By Daniel Graham
The podcast currently has 6 episodes available.
Today’s episode takes us from a municipal meeting in rural Gualaco to a roiling protest on the streets of Honduras’s capital city, Tegucigalpa. Gualaco Mayor Rafael Ulloa lured me into the municipal meeting under the pretext that I would meet people who could tell me more stories about Canuto. Instead what I got was a crash course on agrarian social movement dynamics, as charming stories of social bandits quickly gave way to a high-stakes struggle to oust an unwanted dam project and its employees from a local village. When gunfire felled one of the dam’s most vocal opponents, stories alone proved insufficient to the task of protecting patrimonio. I bring you along for the ride as I, too, got swept up in the action.
A word is in order about the text of Episodes 5 and 6. This podcast is essentially a straight reading of a master’s thesis I wrote in 2001 and 2002 and that represented the best information I had available at the time. While most of it still holds up, I want to issue a disclaimer with respect to the content you will hear today. The reading mentions that one important bone of contention surrounding a controversial dam project has to do with the site of the construction within the buffer zone of Sierra de Agalta National Park. Since the time of the Gualaco protests of 2001, however, careful cartographic and survey work have shown that the Babilonia dam in fact lies just outside the park’s original buffer zone, not within it, as I and others earnestly believed and argued at the time. This claim, and the belief behind it, formed one piece - an important one - of Gualaqueños’ multi-layered, counter-discursive narrative that the dam and its promoters had no rightful place within the moral community or upon the land that members of that community claimed as their own.
One additional error in the text that I caught upon performing this reading involves a detail to do with the dispatch of a statue of Christopher Columbus by the indigenous organization, COPINH. In the thesis, I incorrectly state that the Columbus statue previously toppled by COPINH had been located at the Capitol Plaza, where the Lempira statue now resides. I would later learn, in the course of my dissertation research into COPINH, that the Columbus statue had stood at a different park, several miles distant.
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Today's episode contains something of an alphabet soup of different organizations that are sometimes referred to by their acronym. Here, from the front matter of my thesis, is the master list of acronyms used in the paper:
List of Abbreviations
AHPROCAFE: Honduran Coffee Producers’ Association
BCIE/CABEI: Central American Bank for Economic Integration
CODEH: Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras
COHDEFOR: Honduran Forest Development Corporation
COFADEH: Committee of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared
in Honduras
CONACIM: National Coordinator against Impunity
COPINH: Civil Counsel of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of
Honduras
ENEE: National Electric Company
ENGO: Environmental Non-governmental Organization
IDB: Inter-American Development Bank
ILO: International Labor Organization
IMF: International Monetary Fund
PAAR: Protected Areas Administration Project
PHB: Babilonia Hydroelectric Project
PNSA: Sierra de Agalta National Park
PPP: Plan Puebla-Panamá
SERNA: Secretariat of Natural Resources and the Environment
SIEPAC: System of Electrical Interconnection for the Countries of Central
America
UD: Democratic Unification Party
USAID: United States Agency for International Development
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I owe a great intellectual debt to my research participants as well as to many journalists, historians, and social-science researchers. In the podcast, I sometimes shorthand the fuller citations contained in the written version of my...
Episode IV: Rescuing Patrimonio
Today’s podcast begins delving into the politics and practice of environmental conservation in Olancho. It describes the contingent process by which a melange of local and nonlocal actors gradually cobbled consent among Gualaqueño coffee growers to a new set of cultivation practices and norms that would allow for the creation and maintenance of a new national park in the Sierra de Agalta. This section also identifies a couple of flies in the ointment that would eventually doom the arrangement. First, Olanchanos’ radically different gloss on the word “heritage” from the meaning attached to it within the lexicon of global environmental governance reveals an agreement founded on mutual misunderstanding. Second, as we will explore further in Episode 5, the weak Honduran central state would prove a faithless guarantor of the fragile compact forged between local farmers and outside conservationists.
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I owe a great intellectual debt to my research participants as well as to many journalists, historians, and social-science researchers. In the podcast, I sometimes shorthand the fuller citations contained in the written version of my master's thesis. Here, however, are the works I cite in that volume:
Works Cited
Acker, Alison. 1988. Honduras: the making of a banana republic. Boston: South End Press.
