Goods, Power, History

Goods, Powers, History analyzes the basic items of material culture and their relationship with broad patterns of historical change. The goods are “food, clothing, shelter, and the organization of public space” (p. xv). Food and clothing receive the most attention as Arnold Bauer works through different historical periods, beginning with the precolumbian postclassic and ending with the neoliberalism of the late twentieth century. The result is an imaginative conceptualization of the sweep of Latin American history that emphasizes goods, identity, and power.Bauer is convincing in his arguments about the way food and clothing express social and political relationships and makes interesting observations when he moves beyond essential goods to discuss carriages, musical instruments, and imported goods that appeared in shops. He appropriately uses art as evidence, but seldom comments on art as a cultural good. For example, the illustration of the meaningful and complex Exvoto de San Miguel en un obraje textil, 1740 (p. 107) begs for analysis, but there is no discussion of it, not even an explanation of exvotos in the cultural history of Latin America. Art, even the stylized religious art of colonial Latin America, is a dialogue between artist and viewer that reveals much about culture and power.Since Bauer’s text ranges so widely, some readers will find comments with which to disagree. The assertion that by the 1540s “there was still not much exchange with the native people” ignores the dynamic exchange between Europeans and Indians that characterized the cabalgadas of the early sixteenth century (p. 55). He states that bread made from bitter yucca was “tasty and nutritious,” yet Spanish sailors in the sixteenth century complained bitterly about the taste, saying that it was almost inedible, and nutritionists recognize that yucca is one of the least nutritious of the world’s staples (p. 22). Those who have spent much time eating in Lima, Cuzco, Puno, or Tacna might also question the statement that in Peru “the various culinary elements from five continents have come together to create the most impressive cuisine in the Western Hemisphere” (p. 192). These are questions of taste (individually and culturally defined), and Bauer’s descriptions of food, drink, and clothing make clear the need for research on the way that taste has influenced Latin American history.Bauer is at his best when he takes the commonplace and shows how it fits in a broad social and political context. Two examples are the ax and the sewing machine, both, in their own way, instruments that transformed material life. He does the same in his final chapter on “global goods,” where he discusses the cultural implications of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and malls in Latin America. His attention to nuance, detail, and etymology enriches these passages, but also makes the reader wonder why he shifts back and forth between “Cuzco” and “Cusco” in the text.A final comment on the recent tendency of academics to introduce themselves as they introduce their books: in this case it works, and it is good to learn a bit about a historian who has made many contributions to Latin American history. Goods, Power, History will be recognized as a valuable work that presents an ambitious framework for interpreting Latin America’s past

Aesthetics · Art · Clothing · Colonialism · Conceptualization · Latin Americans · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · History · Latin American Cultural Politics · Law · Philosophy