Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Even scholarly paper questions Laredo's Washington birthday celebration


Pocahontas 1600s, George Washington 1770s: No Wonder our kids are failing History

I came across this rather scholarly article in the website allacademic.com and figured I'd share it with you.  I know that to most of us the entire WBCA is a joke and a half so I'm just posting a portion of it. At least one of the authors is a Laredoan, maybe both. They are Dr. Norma Cantu and Cordelia Barrera. The name of the piece is entitled Recreating what never was: The George Washington Celebration in Laredo, Texas.

As Renato Rosaldo and other scholars have studied, communities will often exhibit nostalgia for past events, events that exist in the imagined pasts of subjects who now occupy different spaces and who yearn for a long-lost ideal past. We agree with Rosaldo that what he calls “imperialist nostalgia” can foment an oppressive ideology and that citizen subjects who labor under such conditions and recreate that imagined ideal past are indeed celebrating an oppressive condition. While this is seen in a number of celebrations such as Fiesta in San Antonio, that celebrates the defeat of the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto, it is the particular celebration in Laredo, Texas, a mostly Mexican-American town on the border, and its annual 3-week long celebration of George Washington's Birthday that is at the center of our study.
The celebration recreates events following an imagined script that includes an "indigenous" pageant and a colonial ball along with popular events such as a jalapeño eating contest and a grand parade. Given that Laredo did not become part of the United States until 1848 when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between Mexico and the United States, and given that there is little connection of this geographical site to the actual events in the life of George Washington, it is odd that the celebration that dates back over a hundred years remains a mainstay in the cultural life of the community.

6 comments:

  1. So? ? thanks for reading. I came across the reading and figured I'd share- that's all. No "so" to it. Everyone's free to draw their own "so"s.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is an excellent commentary on Laredo, and how the wealthy co-opt ways to celebrate a heritage that never was in a way to allow them to show off. Good work Max! - Anymouse

    ReplyDelete
  3. They meant to say "So... cool" - just to mess with your minimalist vocabulary :P.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm trying to find a documentary piece showing the wbca and how the rich prep up to all the events. Does anyone know where I can find it? email it to me please if you have time gabsan95@hotmail.com.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Will do. I didn't know there was such a documentary but sounds like it'd be a reveaing piece allright.

    ReplyDelete