Upside Down (book)
Encyclopedia
Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World (in Spanish
Patas Arriba: la Escuela del Mundo al Revés) is a book written by Uruguayan
journalist and essayist Eduardo Galeano
in 1998.
and Europe
, and the latter, Africa
, Latin America
, and much of Asia
, the world's "south". The metaphor "upside down" is used throughout the book, not only in terms of geography, but also as a way to reveal the power structures, institutions and media representing society as the complete opposite of the actual realities of the world's societies, and plight of the majority of its populace.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Patas Arriba: la Escuela del Mundo al Revés) is a book written by Uruguayan
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
journalist and essayist Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
in 1998.
Summary
Upside Down presents the relationship between the developed (or first) world and the third world. As Galeano aptly notes, the former comprises the north, i.e., the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and the latter, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and much of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, the world's "south". The metaphor "upside down" is used throughout the book, not only in terms of geography, but also as a way to reveal the power structures, institutions and media representing society as the complete opposite of the actual realities of the world's societies, and plight of the majority of its populace.