La gente decente de Lima y su resistencia al orden republicano

Drawing on no less than 15,086 remitidos (comunicados, alcances, suplementos, all of which were journalistic devices to allow individuals to publicize their thoughts, grievances, and defenses) to nine Peruvian and Limeño newspapers published between 1827 and 1862, Pablo Whipple portrays the thoughts and doings of Lima's elite (the “gente decente”), while at the same time illustrating the workings of the judicial and policing systems and their transformations in the early decades after political independence from Spain. Divided into seven chapters, the book takes its readers from the Bourbon Reforms, an attempt to improve labor morale, hygiene, education, and public order in the colony, to how Lima's elites went down the path of personal and family “decency” (socially, culturally, and racially) in order to assert their distance from the lower classes, especially artisans, who, following the new republican ideals, increasingly asked to participate in the construction of the new nation-state. Whipple's book successfully shows how a double discourse and reality, upheld by Lima's elites, emerged: a republican ideal of equality that contrasted with the actual doings of judges, police, lawyers, and scribes, and a clash between proclaimed enlightened ideals and what people actually read, gossiped about, and understood, as reflected in Peru's newspapers. Social and moral scandals surrounding the lives of elite members were paramount. By examining 360 newspapers (most of them published only sporadically) between 1831 and 1865, 62 percent of which were published in Lima (a finding taken from Carlos Forment's earlier work), Whipple aptly retakes Jorge Basadre's notion of an “orgía periodística” that characterized Lima after independence.Remitidos became the most important source of income for several newspapers: elite members spent much money to get their attacks and defenses against each other published (often in conflict with editorials more inclined to represent the new republican ideals). Newspapers in Lima were financed by these private remitidos, in contrast to Chile, Argentina, or Colombia, where newspapers were state supported. The decency-driven remitidos had a strong bearing on the legal and institutional culture because they could influence judges and lawsuit outcomes. One particularly well-documented example of this in Whipple's account is the Taboada case (chapter 6). The inherent contradictions between rulings and outcomes mediated by a decency discourse are masterfully framed by the independence anniversary celebration in the presidential palace organized by President Ramón Castilla in 1847. Decent and questionably decent representatives of Lima's elites were invited; the curious populace — well informed by remitidos — could observe the individuals they had come to hear and read about.Whipple's contribution is part of a growing field of historical inquiry dealing with the reconstruction of legal and political cultures in the early stages of nation-state formation, the evolution of public spaces and opinions, and the construction of civil society. With all its flaws, Peru's judicial system (as also in other Latin American countries) was the most stable institution in an otherwise turbulent political, social, and economic time. The Ministry of Justice was founded in 1842 (p. 174) and the Colegio de Abogados in 1843 (p. 177), hand in hand with a dramatic expansion of civic associations — which Whipple (in contrast to Carlos Forment) interprets as a prolongation of the flawed functioning of the judicial system rather than a process consolidating civil society.And there might be more to consider when envisioning civil society as a vastly heterogeneous, interactive conglomerate. Based on my own reading of hundreds of Lima's lawsuits of the nineteenth century, some questions come to mind. How independent was (and is) the judiciary system in Peru, or anywhere else for that matter? According to Whipple (p. 169), judges felt themselves isolated from society, badly (if at all) paid by the state, and attacked and flattered through the remitidos. However, isn't it true that, especially among elites, parents hoped to have one child in the legal profession, one in the church, and one as a military officer or politician, in order to preserve and enhance socioeconomic standing gained through agricultural, mining, and commercial activities? Who were the judges, lawyers, and scribes, especially those (from the Supreme and Superior Courts) who catered to the gente decente?Another set of questions pertain to how Lima's demographic composition and the decency discourse intersected. Was Lima, as the hub of multiethnicity among Latin American capital cities, the extreme case of a strong, personalized decency discourse? Was there a European counterpart? Indians and blacks (and castas) were outside the injuria/decencia codes. Especially in Lima, though, social mobility and miscegenation existed. Some military leaders and politicians were mestizos. How decent were they? In several instances, Whipple shows how urban slaves were invited to denounce their playhouse-owning masters and to become witnesses; they were promised high rewards, including freedom. Black, casta, and Indian populations were comparatively large, and they knew how to work the judicial system (juicios de redhibitoria, for example). Did this affect the racial decency discourse of the gente decente? Switching from race to gender, Whipple notes how several women appear as writers and victims of remitidos. Most remitidos attacked and defended peoples' personal and intimate lives, and there was nothing more personal and intimate than matrimony and family. How far did, for instance, matrimonial litigation in ecclesiastical court (a key aspect of decency) flow into remitidos? Did remitidos sustain a double moral when it came to adultery accusations? Or, more generally, how important was the church in defining (or redefining) decency?Pablo Whipple's book is an entertaining read, with nice sparks of subtle irony and a fine sense of humor. It adds to our understanding of how elites construed themselves in the new republican framework, it tells a long story about the difficulties and misunderstandings involved, and it elucidates how these efforts touched upon the institutional (police, judiciary) makeup of Limeño society

Art · Elite · Humanities · Ideal (ethics) · Newspaper · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Law

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