"Agitadores que reciben dólares del exterior causaron disturbios: Gautama." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacio5.htm.
Amaya, Miriam. 2000. "Honduras, el eslabón más débil de la integración." La Prensa, September 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/economarc/0009/e05001.htm.
Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. 1983. Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Arnold, David. 1996. The problem of nature: environment, culture and European expansion, New perspectives on the past. Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
"Banco Centroamericano congela préstamo para proyectos hidroeléctricos." 2001. La Prensa, July 30, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/0107/n30004.htm.
Blok, Anton. 1988 [1974]. The mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860-1960: a study of violent peasant entrepreneurs. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press.
Bonner, Raymond. 1981. "Green Berets step up Honduras role." New York Times, August 9: 16.
Bonta, Mark Andrew. 2001. "Mapping enredos of complex spaces: a regional geography of Olancho, Honduras." PhD dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
"'Canuto' fue víctima de una venganza." 1992. La Tribuna, October 1: 50.
"'Canuto' había sembrado el terror en Olancho." 1992. Tiempo, October 1: 19.
"Cardenal Oscar Rodríguez: Si siguen las huelgas no vamos a tener inversión: El purpurado recibe homenaje de la Policía Nacional." 2001. Diario Tiempo, September 1, URL not functioning.
Cardona Solís, Oscar Manuel. 2001. Unpublished letter to Mary Flake de Flores, First Lady of Honduras, July 26.
Castillo, Hugo, and Victoria Asfura de Díaz. 2000. Letter, May 31, 2000.
"Centroamérica iniciará interconexión eléctrica en 1998." 1998. La Prensa, January 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/9801/n05002.htm.
"Ceremonia en el Congreso Nacional: embajador de Taiwan y periodista hondureña homenajeados." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, : http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacional.htm.
Clastres, Pierre. 1987. Society against the state: essays in political anthropology. Translated by Abe Stein. New York: Zone Books; Cambridge: Distributed by the MIT Press.
COFADEH. 2001. "Voces contra el olvido." In Voces contra el olvido, edited by Bertha Oliva de Guifarro. Tegucigalpa.
Consejo Central para la Protección del Ambiente de Gualaco, Olancho. 2001. "Propuesta de organización del Concejo [sic] para la Protección del Ambiente de Gualaco, Olancho."...
Episode III: Counter-banditry, or Narratives of Otherness
In today’s podcast, we travel together to Olancho to hear campesinos’ tales of the Robin Hood of Honduras, Canuto. As villagers tell it - both those who knew him and those who did not, but who build upon his legend and legacy - Canuto was a magical trickster and a powerful ally of the poor. If we listen to these stories with a careful ear, we can hear the strains of a song of resistance, sung by folks across the Olancho countryside, that tacitly reject the dominant narratives projected upon everyday Olanchanos by dominant-society actors and framings. These stories, and the circumstances surrounding their production, swirl with complexities and contradictions, and they bespeak a power imbalance perhaps too great to be overcome with mere words. But these are fighting words, invoked by a spirited people, and they signal that community lands and livelihoods will not so easily be surrendered.
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I owe a great intellectual debt to my research participants as well as to many journalists, historians, and social-science researchers. In the podcast, I sometimes shorthand the fuller citations contained in the written version of my master's thesis. Here, however, are the works I cite in that volume:
Works Cited
Acker, Alison. 1988. Honduras: the making of a banana republic. Boston: South End Press.
"Agitadores que reciben dólares del exterior causaron disturbios: Gautama." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacio5.htm.
Amaya, Miriam. 2000. "Honduras, el eslabón más débil de la integración." La Prensa, September 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/economarc/0009/e05001.htm.
Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. 1983. Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Arnold, David. 1996. The problem of nature: environment, culture and European expansion, New perspectives on the past. Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
"Banco Centroamericano congela préstamo para proyectos hidroeléctricos." 2001. La Prensa, July 30, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/0107/n30004.htm.
Blok, Anton. 1988 [1974]. The mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860-1960: a study of violent peasant entrepreneurs. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press.
Bonner, Raymond. 1981. "Green Berets step up Honduras role." New York Times, August 9: 16.
