Miniature Messages : The Semiotics and Politics of Latin American Postage Stamps - Jack Child

Miniature Messages

The Semiotics and Politics of Latin American Postage Stamps

By: Jack Child

Paperback | 21 July 2008

At a Glance

Paperback


$77.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $19.44 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 15 to 25 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

In Miniature Messages, Jack Child analyzes Latin American postage stamps, revealing the messages about history, culture, and politics that nations have encoded in the design and text of their stamps and disseminated to their populations and to the rest of the world. While postage stamps are a sanctioned production of official government agencies, Child argues that they accumulate popular cultural value and take on new meanings as they circulate in the public sphere. As he demonstrates in this richly illustrated study, the postage stamp conveys many of the contestations and triumphs of Latin American history. Child combines history, political science, and philatelic research involving the collection and examination of nearly 40,000 Latin American stamps. He focuses on Argentina and the Southern Cone, highlighting stamps that indicated the consolidation of the Argentine republic and those produced under the Peronist regime.He describes how Argentine postal authorities have made ample use of slogans through their postmarks, delivering messages ranging from the patriotic ("San Martin consolidated the freedom of America with his sword"), to the nationalist ("Always ask for products made in Argentina"), to the public health notice ("To spit on the floor is to sow microbes"). Child considers postage stamps issued by dictatorial regimes in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Nicaragua. He compares Chilean stamps issued by the leftist government of Salvador Allende and by Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, and he studies how international conflicts have been depicted on the stamps of Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Child also covers the cultural and political history of stamps in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Grenada, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In Miniature Messages Child finds the political history of modern Latin America in its "tiny posters."

Industry Reviews
"Miniature Messages is a trailblazing study that demonstrates how an unfamiliar approach can throw light on different aspects of Latin American history, politics, and culture." David Bushnell, author of Simon Bolivar: Liberation and Disappointment "The thoroughness and in-depth coverage of Miniature Messages are remarkable. Jack Child is probably the only person to possess the requisite knowledge and background to combine political science, history, and philately so well." Frank Nuessel, author of Linguistic Approaches to Hispanic Literature

More in Cultural Studies

All About Love : New Visions - bell hooks

RRP $27.99

$26.50

Magnolia Parks : Magnolia Parks: Book 1 - Jessa Hastings

RRP $32.99

$30.25

Normal Women : 900 Years Of Making History - Philippa Gregory
Food for Life : The New Science of Eating Well - Tim Spector
Into the Dark : Magnolia Parks: Book 5 - Jessa Hastings

RRP $22.99

$21.90

The Way We Are : Lessons from a lifetime of listening - Hugh Mackay
Sand Talk : How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World - Tyson Yunkaporta
Into the Dark : Magnolia Parks: Book 5 - Jessa Hastings

RRP $32.99

$27.25

17%
OFF
Citrus : A World History - David J. Mabberley

RRP $69.99

$47.35

32%
OFF
Homo Deus : A Brief History of Tomorrow - Yuval Noah Harari

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Accidentally Wes Anderson : The viral sensation - Wally Koval

RRP $69.99

$47.25

32%
OFF