Patrick Chamoiseau's Creole Conteur and the ethics of survival

This article concerns the Creole Conteur in Patrick Chamoiseau's depictions of the slave plantation in Au temps de l'antan (1988a), crire en pays domin (1997) and Texaco (1992). It proposes that Chamoiseau's vision of the plantation be seen as a parable for contemporary Martinique, one that seeks to reinstate a redemptive history in which the past has a positive claim on the present. The article examines the tensions internal to this recuperative attempt, especially those carried in the relationship between literal and spiritual forms of hunger: the slaves' famine condition and the survival tactics of dbrouillardise compete with the spiritual nourishment found in an emergent collective identity. The article demonstrates that Chamoiseau uses the Conteur to redraw the symbolic boundaries of the plantation from an amoral grey zone to a cohesive Creole social order, making the plantation past relevant to the present day. It explores how Chamoiseau preserves the parable's frame of moral instruction even though, as a survival tale involving extreme duress, it involves a calculus beyond good and evil

Arguedas' "black butterfly": Afro-Peruvian characters in The Fox from Up Above and the Fox from Down Below

This article examines the representation of Afro-Peruvian figures in Arguedas' posthumous novel, El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo. The novel contains several characters of African descent, such as Dr. Gastiaburú, the zambo Moneada, and a couple of anonymous women. The article proposes that Arguedas constructs a coherent symbolic universe around these figures based on their physical vitality, thus counterposing the Afro-Peruvian characters to the indigenous and mestizo characters, who are associated with sickness and death. Although images of the physical vitality of blacks have a colonialist origin, Arguedas in this novel uses such images for his own purposes in his representation of his personal struggle against death and the struggle of Chimbote's Andean migrants to create their world

Listening to small voices. Rosario Castellanos and indigenous nationalism

The article outlines the influence of indigenism on Mexican nationalism. It shows the presence of an intimate level of indigenism present into the each national subject. It describes the features and effects of this inner voice. The analysis is done through life and work of Rosario Castellanos during the 50's, where this inner voice acquire literary form. It concludes that indigenist nationalism had some aesthetic and political purposes

Escuchando pequeñas voces. Rosario Castellanos y el nacionalismo indigenista

The article outlines the influence of indigenism on Mexican nationalism. It shows the presence of an intimate level of indigenism present into the each national subject. It describes the features and effects of this inner voice. The analysis is done through life and work of Rosario Castellanos during the 50’s, where this inner voice acquire literary form. It concludes that indigenist nationalism had some aesthetic and political purposes.El ensayo analiza la influencia del indigenismo en el nacionalismo mexicano. Plantea la existencia de una vertiente “íntima” del indigenismo que proyecta la presencia de una voz interior indígena en el seno de cada sujeto nacional. Describe las características y los efectos de esta voz íntima, sobre todo su gran capacidad interpelativa y des-estigmatizadora. El análisis se hace a través del examen de la vida y obra de Rosario Castellanos en los años 50, donde se percibe la escucha de esa voz interior. El ensayo sostiene que el giro de Castellanos hacia el nacionalismo indigenista tenía motivos tanto estéticos como políticos