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n 73 CHAPTER 4 Shame, Respect, and Joking Exchanges: Vergüenza, Respeto, y la Carría In 1922, John Dewey wrote, “These two facts, that moral judgment and moral responsibility are the work wrought in us by the social environment, signify that all morality is social; not because we ought to take into account the effect of our acts upon the welfare of others, but because of facts. Others do take into account what we do and they respond accordingly to our acts” (Dewey 1922, 316). Dewey, in declaring that morality is social, points to a fundamental element: accountability for our social behavior. He made a strong argument that culture defines the social behavior of its members. Hispanos are not exempt from the social. In many ways, Spanish, as used by Hispanos in the mountains, upland villages, and small communities of northern New Mexico retains many archaic terms that reveal the culture and its morality. Hispanos have retained some folkways that have existed since the colonization of New Mexico in 1598. It is within the disappearing value framework of respeto and vergüenza that we can view various ideas regarding a particular type of joking exchange called La carría. 74 n Chapter 4 La Carría Dando carría is a type of verbal game in which a person’s social or personal characteristics or failings are made the subject of a joking exchange involving mild insults and defamation. The countering and banter give the game a reiterative and accelerating character. The idea of dando or dar (giving or to give) carría is that it is “brought to” (or imposed on) an individual. In some prison interviews conducted in 1983, the idea of “capping” on another man falls within this definition. Rubén Cobos defines carría as slang for “static” and dar carría as “to bother or harass” (“Ese bato me da mucha carría” [That dude gives me a lot of static]) (Cobos 2003).* In an observed incident in a board meeting of a community development corporation in northern New Mexico in 1982, a series of questions were directed at an engineer who was presenting his and his company’s capabilities in dealing with a community trash problem. One of the men from the village was subtly questioning the engineer’s truthfulness. He was doing it so skillfully the subject never guessed the intent. In this case, dando carría was meant to reveal this person’s truthfulness . If the subject had understood what was going on, he would have needed to maintain his composure, his “face,” so as not to give up the “line” he had taken. If he had questioned his interrogator’s intent, though, he would have “lost it” and would have come across as a common liar and con man. If he never “connected,” the group would have realized how skillfully a man who sold rock for a living had “taken on this announced identity”: an engineer with a solution to a community problem. “Doing the dozens” in African American culture (Abrahams 1972) depends on a shared “stock of knowledge” (Schutz 1971), much as carría occurs in the informal socialization of Hispano men and women from villages and barrios. Juan Maes offers yet another view: “It is a gesture of affection between carnales.” In this respect, carría exists where trust has been developed among intimates, whether brothers (carnales) or barrio “bros” (friends) (Maes 1998). La carría incites individuals to break with the social value of seriedad (serious comportment). At its worst, carría can be destructive because it is a direct negation of social values and the social order. In its root meaning the word seems to be related to cara, face. The Velázquez dictionary defines the homophone carilla as (1) little or small face, (2) mask used by beekeepers, and (3) silver coin used in Aragón, Spain. One can discern other terms that relate to the face, for example, carrilludo(a) (plump or round-cheeked). Others terms include carilucio(a) (a shiny or glossy face) and *The word can also be spelled carilla. In this chapter, I use Cobos’s spelling in honor of his contribution to Hispano scholarship. Cabuya (or cabulla), another recognized barrio term, has a special definition that will be discussed later. Shame, Respect, and Joking Exchanges n 75 carinegro(a) (having a swarthy complexion) (Velázquez 1973). Carrillo refers to, among other things, the fleshy part...

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