin American literary history. In fact, many
scholars regard it as a work of international importance, arguing that it
helped defi ne the largely European-centered Romantic nationalism of the
early and the mid-nineteenth century. In Facundo, Sarmiento tells his native
Argentina that it has two options, civilization or barbarism. He locates
civilization in Argentina’s urban areas, especially Buenos Aires, which was
fi lled with educated citizens who sought to emulate Europe and North
America. Not surprisingly, Sarmiento’s civilization also tends to have
white skin. The alternative, barbarism, is rooted in Argentina’s rural areas
and is exemplifi ed by the treacherous Facundo, a caudillo (strongman). For
Sarmiento, Facundo represents everything wrong with Argentina—a lack of
education, insularity, and regressive economic and social views. Sarmiento’s
barbarism also tends to have dark skin. Sarmiento believes the choice
is obvious: Argentina must choose civilization and expend all necessary
energy to defeat the forces of barbarism.
Facundo is a deeply essentialist work. In juxtaposing civilization and
barbarism, Sarmiento believes he captures the essence of Argentina’s identity.
He does not see himself inventing either alternative, but simply revealing
their existence and advocating one over the other. Most of Sarmiento’s
readers over the past one hundred fi fty years have interpreted Facundo from
an equally essentialistic perspective. Much of the debate over the book—
and it has been extensive—concerns whether readers agree with Sarmiento’s
description of Argentina. While some embraced his appeal to civilization,
others turned to the “barbarians.” A smaller number of readers rejected his
dichotomy altogether and offered an alternative approach. Regardless of
their differences, all these essentialist readers agreed with Sarmiento on
one key point: Argentina, like any other nation, possessed an objective,
ontological identity.