ANNALS OF SCHOLARSHIP ART PRACTICES AND THE HUMAN SCIENCES IN A GLOBAL CULTURE, Volume 12, Number 3 & 4 Americas Abroad Edited by Donald E. Pease and Marie-Rose Logan Contents DONALD E. PEASE, Americas Abroad: An Introduction 1 PAUL LAUTER, Of Chodors and Capital 9 HERMAN RAPAPORT, Who ovns the Transference? 19 DANIEL T. O'HARA, Freud At Work: The Genius of the Amateur 29 {JANE BENNETT, Henry Thoreau, Bruno Latour, and the Finesse of Nature/Culture ........ pe) MARIE-LOUISE KETE, Sentimental Collaboration: Mourning and the American Self ...........00eeseeceeeteeeeeeee 2.45 ER W. BARDAGLIO, “A Divided Empire”: Southern Households, Slavery, and the Narrative American Exceptionalism, 63 RUTH MAYER, Revising Slavery: Contemporary Black Culture and the Turn to the Past ........ . 83-sciplines with an emphasis on the interaction Depween St! TNS ture. For more details visit our Web Site: htp//members.aol.convRoundMyWay/ annalsofschotarshi Founding Editor: RUTH GRAILAM shtml General Editor MARIE-ROSE LOGAN > MTORIAL COMMIFTEE: Robert 1. Casero (Tempe Univers); Carol Kay (Universty of Pitsburg: aor ned (Temple niversiy); Donal E. Pease (Darunouth College; Timothy J Ress (Ne York nersg); Alan Singer (Temple Universi) ‘anaging Eto Gana Lagosky repress Composition: Wendy D, Wiliams and Raymond Demaskas ep Sandi Slone, La Concbita, 1992 (35° X 110°) reproduced by persion ofthe aris hecapraph dtl em photo by ant Detancy-1981-Yalant Women in Gy Lights Books: San rancsco, 1987> ADNISORY 04RD Allan Mandelbaum Wiliam Boleom City University of New York University of Mcbigan Gary Schwan Patricia iden The Netberands University of California, Berkeley an Dundes Mark Bldsein University of California, Berkeley New York Allan Meg Régne uti gy ERMAN LEMS Linversity of Virginia Université du Quebec & Montreal Bainard Govan Jean Mich Rey . 1 dows ate Universit pont IK 2 ‘Joseph Masheck ‘Winfried Fluck 9 “Hofstra University Freie Univers, Bergayyy oh virgins JA. Pook rem Wie pgpotesvle> » ‘The Jobs Hopkins University ew York Robert Sega Joseph M. 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M-RLopan Fa Arsh Departmen, Collegeof Arts and Sciences, TEMPLE UNIVERSFTY, Philadelphia, PA 19122. Prine inthe Unie States of Aer, ISSN 0192-2858 3 Copyright ©1998 by Anal fSeoarshp, IncOia lala Beauty An absorbing and provocative farrago of commentary devoted essentially to the complex art of our time, ranging widely in tone and stylistics from the stoldly doctrnaine to the heedlessly irreverent, and generously embracing topics Jo aesthetics, morality, and contemporary art theory. The book i full of singular revelations and contrast in ideology and discourse on the part of an admirable group of artists, pets, theorists, and dedicated observers and creators of art today.” —Sam Hunter, Emeritus Professor, Princeton University CoPubished withthe Scho of Visual Aes {A volume in the Aesthetics Today series At all bookstores or call 1-800-2788877 Distributed by WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS, 1515 Brcodheay, New York, NY 10096 Contributors: John Ashbery Louise Bourgeois Hubert Damisch Arthur Danto Robert Farris Thompson] Max Fierst David Freedburg, Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe John Hejduk key James Hillman ‘Ariane Lopez Hui Kenneth Koch Julia Kristeva Donald Kuspit Jacqueline Lichtenstein ‘Agnes Martin Thomas McEvilley Robert Morgan Frank O'Hara Carter Ratcliff William Rubin Meyer Schapiro Peter Schjeldahl David Shapiro Kirk Varnedoe Marjorie Welish John Yau 448 pages Cumanda and the Cartographers: Nationalism and Form in Juan Leon Mera RICARDO PADRON ‘The tor told here ends in 1906, when the government of Ecuador, confronted by one ofthe many rita crises that continue to haunt its border with Peru, rushed to replace its oficial map ofthe national territory, map that had been published merely fourteen years before. Despite its acknowledged scientific ‘igor, that map simply could not hold up in the heated rhetorical mosphere of an impending armed con fit. The disputed territory, avast and most unexplored secton ofthe upper Amazon basin which Ecua orians call “el Oriente,” did not appear on that map as a contiguous pat of Ecuador's national territory Instead, twas depicted 2s an inset inthe corner, marked only bythe courses of afew: rivers and the legend Lite known regions inhabited by savage indians” (Figures 1 and 2). The map could thus be understood as betraying one of the essential ideological funcuons of oficial national cartography, that of naturlizing, in both foreign and domestic eyes, the state's image as an organi territorial entity wth impermeable bor ders’. The map which replaced it, procuced by Enrique Vacas Galindo, boldly included not only the terri ‘ory marginalized by Wolf, uta large