Bonta, Mark Andrew. 2001. "Mapping enredos of complex spaces: a regional geography of Olancho, Honduras." PhD dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
"'Canuto' fue víctima de una venganza." 1992. La Tribuna, October 1: 50.
"'Canuto' había sembrado el terror en Olancho." 1992. Tiempo, October 1: 19.
"Cardenal Oscar Rodríguez: Si siguen las huelgas no vamos a tener inversión: El purpurado recibe homenaje de la Policía Nacional." 2001. Diario Tiempo, September 1, URL not functioning.
Cardona Solís, Oscar Manuel. 2001. Unpublished letter to Mary Flake de Flores, First Lady of Honduras, July 26.
Castillo, Hugo, and Victoria Asfura de Díaz. 2000. Letter, May 31, 2000.
"Centroamérica iniciará interconexión eléctrica en 1998." 1998. La Prensa, January 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/9801/n05002.htm.
"Ceremonia en el Congreso Nacional: embajador de Taiwan y periodista hondureña homenajeados." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, : http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacional.htm.
Clastres, Pierre. 1987. Society against the state: essays in political anthropology. Translated by Abe Stein. New York: Zone Books; Cambridge: Distributed by the MIT Press.
COFADEH. 2001. "Voces contra el olvido." In Voces contra el olvido, edited by Bertha Oliva de Guifarro. Tegucigalpa.
Consejo Central para la Protección del Ambiente de Gualaco, Olancho. 2001. "Propuesta de organización del Concejo [sic] para la Protección del...
"Olancho: Honduras through the Looking Glass" examines the fraught historical-geographical relationship between Olancho Department and the rest of Honduras. For centuries, representatives of the Honduran central state have framed Olancho as violent and uncultured. Olanchano peasants' stories bear the imprimatur of this injurious discourse, offering rejoinders that stake claims to their land and their values in terms that subvert the dominant narrative without breaking free of it.
This podcast is a serial and should be listened to from beginning to end. Please begin with Episode 1: Preface.
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I owe a great intellectual debt to my research participants as well as to many journalists, historians, and social-science researchers. In the podcast, I sometimes shorthand the fuller citations contained in the written version of my master's thesis. Here, however, are the works I cite in that volume:
Works Cited
Acker, Alison. 1988. Honduras: the making of a banana republic. Boston: South End Press.
"Agitadores que reciben dólares del exterior causaron disturbios: Gautama." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacio5.htm.
Amaya, Miriam. 2000. "Honduras, el eslabón más débil de la integración." La Prensa, September 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/economarc/0009/e05001.htm.
Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. 1983. Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Arnold, David. 1996. The problem of nature: environment, culture and European expansion, New perspectives on the past. Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
"Banco Centroamericano congela préstamo para proyectos hidroeléctricos." 2001. La Prensa, July 30, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/0107/n30004.htm.
Blok, Anton. 1988 [1974]. The mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860-1960: a study of violent peasant entrepreneurs. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press.
Bonner, Raymond. 1981. "Green Berets step up Honduras role." New York Times, August 9: 16.
Bonta, Mark Andrew. 2001. "Mapping enredos of complex spaces: a regional geography of Olancho, Honduras." PhD dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
"'Canuto' fue víctima de una venganza." 1992. La Tribuna, October 1: 50.
"'Canuto' había sembrado el terror en Olancho." 1992. Tiempo, October 1: 19.
"Cardenal Oscar Rodríguez: Si siguen las huelgas no vamos a tener inversión: El purpurado recibe homenaje de la Policía Nacional." 2001. Diario Tiempo, September 1, URL not functioning.
Cardona Solís, Oscar Manuel. 2001. Unpublished letter to Mary Flake de Flores, First Lady of Honduras, July 26.
Castillo, Hugo, and Victoria Asfura de Díaz. 2000. Letter, May 31, 2000.
"Centroamérica iniciará interconexión eléctrica en 1998." 1998. La Prensa, January 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/9801/n05002.htm.
"Ceremonia en el Congreso Nacional: embajador de Taiwan y periodista hondureña homenajeados." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, : http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacional.htm.
Clastres, Pierre. 1987. Society against the state: essays in political anthropology. Translated by Abe Stein. New York: Zone Books; Cambridge: Distributed by the MIT Press.
