[Aztlan] Hammocks: a colonial coda

[Sam Edgerton]

Listeros:  Here's an interesting Renaissance print (ca. 1575) in which our 
Mesoamerican hammock has by now become a symbol of European imperialism. It 
is an engraving by the Dutch artist Johannes van der Straat, Latinized as 
Stradanus, (1523-1605), who lived mostly in Florence, Italy, and is here 
lauding the recent accomplishment of fellow Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, 
as "true" discoverer of the continents that bear his name. Vespucci is 
shown holding the Christian banner aloft in his right hand and an astrolabe 
in the other, while he ogles a  naked (except for a few bits of 
native-style clothing ) female on a hammock who seems to be beckoning him 
hither. An accompanying caption reads, "Americus  rediscovers America; he 
called her but once and thenceforth she was always awake."  As one can 
imagine, this well-known print has attracted the attention of post-modern 
feminists and neo-historicists who see it as a blatant example of colonial 
"rape." On the left side of the image are all the signifiers of European 
power, including steel weapons, ocean-going ships, and complex scientific 
instruments, while on the right behind the lady in the hammock, are a 
number of exotic wild animals, a crude stone spear, and even some other 
natives roasting a human leg and thigh on a spit.
Sam Edgerton

http://lanfiles.williams.edu/~sedgerto/Stradanus_America.jpg