Two Ways of Burning a Cotton Field

Authors

David James Lindstrom, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Major/Program

Creative Writing

First Advisor's Name

Julie Marie Wade

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Jason Pearl

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Debra Dean

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

memoir, Paraguay, ethnography, Spanish, Guarani, Peace Corps, tango, Buber

Date of Defense

3-1-2018

Abstract

TWO WAYS OF BURNING A COTTON FIELD is an ethnographic memoir concerning the narrator’s experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, South America. The plot is structured around a moral crisis in his rural Paraguayan village. The narrator’s neighbor, a man in his late twenties, threatened to kill his partner and her two children. The Paraguayan police were made aware of the situation but did nothing. Peace Corps management also instructed the narrator to do nothing.

In TWO WAYS OF BURNING A COTTON FIELD, this moral crisis is explored within the contexts of post-colonial power structures, including economic and ecologic geographies, intersections of community and government, and the colonial-indigenous language continuum of Paraguay (Spanish-Guaraní). Further, these neighbors’ localized trauma is located within historical, colonial trauma. Of particular concern is the role that languages – English, Spanish, and Guaraní – play in constructing power, worldview, and relationships within the village.

Identifier

FIDC006584

Recommended Citation

Lindstrom, David James, "Two Ways of Burning a Cotton Field" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3671.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3671