Historical and Cultural Interconnections between Latin America and Asia – serie

This book studies a selection of works of Philippine literature written in Spanish during the American occupation of the Philippines (1902-1946). It explores the place of Filipino nationalism in a selection of fiction and non-fiction texts by Spanish-speaking Filipino writers Jesús Balmori, Adelina Gurrea Monasterio, Paz Mendoza Guazón, and Antonio Abad. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from Anthropology, History, Literary Studies, Cultural Analysis and World Literature, this book offers a comparative analysis of the position of these authors toward the cultural transformations that have taken place as a result of the Philippines' triple history of colonization (by Spain, the US, and Japan) while imagining an independent nation. Engaging with an untapped archive, this book is a relevant and timely contribution to the fields of both Filipino and Hispanic literary studies.

This book studies a selection of works of Philippine literature written in Spanish during the American occupation of the Philippines (1902-1946). It explores the place of Filipino nationalism in a selection of fiction and non-fiction texts by Spanish-speaking Filipino writers Jesús Balmori, Adelina Gurrea Monasterio, Paz Mendoza Guazón, and Antonio Abad. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from Anthropology, History, Literary Studies, Cultural Analysis and World Literature, this book offers a comparative analysis of the position of these authors toward the cultural transformations that have taken place as a result of the Philippines' triple history of colonization (by Spain, the US, and Japan) while imagining an independent nation. Engaging with an untapped archive, this book is a relevant and timely contribution to the fields of both Filipino and Hispanic literary studies.

This book brings together a group of leading and emerging scholars on the history of cultural and literary interactions between Asia and Latin America. Through a number of interlinked case studies, contributors examine how different forms of Asia-Latin America dialogues are embedded in various national and local contexts. The volume is divided in four parts: 1) Asian hybrid identities and Latin American transnational narratives; 2) translations and reception of Latin American narratives in Asia; 3) diffracted worlds of Nikkei identities; and 4) interweaving of Asian and Latin American narratives and travel chronicles. Through the lens of modern globality and Transpacific Studies, the contributions inaugurate a perspective that has, until recently, been neglected by Asian and Latin American cultural studies, while offering an incisive theoretical discussion and detailed textual analysis.

This book brings together a group of leading and emerging scholars on the history of cultural and literary interactions between Asia and Latin America. Through a number of interlinked case studies, contributors examine how different forms of Asia-Latin America dialogues are embedded in various national and local contexts. The volume is divided in four parts: 1) Asian hybrid identities and Latin American transnational narratives; 2) translations and reception of Latin American narratives in Asia; 3) diffracted worlds of Nikkei identities; and 4) interweaving of Asian and Latin American narratives and travel chronicles. Through the lens of modern globality and Transpacific Studies, the contributions inaugurate a perspective that has, until recently, been neglected by Asian and Latin American cultural studies, while offering an incisive theoretical discussion and detailed textual analysis.

​This book focuses on the migration strategies of Chinese women who travel to Mexico City in search of opportunities and survival. Specifically, it explores the experiences and contributions of women who have placed themselves within the local and conflictive networks of Mexico City´s downtown street markets (particularly in Tepito), where they work as suppliers and petty vendors of inexpensive products made in China (specifically in Yiwu). Street markets are the vital nodes of Mexican “popular” economy (economía popular), but the people that work and live among them have a long history of marginalization in relation to formal economic networks in Mexico City. Despite the difficult conditions of these spaces, in the last three decades they have become a new source of economic opportunities and labor market access for Chinese migrants, particularly for women. Through their commerce, these migrants have introduced new commodities and new trade dynamics into these markets, which are thereby transformed into alternative spaces of globalization.

​This book focuses on the migration strategies of Chinese women who travel to Mexico City in search of opportunities and survival. Specifically, it explores the experiences and contributions of women who have placed themselves within the local and conflictive networks of Mexico City´s downtown street markets (particularly in Tepito), where they work as suppliers and petty vendors of inexpensive products made in China (specifically in Yiwu). Street markets are the vital nodes of Mexican “popular” economy (economía popular), but the people that work and live among them have a long history of marginalization in relation to formal economic networks in Mexico City. Despite the difficult conditions of these spaces, in the last three decades they have become a new source of economic opportunities and labor market access for Chinese migrants, particularly for women. Through their commerce, these migrants have introduced new commodities and new trade dynamics into these markets, which are thereby transformed into alternative spaces of globalization.

