A Cartoon from My Fieldnotes
| Autor | X. Andrade |
| Páginas | 30-30 |
A Cartoon from My Fieldnotes
On one occasion, during my eldwork, I was visiting the Facultad de Comu-
nicación Social ( ) in Guayaquil. In his magazi nes, Jaime mercilessly
criticized the authorities and the faculty of this inst itution. was, at
the time, the only school of journa lism in the city. Jaime’s animosity towards
journalists was ex pressed as a general critique for their perceived lack of
professional skills and moral va lues. In this context, wa s a prima ry
target because most journali sts in Guayaquil had studied or passed through
this institution. At one point, Jaime himself signed up and took classes for
a short period of time with the a im of legalizing his status as a professional
journalist in Ecu ador. When I visited this school in 1999, I tried to get an
interview with a fac ulty member who could help me to trace Pancho Jaime’s
activities and gai n an understanding about what other students thought
about him. Aer asking a doz en authorities and faculty members about the
subject, I only received blank responses until, nally, one guided me to the
Research Center, where its director seemed initially interested to tal k to me,
especially when I mentioned that, alt hough an Ecuadorian, I was livi ng in the
United States. e welcoming, however, disappeared rapidly. e woman, a
published poet (or so she claimed), regretted that I was interested in Pancho
Jaime instead of using my skil ls to research “the true Guayaquilea n intellectu-
ality.” Indeed, in the forty ve minutes or so I had to indulge the Licenciada,
aer using a standard d ismissive formula I had come across many times by
now (i.e. Pancho Jaime was a sick, useless bastard), she launched into an
impromptu reading of her own poems. Most of them were devoted to the
inner beauty of the city and its people and to praising civ ic symbols like the
Guayaquilean ag, Independence Day, and so forth. Before being abruptly
dismissed, I had to spend about forty minutes str uggling with a m ix of an
overwhelming sense of, although repressed, laug hter and astonishment. She
concluded her poetic performance with: “Now, this is the real th ing. Talking
about Guayaquil from the heart, w ith pride, with grace, wit h love. is is art,
this is literature, th is is what educated people like you, Mr. Andrade, should
be studying. Bu enas tardes .” (Fieldnotes)
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