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When a Rebel Finds a Cause, a Discourse, and a Homeland

Rafael Barrett and Latin America
Chapter DOI:  doi.org/10.1515/9783110459791-024
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Potency of the Common
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Ana María VaraWhen a Rebel Finds a Cause, a Discourse, and a HomelandRafael Barrett and Latin AmericaThere is something peculiar regarding Rafael Barrett’s nationality. Something beyond the mere fact of his being born in Spain —in Torrelavega, Santander, in 1876— from a British father, which made him a British national according to the rule of jus sanguinis. The US Library of Congress catalogues his work among that of the Spanish authors of the Generation of 1898 such as Azorín, Pío Baroja, Ramón del Valle Inclán, Miguel de Unamuno. But he is also mentioned as a key author of Paraguayan literature in a prestigious dictionary on the subject;1 and as part of the Argentine anarchist movement in a reputed dictionary on the Argentine left.2Was he Spanish, or British? Or Paraguayan? Or Argentine? Was he a writer, or an activist? Where, in which national tradition should we locate him? How and for what should he be remembered?Undoubtedly, Barrett represents a paradoxical character. He is first a rebel with no apparent cause, and then becomes a highly committed political subject. And he challenges and redefines what should be considered a community, beyond national borders. He abandoned his home country, Spain, in 1903, as a result of an appar-ently banal incident —he was denied the possibility of engaging in a duel. He arrived in Buenos Aires as part of the migration masses, in spite of being connected to the Spanish nobility. He took part in the debates on Argentina’s migration policies and, again, was involved in an incident that had to do with a duel. He fled one more time, and arrived in Asunción in 1904 in the middle of a revolution. He was welcomed in Asunción’s salons, and began to publish successfully in local and regional periodi-cals. But his commitment to justice —which he had already showed in some publi-cations in Buenos Aires— induced him to join the anarchist movement. Most impor-tantly, he decided to denounce the exploitation of men and nature in the extraction of yerba mate in a leaflet that would become his most famous text.Lo que son los yerbales paraguayos (About the Paraguayan yerbales),3 pub-lished in 1908, eventually caused his ousting from Paraguay. Barrett may be con-1 Pérez Maricevich, Diccionario de la literatura paraguaya, 77‒86.2 Horacio Tarcus, Diccionario biográfico de la izquierda argentina, 50 sq.3 Since Barrett’s books have not been translated into English, all of the titles and excerpts pre-sented here have been translated by the author. The same with quotations from bibliography originally published in Spanish.