This book examines the modes of representation of the East in Argentinean literature since the country’s independence, in works by canonical authors such as Esteban Echeverría, Juan B. Alberdi, Domingo F. Sarmiento, Lucio V. Mansilla, Pastor S. Obligado, Eduardo F. Wilde, Leopoldo Lugones, and Roberto Arlt. The East, which has always fascinated intellectuals and artists from the Americas, inspired the creation of imaginary elements for both aesthetic and political purposes, from the depiction of purportedly despotic rulers to a genuine admiration for Eastern history and millennial cultures. These writers appropriated the East either through their travels or by reading chronicles, integrating along the way images that would end up being universalized by the Argentinean dichotomy between civilization and barbarism, all the while assigning the negative stereotypes of the exotic East to the Pampa region. With time, the exoticism of the Eastern world would shed its geopolitical meaningand was ultimately integrated into the national literature, thus adding new elements into the Argentinean imaginary.

This book examines the modes of representation of the East in Argentinean literature since the country’s independence, in works by canonical authors such as Esteban Echeverría, Juan B. Alberdi, Domingo F. Sarmiento, Lucio V. Mansilla, Pastor S. Obligado, Eduardo F. Wilde, Leopoldo Lugones, and Roberto Arlt. The East, which has always fascinated intellectuals and artists from the Americas, inspired the creation of imaginary elements for both aesthetic and political purposes, from the depiction of purportedly despotic rulers to a genuine admiration for Eastern history and millennial cultures. These writers appropriated the East either through their travels or by reading chronicles, integrating along the way images that would end up being universalized by the Argentinean dichotomy between civilization and barbarism, all the while assigning the negative stereotypes of the exotic East to the Pampa region. With time, the exoticism of the Eastern world would shed its geopolitical meaningand was ultimately integrated into the national literature, thus adding new elements into the Argentinean imaginary.

This critical interdisciplinary volume investigates modern and contemporary Asian cultural products in the non-westernized transpacific context of Asian and Latin American intellectual and cultural connections. It focuses on the Latin American intellectual, literary, and cultural influences on Asia, which have long been overshadowed by the dominance of Europe/North America-oriented discourse and by the predominance of academic research by both Asian and western intellectuals that focuses only on the West. Moving beyond the western intellectual paradigm, the volume examines how Asian literature, films, and art interact with Latin American literature and ideas to reexamine, reconsider, and re-explore issues related to the two regions' historical traumas, cultural identities, indigenous/vernacular traditions, and peripheral global-ness. The volume argues that Asian and Latin American literary and cultural endeavors are part of these regions' broader efforts to search for the forms of modernity that best fit their unique sociohistorical and sociocultural conditions.

This critical interdisciplinary volume investigates modern and contemporary Asian cultural products in the non-westernized transpacific context of Asian and Latin American intellectual and cultural connections. It focuses on the Latin American intellectual, literary, and cultural influences on Asia, which have long been overshadowed by the dominance of Europe/North America-oriented discourse and by the predominance of academic research by both Asian and western intellectuals that focuses only on the West. Moving beyond the western intellectual paradigm, the volume examines how Asian literature, films, and art interact with Latin American literature and ideas to reexamine, reconsider, and re-explore issues related to the two regions' historical traumas, cultural identities, indigenous/vernacular traditions, and peripheral global-ness. The volume argues that Asian and Latin American literary and cultural endeavors are part of these regions' broader efforts to search for the forms of modernity that best fit their unique sociohistorical and sociocultural conditions.

Beginning in 1990, thousands of Spanish speakers emigrated to Japan. A Cultural History of Spanish Speakers in Japan focuses on the intellectuals, literature, translations, festivals, cultural associations, music (bolero, tropical music, and pop, including reggaeton), dance (flamenco, tango and salsa), radio, newspapers, magazines, libraries, and blogs produced in Spanish, in Japan, by Latin Americans and Spaniards who have lived in that country over the last three decades.  Based on in-depth research in archives throughout the country as well as field work including several interviews, Japanese-speaking Mexican scholar Araceli Tinajero uncovers a transnational, contemporary cultural history that is not only important for today but for future generations.

Beginning in 1990, thousands of Spanish speakers emigrated to Japan. A Cultural History of Spanish Speakers in Japan focuses on the intellectuals, literature, translations, festivals, cultural associations, music (bolero, tropical music, and pop, including reggaeton), dance (flamenco, tango and salsa), radio, newspapers, magazines, libraries, and blogs produced in Spanish, in Japan, by Latin Americans and Spaniards who have lived in that country over the last three decades.  Based on in-depth research in archives throughout the country as well as field work including several interviews, Japanese-speaking Mexican scholar Araceli Tinajero uncovers a transnational, contemporary cultural history that is not only important for today but for future generations.