par of what was then, andi today, territory under Peruvian contol Whats remarkable is not that Wols map should have been replaced, but thatthe Ecuadorian government, given ts long history of thorny border disputes in precisely this are, should have produced and sanctioned ‘the map inthe fist place . ‘This map, produced by the Genman geologist Theodore Wolf in 1892, seems even stranger when we ‘compare it tothe map tha if, nvrn,realaced, the ist map of independent Ecuador produced by Manuel Villavcencio in 1858. Like all ther national maps of Ecuador sponsored by the Ecuadorian government, vith the exeption ofthe Wolf map the Villvicencio map depicts the Amazonian territory tthe same scale asthe resto the country, and as contiguous witht, ot as an inst (Figure 3). TheVllavicencio map dliv- ers on what we might expect from sat cartography in a country wth extremely limited material resources and a history of politcal instability. Inthe interest of advancing national territorial ial, i fills unsu veyed regions covering almost half the np's surfce with fantastic rivers and mountain ranges taken from specious travelers’ tales. "It produces onthe page what has ye tobe prodaced on the ground, a homoe- ‘neous national teritory whose availabilty fr cartographic representation promises its possession in full by the powers ofthe state 7 Asa scientist, Wolf naturally rejected the cartographic fabrications of the Villavicencio map. He pro- nounced its cartographer incompetent, an called its version ofthe Ecuadoran Amazon a “fantastic botch (568).’ But why would the Ecuadorian government sponsor and approve his alternative, whose commit ‘ment to scientific cartography serfices rhetorical claims toa contested region? Wolf himself notes that Peru and Colombia were well ahead of Ecuador in producing accurate maps of what they considered tobe their own territories, maps that divided the Bevadorian Amazon entirely berween them, and that even ashe finished his work, Peru was esting the feasibility of steamboat commerce in the region (199, $70-71). He explains his decision to marginalize tis contested territory on te grounds of cartographic responsibil218 Annals of Scholarship since so litle is known about the Amazon terior. then it should not be mapped on the same scales the rest ofthe country (3). His explanation suggests one possible answer tothe question posed, an answer that enjoys the benefit of consistency wth broader trends in the history of Latin America during te inal third ofthe nineteenth century. The enthusiasm of Ecuadorian authorities for the Wolf map might be un- derstood as.amonument tothe prestige of positive scence oth as rational method and as desirable adomn- ment for project of national consoldation. The Wolfmap may have forfeited rhetorical thunder that would have heen useful to Ecuador's territorial disputes wth Peru or Colombia, butit compensated with the mod: tern glo of scentfic rigor. Aferent answer emerges, however, when we resist the explanatory temptations of such an oversim- plied narrative and instead highlight the particularities of the Ecuadorian historical context, This brief Cartographic drama becomes more complicated wit the appearance ofan unexpected character, romantic novel, Cumanda'y the statesman poet Juan Leon Mera. Cumanddtellsthetaleoftwo ill ted overs caught in the twilight years of Spins empire in America, but, as we shal se, it also seems io play role inthis story of nationalist cartography framed bythe Vilavicencio and Wolf maps. By understanding this ole, we discover how we can re-read Wolf's map in nationalist terms, how it contributes to, rather than betray, euadorian nationalism, We ative at diferent answer othe question posed above, one that speaks not only to a dedicated minoriy of Ecuadorian, but to wider audience intrested inthe relationship be ‘ween nationalism, territoriality and discursive form The cas of Gumandé and the cartographers serves as an antidote for an assumption al to common in contemporary discussions ofthese issues. [allude to this assumption in the contrast above between the ‘Wolf and Villaicencio maps nationalism, and particularly state-sponsored nationalism, is most frequently associated with maps that gure 2 national territory as an enclosed, homogeneous entity and that under ‘tthe claims withthe guarantees of posit rigor that come with modern cartography. The trio sal ideal given form by such maps comes wrapped up wih corresponding social and cultural idea, that ‘ofthe nation as an internally coherent, exclusive community, The map, moreover, no only serves a asjn- bol ofthe ation, itso constitutes one of the ideological apparatuses that work to produce and reproduce ‘hat imagined community onthe ground. For many critics, these considerations convert national