Download or read book Salt and the Colombian State written by Joshua M. Rosenthal and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2014-08-23 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In republican Colombia, salt became an important source of revenue not just to individuals, but to the state, which levied taxes on it and in some cases controlled and profited from its production. The salt trade consistently accounted for roughly 10 percent of government income. In the town of La Salina de Chita, in Boyaca province, thermal springs offered vast amounts of salt, and its procurement and distribution was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance. Focusing his study on La Salina, Joshua M. Rosenthal presents a fascinating glimpse into the workings of the early Colombian state, its institutions, and their interactions with local citizens during this formative period. Although historians have cited the state's weakness and, in many cases, its absence in local affairs, Rosenthal counters these assumptions by documenting the primary role the state held in administering contracts, inspections, land rights, labor, and trade in La Salina, contending that this was not an isolated incident. He also uncovers the frequent interaction between the state and local residents, who used the state's liberal rhetoric to gain personal economic advantage. Seen through the lens of the administration of La Salina's saltworks, Rosenthal provides a firsthand account of the role of local institutions and fiscal management in the larger process of state building. His study offers new perspectives on the complex network of republican Colombia's political culture and its involvement in provincial life across the nation.

Download or read book Black and Green written by Kiran Asher and published by Duke University Press Books. This book was released on 2009-08-10 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVLooks at development of Afro-Colombian communities after passage of a 1991 law granting cultural rights and collective land ownership to the communities, arguing that social movements are often partially co-opted by market or state, but then use state res/div

Download or read book Throwing Stones at the Moon written by Sibylla Brodzinsky and published by McSweeney's. This book was released on 2012-09-12 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly five decades, Colombia has been embroiled in internal armed conflict among guerrilla groups, paramilitary militias, and the country’s own military. Civilians in Colombia have to make their lives despite the threat of torture, kidnapping, and large-scale massacres—and more than four million have had to flee their homes. The oral histories in Throwing Stones at the Moon describe the most widespread of Colombia’s human rights crises: forced displacement. Speakers recount life before displacement, the reasons for their flight, and their struggle to rebuild their lives. Among the narrators: JULIA, a hospital union leader whose fight against corruption led to a brutal attempt on her life. In 2009, assassins tracked her to her home and stabbed her seven times in the face and chest. Since the attack, Julia has undergone eight facial reconstructive surgeries, and continues to live in hiding. DANNY, who at eighteen joined a right-wing paramilitary’s enormous training camp in the Eastern Plains of Colombia. Initially lured by the promise of quick money, Danny soon realized his mistake and escaped to Ecuador. He describes his harrowing escape and his struggle to survive as a refugee with two young children to support.

Download or read book Myths of Harmony written by Marixa Lasso and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2007-08-12 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book centers on a foundational moment for Latin American racial constructs. While most contemporary scholarship has focused the explanation for racial tolerance-or its lack-in the colonial period, Marixa Lasso argues that the key to understanding the origins of modern race relations are to be found later, in the Age of Revolution.Lasso rejects the common assumption that subalterns were passive and alienated from Creole-led patriot movements, and instead demonstrates that during Colombia's revolution, free blacks and mulattos (pardos) actively joined and occasionally even led the cause to overthrow the Spanish colonial government. As part of their platform, patriots declared legal racial equality for all citizens, and promulgated an ideology of harmony and fraternity for Colombians of all colors. The fact that blacks were mentioned as equals in the discourse of the revolution and later served in republican government posts was a radical political departure. These factors were instrumental in constructing a powerful myth of racial equality-a myth that would fuel revolutionary activity throughout Latin America.Thus emerged a historical paradox central to Latin American nation-building: the coexistence of the principle of racial equality with actual racism at the very inception of the republic. Ironically, the discourse of equality meant that grievances of racial discrimination were construed as unpatriotic and divisive acts-in its most extreme form, blacks were accused of preparing a race war. Lasso's work brings much-needed attention to the important role of the anticolonial struggles in shaping the nature of contemporary race relations and racial identities in Latin America.