Fernando Morais’ Dirty Hearts is a tour de force of literary journalism that investigates the discriminatory treatment of the Japanese immigrant community in Brazil during World War II and in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat and unconditional surrender. In contrast to the internment camps and compulsory military service that characterized the Japanese American wartime experience, this book traces the rise to power of Shindō Renmei, an ultranationalist secret society that formed in response to the anti-Japanese measures enacted under Getulio Vargas’ Estado Novo. Based in São Paulo, the group used terrorism, propaganda campaigns, and conspiracy theories to violently enforce its narrative of Japan’s victory. These traumatic events nevertheless brought about a permanent transformation in the Japanese Brazilian community from a largely insular colony with close ties to its imperial homeland to its new identity as an ethnic minority in postwar Brazil’s fraught racial democracy.

Fernando Morais’ Dirty Hearts is a tour de force of literary journalism that investigates the discriminatory treatment of the Japanese immigrant community in Brazil during World War II and in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat and unconditional surrender. In contrast to the internment camps and compulsory military service that characterized the Japanese American wartime experience, this book traces the rise to power of Shindō Renmei, an ultranationalist secret society that formed in response to the anti-Japanese measures enacted under Getulio Vargas’ Estado Novo. Based in São Paulo, the group used terrorism, propaganda campaigns, and conspiracy theories to violently enforce its narrative of Japan’s victory. These traumatic events nevertheless brought about a permanent transformation in the Japanese Brazilian community from a largely insular colony with close ties to its imperial homeland to its new identity as an ethnic minority in postwar Brazil’s fraught racial democracy.

In this collective work, researchers from different disciplines reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of decolonizing transpacific studies through the lens of a few paradigmatic case-studies that deal with connections between East Asia and Latin America. The present book offers a productive problematization of the idea of the transpacific as a concept and a space that is not restricted to a single definition. We defend that the transpacific can instead promote an understanding of agents and experiences that share many common traits that have been generally overlooked by a hegemonic interpretation of knowledge and the relationship between regions.By fostering an environment that not only accepts a plurality of views but that actively looks to accommodate analogous, tangential, and even contradicting approaches to the study of our ideas, we seek a double objective. First, we hope to highlight precisely the richness within the idea of the transpacific, avoiding sticking to any particular conception to it while at the same time acknowledging and owning each of our points of enunciation. Our second objective is part of a constant struggle in the quest towards social and epistemic justice. By adopting this stance of plurality, we can fight against structures of knowledge production and reproduction that willingly or unintentionally instill specific interpretations in ways that inculcate exclusivity.The goal of this book is opening up and expanding the debate regarding transpacific connections, examining the limits and promises of including these experiences within the conceptual paradigm of the Global South, and showcasing different ways of approaching decolonial research to the study of the relationship between East Asia and Latin America.

In this collective work, researchers from different disciplines reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of decolonizing transpacific studies through the lens of a few paradigmatic case-studies that deal with connections between East Asia and Latin America. The present book offers a productive problematization of the idea of the transpacific as a concept and a space that is not restricted to a single definition. We defend that the transpacific can instead promote an understanding of agents and experiences that share many common traits that have been generally overlooked by a hegemonic interpretation of knowledge and the relationship between regions.By fostering an environment that not only accepts a plurality of views but that actively looks to accommodate analogous, tangential, and even contradicting approaches to the study of our ideas, we seek a double objective. First, we hope to highlight precisely the richness within the idea of the transpacific, avoiding sticking to any particular conception to it while at the same time acknowledging and owning each of our points of enunciation. Our second objective is part of a constant struggle in the quest towards social and epistemic justice. By adopting this stance of plurality, we can fight against structures of knowledge production and reproduction that willingly or unintentionally instill specific interpretations in ways that inculcate exclusivity.The goal of this book is opening up and expanding the debate regarding transpacific connections, examining the limits and promises of including these experiences within the conceptual paradigm of the Global South, and showcasing different ways of approaching decolonial research to the study of the relationship between East Asia and Latin America.

Connecting multiple academic areas, this book addresses three aspects of the poetry of José Watanabe: 1) the construction of "Japaneseness" in the poetic works and public figure of the poet, 2) the skillful manipulation of literary devices characteristic of his poetry, 3) the unique sensibilities and moods of ephemerality and ineffableness prevalent in his poetic works. The trans/interdisciplinary nature of the book intends to promote a dialogue and exchange of ideas across academic fields neglected in most studies on the Peruvian poet. Written by researchers based in Japan, it offers a unique perspective of Japanese cultural phenomenon unavailable in previous studies. The goal of the book is to shed light on how Japan continues to be seen by the West through essentialist notions and stereotypical representations, as well as to highlight the fact that the literary quality of Watanabe’s poetic artistry does not reside in it being “Japanese” and can be appreciated without resorting to essentialist categorizations based on positive Japanese stereotypes.

