In this volume Gonzalez explores how the effects of a traumatic
colonial experience are (re)presented to Latin American children
today, almost two centuries after the dismantling of colonialism
proper. Central to this study is the argument that the historical
constraints of colonialism, neocolonialism, and postcolonialism
have generated certain repeating themes and literary strategies in
children's literature throughout the Spanish-speaking Americas.
From the outset of Spanish domination, fundamental tensions emerged
between the colonizers and native groups that still exist to this
day. Rather than a felicitous mixing of these two opposing groups,
the mestizo is caught between contrasting worldviews, contending
explanations of reality, and different values, beliefs, and
epistemologies (that is, different ways of seeing and knowing).
Postcolonial subjects experience these contending cultural beliefs
and practices as a double bind, a no-win situation, in which they
feel pressured by mutually exclusive expectations and imperatives.
Latin American mestizos, therefore, are inevitably conflicted.
Despite the vastness of the geography in question and the
innumerable variations in regional histories, oral traditions, and
natural settings, these contradictory demands create a pervasive
dynamic that penetrates the very fabric of society, showing up
intentionally or not in the stories passed from generation to
generation as well as in new stories written or adapted for
Spanish-speaking children. The goal of this study, therefore, is to
examine a variety of children's texts from the region to determine
how national and hemispheric perceptions of reality, identity, and
values are passed to the next generation. This book will appeal to
scholars in the fields of Latin American literary and cultural
studies, children's literature, postcolonial studies, and
comparative literature.
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