Esperanza Speaks: Confronting a Century of Global Change in Rural Panama

223 Pages·2021·5.986 MB·English

by  Gloria Rudolf

ESPERANZA SPEAKS
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ESPERANZA
SPEAKS
Confronting a Century of Global
Change in Rural Panama
Gloria Rudolf
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 2021
Toronto Buffalo London
utorontopress.com
Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-1-4875-9470-1 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4875-9471-8 (EPUB)
ISBN 978-1-4875-9469-5 (paper) ISBN 978-1-4875-9472-5 (PDF)
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or
stored in a retrieval system, without prior written consent of the publisher – or in the case
of photocopying, a license from Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing
Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Esperanza speaks : confronting a century of global change in rural Panama /
Gloria Rudolf.
Names: Rudolf, Gloria, author.
Series: Teaching culture.
Description: Series statement: Teaching culture | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210139765 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210141441 | ISBN
9781487594695 (softcover) | ISBN 9781487594701 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781487594718
(EPUB) | ISBN 9781487594725 (PDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Loma Bonita (Coclé, Panama) – Economic conditions – 20th century. |
LCSH: Loma Bonita (Coclé, Panama) – Social conditions – 20th century. | LCSH: Loma
Bonita (Coclé, Panama) – Social life and customs – 20th century. | LCSH: Globalization –
Panama – Loma Bonita (Coclé) | LCSH: Ruiz, Esperanza, 1922– | LCSH: Ruiz, Esperanza,
1922 – Family. | LCSH: Loma Bonita (Coclé, Panama) – Biography. | LCGFT: Biographies.
Classification: LCC F1576.L66 R83 2021 | DDC 972.87/21053 – dc23
We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications – please
feel free to contact us at [email protected] or visit us at utorontopress.com.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders; in the event of an error or
omission, please notify the publisher.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing
program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of
the Government of Ontario.
To the people of Loma Bonita, past, present, and in times to come
To my cherished family, son Reid – ever my anchor – and Marijke,
Anya, and Ruby
To my parents, Jack Rudolf, Ruth Abowitz, and Marguerite
Silverman
The world will continue, and whether we know it or not, we are
deciding its course every day.
– Gioconda Belli, The Country under My Skin (2002)
Contents
Illustrations ix
Boxes xi
Acknowledgments xiii
People You Will Meet xvii
The Ruiz Family: Kinship Chart xx
Introductions 1
1 The Isthmus of Panama: Two Different Worlds
(pre-1920s) 27
2 Childhood: As Soon As I Opened My Eyes
(1920s–1930s) 34
3 Youth: I Could Always Quit and Go Home
(1940s–1950s) 53
4 Adult: A Voice Meant to Be Heard (1960s–1980s) 71
5 Elder: Doors Open, Doors Close (1990s–2019) 104
6 Next Generations: Who’s Heading Home Again?
(2019) 133
Concluding Thoughts 145
viii Contents
Notes 161
Glossary 169
Bibliography 171
Index 181
Illustrations
Maps
1 Panama, Bridge of the Americas xxi
2 Republic of Panama, Coclé Province xxii
3 Coclé, El Copé, Loma Bonita, and Frailecito xxiii
Figures
I.1 Loma Bonita, houses widely scattered, 2007 3
I.2 Adobe house with red tile roof, 1972 5
I.3 Esperanza and Andrés in front of their kitchen, 1970s 13
I.4 Esperanza washing clothes at stream, 1972 14
2.1 Harvesting corn in monte, 1993 39
2.2 Chopping wood for stove, 1979 40
2.3 Tina weaving hat, 2015 48
3.1 Washing coffee beans at stream before drying, 2011 58
3.2 Harvested coffee beans being dried on the ground in people’s
patios, 1980s 59
3.3 Esperanza and Andrés, together 50 years later, 2007 67
4.1 First meeting of Catholics in Loma Bonita to elect Delegates of
the Word, 1979 92