Abstract
Panama is an under-represented and under-discussed nation when considering artistic production, especially for American and English-speaking audiences. The recent publication of Cristina Henríquez’s The Great Divide is one current example of a Panamanian-American author writing about the relationship between the United States and Panama through the genre of historical fiction. In the form of an epic, Henríquez weaves together the various national identities that passed through Panama during the destruction of the country when removing the section of Panama now considered the Canal. The novel details the process of American colonization marked by destruction, removal, and consumption of land and culture. Panquiaco (dir. Ana Tejera, 2020) is another example of recent political artistic production about immigration and the fleeing of Panama. The semi-fictionalized documentary follows an indigenous Panamanian man named Cebaldo, who has left Panama in search of economic prosperity, and with a process of return. Through juxtaposing these two recent works, I consider what a Panamanian national identity means under the current classifications of borders, and how indigeneity and a return from diaspora mark a utopian version of what Panama becomes for its creative actants. While exploring indigeneity, Blackness is often either put aside or completely absent from the conceptions of Panamanian, and broadly Central American, identity. Through putting multiple fictive, semi-documentary, and academic projects in conversation, I work toward an imagining of Panama as the diverse racial and gendered laboring community that spreads internationally, while posing questions about nationalist representations through novels and films. Looking at Panama today can help modern readers and viewing audiences understand the efforts to re-colonize the Canal Zone in 2026, and beyond, and other attempts at American eco-colonization globally.
