A critical response to Jose Marti's "Nuestra America". (His works overall, strike me as a quasi-didactic Comedy of Manners...but anyway).
The Oxford English dictionary explains the word Creator in some ways that I feel to be applicable in Marti’s case.
Etymology: < classical Latin creāt-, past participial stem (see -ate suffix3) of creāre to procreate, (of males) to beget, (of females) to give birth, (of God, Nature, etc.) to bring into being, to produce, to bring about, cause, to appoint. Compare Anglo-Norman creer , crier to create from nothing, to produce, make (12th cent. in Old French), to appoint or nominate (someone to a role, office, etc.) (early 14th cent.), and also Old Occitan criar , Catalan crear (14th cent.), Spanish criar (11th cent.; now only in spec. sense ‘to bring up, to raise’), crear (13th cent.), Portuguese criar (11th cent.), Italian creare (13th cent.).
A modern word that preserves most of Creator’s original meaning is crescendo—to increase in number or size. It also has roots in the Greek goddess of agriculture’s name—Ceres. The interesting thing about the Old English word where Creator is also derived, is scieppend, from the verb scippan, which means “to shape”. I think this is the point Marti was driving home in his political diatribe. As someone who was exiled to the imperialist and annexationist culture of the North and watched it take shape; Marti found himself as someone fit to critique the U.S. and its misuse of its new power. Marti labels the European government as “the tiger”: a lurking, looming predator. The use of this and other metaphors is to highlight the need for an autochthonous Latin-American identity.
This seems to be the reason Marti reflects on the uncorrupted natural individual versus “the alien, pure-blooded criollo”-- and what kind of government would reflect the “true America”— what kind of government would “undam the Indian”? Would elevate “the competent Negro”?
The natural man is of interest not because of his ignorance of “European” culture-- but because of his ability to resist “tyranny and outside ideas”-- “Outside ideas” being those that are not beneficial to the people living in that particular country. Then, the natural man has a home-grown wisdom, whereas, the criollo is the victim of “false erudition” in his “frock coat” like a Parisian. He particularly condemns those who have abandoned the sociopolitical concerns of their own country: such as the youth of Cuba: “unaware of those giants with seven league boots”. These are the youth that were somehow created by the European society: and they only care about themselves. As a result, Marti says the educated youth go out into the world wearing “Yankee or French spectacles” instead of those of their native politics, or worse, the country they are trying to govern.
Marti seems to view the mestizos in the North as those who deny their past and disavow their heritage when creating their lives. They are indifferent toward their inability to govern/ be governed with a government that did not originate in their own country. Marti goes on to stress how Latin America, namely Cuba, had no real sense of nationalism. According to Marti, Cuba was desperately calling for solidarity and original ideas from its people. Cultural independence and political freedom were the arguing points in Our America. Marti is asking us to come to terms with our multi-cultural identity and in doing so, we will understand the need to commit to upholding the dignity of humanity. In his observations, Marti concludes Our America with the non-negotiable need for a government that effectively works to embrace the diversity of its people. Without a united political agenda, Latin America was perpetually doomed to remain colonized under European influence.
Marti's "Nuestra America" en Espanol
Marti's "Our America" in English