maps into cmblems ofthe dre consequences of nationalism for minortaran dference The resistance of such groups ‘othe hegemony ofthe nation thus comes o he understood as strategies of cartographic disfigurement and alternative map-making. Anaesthetic and ideological dichotomy snaps into place. On the side ofthe na- tion, we find terstorial wholes, while on the side ofthe resistance we find disfigured or fragmented na- tional maps, s well as utopian or heterotopan “counter-cartographies." The Ecuadorian case shows us, however, that itis ntjustthe subater who can deface the map ofthe nation, and notal suc defacements constitute attempt to clear the ground for previously oppressed subjective, ‘The basis for this understanding of nationalism and discursive disfigurement of eritory can be found in extant discussions ofthe nationalist program served by Gumandd's tragic plot ke similar novels in other Latin American countries, Cumanda is readin Ecuadorian schools as both the country’ first great literary product and asthe epic of ts national dent. That identity is fired through the destinies ofthe star-crossd cenral characters, Carlos, the scion ofthe county Catholic, white, landed aristocracy and (Cuma, the beautiful woman from an indigenous family that Carlos mets in the jungles of the Amazon teritory The et invites the reader to imagine te birth ofthe nation in the reconiiaton of white upper classes and indigenous subalierns under the benevolent aegis of state and church, only to frustrate his de- Gumandeé and the Castographers: Nationalism and Form in Juan Leon Mera 29 sires by bringing Cumands to tragic end atthe hands of head-hunting savages, For Doris Sommer, this tragic ending ony fuels nationalist ambitions: tthe same ime as they [Latin American national romances} arouse our sympathies forthe love affair beeen ideal heroes and heroine, they also locate social abuse that frustrates the lover. Therefore they point to an ideal stat, in both senses, after the obstacle is overcome. Implicit, and sometimes openly, these novels demand a possible solution to failed romance (read also national progress and productivi), (173-74), Here, we shall reframe this national romance as territoral project that responds toa history of civil war and national loss. Cumandé itself provides material that authorizes this critical move. The novel be- sins in the tone of the travel ale, asthe narrator introduces the reader to Reuador's Andean landscapes, and then takes him on an imaginary journey ino the storys Amazonian seting. This opening chapter con sates onl the rst ofa numberof passages that hapsodie Ecuador's natural beauy, and atemptto ground evadorian identity inthe land. This intatextal appeal to ferrtoril issues finds support ina fascinating iertext that serves as a concrete link between tis particular novel andthe history of cartography with which we began, Cumandd's author, Juan Leon Mera, was also the author of Eousdor's fist sehoolroom ‘geography textbook. Both the textbook and the novel seem to have drawn much of their geographic and ‘aographic material from the work of Manuel Vllasicencio, so we shall return to his map, and to the historical circumstances that gave it rise, as our point of entry into the tragic territoriality of Cumanda. Imagining Ecuador Inthe mid-(late-ninctcenth century when Latin American slatesmen intelectual devoted thei en- cies to building nations out of the social and economic wrecks that emerge from the war of indepen dence, they found litle about their would-be nation-states that could be take for granted. The national romances thatthe wrote during his period, novels much ke Cumand, addres the racial and clas di ferences that threatened these nascent ational projets, butthey also attempt io map thetritory that these ‘ew communities would all home. This rior imagination strugeed agains threats from within and without Beonomic and ideological ali among the elites of diferent region threatened to dismember the territories assembled hy weak central governments often incapable of extending their authority beyond the capital ety Ambitious neighbors atemped to steal away promising frontier regions and well-placed por cites. imén Bola’ pet projec, the enormous would-be nation-state of Gran Colombia, evenly came apart o form Ecvador, Colombia and Veneruea. Argentina, by contra, averted such cisinteration butonly through protracted and bloody armed conic. Bolivia lst coastineo Chilein 1883 asa result ofthe Wa ofthe Paci, and, most recently Ecuador lost most ofits Amazonian testo f a Pervian invasion in 1941. Bouador has since repudiate the teat that ened the war, making it and Peru's border troubles one of the most prolonged international disputes ina continent whose history was once rf with such