Year: 1994
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Cumboto (1950), a Venezuelan novel by Ramon Diaz Sanchez ), ?an excellent example of a work that explores the issue of cultural identity nd transculturation as exhibited through the interlacing of African and European world views.The purpose of this thesis is to describe African traits iroughout the text and the conflict of identity, which is portrayed through le protagonist and which points to a changing culture.Structural as well as thematic elements in the text are emphasized in the iterary analysis.The critical concepts of Josaphat Bekunuru Kubayanda are pplied to explain African referentiality within the text For example, themes ssociated with the symbolism represented by trees and rivers are explored as ley relate to an African world view.In addition, the occurrence of spirits, Dlklore, folktales, and magic realism are briefly discussed.The notion of transculturation, or the process of two or more cultures in ontact and combining to form a new culture is briefly described.This ivolves an analysis of language, dualism, and opposites, such as oral versus written tradition, contrasting world views, and domination and subordination 1 the novel.Natividad, the protagonist of African descent, is caught between vo cultures.As a house slave, his ideology has been influenced heavily by whites.He manages to recover elements of his African heritage, but at times ijects his African cultural heritage as he struggles to discover his identity, 'he protagonist, as he struggles between two world views, demonstrates the itemal process of transculturation, which in essence explains the mbivalence in the novel.The appearance of nature and African traits, which can not be ignored, reate a strong sense of African cultural influence throughout the novel.The rocess of transculturation is evident and the influence of African heritage on le culture is strong despite the ambivalent nature of the first person narrator.i i PREFACE While taking a class in African Literature with Professor Maureen Cumow in the Spring of 1993, my interest in and awareness of Afro-Hispanic literature grew.Following Professor Curnow's suggestion, I made a search to learn more about Afro-Hispanic authors.As a result of my search I discovered many Afro-Hispanic authors and a literature that made me aware of a new cultural perspective: that of the Latin American writer of African descendancy.Cumboto (1950)., a novel by Ramon Diaz Sanchez ., is a work that intrigues me for a variety of reasons.In particular, the author's descriptions of the countryside, nature, and people are vivid and the portrayal of the Afro-Hispanic's life and customs in the literature broadens my view of ethnic diversity in Latin America.In the literature of the Afro-Hispanic writer, the acknowledgement of issues such as identity, racism, religion, African heritage, deculturation, and transculturation or the process of cultural transformation, which has occured in the Latin American culture and which is due in part to colonization, modernization, and to the coexistence of the Europeans, blacks, and the indigenous people, surfaces.The mixing of races and the interlacing of cultures has been strong in Venezuela, which is the birth place of Ramon Diaz Sanchez.As I read about Afro-Hispanic literature I discovered that the approaches for analyzing Afro-Hispanic literature were varied.Bonnie Barthold, who merges the message within black literature with the structure by analyzing the concept of time in her book Black Time: Fiction of Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, believes that critics of black literature "have tended to i i i polarize into two ideological camps" (Barththold Black Time 197).She states that "one camp" focuses on the "message" of black literature while the other focuses on structure .Some critics, such as Richard Jackson, believe that the message is more important than structure, while others, who are listed later, believe that the message and structure unify to provide a vehicle for criticism of the text.Richard Jackson believes that black literature should be analyzed for humanistic elements, and he is mainly concerned with the theme within the literature."To the humanist critic, literature "is relevant to matters outside of it or it is nothing, however internally unified" (Jeffrey Sammons qtd in Jackson Humanism 123).Humanism, in the study, is defined by Jackson to mean "an attitude of concern for the welfare and dignity of human beings, especially the "marginaF'ones, and for the problems that beset them in this life (Jackson Humanism xiii)."To continue, from Jackson's perspective, "Humanistic Criticism is the interaction between text and context, or between literature and the cultural, racial, and historical circumstances" (Jackson Humanism 122-123).In regards to humanistic criticism of a text, Jackson says, "it seeks out the human in it and endeavors to see how it is expressed thematically through language" (126).For example, the repeated incidents of problematic interracial relationships point to the unfairness of the intolerance of racial mixing in Cumboto.A main theme that Jackson sees in Afro-Hispanic literature is the theme of liberation (Jackson Black Novel in Latin America Today 34 ).This theme can be related to a symbolic trip the house slave of African descent in Cumboto takes to the river.Henry Louis Gates, the leader of the avant-garde school of black i V V i i identity is broadened and therefore, Afro-Hispanic Literature holds a special place in the study of literature from Latin America.My knowledge of Latin American literature has been broadened and I hope to inspire others to read Afro-Hispanic works.
Source: The Mathematics Enthusiast
Author: Alicia Gignoux
Language: English
Topic: Afro-Latin American Studies
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W814300717