COFADEH. 2001. "Voces contra el olvido." In Voces contra el olvido, edited by Bertha Oliva de Guifarro. Tegucigalpa.
Consejo Central para la Protección del Ambiente de Gualaco, Olancho. 2001. "Propuesta de organización del Concejo [sic] para la Protección del Ambiente de Gualaco, Olancho." Tegucigalpa.
Cresswell, Tim. 1996. In place/out of place : geography, ideology, and transgression. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Cruz, G. 1993. El Decreto 87-87: Ley de los Bosques Nublados, base legal para la conservación de los bosques nublados de Honduras. Edited by CONSEFOR, Serie Miscelánea de CONSEFORH....
Episode 1 kicks off a six-part, podcast edition of Paper Arrows: Peasant Resistance and Territoriality in Honduras. This podcast, based on original field research and narrated by the study's author, Daniel Graham, tells the story of storytelling in rural Olancho Department, Honduras. The Preface serves as a glorified teaser, which is why we have released the Kraken first two episodes of the podcast simultaneously.
This podcast is a serial and should be listened to from beginning to end. Please start here, with Episode 1.
The podcast features a few minor departures from the written text of the author's master's thesis in Geography (U.C. Berkeley, 2002), "Paper Arrows: Peasant Resistance and Territoriality in Honduras." If you would like to receive a digital copy of the thesis, you may request one from the author.
One thing I'm doing differently from the original text, I'm finding, is to gloss over some of the citations and footnotes. Please do hit me up for a copy of my thesis to gain a fuller appreciation of my intellectual debts. I will post it soon to my currently-out-of-date personal website, danielgrahamphd.wordpress.com. I will also update show notes to include more bibliographic information, as time permits. Meanwhile, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the centrality of Mark Bonta's contributions to my thinking and my thesis. Our conversations, and his 2001 dissertation, Mapping Enredos of Complex Spaces: A Regional Geography of Olancho, Honduras, animated and guided my work. You can find it online.
--
I owe a great intellectual debt to my research participants as well as to many journalists, historians, and social-science researchers. In the podcast, I sometimes shorthand the fuller citations contained in the written version of my master's thesis. Here, however, are the works I cite in that volume:
Works Cited
Acker, Alison. 1988. Honduras: the making of a banana republic. Boston: South End Press.
"Agitadores que reciben dólares del exterior causaron disturbios: Gautama." 2001. Tiempo, July 20, http://www.tiempo.hn/edicante/2001/julio/20%20julio/nacion~1/nacio5.htm.
Amaya, Miriam. 2000. "Honduras, el eslabón más débil de la integración." La Prensa, September 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/economarc/0009/e05001.htm.
Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. 1983. Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Arnold, David. 1996. The problem of nature: environment, culture and European expansion, New perspectives on the past. Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
"Banco Centroamericano congela préstamo para proyectos hidroeléctricos." 2001. La Prensa, July 30, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/0107/n30004.htm.
Blok, Anton. 1988 [1974]. The mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860-1960: a study of violent peasant entrepreneurs. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press.
Bonner, Raymond. 1981. "Green Berets step up Honduras role." New York Times, August 9: 16.
Bonta, Mark Andrew. 2001. "Mapping enredos of complex spaces: a regional geography of Olancho, Honduras." PhD dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
"'Canuto' fue víctima de una venganza." 1992. La Tribuna, October 1: 50.
"'Canuto' había sembrado el terror en Olancho." 1992. Tiempo, October 1: 19.
"Cardenal Oscar Rodríguez: Si siguen las huelgas no vamos a tener inversión: El purpurado recibe homenaje de la Policía Nacional." 2001. Diario Tiempo, September 1, URL not functioning.
Cardona Solís, Oscar Manuel. 2001. Unpublished letter to Mary Flake de Flores, First Lady of Honduras, July 26.
Castillo, Hugo, and Victoria Asfura de Díaz. 2000. Letter, May 31, 2000.
"Centroamérica iniciará interconexión eléctrica en 1998." 1998. La Prensa, January 5, http://www.laprensahn.com/natarc/9801/n05002.htm.
"Ceremonia en el Congreso Nacional: embajador de...
The podcast currently has 6 episodes available.