disagreemens. ‘The pretense ofthe Quito government to act as successor othe colonial Audiencia de Quito provided ‘only ambiguous territorial cluims. Effective contol of teritory was all but impassible given the dificulies posed by Andean and Amazonian topography, as well as by pos-Independence economic collapse. The upper Amazon basin, always more acessile from Peru despite its proximity, asthe crow flies, 10 Quito, fell into Peruvian hands. In a manner reminiscent ofthe colonial period, when the limits of Spanish or220 Annals of Scholarship Portuguese territorial contol would be marked by the presence of froner missionaries, Peru exerted its influence over the Amazon basin through the work of ute sponsored evangelization. The growing regu- larity ofa Peruvian missionary presence in what Ecuador considered to be its own teritory thus rep sented a de facto conquest. Through such “scandalous usurpations,” Villvicencio lamented, “Peru has taken control of large part of Ecuador's territory, advancing every ay litle more” (417). Under such conditions it becomes easy to understand why Villavicencio would rusho fabricate a map that made bold claims about Ecuador's territorial identity, no matter what limitations were posed by the actual stat of geographic knowledge. In order for "Ecuador" wo be brought into being, as community and astertitoy it had first o be imagined on the map. The form and intended function of the map, however, suggests tha is territorial assertions are directed just as much to internal as they are to exteral threats ‘Territorial encroachment by Peru came accompanied by internal divisions between the liberal plantation ‘owners of the burgeoning coastal lowlands and the dominant conservative landowners ofthe Andean high- lands, divisions that repeatedly plunge! the country into civil war. The Vilavcencio map, produced afer & decade of such confic, addresses itseo problems of national integration ust as much a it does to inter national evalry ‘The map was designed to hangin the classrooms of Ecuador's new public schools, ata remove, asi froma student’ desk it takes the form of confident constativ speech act itshows the viewer gut clearly what Ecuador is. The various provinces appear in bright colors that stand out dramatically against the dra tones used for Per, Colombia, and Braz Regional loyalties are thus integrated into national whole, defined against clearly delineated exterior. The teritory non ofthe Amazon River and east ofthe Andes appears in bright green, unmistakably associated wih the colorful provinces west fit. svat expanse, ‘more than half the total area ofthe nation, as claimed hy the Beuzdorian government, dominates the centet of the visual field (Figure 3). The map’s audacious manner of measuring latitude and longitude serves to further consolidate and center the national space that it articulates. Longitude is measured, not only from the Paris meridian, but also from a meridian running through Quito , whic is, of course, very near the ‘equator, the oignof measures oflatiude. The capt hus becomes te point of reference forthe ient fication of al locations, both within and without Ecuador's horders. It sa the enter ofa position-en- ‘hancing. grid, and al other lations are homogenized as equally subordinate to the map's cartographic ‘omphals. Ecuador i 2 centered, unified and homogenous entity. What school child could think that its form on the ground could dif from what appeared on this map? Close examination ofthe map unsetes such a comforting reception. First, most ofthe nation’s bor ders ie ouside the brightly colored area. Outinthe dra estore of Peru and Colombia, wefind Ecuador's frontiers, drawn considerably south ofthe Amazon and as far north asthe Caqueta Rive (in current-day Colombia), athe masimum extent of Ecuador's terra claims. The borders that enclose the colored area, along the Amazon river and between the Caqueta an the more southerly Putumayo River, ae clearly marked asa compromise position favored by the mapmaker. No mention is made of Peruvian or Colom bian claims within these, moe limited frontiers. Thefrotier region thus created, simultaneously internal tothe Borders ofthe nation and external othe visual devices that frm part ofthe map's eto, betrays ‘continued historical contradictions that belie the map's image of Ecuador, Close inspection reveals that this maps rhetorical structure tobe something distinct from the confident consativ cartographic gesture that presents itself oa distant viewer. Within its attempt io constitute the nation a a homagenous and im- permeable ei the Vllavicencio map recognizes thatthe nation's fronters are largely unset and quite permeable. Gumanda and the Cartographers: Nationalism and Form in Juan Leon Mera ma ‘Other details suggest that