Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua

by Roger N. Lancaster

"Rambo took the barrios by Spanish videotapes of the movie were widely available, and nearly all the boys and young men had seen it, usually on the VCRs of their family's more affluent friends. . . . As one young Sandinista commented, 'Rambo is like the Nicaraguan soldier. He's a superman. And if the United States invades, we'll cut the marines down like Rambo did.' And then he mimicked Rambo's famous war howl and mimed his arc of machine gun fire. We both laughed."―from the book

There is a Nicaragua that Americans have rarely seen or heard about, a nation of jarring political paradoxes and staggering social and cultural flux. In this Nicaragua, the culture of machismo still governs most relationships, insidious racism belies official declarations of ethnic harmony, sexual relationships between men differ starkly from American conceptions of homosexuality, and fascination with all things American is rampant. Roger Lancaster reveals the enduring character of Nicaraguan society as he records the experiences of three families and their community through times of war, hyperinflation, dire shortages, and political turmoil.

Life is hard for the inhabitants of working class barrios like Doña Flora, who expects little from men and who has reared her four children with the help of a constant female companion; and life is hard for Miguel, undersized and vulnerable, stigmatized as a cochón ―a "faggot"―until he learned to fight back against his brutalizers.

Through candid discussions with young and old Nicaraguans, men and women, Lancaster constructs an account of the successes and failures of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, documenting the effects of war and embargo on the cultural and economic fabric of Nicaraguan society. He tracks the break up of families, surveys informal networks that allow female-headed households to survive, explores the gradual transformation of the culture of machismo, and reveals a world where heroic efforts have been stymied and the best hopes deferred. This vast chronicle is sustained by a rich theoretical interpretation of the meanings of ideology, power, and the family in a revolutionary setting.

Played out against a backdrop of political travail and social dislocation, this work is a story of survival and resistance but also of humor and happiness. Roger Lancaster shows us that life is hard, but then too, life goes on.

Genres: Anthropology, Gender, Nonfiction, Academic, Latin American History, History

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Studies at George Mason University.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is 70% great.

I don't really like that Lancaster repeatedly emphasized his Marxist identity. I have no problem with Marx, but this is a book about Nicaragua, not Roger Lancaster in Nicaragua. Also, the section on homosexual relations runs around in circles and could have been shortened.

Part II: Some Lives was fantastic as was "The Negro in the Family." Both of them exposed pieces of culture by using native's words. Love it.

[Reet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned much from this book by Roger Lancaster: about life in a part of Managua during the contra war, about how our shameless country manipulated their economy to bring the (communist) Sandinistas to their knees, and a difference in machistas (like the one I unknowingly married) in El Norte and the ones in Latin America. Now I know why men like women to allow them anal sex. But you'll have to read this book as I did to find out. Thoroughly researched and informed.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most compulsively readable ethnographies I've picked up in ages. Lancaster provides an amazing personalized, nuanced account of post-Sandinista Nicaragua, using personal anecdotes, journal excerpts, interviews, and more than a few drinking stories and gossip sessions. Although it's an anthropology monograph published by an academic press, this is one of those rare scholarly books with broad appeal. Also, for all of the anthropologists out there it, it is one of the best examples I've seen of how to write a reflexive, honest, ethnography - the relationships, concerns, power dynamics, politics, etc. Highly recommended.

[Javier Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the cultural aspect of it. Life in Nicaragua and the different customs and traditions. Other parts were a lot of difficult lexicon and anthropology terms that rendered the chapter incomprehensible.

[Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthropological look at one family in a Managuan neighborhood. It is very interesting and well written. I cannot speak to the author's anthropological skill, but it was a very interesting read.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is anthropology done right. done beautifully.