lunes, 1 de agosto de 2022

Artículos LIJ-Gt: CYAL Literature in Guatemala

 II

Guatemala´s “Democratic Spring”

 

At the middle of twentieth century another sociopolitical fact affected the development of Guatemalan CYAL: the Revolution of October 20, 1944, known as the Democratic Spring (1944-1954). With this movement a dictatorial period ends and a time of of numerous reforms begins. The priorities of the civil government led by Arévalo (1945-1951) were to establish internal organizational bases and create entities and institutions to protect the citizenry as a preamble to building a just, united and democratic society. In that sense, the first step was to enact a Constitution in which for the first time the guarantees and fundamental rights of Guatemalan citizens were recognized, including the independence of state agencies: Legislative, Executive and Judicial; and the indigenous community was inserted into this framework. Acceptance of these actions created dialogic conditions whereby it might be possible to make a better diagnosis of the Guatemalan reality in order to facilitate the construction of a democratic political project, and to establish among other things, the entrance of the nation into the international economic environment with more competence. As a result a number of development programs were implanted, especially, education and culture aspects. To achieve this, an invitation was extended to all social sectors to become involved and participate in this process, but all ended up with a return to the system of repression and control that previous governments had established.

This situation created the conditions that enabled a deeper reflection and discussion of the importance of literacy, reading and Guatemalan CYAL in the way to construct citizenship and a strong identity basis since childhood on. Within this context some national writers began to produce children's books that attended to recreational elements, aesthetic language, illustration and graphic format. The best example was the children's magazine Alegría, which was created in 1946 by Marilena López and published until 1962. The first four numbers were issued with funds provided by her, but from the fifth number the magazine was funded by a contract with the Ministry of Public Education. It was an innovative proposal to introduce literature to children, as well as other elements of general culture. In its structure, López privileged playfulness and left to the end the paradidactic elements. All of its sections had as a major component an emphasis on national identity, which was consistent with the environment of modernization and democratization of the state that was taking place at that historical moment.

López not only helped with the editing  and publication of the children's magazine, but also revive and modernize the Puppet Theater in Guatemala and  to encourage the publication of children´s literature and theoretical works.  Thus, she exerted influence on subsequent national writers, who contributed to the formation of the CYAL system in the country.

However this state of progress changed abruptly on June 27, 1954, when a putsch was demanded the resignation of the Guatemalan president. This situation suddenly put an end to the progress already achieved in just ten years with respect to social security, health, education, economy and politics in the country. From this date began a new chapter in national history and was allowed an increased U.S. Government intervention in the politics of Guatemala. In relation to the children´s magazine Alegría, fifteen days after the ousting Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (1951-1954), the new president Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas issued a decree whereby the publication of Alegría was suspended, based on an assertion that it was transmitting communist ideas to the children. Later, after a thorough review of the illustrations and contents, decree 72 was repealed on October 29, 1955. The magazine was authorized to be published again, adding the proviso that the Ministry of Public Education should control the material to be published thereafter, in order to this contents did not harm children morally and intellectual, through the commission created for monitoring children's publications attached to the General Direction of Fine Arts and Cultural Extension. This control implemented to children's publications endures until today.

Other important texts, which appeared during this period, were the first theoretical CYAL books: Prontuario de literature infantil, by Daniel Armas (1950) and Literatura infantil:  condiciones y posibilidades by Rubén Villagrán Paul (1954). In addition, the first press for children's books and educational materials named Popol Vuh (1953) was created; the course of Children´s Literature at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (1955-1969) was introduced; and also, many articles and essays related to the books, reading, library and CYAL were written and published. However, as was mentioned before, the process was cut by the coup. Children's books published after this date were projects that combined pedagogy with literary elements. Meanwhile, a few books devotes primarily to aesthetic features were published and funded entirely by their own authors and in small press runs, which marketed mainly outside the school system. This situation made possible to Guatemalan CYAL to survive in disguise.

In this context, it stands out the work of Professor Mario Álvarez Vásquez, holds a prominent place. He insisted, Armas, on the value of literary reading in early childhood, specially the reading of fiction and anthologies. His first works were consistent with what President Castillo Armas had advocated in his speech inaugurating the First National Congress of Education in 1955, which launched again an educational reform. Castillo Armas said that developed works and teaching materials were to be offered in the native language, not copied from other latitudes, and that it was necessary to embark upon a program of research in the field of teaching, and thereby to construct the authentic Guatemalan school. Álvarez Vásquez then published reading books like Ema, Milo y yo (1961), Ema y yo (1962) and Senderos de luz (1965) accompanied by a teacher's guide designed for first, second and third grade levels respectively. The structure of these books is by thematic sections and, in order to respond to the national requirements, they include a section dealing with a popular folklore and oral tradition. Simultaneously, he published two important anthologies: Poesía para niños (1963) and Poesías y rondas para los niños de América (1964). With these, he brought to public a group of Guatemalan and Latin American authors and books unknown in the country and, provided a possible canon for Guatemalan nursery rhyme.

Following the same nationalist spirit, new books appeared reflecting all aspects of CYAL: poetry, narrative, theatre, oral and popular tradition, music and traditional games that gradually were shaping the Guatemalan canon of this literature, especially through the 1960s. A notable moment was the funding of the Children´s Theater Company in September 1962, which achieved great popularity with young audience and is still acive. Editing and publishing were carried out more openness in the literary circuit composed by  the writers, readers, illustrators, designers, editors, librarians, teachers and parents. Finally, reviews and articles were published in the local newspapers. Children´s libraries were also established. However, this state of things passed away quickly and by that time it had not been sufficient to situate publication and related activity outside the school walls, and, moreover, definitely not enough to consolidate the Guatemalan CYAL. 

