From the cabinets of wonder of the Renaissance to the souvenir collections of today, selecting, accumulating, and organizing objects are practices that are central to our notions of who we are and what we value. Collecting, both private and institutional, has been instrumental in the consolidation of modern notions of the individual and of the nation, and numerous studies have discussed its complex political, social, economic, anthropological, and psychological implications. However, studies of collecting as practiced in colonized cultures are few, since the role of these cultures has usually been understood as that of purveyors of objects for the metropolitan collector. Collecting from the Margins: Material Culture in a Latin American Context seeks to counter the historical understanding of collecting that posits the metropolis as collecting subject and the colonial or postcolonial society as supplier of collectible objects by asking instead how collecting has been practiced and understood in Latin America. Has collecting been viewed or portrayed differently in a Latin American context? Does the act of collecting, when viewed from a Latin American perspective, unsettle the way we have become accustomed to think about it? What differences, if any, arise in the activity of collecting in colonized or previously colonial societies? Spanning the period after the independence wars until the 1980s, this collection of ten essays addresses a broad range of examples of collecting practices in Latin America. Collecting during the nineteenth century is addressed in discussions of the creation of the first national museums of Argentina and Colombia in the post-independence period, as well as in analyses of the private collections of modernistas such as Enrique Gomez Carrillo, Ruben Dario, Jose Asuncion Silva, and Delmira Agustini at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. The practice of collecting in the twentieth century is discussed in analyses of the self-described revolutionary practices of Oswald de Andrade, Augusto de Campos and the films of Ruy Guerra, as well as the polemical collections of Pablo Neruda, and the unsettling collections portrayed in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

From the cabinets of wonder of the Renaissance to the souvenir collections of today, selecting, accumulating, and organizing objects are practices that are central to our notions of who we are and what we value. Collecting, both private and institutional, has been instrumental in the consolidation of modern notions of the individual and of the nation, and numerous studies have discussed its complex political, social, economic, anthropological, and psychological implications. However, studies of collecting as practiced in colonized cultures are few, since the role of these cultures has usually been understood as that of purveyors of objects for the metropolitan collector. Collecting from the Margins: Material Culture in a Latin American Context seeks to counter the historical understanding of collecting that posits the metropolis as collecting subject and the colonial or postcolonial society as supplier of collectible objects by asking instead how collecting has been practiced and understood in Latin America. Has collecting been viewed or portrayed differently in a Latin American context? Does the act of collecting, when viewed from a Latin American perspective, unsettle the way we have become accustomed to think about it? What differences, if any, arise in the activity of collecting in colonized or previously colonial societies? Spanning the period after the independence wars until the 1980s, this collection of ten essays addresses a broad range of examples of collecting practices in Latin America. Collecting during the nineteenth century is addressed in discussions of the creation of the first national museums of Argentina and Colombia in the post-independence period, as well as in analyses of the private collections of modernistas such as Enrique Gomez Carrillo, Ruben Dario, Jose Asuncion Silva, and Delmira Agustini at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. The practice of collecting in the twentieth century is discussed in analyses of the self-described revolutionary practices of Oswald de Andrade, Augusto de Campos and the films of Ruy Guerra, as well as the polemical collections of Pablo Neruda, and the unsettling collections portrayed in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The Historical Dictionary of the Dirty Wars covers the period 1954-1990 in South America, when authoritarian regimes waged war on subversion, both real and imagined. The term "dirty war" (guerra sucia), though originally associated with the military dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, has since been applied to neighboring dictatorships in Paraguay (1954-1989), Brazil (1964-1985), Bolivia (1971-1981), Uruguay (1973-1985), and Chile (1973-1990). Although the concept is by no means peculiar to Latin America-the term has become a byword for state-sponsored repression anywhere in the world-these regimes were among its most notorious practitioners. In the mid-1970s they joined forces-along with Ecuador and Peru-to create Operation Condor, a top-secret network of military dictatorships that kidnapped, tortured, and disappeared one another's political opponents. Their death squads operated both nationally and internationally, sometimes beyond the region. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of the Dirty Wars contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on the countries themselves; guerrilla and political movements that provoked (though by no means exonerated) governmental reaction; leading guerrilla, human-rights, military, and political figures; local, regional, and international human-rights organizations; expressions of cultural resistance (art, film, literature, music, and theater); and artistic figures (filmmakers, novelists, and playwrights) whose works attempted to represent or resist the period of repression. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the dirty wars of South America

The A to Z of the "Dirty Wars" covers the most recent period of military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983), Chile (1973-1990), and Uruguay (1973-1985), when national-security regimes waged war against suspected subversives. The chief targets of these regimes were leftists, especially armed guerrillas and their supporters, though the term "subversive" came to include anyone perceived to be a threat to the status quo. Unlike a conventional war fought against a physical enemy, a "dirty war" (guerra sucia) is fought against an ideology. The difficulty of rooting out such an unconventional enemy was thought to justify unconventional tactics. As a result, thousands of citizens were abducted by security forces, illegally detained, and tortured. Although the term "dirty war" is most closely associated with Argentina during the 1970s, it has since become a byword for state-sponsored terror in other parts of the world and in other historical contexts. The reason for focusing on the Southern Cone of South America is threefold. First, these countries are often discussed together in the literature on dictatorship and its aftermath. Second, they were among the most notorious offenders in a region noted for human rights abuses. Third, their continuing efforts to bring "dirty war" participants to justice have renewed interest in the period, especially in the light of debate on how to prosecute human rights offenders in other parts of the world. Through a chronology for each country, an introduction, a lengthy bibliography, and cross-referenced dictionary entries, The A to Z of the "Dirty Wars" describes the period, including the background and aftermath.