In the name of Columbus

exposições, estátuas e monumentos

Abstract

This article debates the recent controversies about the overthrow of statues of Christopher Columbus in the United States to argue about the different interpretations and claims made in his name over time. The celebrations of the IV and V Centenaries of the discovery (1892-1992) in the United States and Spain are privileged in order to understand the displacements operated from the political integration projects disputed in these two periods. In addition to the statues and exhibitions, there is the competition launched in the 1920s for the construction of the Columbus Lighthouse, understood as the prism of all tensions mapped from the image of the navigator. It is hoped, through this exercise, to identify the historicity both of the celebrations and of the manifestations contrary to the image of Columbus and to understand how it is articulated to the narratives about the history of America.