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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.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition — UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
"Anthropology meets cultural studies (popular and otherwise) and historiography with a remarkable theoretical and investigative depth. A wide range of topics includes the title essay on 19th-century culture; culture under Somoza (the elder) and resistance to that culture; Sandinista culture and resistance thereto; 19th-century looting of antiquities; gender; the political cultures surrounding Rubâen Dario and Augusto Sandino; and effective introductory and concluding remarks"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.
"This is a truly remarkable piece of work that reflects extensive research over a very large period. Its focus on cultural history makes it a unique book in Central American studies. It represents the most thorough study of the relationship between culture, politics, and the evolution of society that has yet been done on Nicaragua."—Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., Tulane University
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Introduction | 1 | |
| 1 | Beautiful and Pleasant Land: Culture and Cultural Change before Independence | 13 |
| 2 | Rascally Signs in Sacred Places: The Politics of Cultural Change in the Nineteenth Century | 54 |
| 3 | He Had an Odd Accent in Spanish: Culture and the Somoza Dictatorship | 107 |
| 4 | Anything but Flowers: Culture and Resistance to the Somoza Dictatorship | 151 |
| 5 | Culture as Revolution, Revolution as Culture: The Sandinista Cultural Project | 189 |
| 6 | Political Theories and Cultural Realities: Opposition to Sandinista Cultural Policy and Programs | 236 |
| 7 | Looting the Past: The Removal of Antiquities in the Nineteenth Century | 273 |
| 8 | A Prodigious Child of Nicaragua: Ruben Dario and the Ideological Uses of Cultural Capital | 313 |
| 9 | Ancestral Feats and Future Dreams: Sandino and the Politics of Culture | 344 |
| 10 | New Women and (Not So) New Men: Cultural Recalcitrance and the Politics of Gender | 383 |
| Conclusion | 434 | |
| Notes | 451 | |
| Sources Cited | 511 | |
| Index | 541 |
Overview
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 ...