Ana María VaraWhen a Rebel Finds a Cause, a Discourse, and a HomelandRafael Barrett and Latin AmericaThere is something peculiar regarding Rafael Barrett’s nationality. Something beyond the mere fact of his being born in Spain —in Torrelavega, Santander, in 1876— from a British father, which made him a British national according to the rule of jus sanguinis. The US Library of Congress catalogues his work among that of the Spanish authors of the Generation of 1898 such as Azorín, Pío Baroja, Ramón del Valle Inclán, Miguel de Unamuno. But he is also mentioned as a key author of Paraguayan literature in a prestigious dictionary on the subject;1 and as part of the Argentine anarchist movement in a reputed dictionary on the Argentine left.2Was he Spanish, or British? Or Paraguayan? Or Argentine? Was he a writer, or an activist? Where, in which national tradition should we locate him? How and for what should he be remembered?Undoubtedly, Barrett represents a paradoxical character. He is first a rebel with no apparent cause, and then becomes a highly committed political subject. And he challenges and redefines what should be considered a community, beyond national borders. He abandoned his home country, Spain, in 1903, as a result of an appar-ently banal incident —he was denied the possibility of engaging in a duel. He arrived in Buenos Aires as part of the migration masses, in spite of being connected to the Spanish nobility. He took part in the debates on Argentina’s migration policies and, again, was involved in an incident that had to do with a duel. He fled one more time, and arrived in Asunción in 1904 in the middle of a revolution. He was welcomed in Asunción’s salons, and began to publish successfully in local and regional periodi-cals. But his commitment to justice —which he had already showed in some publi-cations in Buenos Aires— induced him to join the anarchist movement. Most impor-tantly, he decided to denounce the exploitation of men and nature in the extraction of yerba mate in a leaflet that would become his most famous text.Lo que son los yerbales paraguayos (About the Paraguayan yerbales),3 pub-lished in 1908, eventually caused his ousting from Paraguay. Barrett may be con-1 Pérez Maricevich, Diccionario de la literatura paraguaya, 77‒86.2 Horacio Tarcus, Diccionario biográfico de la izquierda argentina, 50 sq.3 Since Barrett’s books have not been translated into English, all of the titles and excerpts pre-sented here have been translated by the author. The same with quotations from bibliography originally published in Spanish.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface v
  3. Content ix
  4. Philosophical and Sociological Basics
  5. The Hermeneutical Constitution of “the Common” 3
  6. The Multiple Uses of ‘Community’ in Sociological Theory 27
  7. Community, Recognition, and Individual Autonomy 51
  8. Community as Point of Origin and as Reason for Yearning 69
  9. Heterogeneity, Community and Cultural Configurations 85
  10. Community and Eventfulness 103
  11. Community and Money: An Approach from Moral Sociology 115
  12. Historical Structures
  13. Community and Individual Autonomy: Genealogy of a Challenge 127
  14. The Contemporary “Divinization” of Individual Human Beings, or the Difficult Community 139
  15. Enduring Coherence and Distance 169
  16. “Singularitas” and Community 189
  17. The Dark Side of Community – Early Modern German Witch Hunts 201
  18. Considerations on the Role of Translation in the Building of Symphilosophy-Community by the Early German Romantics 221
  19. Cultural Identities
  20. The Bonds of the Liberated: On Community among Hindu Ascetics 239
  21. Individual and Community in Early Daoism 255
  22. Languages, Names and Images 269
  23. Community, Illegality and Belonging 281
  24. The Passage of Time and the Permanence of Fear 303
  25. South American Conditions
  26. The Contemporaneity of ‘The Savage Mind’ In the Andean Communities 317
  27. Home is not Enough 335
  28. Indigenous communalizations in Patagonia in Post-genocidal Contexts (1885–1950) 361
  29. The Boundaries of Self 377
  30. When a Rebel Finds a Cause, a Discourse, and a Homeland 411
  31. About the Authors 429
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Chapter DOI:  doi.org/10.1515/9783110459791-024

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface v
  3. Content ix
  4. Philosophical and Sociological Basics
  5. The Hermeneutical Constitution of “the Common” 3
  6. The Multiple Uses of ‘Community’ in Sociological Theory 27
  7. Community, Recognition, and Individual Autonomy 51
  8. Community as Point of Origin and as Reason for Yearning 69
  9. Heterogeneity, Community and Cultural Configurations 85
  10. Community and Eventfulness 103
  11. Community and Money: An Approach from Moral Sociology 115
  12. Historical Structures
  13. Community and Individual Autonomy: Genealogy of a Challenge 127
  14. The Contemporary “Divinization” of Individual Human Beings, or the Difficult Community 139
  15. Enduring Coherence and Distance 169
  16. “Singularitas” and Community 189
  17. The Dark Side of Community – Early Modern German Witch Hunts 201
  18. Considerations on the Role of Translation in the Building of Symphilosophy-Community by the Early German Romantics 221
  19. Cultural Identities
  20. The Bonds of the Liberated: On Community among Hindu Ascetics 239
  21. Individual and Community in Early Daoism 255
  22. Languages, Names and Images 269
  23. Community, Illegality and Belonging 281
  24. The Passage of Time and the Permanence of Fear 303
  25. South American Conditions
  26. The Contemporaneity of ‘The Savage Mind’ In the Andean Communities 317
  27. Home is not Enough 335
  28. Indigenous communalizations in Patagonia in Post-genocidal Contexts (1885–1950) 361
  29. The Boundaries of Self 377
  30. When a Rebel Finds a Cause, a Discourse, and a Homeland 411
  31. About the Authors 429
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