‘This Mixed Species of Population Will Consume’: Atlantic Expectations about Spanish American Consumers in the Age of Revolutions, 1780–1831

Ana Maria Otero-Cleves

doi:doi:10.1017/S0022216X19000312

‘This Mixed Species of Population Will Consume’: Atlantic Expectations about Spanish American Consumers in the Age of Revolutions, 1780–1831

Ana Maria Otero-Cleves

History

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article explores how late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century ideas of the Spanish American consumer took shape. It argues that Atlantic debates on consumption, on the one hand, and on racial difference, on the other, provided a common ground on which foreign visitors, diplomats and commentators, as well as Colombian elite intellectuals, could jointly create a positive idea of the Spanish American consumer. The article demonstrates that, in the eyes of those who had either political or economic interest in the region, it was possible for Spanish American Indians, Blacks and ‘mixed races’ to gradually overcome their ‘backwardness’ by adopting new practices of consumption. The consump- tion of new necessities by the Spanish American popular sectors became, for many of these commentators, an irrefutably civilising force.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	745-769
Journal	Journal of Latin American Studies
Volume	51
DOIs	https://doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0022216X19000312
Publication status	Published - 17 May 2019

Keywords

History of Latin America
Consumption
Popular Groups

Access to Document

doi:10.1017/S0022216X19000312

Cite this

@article{fcee000fc24a43d89de88b259d303d58,

title = "{\textquoteleft}This Mixed Species of Population Will Consume{\textquoteright}: Atlantic Expectations about Spanish American Consumers in the Age of Revolutions, 1780–1831",

abstract = "This article explores how late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century ideas of the Spanish American consumer took shape. It argues that Atlantic debates on consumption, on the one hand, and on racial difference, on the other, provided a common ground on which foreign visitors, diplomats and commentators, as well as Colombian elite intellectuals, could jointly create a positive idea of the Spanish American consumer. The article demonstrates that, in the eyes of those who had either political or economic interest in the region, it was possible for Spanish American Indians, Blacks and {\textquoteleft}mixed races{\textquoteright} to gradually overcome their {\textquoteleft}backwardness{\textquoteright} by adopting new practices of consumption. The consump- tion of new necessities by the Spanish American popular sectors became, for many of these commentators, an irrefutably civilising force.",

keywords = "History of Latin America, Consumption, Popular Groups",

author = "Otero-Cleves, {Ana Maria}",

year = "2019",

month = may,

day = "17",

doi = "doi:10.1017/S0022216X19000312",

language = "English",

volume = "51",

pages = "745--769",

journal = "Journal of Latin American Studies",

issn = "0022-216X",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘This Mixed Species of Population Will Consume’: Atlantic Expectations about Spanish American Consumers in the Age of Revolutions, 1780–1831

AU - Otero-Cleves, Ana Maria

PY - 2019/5/17

Y1 - 2019/5/17

N2 - This article explores how late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century ideas of the Spanish American consumer took shape. It argues that Atlantic debates on consumption, on the one hand, and on racial difference, on the other, provided a common ground on which foreign visitors, diplomats and commentators, as well as Colombian elite intellectuals, could jointly create a positive idea of the Spanish American consumer. The article demonstrates that, in the eyes of those who had either political or economic interest in the region, it was possible for Spanish American Indians, Blacks and ‘mixed races’ to gradually overcome their ‘backwardness’ by adopting new practices of consumption. The consump- tion of new necessities by the Spanish American popular sectors became, for many of these commentators, an irrefutably civilising force.

AB - This article explores how late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century ideas of the Spanish American consumer took shape. It argues that Atlantic debates on consumption, on the one hand, and on racial difference, on the other, provided a common ground on which foreign visitors, diplomats and commentators, as well as Colombian elite intellectuals, could jointly create a positive idea of the Spanish American consumer. The article demonstrates that, in the eyes of those who had either political or economic interest in the region, it was possible for Spanish American Indians, Blacks and ‘mixed races’ to gradually overcome their ‘backwardness’ by adopting new practices of consumption. The consump- tion of new necessities by the Spanish American popular sectors became, for many of these commentators, an irrefutably civilising force.

KW - History of Latin America

KW - Consumption

KW - Popular Groups

U2 - doi:10.1017/S0022216X19000312

DO - doi:10.1017/S0022216X19000312

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-216X

VL - 51

SP - 745

EP - 769

JO - Journal of Latin American Studies

JF - Journal of Latin American Studies

ER -