The situation was greatly impacted by the beginning of the civil war in Guatemala on November 13, 1960, which lasted until the signing of the Peace Accord on December 29, 1996. This was a time of socio-political instability in the country where one of the objectives was to extend the process “ladinización”[1] [miscegenation] of the indigenous population, and to do this, the army proceeded to break the sustaining basis of traditional popular culture, rooted mainly in indigenous communities in the highlands of the country. The cultural dimension of war was evidenced in the "Operation ashes" (military offensive of 1981-1983), which can be called ethnocide (Cuevas Molina, 1992: 29). This cultural policy of the Army spread fear to exercise any cultural activity throughout the population, as terror was used as the main mechanism of coercion and subjugation of the population. This circumstance has not changed at all since the signing of the peace accord at 1996 because the culture of fear still remains strongly.

Consequences of this policy are reflected in the official information that Guatemala is deemed to have the highest illiteracy rates in the region, low education, absenteeism, poverty, hunger and, more recently, the phenomenon of the exodus of unaccompanied migrant children to U.S. to escape the prevailing conditions. All of this has not allowed the development of the educational project nor constructed a strong citizenry and identity in the Guatemalan population. Instead, they have created a fragmented and divided society. On the other hand, neoliberal ideas had been strengthened in relation to culture and education and had served to form a pool of cheap labor, rather than a sense of citizenship. Mario Roberto Morales further argues, that: the cultural logic of this globalizing transnational capitalism is called postmodernism, and has meant an audiovisual culture of whimsy and hedonist entertainment, that provokes in the youngest people the incapacity to read and manage the literate code, and as a consequence an unwillingness to study and in addition to videogames and to the new virtual entertainment forms (2014: 110).

For these reasons, even though non-governmental institutions had organized many initiatives, campaigns, projects and programs, including many seminars, workshops and trainings programs focusing on the creation of reading habits throughout the country to consolidate de CYAL, most of them had developed isolated efforts that have not produced any longer-term impact.

Their outcomes described could not be demonstrated because there is no systematization or validation of these experiences, and there is a lack of formal research programs to investigate the status of the genre or the extent of influence achieved in the country because of various initiatives and programs. Despite all of those efforts, people constantly reiterate that there is as yet not Guatemala CYAL, that there are no writers, illustrators, editors or designers working in the genres, an many other misconceptions of similar kind.

 

Conclusion

The last educational reform in Guatemala was launched in 1996, since that date five there have been six presidents, which five of whom has implemented their own Reading National Program using different strategies to combat the illiteracy and the lack of reading habits of most of the Guatemalan population. Some examples are the establishment of public and scholarly libraries, which are provided with literature and reference books, kits of activities intended to promote interaction amongst teachers, students, families, librarians and other reading mediators; and the development of diverse methodologies and strategies to increase better reading habits. So far, however, the outcome has not been positive, reading proficiency amongst students remains low, and children do not meet the standards needed to become culturally and economically proactive in the Guatemalan society, in the near future.

   Although, reading proficiency also relates to the publication of CYAL in Guatemala, this aspect is not studied adequately. There are no real and formal statistics, and there is no specific selection committee of CYAL. Further, no national CYAL collection exists anywhere in the public or private sphere and there is no legal deposit system in place. As a result, libraries hold only a few books, which do not give overview of this genre in the country. Because of this, it is said that the most of the Guatemalan CYAL´s books are invisible (“elf books”): this image reinforces the myth that they don´t exist, that there are not Guatemalan writers or illustrators, there is no literature at all directed to Guatemalan childhood. In effect, this situation could be considered a kind of censorship that does not allow us to see and reflect upon others and ourselves through literature, and hence we cannot construct identity and citizenship from the diverse gazes and symbolic imaginary that could be provided by Mayan, Xinca, Garífuna or mestizo peoples.

     In this context, the first three communities mentioned above had been excluded from the national imaginary since the publication of the first books at the nineteenth century. When these indigenous literatures appeared, they were used to fulfill political objectives, to teach manners or health habits; other publications were commissioned to describe the indigenous people from fields like archeology, anthropology, ethnology or linguistics, that is to say, to inform about their worldviews instead to create symbolic worlds expressed by them. This state of things demonstrates how society has rendered them dysfunctional and created many barriers that prevent a consolidated awareness in Guatemala of children´s and young adult literature, reading habits and the literary system in general.  

         Paradoxically, for all that has been described above, it could be possible to design a map of the Guatemalan CYAL system, which evidences its existence, and to reinforce this map by adducing recent studies, investigations and theoretical publication in the field undertaken outside the official system. However, everything described here is more like a tale of fiction than reality itself, because this literature and its beneficiaries remain invisible for most people. The state of things will not change significantly until a way is found and make the genre more visible and to encourage others to develop a real interest in supporting Guatemalan CYAL and its children. Bu, until these days arrive, the mirror will remain turned over to face the wall and Guatemalan children´s and young adult literature will continue its growth in silence.

 

 

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First published at: The Routledg Companion to International Children´s Literature. London: Routdlege, 2018. pp. 440-448.

[1] Ladinización, is a term used specifically in Guatemala to mean “miscegenation” (“mestizaje”).


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