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Goods, Power, History: Latin America's Material Culture
This book is an original exploration into the history of material culture and consumption in Latin America over the past 500 years with special attention to the categories of food, clothing, shelter, and the arrangement of public and private space. The practice of consumption is related to supply and demand but also to the importance of ritual and the scramble for identity within the ethnic and class arrangements imposed by colonial and postcolonial societies.
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First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 22, 2012
Bauer attempts to answer the question of why we buy the things we do in this work that focuses on the history of material culture in Latin America. According to Bauer, material culture is built on the wants and needs for food, clothing, shelter and a variety of goods, the consumption of which is determined by four main factors, or themes: supply and demand, consumption and identity, ritual, and rule. Bauer synthesizes a number of secondary sources to examine the development of this culture in six stages: pre-Columbian, conquest, post-conquest, independence, modern, and the present.
Bauer begins with “The Material Landscape of Pre-Columbian America,” which was largely based on availability. The patterns of production and consumption were locally based, and although simple by today’s standards, the “native peoples…had devised an array of goods to mediate between themselves and their environment” (p. 42). The next chapters, “Contact Goods” and “Civilizing Goods,” focus on changes brought on during the conquest and settlement. The Europeans first “introduced radically new techniques and tools, new plants and animals, to alter the production of material culture; and they carried new markers of social and political prestige” (p. 45). Permanent European settlement then brought more opportunities for decisions on the “basis of style and taste and (the) economic capacity to buy” (p. 85). As Bauer’s narrative progresses through these periods, identity becomes a more important factor. New categories of race and class lead goods to take on a more symbolic meaning as the natives and colonists struggle to find themselves in this New World.
Identity continues to play a central role in the next, and final three chapters. In “Modernizing Goods: Material Culture at the Crest of the First Liberalism,” Latin America looks to Europe as the basis of its material culture, leading to the formation of a bourgeoisie society. Bauer ties this development to the racial and cultural ambiguities that had existed since conquest, with Latin Americans seeking a more civilized identity “to set themselves off from their inferior compatriots, for whom, after all, they could quite easily be mistaken” (p. 164). In “Modernizing Goods,” Bauer looks at the impact of widespread political and social changes, including rising nationalism and anti-imperialism. Despite this, Latin Americans continued to rely on foreign goods, produced in country or abroad. “That the resources designed to bind together a national market and encourage nationalist sentiment depended largely on foreign investment was an irony largely overlooked because the system seemed to work” (p. 178). Finally, in “Global Goods: Liberalism Redux,” Bauer examines the present attraction to the material culture of the United States, which “reaches much deeper into Latin American society than before” (p. 202). Bauer sums up the relationship quite nicely with Coca-Cola, which” enables its drinkers to associate with the larger world, not unlike the way an eighteenth-century mestizos in Mexico may have felt while breaking open a loaf of wheat bread” (p. 211).
At least three reviews of this work were favorable. Jeffrey M. Pilcher of The Citadel says Bauer combines clear syntheses of relevant historiography with considerable original research. While Margaret Chowning of the University of California says the work presents almost nothing new in way of research, and indeed relatively few “facts” with which historians of Latin America are not already familiar, it pulls together bits and pieces from various secondary works and travel accounts in a fresh and exciting way. Eric Van Young of the University of California calls the work pioneering, not least because this growing sub-genre of historical studies is as yet relatively little developed for the region.
Despite Bauer’s focus on Latin America, he does answer the question of why we all buy the things we do. We are all at the mercy of complex factors that are rarely as simple as personal choice. Therefore, his conclusion doesn’t just apply to Latin Americans, but to consumers around the world: “For millennia…people have been sorting through a mixed heap of goods to find those objects considered less expensive or more stylish, nourishing, or comfortable. Some help create new identities or maintain older ones; people choose other goods that ‘make and maintain social relationships’ or give material substance to the rituals, private and tiny, public and grand, that punctuate their lives” (p. 217-18).
Bauer begins with “The Material Landscape of Pre-Columbian America,” which was largely based on availability. The patterns of production and consumption were locally based, and although simple by today’s standards, the “native peoples…had devised an array of goods to mediate between themselves and their environment” (p. 42). The next chapters, “Contact Goods” and “Civilizing Goods,” focus on changes brought on during the conquest and settlement. The Europeans first “introduced radically new techniques and tools, new plants and animals, to alter the production of material culture; and they carried new markers of social and political prestige” (p. 45). Permanent European settlement then brought more opportunities for decisions on the “basis of style and taste and (the) economic capacity to buy” (p. 85). As Bauer’s narrative progresses through these periods, identity becomes a more important factor. New categories of race and class lead goods to take on a more symbolic meaning as the natives and colonists struggle to find themselves in this New World.
