Klabel: A representation of the dialectics of knowledge in Honduran Garífuna culture

• In Event: Procesos Educativos Alternativos Indígenas y Afrodecendientes

Abstract

In this article I will examine the discourse of education represented by the dichotomy between tradition and modernization in Klabel (2002). In this autobiography, Víctor Virgilio López García reflects upon the social change that occurred in 20th century Honduran Garífuna culture. García narrates his transformation from a young man to an educated adult, which illustrates the ways in which his culture and ethnic group have been marginalized during the modernization of Honduras. García employs a discourse of education to challenge the racial and ethnic discrimination that he and other Garífuna men and women experienced. However, there is a duality of condonation and condemnation as he discusses his journey. This dialectic illustrates the internal workings of his memory as he tries to resolve the dichotomy between his past and future. García explores the relationship between education and power, as well as knowledge and power concerning the racial divisions that guide their construction specifically in Puerto de Trujillo and Tornabé. For example, Klabel overtly criticizes the educational system, yet paradoxically García himself becomes an educator in an attempt to overcome his own marginalization. I will analyze how García expresses his opposition to and acceptance of the unequal modernization of Honduras through the lens of his own personal struggles with the acquisition of knowledge.

Author

• Bryn Campbell, University of New Mexico