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From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and

the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000 (review)

Jorge González del Pozo

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Volume 11, 2007, pp.

231-232 (Article)

Published by University of Arizona

DOI: 10.1353/hcs.2008.0043 

For additional information about this article

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 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies  231

Por lo tanto, destacan estereotipos sexuales y sociales que se vinculan a la imagen del negro y que conllevan a la violencia transrracial entre elcolonizador/blanco y el colonizado/negro.

Las tendencias racistas y discriminatoriascontinúan funcionando como marco de estudioen la segunda parte, dirigida específicamente alanálisis de la película  Se buscan fulmontis , de

 Alex Calvo-Sotelo, y canciones pop españolasde grupos populares como Amistades Peligrosas,Glutamato Ye-Yé y Mecano. En este caso losensayos tornan a hacer un estudio del inmigrantenegro como símbolo de pobreza, desempleo y 

sexualidad dando lugar a una representaciónafricanista del mismo que, como señala acertada-mente Cornejo Parriego, constituye un discursoparalelo con el orientalismo de Edward Said, alconstruir a un sujeto negro desde una visióneurocéntrica (26).

En la tercera parte se destaca el ensayo deMaría P. Tajes, dedicado al estudio de la novela Caella sen salida (2001), de Víctor Omgbá, elcual se enfoca en el texto basado en la experiencia migratoria del autor, de origen camerunés. Conéste se da un interesante y muy bien pensadogiro al análisis del tema, puesto que elimina la pasividad del inmigrante de las lecturas ante-riores y presenta una voz narrativa que proponesoluciones para eliminar lo que él llama la “cri-minalización” (209) del colectivo inmigrante.Finalmente, el libro concluye con los ensayosde Dosinda García-Alvinte y Silvia Bermúdez,los cuales abarcan reflexiones éticas con respectoa la percepción del otro africano partiendo de

las películas Salvajes (2001) y Poniente (2002),así como de textos musicales que transmitenpatrones generacionales de comportamientorepetitivo con respecto a la inmigración y que a su vez exponen casos de violencia como el casode la inmigrante dominicana Lucrecia Pérez,asesinada en España en 1992.

El texto deja claro que las consecuenciasde los procesos migratorios en España son muy complejas y abarcadoras, así como lo son lasposibles soluciones a los problemas que surgende los choques culturales que éstos provocan.Partiendo de ello, Rosalía Cornejo Parriego logra una distribución temática efectiva que, a pesar

de ciertas repeticiones argumentativas, ayuda allector a comprender mejor la transformación porla que atraviesa el pueblo español. Memoria colo-nial e inmigración logra su propósito y evidencia lo que afirma Juan Goytisolo en su prólogo: “la nueva España del siglo XXI «oscurecerá» más y más” (15). Por lo tanto, el texto no sólo presenta al lector una sociedad en constante lucha por re-definirse, sino que también lo invita a la reflexióny al cuestionamiento sobre si en realidad hay un“otro” a quien señalar.

Marianela Rivera 

University of California, Riverside 

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From Silver to Cocaine: Latin AmericanCommodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000 Duke University Press, 2006Edited by Steven Topik, Carlos Marichal and Zephyr Frank 

e year 1492, a point of no return in World economy, encompasses the beginnings of  what has been defined as globalization. Despitethe relative novelty of this term, this book ex-plores the trajectory of commodity chains thatlink, shape, and condition the internationalizedpanorama. Latin America, as the field of exploi-tation by the old and new western economies(Europe and US), turns into the main characterof this work: “Today there is virtually no agricul-

tural, industrial, commercial, or financial activity that is not highly globalized” (Topik, Marichaland Zephyr 8). By focusing on the products thathave been extracted, grown, manufactured, andfinally exported through centuries, this study establishes the relations among producers, inter-mediaries, and consumers, facilitating a uniqueunderstanding of the contemporary situation of Latin America and the direction of transnationaleconomy, while respecting various countries’shistorical underpinnings.

From Silver to Cocaine is a historical review of the World situation and development drivenby an economic point of view. is collection

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232  Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 

of essays, organized chronologically, includesarticles dealing with the main products thathave been key commodities in Latin America and therefore in the rest of the World. isstudy is divided in twelve chapters that explainthe features of the trade of each of the products:silver/gold, indigo, cochineal, tobacco, coffee,sugar, cocoa, banana, guano/nitrate, rubber,henequen, and cocaine. By addressing ques-tions that are period and commodity specific,as well as analyzing the impact of this trade inpolitics, society and economy, the reader mightthink that this book solely supports a global

context. In fact, a globalized economy is thecommon aspect that links the numerous essays.

 Although such a macro vision anchors this study,local character and regional features are crucialelements in comprehending the dimension of this ambitious and necessary work, specifically through the dichotomous treatment of globalversus local questions.

Structurally, the chronological order,combined with the wide representation of mostof the Latin American countries and the specialemphasis on Brazil—a country that tends to beforgotten in several studies dealing with Latin

 America—facilitates the reader’s inquiries. econnection between the historical/economiccommentary and the contemporary situationare common through many chapters, explain-ing certain moments in the past, while engaging the reader with the developmental path. eeconomic specific terminology presented in thebook is accessible to those readers without a 

strong background in the subject. In this work the main concept of commodity chains functionsas the key articulation and helps to understandhow a market grows, how monopolies impacteconomy, and that profitability and redistribu-tion of a commodity are one of the main transi-tions in World economy.

In the last stages of this analysis the book strongly presents its positioning by offering:

[n]ew approaches to the process of growing world economic integra-tion, arguing that the knowledgeof historical origins and dynamics

is necessary to achieve a fuller com-prehension of the complexities of contemporary age. (359)

From the point of view of Hispanic Stud-ies, this work condenses main topics that drivesocial relations, cultural and political manifes-tations, and mainly an economic/historic per-spective that allows almost any reader to reacha greater understanding of how Latin America has developed its economy and, therefore, how the world works in relation to the globalizationreality. From Silver to Cocaine approaches world

history and economy by presenting a meaning-ful, contemporary trajectory, giving a morecomplete view of the intricacies of the Latin

 American cultures.

 Jorge González del PozoUniversity of Michigan-Dearborn

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Boricua Literature: A Literary History of the Puerto Rican Diaspora New York University Press, 2001By Lisa Sánchez González 

Lisa Sánchez González’s Boricua Lit-erature: A Literary History of the Puerto RicanDiaspora  is a clearly polemical addition to thegrowing corpus of literary and cultural studiesprojects on the Puerto Rican Diaspora in theUnited States. e author describes her approach

as “Latina studies as academic guerrilla warfare”(136), with an explicit mission to “fight andscream in print” (6).

Boricua Literature is a well-organized book consisting of an introduction and six tightly defined chapters. e first four focus on whatSánchez González proposes as key texts in herrewriting of “Boricua” (as she questionably pre-fers to call U.S. Puerto Rican) diasporic literary history, one which she believes should be read asindependent of and not linked or subordinatedto island-centered Puerto Rican literary history.Her position goes against other long-standing trends which favor understanding transnational