Connecting multiple academic areas, this book addresses three aspects of the poetry of José Watanabe: 1) the construction of "Japaneseness" in the poetic works and public figure of the poet, 2) the skillful manipulation of literary devices characteristic of his poetry, 3) the unique sensibilities and moods of ephemerality and ineffableness prevalent in his poetic works. The trans/interdisciplinary nature of the book intends to promote a dialogue and exchange of ideas across academic fields neglected in most studies on the Peruvian poet. Written by researchers based in Japan, it offers a unique perspective of Japanese cultural phenomenon unavailable in previous studies. The goal of the book is to shed light on how Japan continues to be seen by the West through essentialist notions and stereotypical representations, as well as to highlight the fact that the literary quality of Watanabe’s poetic artistry does not reside in it being “Japanese” and can be appreciated without resorting to essentialist categorizations based on positive Japanese stereotypes.

This is the first book to shed light on the growing presence, influence and expansion of China in the daily life of Argentina. While most previous academic studies focus on the geopolitical and macroeconomics dimensions of the relations between Argentina and China, this book shows at a micro-social level the multiple facets of the economic, political and social influence of China in Argentina. The book presents ethnographic studies of encounters of actors and negotiation of identities from Argentina and China in companies, schools, restaurants, hospitals, districts, public and private institutions in Argentina. Themes discussed in the ethnographies include: identity struggle and strategic uses of culture in Buenos Aires' s Chinatown; teaching Chinese as the first foreign language or teaching it as a heritage language in a bilingual school; the contested production of images of Chinese authenticity in Chinese restaurants; the connections and contestations between so-called “Western medicine” and so-called “Chinese Traditional Medicine”; and the conflictive relations between Chinese expatriate bosses of Chinese state-owned enterprises and their Argentinean employees.

This is the first book to shed light on the growing presence, influence and expansion of China in the daily life of Argentina. While most previous academic studies focus on the geopolitical and macroeconomics dimensions of the relations between Argentina and China, this book shows at a micro-social level the multiple facets of the economic, political and social influence of China in Argentina. The book presents ethnographic studies of encounters of actors and negotiation of identities from Argentina and China in companies, schools, restaurants, hospitals, districts, public and private institutions in Argentina. Themes discussed in the ethnographies include: identity struggle and strategic uses of culture in Buenos Aires' s Chinatown; teaching Chinese as the first foreign language or teaching it as a heritage language in a bilingual school; the contested production of images of Chinese authenticity in Chinese restaurants; the connections and contestations between so-called “Western medicine” and so-called “Chinese Traditional Medicine”; and the conflictive relations between Chinese expatriate bosses of Chinese state-owned enterprises and their Argentinean employees.

This volume presents geographical journeys that challenge the limits of national or cultural identities, as well as journeys traversed by stories of exile and forced displacement, which become pilgrimages towards themselves, defying, in this process, both the limits of their own identities and the borders between the self and the other.The volume is divided into three parts. The first part explores the circulation of writers and texts which have traveling as a common point of departure; the second part is dedicated to reflecting on the concept of Orientalism from multiple perspectives but preserving the perpetuation of colonial structures of subordination and otherization as a central axis around which all the proposed analyses revolve; the third part is dedicated to the formulation of new cultural patterns and identities in the Philippines, as results of the interactions and interconnectivities between Wests (Spain, United States) and Philippines.

This volume presents geographical journeys that challenge the limits of national or cultural identities, as well as journeys traversed by stories of exile and forced displacement, which become pilgrimages towards themselves, defying, in this process, both the limits of their own identities and the borders between the self and the other.The volume is divided into three parts. The first part explores the circulation of writers and texts which have traveling as a common point of departure; the second part is dedicated to reflecting on the concept of Orientalism from multiple perspectives but preserving the perpetuation of colonial structures of subordination and otherization as a central axis around which all the proposed analyses revolve; the third part is dedicated to the formulation of new cultural patterns and identities in the Philippines, as results of the interactions and interconnectivities between Wests (Spain, United States) and Philippines.

This book argues that Colombia and China have been linked since the earliest Spanish colonial period through a little-known commercial sphere that historiography has largely overlooked. Drawing on primary sources from national archives and tracing scattered references in Chinese historiography, it demonstrates that New Granada—today Colombia and Panama—sustained a consistent commercial relationship with China, particularly through the consumption of diverse textiles.Revisiting this historical encounter offers a fresh perspective on the economic and cultural dynamics of the eighteenth century, a period traditionally framed as one of mainly European dominance. Evidence from smuggling records and testamentary files in Colombian and Spanish archives shows that New Grenadian society consumed significant quantities of Chinese goods, including silk, angaripolas, and damascos. These findings support two central claims: first, that New Granada actively participated in global markets during the eighteenth century; and second, that Chinese commodities enabled cultivated forms of global sociability within the region.