Benavides, O. Hugo 1968- (Oswald Hugo Benavides Verdesoto)

PERSONAL:

Born June 14, 1968. Education: Queens College, B.A.; Hunter College, M.A.; City University of New York, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Dealy Hall, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458-9993. E-mail—benavides@fordham.edu.

CAREER:

Fordham University, Bronx, NY, associate professor of anthropology, Latin American and Latino studies, and international political economy and development, director of the M.A. program in humanities and sciences.

WRITINGS:

Making Ecuadorian Histories: Four Centuries of Defining Power, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2004.

The Politics of Sentiment: Imagining and Remembering Guayaquil, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2006.

Drugs, Thugs, and Divas: Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas in Latin America, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2008.

Contributor to journals, including the Journal of Latin American Anthropology and Latin American Antiquity.

SIDELIGHTS:

O. Hugo Benavides is an anthropologist whose research interests include, according to a brief biography on the Fordham University Web site, historical and national production, social theory, sexuality and identity, Latino politics, and Latin America. Benavides is also the author of a number of books, beginning with Making Ecuadorian Histories: Four Centuries of Defining Power. In this volume he studies the place of archaeology and history in defining national identity, and he challenges the generic version of Ecuadorian history in favor of a closer examination of the histories of the indigenous peoples of the region who are a part of the nation building and state hegemony of Ecuador. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador is a part of the greater movement in Latin America to challenge the history presented by the ruling classes, as well as the power structure that has developed. Writing in the Historian, Virginia S. Williams commented: "Benavides has rendered a bold synthesis of the interdisciplinary subject of national identity in Ecuador."

In particular, Benavides draws on Cochasqui, an archaeological site at which he conducted a year-long ethnographic study. Ximena Sosa-Buchholz wrote on the Latin American Antiquity Web site that Benavides "links the diverse and complex understanding of the archeological site with the building of Ecuadorian hegemonic identity, an example that could prove very useful for the study of other Latin American countries."

The first chapters cover the fieldwork accomplished at the site and a review of both Ecuadorian and foreign explanations of the archeology and history since the eighteenth century. In the fourth chapter of the book, the Cochasqui discussion focuses on "where ‘fractured subjects’ of the female subject and the male homosexual are considered in the context of a patriarchal national project," noted Sarah A. Radcliffe in the Journal of Latin American Studies. "Official histories are decoded as maintaining an underlying hierarchy of white-mestizo men over women and weaker men. Although this theme is covered elsewhere, Benavides brings it into focus by means of an analysis of ‘Queen Quilago,’ the larger-than-life resistance leader against the Incas and future wife of Huayna Capac."

Reviewing Making Ecuadorian Histories in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Kris Lane wrote that during the 1990s, "Cochasqui served as a staging ground for everything from neo-Inca solstice festivals to commemorations of the death of Che Guevara. The site was said to be a magnet for fairies and other spirits, not to mention UFOs, and shamans were always on hand to cleanse unfortunate pilgrims. In the most provocative chapter of the book, Benavides examines the site's relationship to sexual transgression and Ecuador's notorious highland/coast double standard for women."

In the fifth chapter Benavides covers alternative histories that have been written by indigenous organizations and authors, and in the next chapter, he offers a discussion of the controversy surround the final resting place of the pre-Hispanic totem of Saint Biritute, which was taken from its home village to Guayaquil.

The Politics of Sentiment: Imagining and Remembering Guayaquil is a study of the workers' movement and liberal revolution that occurred in the port city between 1890 and 1930. Benavides compares the factors that shaped the identity of Guayaquil with those that formed the identities of such immigrant cities as New York. At the turn of the century, Guayaquil's labor force unionized, Africans and Indians were given the right to vote, and secular divorces resulted from a separation of church and state. Benavides draws on the writings of Afro-Ecuadorian poet Medardo Angel Silva, whose work reflects the arrival of modernism in this culturally and racially diverse city.

Benavides studies the world of Latin American soap operas with Drugs, Thugs, and Divas: Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas in Latin America. Spanish-language soaps, or telenovelas, are also enjoyed by viewers in Europe and Asia, as well as the Americas, and narco-dramas are particularly popular among Latinos in Mexico and the United States. He demonstrates how the themes in these programs are not restricted to culture but are universal in nature. Benavides notes that the Colombian telenovela Betty la fea was adapted for Mexican audiences as La fea más bella and in the United States as the English-language series Ugly Betty, a successful show that earned multiple awards for its star, America Ferrera, born in Los Angeles of Honduran parents, as well as the comedy itself.

Benavides examines the evolution of social identities and popular cultures as they are impacted by telenovelas and narco-dramas and how they provide a mutual voice to people of different countries who are often suffering under similar oppressive governments and economic situations.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History, April, 2007, Derek Williams, review of Making Ecuadorian Histories: Four Centuries of Defining Power, p. 659.

Historian, fall, 2006, Virginia S. Williams, review of Making Ecuadorian Histories, p. 607.

Journal of Latin American Anthropology, fall, 2004, Jean Muteba Rahier, review of Making Ecuadorian Histories, p. 470.

Journal of Latin American Studies, November, 2005, Sarah A. Radcliffe, review of Making Ecuadorian Histories, p. 835.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, June, 2007, Kris Lane, review of Making Ecuadorian Histories, p. 507.

Latin American Antiquity, September, 2005, Ximena Sosa-Buchholz, review of Making Ecuadorian Histories, p. 350.