Return to search

Not a Laughing Matter: Cartoons, Plebeian Heroes, and Panama's Military Government (1968-1989)

This work illustrates the popular 1986 graphic novel Pedro Prestán: Bajo el furor de las tormentas to understand the cultural and political context of Panama's military period (1968-1969). The narrative focuses on Pedro Prestán, whose contemporaries falsely condemned him for burning Colón, Panama, in 1885. A hundred years after Prestán's death, Panama's military regime, to redefine its image, devised an agenda to appropriate plebeian nationalism. In 1986, the comic's creators saw an opportunity to cast Prestán as a freedom fighter for the state in exchange for his vindication. The novel served as a space for Panama's military regime to refashion its pantheon of revolutionary leaders and for subalterns to absolve a plebeian hero in history. Since officials tacitly approved the comic's publication and recognized Prestán, the book helped the state maintain power. The study demonstrates the give-and-take nature of shaping national identity.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-05042012-142053
Date04 May 2012
CreatorsVillanueva, Miriam Elizabeth
ContributorsPeter A Szok, Susan E Ramirez, Don Coerver, Jodi Campbell
PublisherTexas Christian University
Source SetsTexas Christian University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf, application/octet-stream
Sourcehttp://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-05042012-142053/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

Page generated in 0.011 seconds