Download or read book Colombia a Comedy of Errors written by Victoria Kellaway and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-04 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did an Italian opera singer put together Colombia's national anthem? Did Catherine the Great inspire the national flag? Can you really lose a country in a poker game? Are sins and corruption good for the economy? Why is the Venus de Milo wearing a poncho? What is arroz en bajo and why are the corridors of Colombian justice full of jumping monkeys? Colombia a comedy of errors tells the story of all fifty million Colombians, examining the country's history, people, culture, colombianomics and justice. The first edition of this funny, full-colour book was a bestseller in Colombia from the first month of its release. This, the second edition, contains brand new and expanded chapters including: Dating, Beauty, A to B and Justice, which gives the book its name. The book was written by British writer Victoria Kellaway and Colombian artist Sergio J. Lievano and reveals the secrets behind a nation that has drama and comedy seeped into its bloodstream. The pair study the country with an eye for detail that will surprise everyone, from the most knowledgeable reader to those who don't have a clue about the country. This lively, humour-filled book has a serious heart and makes for an ideal gift or travel companion. It contains more than 200 illustrations, caricaturing famous faces (including Shakira, Bolivar, Nieto Gil, Botero and Uribe) as well as the millions of Colombians fighting to survive their country's daily contradictions. Colombia a comedy of errors is an inspiring journey into the depths of the Colombian gene and what it means for Colombians everywhere. Praise for Colombia a comedy of errors (first edition) "A must-read for the thousands of foreigners who come to our country every year." Semana "There is no better way to express what the country can be than the phrase 'Colombia a comedy of errors'. We recommend it." SOHO "It's an instruction manual for understanding Colombian identity." El Tiempo "Make sure it's on your reading list." The Washington Post

Download or read book Mapping the Country of Regions written by Nancy P. Appelbaum and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-05-18 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nineteenth century was an era of breathtakingly ambitious geographic expeditions across the Americas. The seminal Chorographic Commission of Colombia, which began in 1850 and lasted about a decade, was one of Latin America's most extensive. The commission's mandate was to define and map the young republic and its resources with an eye toward modernization. In this history of the commission, Nancy P. Appelbaum focuses on the geographers' fieldwork practices and visual production as the men traversed the mountains, savannahs, and forests of more than thirty provinces in order to delineate the country's territorial and racial composition. Their assumptions and methods, Appelbaum argues, contributed to a long-lasting national imaginary. What jumps out of the commission's array of reports, maps, sketches, and paintings is a portentous tension between the marked differences that appeared before the eyes of the geographers in the field and the visions of sameness to which they aspired. The commissioners and their patrons believed that a prosperous republic required a unified and racially homogeneous population, but the commission's maps and images paradoxically emphasized diversity and helped create a "country of regions." By privileging the whiter inhabitants of the cool Andean highlands over those of the boiling tropical lowlands, the commission left a lasting but problematic legacy for today's Colombians.

Download or read book Colombia written by Michael J. LaRosa and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colombia is at a historic crossroads as its leaders implement peace accords that will end an undeclared but bitter civil war that has raged for more than half a century. Building a nation at peace will require the input and collaboration of both Colombians and the world community. Yet relatively little is known about Colombia in the United States and abroad. This deeply informed and accessible book traces the history of Colombia thematically over the past two centuries. In twelve interlinked chapters, Michael J. LaRosa and Germán R. Mejía depart from more standard approaches by presenting a history of political, social, and cultural accomplishments within the context of Colombia’s specific geographic and economic realities. Their emphasis on cultural development, international relations, and everyday life contrasts sharply with works that brand Colombia as a failed state, focusing on its violent past or on an economy deeply dependent on narcotics. Instead, the authors emphasize Colombia’s remarkable national cohesion and endurance since the early nineteenth century wars for independence. They explore two distinct eras: the “long nineteenth century” (1780–1899) and the “ongoing twentieth century” (1899–present). Including a photo essay, detailed chronology, and resource guide, this concise yet thorough history will be an invaluable resource for all those seeking a thoughtful, definitive interpretation of the rich heritage and dynamism that have characterized Colombia past and present.

