| dc.description.abstract | The colonial condition in Latin America marked not only the appropriation of land and life by the colonizers, but also generated during postcolonialism a series of political, social, and artistic ideologies and projects such as mestizaje and indigenismo. Such projects became intertwined and grew in parallel fashion, as did the socio-political conflicts concerning race and land possession in the region, which continued through the aftermath of Western colonialism. Indigenista novels exposed such conflicts, and because both the authors representing Indigenous worlds and struggles and the readership of the works were mestizo’s, this literary movement has been considered contradictory. Indigenista works then have been widely studied either in the light of this inherent contradiction, on their representations of racial, class, and gender oppression, and on how they portray clash views and understandings of worlds. Yet there has been little consideration on how space and place play active roles both in the novels and in postcolonial social and historical configurations, specifically minding how social relations are constituted and constituent of space and place (Massey “Space” 2); or the implication of local and private spatial scales in both history and politics, as well as its connection to identity in relation to place (Massey “Space” 5,7). I argue that looking into what is at stake in the novels, which is land (place), can provide a richer understanding of subtler aspects and diverse levels of social conflicts in interrelational postcolonial settings. The focus of this study will then be on Rosario Castellanos' indigenista novels, Balún Canán [The Nine Guardians] and Oficio de Tinieblas [The Book of Lamentations], both set in 1930’s Chiapas, México. From a geocritical approach and with concepts from feminist geography, this thesis will prioritize places and public/private spaces and the dynamics and tensions that develop between them. I will frame the conflicts in terms of social relations within spatiality, paying attention to those relations and interactions occurring in private spaces, and mapping how they shape the plot, social phenomena and conflicts. | |