itis not juste borders, but the area within hem, that remain unknown and unset. One might notice tha the Oriente rivers are a bit too perfectly serpentine, that thr forms may ‘ery wel be aesthetic fabrications informed bythe practice of "cartographic enhancement.” Along their banks, one finds symbols indicating the locations ofa numberof villages that have fallen into ruins. These ruins atest to countermyth tha the homogenizing effrsof the map attempt to deny. tha this image of Ecuador is fragmented ito at east wo distinc regions, a sete west (whose history of ei wars efe: tinlyerased) anda largely unset east, where the civlizing efforts othe nation continve to struggle against recalcitrant barbarism, Among the ruin, the signs ofthe unsetdement ofthe east, are those of the village ‘of Andoas. Ths one of the villages named by Vilavicencio in his account of Peruvian missionary pres ‘enceinthe upper Amazon, “Since 1839," reports an alarmed \ilvicencio, “the Amazonian town of Andoas ‘had often been ministered to by apres dependent upon the government of Peru” (416), Thistown, 2s we shall se, becomes one ofthe principal settings of Mera’s Cumanda. From Geography to Romance ‘There can be litle doubt thatthe work of Manuel Vilaicencio, both his map of Ecuador and the ge ography that accompanied it served as a source for Mera’ aeshec and pedagygical projets." Like most Latin American writes ofthis period, Mera was also an ative politcal igre Although he began his ca reer a. Liberal, he defected tothe Conservatives when Gabriel Garcia Moreno came to power in 1860, ently serving inthe national congress and as ganeror ofthe province of Tungrahua. Mera was Kenly intrested in Gaia Moreno's educational program founding various schoosin the province he governed and writing the geography textbook that was adopted fo se by Ecuadorian schools in 1874. His atecismo dela Geograa del Ecuador, veces the nation, its geography is history its demography as govern rent, to 131-poge pocket dition, tens entering the new Garcian school, wth itl o no knowledge ofthe word beyond the vale where they Ine, would ear to magne the nation and to i their place ‘iin its space, its history and its structures of authori Sgnifcan, among the names, dates, and numbersthat occupy one page fer another of Mera tex boo, th studens would find cal pasages ean the nation's mountains ries an an forests. These passes ar cast inthe same romantic rhetoric use to figure landscapes in Cemadd. The allowing ‘socation ofthe Amazon rain forest appears i the Catecismo: Seen from some height, these forests presenta prospec ke tha ofthe sea: the horizom blurs into the celestial spaces; the canopies of milions upon milion of trees stirred by the wind imitate the disquiet of waves; the palm trees stand out and bob gracefully lke smal ships, and the great rvers meander afar, bri lian lke the wakes left by kels on the surface of the waters (21-22) ‘Thesame trope, that ofthe ran forests primordial sea, appears again in Cumandd, this time com plete witha divine creator: Certainly, a one reaches the peak, a startled er escapes fom the most intimate depths of one's soul: ‘here les the other world; there Nature ostentaiously displays one of ts most sublime faces the immensity ‘of. sea of prodigious vegetation below the immense blue ofthe sky before one ies nothing but the vague and indecisive line ofthe horizon between the celestial paces and the surface ofthe forests, upon which mows the spirit of God just as before time he moved over the face ofthe waters (27)."m2 Annals of Scholarship Although landscape descriptions like tis ne may seem saccharine to contemporaryastes, inthe late nineteenth century they made Cumanda famous asa masterpiece of Latin American romanticism, particu- larlyamong European readers fascinated by evocations of exotic locales (Anderson imbert 282). The simi lates between the passage from Cumanda and the one from the Galecismo, however, suggest that this novels preoccupation with nature and geography cannot be understood as an exclusively aesthetic con- cern. Poetry and geographic education are confounded (or co-founded) in Mera’s work, leading us to examine Gumanda asa privileged nationalist geographic ftion, ‘While the Catecsmo punctuates cry data taken fom Villavicencio with romantic landscape descrip. tion, Cumande goes further, and reverses the rhetorical priorities of Wllaviencio’ map. The novel’ ge- ‘ography amplifies Vilsicencio’s muffled acknowledgment of disastrous histories and ruined projects at the expense ofthe maps overt claims to territorial integrity, Ando, fr Vllvicencio a symbol of nation falure before the challenge of Pera, assumesa prominent rein Mera novel. The town in turn, appears within acarefily constructed geography that displaces the