Download or read book Islands of Resistance written by Mario Murillo and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While 1998 marked the 100th anniversary of the United States' invasion and takeover of Puerto Rico, it wasn't until 1999 that the island's political movements reappeared on the radar screen of the American people. That year, two major developments occurred that transformed the relationship between Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.: the limited clemency granted by then-President Clinton to eleven Puerto Rican Nationalists, and the death of Puerto Rican civilian security guard David Sanes, killed by missile fragments from U.S. naval bombing tests on the island municipality of Vieques. How does Vieques fit into the political future of Puerto Rico? While anti-Navy protesters are careful not to mix the island's political status options with their battle against the Navy, it is important to understand the role Washington has played in shaping Puerto Rico's current reality and how it has allowed the Navy to use Vieques as a bombing range for 60 years. It also helps one begin to predict what is the future of Puerto Rico. Is it to be a colony? Fifty-first state of the United States? Sovereign nation? In Islands of Resistance, Mario A. Murillo approaches these questions by examining how Puerto Rican politics have been shaped as much by 100 years of U.S. economic, military, and cultural domination of the territory, as by the enduring grassroots resistance of the Puerto Rican people. Islands of Resistance puts the contemporary situation in Puerto Rico into an historic context that will help people understand what is at stake in Vieques, not only for Viequenses, but for Puerto Ricans, both on the island and in the diaspora.

Download or read book Violence in Colombia written by Charles W. Bergquist and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 1992 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colombia has long suffered under such violence that it is now one of the most convulsed societies in the world. Far from being the result of solely the drug trade, the country's contemporary crisis stems from La Violencia (The Violence), a period of terror, political banditry and peasant unrest that plagued Colombia between the 1940s and the 1960s. The 14 essays in this collection examine La Violencia and its effects on current conditions, placing today's violence in its historical context.

Download or read book Landscapes of Freedom written by Claudia Leal and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2018-03-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at the interaction of race and terrain during a critical period in Latin American history--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book Afro Colombian Hip hop written by Christopher Dennis and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop: Globalization, Transcultural Music, and Ethnic Identities, by Christopher Dennis, explores the impact that globalization and the transnational spread of U.S. popular culture--specifically hip-hop and rap--are having on the social identities of younger generations of black Colombians. Along with addressing why and how hip-hop has migrated so effectively to Colombia's black communities, Dennis introduces readers to some of the country's most renowned Afro-Colombian hip-hop artists, their musical innovations, and production and distribution practices. Above all, Dennis demonstrates how, through a mode of transculturation, today's young artists are transforming U.S. hip-hop into a more autonomous art form used for articulating oppositional social and political critiques, reworking ethnic identities, and actively contributing to the reimagining of the Colombian nation. Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop uncovers ways in which young Afro-Colombian performers are attempting to use hip-hop and digital media to bring the perspectives, histories, and expressive forms of their marginalized communities into national and international public consciousness.

Download or read book The People of Aritama written by Alicia Reichel-Dolmatoff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers the life of a small Mestizo community in Columbia, with its people and institutions, its traditions in the past and its outlook on the future. Chapters include: · information on the health and nutritional status of the community * discussion of formal education and certain sets of patterned attitudes such as those which refer to work, illness, food and personal prestige. Originally published in 1961.

