Exploring Latin America

Week 4

Posted by in Week 4

Un pueblo sin piernas pero que camina. The metaphors continue. There is something captivating about Latin American tendencies to mesh art with politics, aestheticism with power. Martí’s eloquence places him firmly in this tradition. Chávez is decidedly not a poet. Yet his 2004 speech pursues the same themes as those of Martí and Bolívar in his demand for independence for Latin American nations (or nations of “the South”). It would be important, here, to characterize “independence” and how it has been conceived of over time. It is hard not being…read more

Sep.25
1

Week 3

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This week’s topic, “the colonial experience” is largely centred on the ways in which colonialism expressed itself with regards its impact on the societies and peoples which it touched. Colonialism, as a very complicated phenomena finds expression in many modes, and has had wide-reaching impacts that persist today. Nevertheless, colonialism tends to strike in a pattern of faultlines in social fabric, compartmentalizing populations and polarizing relations. Of those faultlines, two are especially highlighted in this week’s readings: race in Casta Paintings, and gender in the case of Lieutenant Nun. Race is a…read more

Sep.18
6

Week 2

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  In reading The Voyage of Christopher Columbus and The First New Chronicle and Good Government the reader is given a glimpse into the initial European perspectives on indigenous societies and the American continent. Glaringly evident is the discrepancy in represented voices, exacerbated by the flagrant contrasting juxtaposition of the two cultures at first contact. It is regrettable that no complementary accounts could grant modern readers an indigenous perspective on this historical meeting of cultures. In both Columbus and Poma’s accounts, a focal point is placed on a duality of primary interests of the…read more

Sep.12
3
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