Identity continues to play a central role in the next, and final three chapters. In “Modernizing Goods: Material Culture at the Crest of the First Liberalism,” Latin America looks to Europe as the basis of its material culture, leading to the formation of a bourgeoisie society. Bauer ties this development to the racial and cultural ambiguities that had existed since conquest, with Latin Americans seeking a more civilized identity “to set themselves off from their inferior compatriots, for whom, after all, they could quite easily be mistaken” (p. 164). In “Modernizing Goods,” Bauer looks at the impact of widespread political and social changes, including rising nationalism and anti-imperialism. Despite this, Latin Americans continued to rely on foreign goods, produced in country or abroad. “That the resources designed to bind together a national market and encourage nationalist sentiment depended largely on foreign investment was an irony largely overlooked because the system seemed to work” (p. 178). Finally, in “Global Goods: Liberalism Redux,” Bauer examines the present attraction to the material culture of the United States, which “reaches much deeper into Latin American society than before” (p. 202). Bauer sums up the relationship quite nicely with Coca-Cola, which” enables its drinkers to associate with the larger world, not unlike the way an eighteenth-century mestizos in Mexico may have felt while breaking open a loaf of wheat bread” (p. 211).
At least three reviews of this work were favorable. Jeffrey M. Pilcher of The Citadel says Bauer combines clear syntheses of relevant historiography with considerable original research. While Margaret Chowning of the University of California says the work presents almost nothing new in way of research, and indeed relatively few “facts” with which historians of Latin America are not already familiar, it pulls together bits and pieces from various secondary works and travel accounts in a fresh and exciting way. Eric Van Young of the University of California calls the work pioneering, not least because this growing sub-genre of historical studies is as yet relatively little developed for the region.
Despite Bauer’s focus on Latin America, he does answer the question of why we all buy the things we do. We are all at the mercy of complex factors that are rarely as simple as personal choice. Therefore, his conclusion doesn’t just apply to Latin Americans, but to consumers around the world: “For millennia…people have been sorting through a mixed heap of goods to find those objects considered less expensive or more stylish, nourishing, or comfortable. Some help create new identities or maintain older ones; people choose other goods that ‘make and maintain social relationships’ or give material substance to the rituals, private and tiny, public and grand, that punctuate their lives” (p. 217-18).
June 9, 2014
While the class discussion exposed some weaknesses in this work (especially in regards to his fairly obvious bias, and his underlying idea of white man's burden. Some mentioned that they saw him as positioning himself as a potential savior of the real Latin American way of life; this is not something I saw), I found this to be a perfectly satisfying book. Based around a theme of why people consume the goods they do, Bauer explores how culture has tried to shape the consumption of the Latin American people, from pre-Columbian days to modern. Knowing that Bauer is a product of the sixties Latin American studies helps to understand the basis and central focus of his bias; he is staunchly anti-imperialist and virulently Marxist. He makes it clear that he is not anti-consumerist, but it is important to remember that unless the work implied otherwise it would be unnecessary to mention it. It's important to understand what guides and motivates an author, but with that said, I highly recommend this book.
July 23, 2019
Usualmente, cuando se habla de consumo, economía y lo relacionado al mercado y su efecto en lo social, a menos que uno intente descaradamente perpetuar el modelo económico imperante, se suele ser crítico por los efectos nocivos que tiene en (elija usted) la calidad ambiental, la equidad social, la calidad de vida, etc.
Sin embargo, Bauer toma un perspectiva histórica analizando los hábitos de consumo a través de las diferentes épocas de América latina, desde tiempos precolombinos a la fecha. Las conclusiones no son precisamente alentadoras, pero es una mirada desde un ángulo pocas veces analizado.
Con frecuencia, cuando se buscan ideales revolucionarios que cambien el sistema económico, se espera lograr con consignas que se modifique una maquinaria que lleva siglos operando y esta profundamente arraigada en toda sociedad. Se debe analizar cuales son los pilares de este sistema si es que esperamos hacer un cambio.
Sin embargo, Bauer toma un perspectiva histórica analizando los hábitos de consumo a través de las diferentes épocas de América latina, desde tiempos precolombinos a la fecha. Las conclusiones no son precisamente alentadoras, pero es una mirada desde un ángulo pocas veces analizado.
Con frecuencia, cuando se buscan ideales revolucionarios que cambien el sistema económico, se espera lograr con consignas que se modifique una maquinaria que lleva siglos operando y esta profundamente arraigada en toda sociedad. Se debe analizar cuales son los pilares de este sistema si es que esperamos hacer un cambio.
December 19, 2014
Not for the faint of heart
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews