Reading Blog 11

Quote from Indigenous Mestizos

“Helen Callaway has suggested that in the nineteenth century images of the exoticized, colonized woman emerged as a nexus of erotica, fantasy, desire, and pleasure and was always shadowed by the fear of unknown risks, pollution, disruption, degeneration, and destruction (1993:34).” (pg 203)

In the 19th century, much European painting turned to depicting the “other,” and there was a particular fascination with depicting racialized women. In 1814 Ingres debuted “The Grand Odalisque” and in the following years there were many representations of the female odalisque figure. The term for the art that was produced primarily in the 19th century associating the Middle East and Asia with a hypersexualization of women and a sense of disorder would fall under Orientalism, as coined by Edward Said. Orientalist paintings was what I immediately thought of when I read this quote as dozens of examples flooded my brain. I also thought of images of African women who are frequently sexualized and exploited for their bodies in European art such as Sara Baartman. I didn't however have any immediate painting examples of exoticized Latin American women right off the top of my head (I am significantly less experienced with the Latin American art historical canon). It is particularly interesting that this sentence does not directly reference Latin America or Peru. After doing some quick research on Helen Callaway, her book is titled Legitimacy and the State in 20th Century Africa. So not quite the content we are discussing in this book. However, it does pose some interesting questions about visual representation and how women are viewed. 

Representations of racialized women in the 19th century are frequently reduced to stereotypes, especially relating to their sexual attitudes. As Indigenous Mestizos discusses, the discourse around mestiza women was focused on their determination in the marketplace and their associated sexual immorality. In the present-day, Latin American women are typically viewed as promiscuous and associated with words like “spicy” and “fierce.” I think the current media definitely has a role in sustaining these stereotypes with characters like Gloria in Modern Family or Gabrielle in Desperate Housewives. Both women are quite resourceful and use their physical attractiveness to achieve their goals. Currently, the vast majority of the Latin American population considers itself mestiza over titles like creoles or Indigenous. So in a way, the mestiza can be thought of as the average Latin American woman. So I’m wondering, did the discourse of the 19th century around mestiza women carry over to the present day? It seems there is a correlation between how these women have been described, but is there a persistence between how mestiza women have been portrayed that has formed these stereotypes?