Download or read book Law in a Lawless Land written by Michael Taussig and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-11-15 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A modern nation in a state of total disorder, Colombia is an international flashpoint—wracked by more than half a century of civil war, political conflict, and drug-trade related violence—despite a multibillion dollar American commitment that makes it the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. Law in a Lawless Land offers a rare and penetrating insight into the nature of Colombia's present peril. In a nuanced account of the human consequences of a disintegrating state, anthropologist Michael Taussig chronicles two weeks in a small town in Colombia's Cauca Valley taken over by paramilitaries that brazenly assassinate adolescent gang members. Armed with automatic weapons and computer-generated lists of names and photographs, the paramilitaries have the tacit support of the police and even many of the desperate townspeople, who are seeking any solution to the crushing uncertainty of violence in their lives. Concentrating on everyday experience, Taussig forces readers to confront a kind of terror to which they have become numb and complacent. "If you want to know what it is like to live in a country where the state has disintegrated, this moving book by an anthropologist well known for his writings on murderous Colombia will tell you."—Eric Hobsbawm

Download or read book Colombia Culture Smart written by Kate Cathey and published by Kuperard. This book was released on 2019-06-24 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colombia has a spectacular and variant landscape, embracing tropical beaches, highland plateaus, the rugged, snow-capped peaks of the Andes, arid deserts, and dense Amazonian jungle. Colombian society is equally diverse. Stylish, cosmopolitan cities coexist with poverty in the beautiful countryside. As a result of the 16th-century Spanish conquest, modern Colombia's multiethnic society is a synthesis of Spanish, indigenous, and African traditions—evident in the music, in the food, and in Barranquilla's famous Carnival. The Colombian people are emerging from decades of crushing civil war and lawlessness with their spirits unbroken. Animated, lighthearted, and ever ready to enjoy the moment, they are looking to the future with hope and are eager to share their rich and beautiful country with the outside world. This pocket-sized book reveals Colombia's key customs and traditions, examines life at home and at work, and introduces some distinct and delicious culinary quirks. There is also advice on safe travel, vital information on how business is done, and how to communicate effectively across the cultural divide.

Download or read book Colombians Waver on Drug War written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Of Beasts and Beauty written by Michael Edward Stanfield and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2013-08-15 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All societies around the world and through time value beauty highly. Tracing the evolutions of the Colombian standards of beauty since 1845, Michael Edward Stanfield explores their significance to and symbiotic relationship with violence and inequality in the country. Arguing that beauty holds not only social power but also economic and political power, he positions it as a pacific and inclusive influence in a country “ripped apart by violence, private armies, seizures of land, and abuse of governmental authority, one hoping that female beauty could save it from the ravages of the male beast.” One specific means of obscuring those harsh realities is the beauty pageant, of which Colombia has over 300 per year. Stanfield investigates the ways in which these pageants reveal the effects of European modernity and notions of ethnicity on Colombian women, and how beauty for Colombians has become an external representation of order and morality that can counter the pathological effects of violence, inequality, and exclusion in their country.

Download or read book Crafting a Republic for the World written by Lina del Castillo and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2018-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of independence, Spanish American leaders perceived the colonial past as looming over their present. Crafting a Republic for the World examines how the vibrant postcolonial public sphere in Colombia invented narratives of the Spanish “colonial legacy.” Those supposed legacies included a lack of effective geographic knowledge, blockages to a circulatory political economy, existing patterns of land tenure, entrenched inequalities, and ignorance among popular sectors. At times collaboratively, and at times combatively, Colombian leaders tackled these “colonial” legacies to forge a republic in a hostile world of monarchies and empires. The highly partisan, yet uniformly republican public sphere crafted a vision of a virtuous nation that, unlike the United States, had already abolished slavery and included Indians as citizens. By the mid-nineteenth century, as suffrage expanded to all males over twenty-one, Colombian elites nevertheless tinkered with territorial divisions and devised new constitutions to manage the alleged “colonial legacy” affecting the minds of popular voters. The book explores how the struggle to be at the vanguard of radical republican equality fomented innovative contributions to social sciences, including geography, cartography, political ethnography, constitutional science, history, and the calculation of equity through land reform. Paradoxically, these efforts created a kind of legal pluralism reminiscent of the Spanish monarchy during the “colonial” period.