reader's attention and the nationalist’ hopes way from the warring demographic, politcal and economic centers ofthe Ecuadoran littoral and high- lands, and toward that unsetled and unknown east that occupies so great part of Vllicenco's map. Gumandé, however, maps the Oriente only to reduce itto ashes. The Amazon basin becomes the con fice site of both the nationais’s hopes and of his frustrations. The novel begins in the register of travel narrative. A disembodied narrator guides the reader fom tte Beuadorian highlands to the Amazon Basin, where it itroduces its main characters, The geographic etal of this introductory chapter are gradually invested with symbolic significance. The novel begins by ‘hapsodizng an Andean peak, Mt. Tungurahua, wit ts “handsome conical form and its perpetually white peak,” (25) the source ofthe Pastaa River, along which mos of the action will take place. The discourse follows the course of the Pastaza wo its union with the Pata, which comes down from Chimborazo Prox- ince. The narrator thus alludes to the mountain that iesthat province is name, He then follows the Pasta ‘vera spectacular waterfall and into the Oriente where the bulk of the story i et. An Ecuadorian reader, paricularly one who had studied geography from Mera’ texthook, would be atuned tothe importance of ‘Mis Tungurahua and panicularly Chimborazo as national symbols. Chimborazo, he would know, forms the centerpiece of Ecuador's state seal rrr—r———Cs cr rego and note paced anche wi ois Amann error. The grape deals et ‘hap (5) comers is simple dlacenen ine hat we might cal 3 QS Welearina arate anepisthat the ough and sate ars an José Domingo Oz, ep resent hole suo fr indigensUpsi ihe arlss mote and oug ser dead adie clenda brat the round Tenaraor eis the upg witha pee heal ee, the 1803 reellon ha ok ple nan ard eons ia Gaetan Club, ne Shadow of Mt Ghinborano 62)" We el a Villar hal orgie his map up a Quo pine Inrian hat omer ihihand captain he navel os suppose anal nana ue, The tara af Crmand no seems ute hs atonal mpl conic orp em rE rrr bio) Thereaer rexgsizesretesper hath opening per as tn emo ese ee, ‘Gumandd and the Cartographer: Naionalism and Form in Juan Leon Mera 223 While these geographic details combine to dismantle the nationals encomium ofthe Villavicencio map, the reamen of historical details in te narrative ofthe uprising combine o prepare the ground fora very particular response to the problems of Ecuadoran history emblematized hy this act of cartographic isigurement. The historical uprisings o which Mera alludes were provoked byte actions ofthe colonial stat, pecially the collection of anew tthe in theindigenous villages, and the ages ofthe violence were primary state tax collectors, no aetenda owners or thee properties (Moreno Yaiex 297-338, 526-7, oatesworth 27). The novel, by contrat, find the roo ofthis rebelion nthe sinfulness of individuals, the cru of white landowners, rather than in structural injustices or state policies. By thus figuring his tory so ast deflect potential etcism fom the colonial state, Mera also anticipates and defects potential ertcism of the Conservaive regime of which he formed a pata regime whose rule between 1865 and 1875 was aso marked by indigenous upsngs including an 1871 revotin Chimborszo Province), Most ofthese uprisings responded to fore labor dais that powered the regime's program of infrastructural ‘modernization, It erases any Conservative responsi for Ecuador's ail troubles and wen stats the problem in terms that dersand moral renewal rather than social or poicalreolution, Such a solution would be consistent with te priorities of the governvent of Gabriel Garcia Moreno, the Conservative strongman who Mera supported. Garcia Moreno stepped into the anarchic Ecuadorian politics and international disputes ofthe 18508 and ‘6's to pacify and unify the country through brat dictatorial measures." Convinced tha the troubles ofthe past had their source inthe moral degradation of Ecuadorian culture, Garcia Moreno installed the Catholic Church as an ideological watchdog, Mera was fully implicated in these measures. The educational system for which he showed such enthusiasm const: ‘ated, in Garefa Moreno’s eyes, the principal instrument of the country’s moral and religious renovation, its ‘svation from disorder and violence. As the president putt, te purpose ofthe state schools was, ‘to moralize a country n which the bloody battle of good and evi, of honorable men against perverse ‘men, has lasted for half a century and moralize it by means ofthe energetic and efcacious repression of crime and by means ofa solidly religious education of mew generations (Cited by Ayala Mora 217), [Mera repeated this close association of catechization and citizenship in his own writings: "Iii in ispensable to instruct [the young] in the Catechism of Christian Doctrine, ifs no Tess necessary to give them notions of Political Catechism: its wppropriateo form good Catholics and good ctizens"(Catectsmo explicado\). So, while most of Latin America installed Liberal governments hostile to the Church, Ecuador lived under a regime which one historian has called "the nearest approach toa theocracy inthe westem world” (Meecham 142), tis no wonder, then, that the nove looks to the virgin land ofthe Amazon tersitory, ano the virgin ‘cumandé, to dream of a theocratic utopia in which contending groups find reconciliation under the be- ‘evolent direction of the church. The down-river course of the narrator’ tour, in the opening chapter, ‘eventually exploits a salient feature of Ecuadorian hydrography:rves that low down ec Te Pas ‘becomes, “one ‘monarch ofthervers of the world” (25), It ike de other rivers ofthe region “search desperately the end oftheir course, seduced and fascinated byte calls oftheir sovereign, which they heard therein the brambles ofthe mountain” (27), and “rush to take ther tibute to the Amazon” (28), For Herndn Vidal, these mo-224 ‘Annals of Scholarship ‘archical metaphors emblazon the hydrograpy with ibe ideology of Garcia Moreno’ Conservative Party, hich hoped o unite Ecuadorian under a singe, spstually core leader (62). The novel goes so far aso systematically associate downer movement withthe hopes for Garcian renewal that attend to the relationship between Carlos Orozco and Cumand. During te frst hal ofthe noel we allow the lovers as they move downer, towards the Aman and towards be wgetber that vercomes altura ferences and th antagonism of Cumands' fhe. The narrator picks up the tor at Ccumands upriver home, and follows her down-ver to & rendezvous with Carlos a a piileged locus amoenus.Ihen moves fuer down-tves, eventually reaching Lake Cimano, where Calosand Gunands, whoisa dexterous canoes nimately acquainted with the geography ofthe regio, plan to consecrate thelr union. The ew upriver moves made by the characters during ths portion ofthe narrate take the form of ton narrated events Along the way the couple passes through the town of Andoas, where Carlos’ fuer atempsto atone forhissinsby doing missionary work. Appearing as runs on Vllaicencio's map, and as Perwsian dpe dency in his geograpy text, Andoas comes back to life (and to Bcuadorian contol) in Meras novel san idealized theocracy onthe banks ofthe Pastaza River, precursor to and alegory forthe Gaetan ideal (Vida). Neither the rown nor the Amazonian spaces in which itis st, however, shouldbe understood merely as ahistorical utopian idealzations. The blank cartographic spaces in which utopias are ofen set, ais well known, can also become theaters in which ideals (or desires) are pursued. Go eas, young man ays the novel’ riverine architecture, not just because the Oriente needs your cling influence, but ease in te primondial expanses of the virgin Amazon forests you wil find the salvation of your soul and the re rewal of your nation. The narrator desribes the ran frestin which Andoass set with architectonic meta hors that excite the desire ofthe reader to civilize it (30-31). Conseratve hopes for the nation ae sso- ciated withthe ciization of the Oriente, and particulary withthe acculturation ofits Amerindian to Hispanic, Catholic lifeways under the direction of secular and ecclesiastical authorities in Quito. ‘The evangelization of the Oriente becomes an emblem of the Conservative task of building 2 nation both morally correct and terrtorially whole. The space beyond Andoas, that down-river region to which Carlos and Cumanda atach theit hopes, as well asthe readers hopes for them, seems to promise some- thing even better. 11s a space, perhaps, where whites and Amerindians not only coexist, but procreate, where the Garefan synthesis of faith and authority produces a new national progeny. Just hero and hero- ine seem to have overcome all obstacles, and are headed down-river from Lake Chimano to the Amazon River itself, Carlo begins to catechize Cumanda. The missionary and the savage are glimpsed together in a scene that serves as a metaphor fora new foundation, one that begins withthe affective and effective incor poration ofthe Oriente into the national territory of Ecuador through the acculturation ofthe Native Ameri- ‘cans 1 Catholicism, a conversion accomplished by a landowning class which has authentically converted to the religion that it claims to profess. Carlos, himself the product of penance in the Orient, attempts to ‘convert and romance a woman wto is the body, soul, and map ofthe region, the native Other in the Oriente and throughout Ecuador. Her catechization isnot just personal or stricly religious effort, but