colonialism | Exploring Latin America

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

Week 3

Posted by jacob fischer-schmidt in Week 3

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