Chapter 3: Colonial Machines

Richard Marsh, in his 1934 anthropological account White Indians of Darien, details his travels and expedition into the interior of Darien (Panama), searching for “white Indians” and new treasure-troves of resources for a burgeoning U.S. economy. He filtered this through a colonizing and European American perspective that fused racism, capitalism, and an impetus for colonization (Love, 2004). Through this lens, Marsh constructed a specific colonial portrait of Panama in the 1930s, demonstrating the various modes of representations that existed during this time. We begin with Marsh’s account because it not only demonstrates the modes and networks in which colonization operated, but also because Marsh realized specifically the central role machines must play for U.S. colonization. It is through his words that this chapter begins (Taussig, 1992).