Personally, I found this weeks readings and videos very interesting and intriguing. Not only did it focus on the big picture of the colonial experience in the Americas, but also on specific aspects of this time period. For example, the infamous Casta paintings and the legacy of Catalina de Erauso.

Firstly, I would like to touch on the sheer number of African slaves who were brought over to the Americas to work on plantations. I was completely unaware of the scale of the slave trade to places such as Brazil, Mexico, and even Peru. Never before had I associated these countries with slavery. Furthermore, I was shocked to hear that Brazil had way more African slaves than the United States ever did. I believe that my lack of knowledge on this subject is mainly due to media. There are many popular movies and documentaries that display the harshness of slavery in the United States. However, I have never seen a television show nor movie that include the presence of the slave trade in Brazil. I was left speechless after learning this brutal information.

There were also a few videos explaining the implementation of Casta paintings in Latin America. As I understand it, Casta paintings are paintings that illustrate the different racial combinations of African, indigenous, and Spanish blood. This dictates the social class that people fit under, having pure Spanish heritage at the very top. This was created by the Spanish to control the population and enforce European superiority. The Mestizo people, a mix between Spanish and indigenous parents, reminded me of the Métis people of Canada. This idea of “Spanish purity” isn’t an unfamiliar concept though, as I also learned about the expulsion of Jews and Muslims living in Spain by Christians.

I watched quite a few videos and did my own reading about Catalina de Erauso, which really fascinated me. Her life story reminds me of the plot of an action movie. From changing her name several times and secretly fighting in the Spanish army in Latin America, her life story is quite exciting. However, the most interesting thing I found was how she shattered the societal norms of gender expectations of her era. I wonder how even her own brother did not recognize her as she fought under his command. She somewhat reminded me of the Jeanne d’Arc, a female soldier in France.

All in all, I found the subject matter of this week very captivating. My question for the class this week is as follows: why do you think that we mostly associate slavery with the United States and not Brazil where it was more present?