Poetry and Violence: The Ballad Tradition of Mexico's Costa Chica (review)

John McDowell has written a carefully crafted ethnography of the thriving corrido tradition on the Costa Chica (the Pacific coastline region in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca). Specifically, his study focuses on the heroic corrido of violence, in which "hombres bragados" ("ballsy men") risk their lives in defense of guerrerenses' notions of honor and glory. McDowell's is essentially a functionalist interpretation of the role of the corrido in Guerrero's Costa Chica. To carry out his interpretive task, he enlists a concept based on the corrido's three key functions, or what he chooses to call "theses"—the "celebratory," the "regulatory," and the "therapeutic." Each of these functions plays a critical role in establishing the symbolic dimensions of the corrido in the lives of the Costa Chica communities.

After establishing the parameters of the corrido as a "living ballad," McDowell focuses on the theses he has outlined, building his case with both textual and contextual material. He draws on ethnographic evidence gained over years of fieldwork to demonstrate how the theses play out in the actual performance traditions so deeply rooted in the Costa Chica. For example, to demonstrate how the celebratory thesis works, McDowell draws from the internal logic of the corridos, from scholarly historical references and observed social practices, and from the commentaries of native composers and performers. The resulting analysis is interesting and for the most part compelling.

The chapter on the celebratory thesis is undoubtedly the most convincing. McDowell demonstrates how the poetic process contributes to the ideal of manly heroism and honor. He sets the context for the celebratory function within the historical substrate of the "culture of violence" in Guerrero, which he links to the various forms of oppression experienced by the principal purveyors of the heroic corrido, the afro-mestizos. He then links this violence with the heroism-glory-honor theme of the corrido itself. The acts of courage celebrated in the corridos lift men from the "realm of the ordinary and place around their heads the laurel of a true hero" (p. 146), elevating them "as archetypes of community prowess" (p. 122). In short, the actions of the celebrated hero resonate powerfully with the community's idealized notions of honor, loyalty, and personal integrity.

If the celebratory thesis commemorates the sheer heroism of the protagonist's acts, the regulatory thesis seeks to articulate the underlying significance of those acts. A collective assessment is undertaken, in which the deeds of the corrido actors are sorted out and the proper moral lessons are drawn. For McDowell, this retrospective assessment becomes the basis for controlling—or at least containing—the real violence depicted poetically in the corridos. Containment begins with the composer, the corridista. According to McDowell, the corridista is a "social critic who praises violent action when it is justified and condemns it when it is not" (p. 149).

In the end, however, a "central ambivalence" exists in the corrido that "simultaneously celebrates and censures the employment of violence" (p. 171). This ambivalence is inevitable, given the corrido's exaltation of violence, which overwhelms those elements contributing to the regulatory function. The latter remains latent, embedded in the editorial comments of the corridista and, ultimately, in the attitudes of the community. For McDowell, the way out of this ambivalence is to think of the corrido as a kind of "Trojan horse," which is "constructed to win acceptance through the thrill of heroic narrative, but [which] nurtur[es] a hidden mission, that of questioning and ultimately discouraging the indiscriminate use of violence" (p. 171).

McDowell sees the therapeutic thesis as emerging out of the cathartic release triggered by corrido performance. However, as he admits, the therapeutic or healing function of the corrido is "not self-evident" because "textual evidence for the healing effects of corrido...