I woke up very early this morning and could not think of anything better to do than get started on homework, and the next thing on my list was watching the film assigned for this week, ‘Hija de la Laguna’, which felt odd to be watching at 5am!
The film focuses mainly on mineral extraction in a few regions throughout South America and its impacts on the local landscape and its indigenous inhabitants. A large portion of the film was committed to attempts by police/government to scare indigenous land owners off of their land so they can have access to the gold or whatever mineral they are looking for. Repeatedly it is stated that these attempts are fuelled by greed and it makes me really think about how violence is so often driven by greed. Throughout history there would have been fighting between and within groups of people, mainly for access to resources, but at what point does that cross the line into greed? When someone has everything they need and yet they still want more and will fight for it with little regard for others [who may need it more than them], is when greed becomes apparent. This is one of the huge pitfalls of modern society, the mentality that nothing is ever enough and it creates toxicity in the minds of people and on the planet only to meet self-serving desires.
Some thoughts that came to me during watching the film were the echoes of colonialism that were apparent. The two indigenous women walking in the dried fields talking about their potato harvest and how they used to be able to grow them much bigger before tin extraction ruined the landscape. These women spoke perfect Spanish, a language that was not their own but was introduced to their people and in reality forced upon them as part of assimilation and control (I am aware that many now view the fluency as an opportunity which I am not suggesting it is not, but it originally was forced by colonizers). I was also struck by the religious icon, which appeared to be christ, that the indigenous people in Peru were gathered around and praying to, who looked so caucasian and imperial. The icon literally looked like a spaniard, like the old drawings you see of Spanish colonizers and here they were praying to the very symbol they are fighting against (if you can understand mineral extraction as being a result of being included in a global economy which is the direct result of colonization and assimilation). These scenes showed the ongoing effects of colonization and how indigenous groups are living with these effects and using them to (in the case of language, education and other tactics that were used for assimilation) in turn fight to protect their lands and their people.
Hi Christina!
I loved reading your post, especially the irony in how they pray to a similar figure as their colonizer. It really shows the imacts of colonialism and how Indigenous communities have to continue to deal with it today, whether they like it or not. You are also right about greed, the capitalistic market really has reached the point where even if they have a lot, they want more, while on the other hand, locals struggle to grow the same crops they used to before with so much ease, all because people want more. It brings me back to one of the first readings we had for this class on decolonialism, and makes me question in what ways we can improve the conditions of Indigenous communities, seeing as there is absolutely no way to undo what colonizers have done in the past, a very unfortunate situation indeed.
You provide an excellent reading of how the film makes visible the myriad impacts–theological, linguistic, agricultural, ideological, etc.–on the Quechua peoples, and smartly observe that this is “ongoing.” Your closing observation that Nélida and the film take up the tools of globalization to protect their land is astute. Well done!
I resonate with your comments about people who have more than enough but continue to look for more despite others needing it more than them. I have always believed in the argument that this is a reflection of human nature to a degree more so than to a modern society mentality or any economic system per se. This is not to say that social constructs haven’t played a role in engraining this mentality in our society to a degree or that a given economic system doesn’t help people with these behaviour’s in any way. Your comment about the religious icon also reminded me of a largely mestizo/indigenous town in a mountainous region of Ecuador that I visited were there was a religious symbol exactly the same as you described. It too made me think about colonialism.