anational- ist, Garefan gesture, tis no wonder that a later edition of Cumanda, published to raise funds “forthe defense and colonization ofthe Oriente”, would declare on its back cover, “To assis the Salesian Missions {im the Oriente} is to defend the future of the nation.” Mera’ attempt to disfigure the Villvicencio map goes beyond this effort to problematize the center and idelize the periphery, The reader soon discovers that he has heen ivited to look eastward only to ‘Cumandé ad the Cartographers: Nationalism and Form in Juan Leon Mera 225 witness a reprise ofthe conflict and destruction associated with the highlands. Andoas has been brought back to life oly so thatthe reader can learn the story ofits final days. The narrator reves the expulsion of the Jesuits by Spain in 1767, the resultant decline ofthe Jesuits’ Amazonian missions, andthe consequent loss of the Oriente fr Christendom (34-5). Orozco’ Dominican mission, the reader learns, sands alone asthe final holdout of Cristian, Hispanic “civilization” in a region reverting to Amerindian “barbarism.” Carlos and Cumand, fr from living happily ever after, instead meet a bad end, and bring Orozco’ utopia crashing down around them, The tragic conlusion ofboth the love story andthe politcal scours wth which it isintertwined is announced amos from the bepinning bythe sinister tones ofa subplot tat competes wih the principal narrative for possession of the ive symbolism. The reader i tld that, asthe missionary presence in the ‘Amazon terior recedes the various tribes the area are faling under the inuence ofa barbarous chin, ‘hehead-huning Yhuarmayul The down-river movement of Carlos and Orozco finds acounterpati the down-rver movement ofthe area’ indigenous tribes, who are aso heading for Lake Chimano, where they ‘sl formally submit wo YahuarmaguiS authority in an elaborate esta. Diferent tribes come down der cent rivers, and meet their soon-to-be ales atthe conluences ofthe rivers, underscoring the association made betveen politcal unification and downriver movement. Inthe case ofthe ties, down-tver move ‘men! takes on ominous connotations. We read tht unification ofthe Amazon under Yabuarmagui's fierce ‘varo tie is accomplished through intimidation (79). When the rbes ave atthe ake, the various tribes Setup camp, but we are told thatthe do nt mix "ney donot forma single people” ($8) ‘Cuan appears atthe climax of the festivities as an unexpected and promising epiphany. The tribes _ahandon te circle they have formed around the feared Yahuarmaqui, and spontaneously surround Gumand (97), the “piece ofthe sun fallen into the waves and converted into a magical and divine being which at ‘tract all gazes” (96). Fora moment it seems that the promise ofthe principal narrative wll win out over the monstrous omens ofthe subplot, but events soon prove the contrary. Cumandas seductive appeal en ‘chants the chieftain just 2s much a the tribes, and Yahuarmagui soon forces himself ito Carlos’ place at ‘Camancl’s side, The canoes ofthe gathered tribes are et adrift, and described as souls lostto vice inthe sence of a beneficent leader, rea for subjugation by a ryrant (129), ‘That rant is clearly Yahuarmagui, who now clearly emerges as demonic figure. ‘The indigenous ‘camps at Lake Chirano fll under the Bere atack of Yahuarmagut's foes, andthe ensuing hate beeween ‘Yahuarmaqul and the enemy chieftain is fight "othe death between ranks of demons by the sinister ight, ofthe fires of hel” (136). Yahuarmaqui, although fatally wounded, emerges victorious. The lovers are ‘captured and the chieftain takes the heroine a his bride. The dark undertones ofthe subplot have become the dominant theme. The idealized point on te periphery ofthe map suffers the same fiery disfiguration as, the omphalos, and withthe lss of tis peripheral utopa, the Garcfan promise of the river syuolism dis- Integrates, The rivers and rainforests ofthe Oriente themselves betray the lovers: dhunderstorm and im- ppenetrable rai forests frustrate the series of melodramatic attemps at reunion that follow Yahwarmaqui death on his marriage bed. Our hopes are pinned on a last-ditch upriver journey by the Orozcos (This ‘ime, down-river journeys are non-narrated events), who rush to rescue Cumandé from being sariiced ‘on her husband's funeral pyre. Along the way, Pather Orozco manages a reconciliation with Cumands father, who, i turns out, ha ed the attack on his Aacienad years ago bu this reconciliation i clearly (00 litleto lat. The tragic denouement can no longer be verted. Cumand is sacrificed; Andoasis destroyed and the Orozco lineage ends with the death of Carls and the retreat of his father to monastic life in Quito Despite Vahuarmaqui’s death, his order is triumphant, and the Garefan project of racial harmony under