Rascally Signs in Sacred Places : The Politics of Culture in Nicaragua

by David E. Whisnant

• ISBN13: 9780807845233
• ISBN10: 080784523X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

David Whisnant provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamic relationship between culture, power, and policy in Nicaragua over the last 450 years. Spanning a broad spectrum of popular and traditional expressive forms--including literature, music, film, and broadcast media--the book explores the evolution of Nicaraguan culture, its manipulation for political purposes, and the opposition to cultural policy by a variety of marginalized social and regional groups. Within the historical narrative of cultural change over time, Whisnant skillfully discusses important case studies of Nicaraguan cultural politics: the consequences of the unauthorized removal of archaeological treasures from the country in the nineteenth century; the perennial attempts by political factions to capitalize on the reputation of two venerated cultural figures, poet Ruben Dario and rebel General Augusto C. Sandino; and the ongoing struggle by Nicaraguan women for liberation from traditional gender relations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
the Past as Prologue from Conquest to Dictatorship	p. 10
Beautiful and Pleasant Land Culture and Cultural Chance Before Independence	p. 13
Rascally Signs in Sacred Places the Politics of Cultural Chance in the Nineteenth Century	p. 54
Building a Cultural Apparatus Somocistas and Sandinistas	p. 104
He Had an Odd Accent in Spanish Culture and the Somoza Dictatorship	p. 107
Anything but Flowers Culture and Resistance to the Somoza Dictatorship	p. 151
Culture as Revolution, Revolution as Culture the Sandinista Cultural Project	p. 189
Political Theories and Cultural Realities Opposition to Sandinista Cultural Policy and Programs	p. 236
Four Case Studies	p. 271
Looting the Past the Removal of Antiquities in the Nineteenth Century	p. 273
A Prodigious Child of Nicaragua Rubén Darío and the Ideologi cal Uses of Cultural Capital	p. 313
Ancestral Feats and Future Dreams Sandino and the Politics of Culture	p. 344
New Women and (not So) New Men Cultural Recalcitrance and t he Politics of Cender	p. 383
Conclusion	p. 434
Notes	p. 451
Sources Cited	p. 511
Index	p. 541
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