This chapters was about the different stories of how each country in Latin America got its independence. For me, the documents of Bolivar and Marti are the ones I found most interesting in this chapter.

Bolivar had big dreams and wanted a great future for Latin America.  In his letter, he writes about what he hopes for in the future and what is at stake. Dawson calls this the “Bolivarian dream”.  Further, Bolivar wanted Latin America to improve, prosper and have more freedom. Though Bolivar supported dictatorship, he was against slavery.

On the other hand, there is Marti. In his document, he talks about what the nation’s government should be comprised of. He argues that the country should be led by its locals and its natural elements. In the words of Marti 1891); “The government must be born from the country. The spirit of the government must be the spirit of the country” (as cited in Dawson, 2015, p. 26). He basically gives the message that the country should not be led by colonizers. The nation can gain its independence if it is led by people naturally born in that country.

“As a rule, Latin American States are weak” (Dawson, p. 323). This sentence is the hook of the chapter.  Ch. 10 continues the terrors that happened in Latin America.

One of the things emphasized in this chapter is the movement of  las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. Women, particularly mothers, were looking for their children. During the dirty wars in Argentina, many people disappeared because they were taken by the military. The disappearance of these people led to Mothers protesting and demanding the government to give back their children. Most of the women involved were working class. Initially, the government was fine with the Madres movement, however they eventually thought the women would be a threat to their country which led the soldiers to capturing and/or killing them.

Other events brought up in this chapter was the Human Rights groups and drug traffickers.  Overall, this chapter further elaborated on more violence in Latin America during the 1970s-1980s, what caused these conflicting events to happen, etc. Just like the previous chapter, I’m somewhat overwhelmed from hearing all these events. During the lecture, they said that until today the movement of las Madres is still an issue today.

This week’s reading was about war and violence in Latin America that happened in the years 1959-1990. Not only is it called the terror, but can also be called the “Dirty Wars”. Reading about the wars the happened in Latin America was sort of overwhelming. I did not know there was so much violence and insurgencies in Latin America during that time period.

There were many causes to these wars. It was the U.S. intervention which led to counterculture, the youth who rebelled because they were afraid of their future, and the fight between the left and the right wings. I thought it was interesting how Dawson explains the wars that happened in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.  What stood out to me in this chapter is the events that happened in Peru. “Peru’s dirty war began during the cold war, and was characterized by a struggle between a Marxist left and a free-market right..” (Dawson, p.292).  It was specifically Alberto Fujimori that made the events in Peru standout. As said earlier, I thought this chapter was somewhat overwhelming. I was just puzzled about Fujimori’s story. He was promoted to a high position because “he was an ethnic outsider to Peru’s elite community” (p.298). Further, Fujimori was able to fight Sendero and catch President Gonzalo. Later on he gets arrested in Chile,  then goes back to Peru in 2006 to run again.  He was then put in trial because of corruption and responsible for many killings.

This story leaves me with a question: Did you think Alberto Fujimori was a great politician or not?

Chapter 7 is about well-known politicians in Latin America during the 1920s-1930s. The term populism is brought up, and its relevance to Latin America during the 1930s. More advanced technology and mass media is continued in this chapter. This time, what is new  are radios, radionovelas, comic books, movies, songs, etc. Listening to the radio was apparently the most popular type of mass media at this time because everyone could listen to news and people thought that it was good way to communicate with others in their community. Because listening to radio was so popular, many politicians took advantage of the radio by making announcements and sending messages through it for people to hear and be aware of what they say. Pretty similar to what many politicians do today, except we don’t use radio much anymore, we use social media and TV!

Getting to the part on politicians, the ones that stood out for me in this chapter were Lazaro Cardenas, and Juan & Eva “Evita” Peron. Lazaro Cardenas succeeded Plutarco Elias Calles who was “Mexico’s most powerful figure” (Dawson, p.213). What is great about Cardenas is how modest and generous he was. His salary was cut by a half and would cancel his cabinet meetings to visit the poor (p.213). He was about land reform and distributing them to the poor. On the other hand, the Perrons were very famous in Argentina. Eva, also known as Evita, was an actress who happened to fall in love and became a mistress of Juan Perron. Both grew up in poor/working-class families. The controversial part of their relationship is that many suspected they were using each other for publicity. Eva would take advantage of her fame and use it to promote Perron. Later on, many people wanted Eva to run for vice-president next to her husband as president. I do actually have ambivalent feelings about the Perrons. Although Juan seemed to have great plans in mind as politician, he failed to accomplish those things and was later on exiled. I also did not really understand why many people wanted Evita to run for vice president without having a lot of political experience.

M Blitz. (2015, January 26). The Truth About Christopher Columbus. Retrieved from: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/01/real-christopher-columbus/

The article challenges the myth about Columbus being a hero. Blitz shares stories about what Columbus and his crew did wrong specifically immoral and harsh things he has done. Blitz mentions that Columbus never found America and did not prove the world was not flat. He further argues that many parts of Columbus story are false and some parts were adjusted. What is also brought up in this blog entry is that the majority of what happened during Columbus’s journey was enslaving the natives when initially his main goal was to gain wealth. Women and children particularly were treated worse. For instance, a passage from one of his crew members is quoted, and he shares his story on swaying a woman and Columbus allowing to rape them. Columbus also had sold women into prostitution. One of the things I’m researching for in this project is women involved in Columbus journey. The fact that women (and children) were treated unjust is important to know about Columbus story. Especially that in the Columbus’ journal, it seemed one-sided and biased, it is good to hear a different side to the story, especially one that contradicts to belief of Columbus being a hero.

Rapid City Journal. Top 5 Atrocities committed by Christopher Columbus. Retrieved from: http://rapidcityjournal.com/photos/top-atrocities-committed-by-christopher-columbus/collection_76ebb2b8-f63d-11e3-a137-001a4bcf887a.html#5

Almost like the article referenced above, they talk about how Christopher Columbus was not a hero and has done very harsh and cruel acts to the natives. Columbus’s mission was to find gold and slaves to bring back to Spain. Columbus and his crew ordered their slaves to find gold. He even threatened the slaves that if they did not find gold, the slaves’ hands would be chopped off. The article quotes a passage by Bartolome de la Casas, a young priest who wrote what the Natives had experienced when the Spanish had colonized them. Casas claims that the Spanish were cruel by killing many natives. The Arawaks attempted to get revenge and fight back to the Spaniards. This however did not workout and led them to commit suicide because they thought it was the only way to protect themselves from the Spaniards. What makes this article useful for my project is that we hear another side of the story, specifically negative acts that happened during Columbus journey, which is not much stated in Columbus journal.  As said earlier, Columbus’ journal seemed very biased. What is great about this article too is that it includes pictures which can be used for the video.

Chapter 6 of Dawson reading is about how the U.S. came into interventions with Latin America. It started with the Military interventions, then came economic and cultural interventions.

There are two things that really caught my attention in this week’s reading; bananas and Disney. I found it interesting that bananas are what started the commodities and trades between many countries in the Americas. With the cultivation and production of bananas attracting many people, there formed the United Fruit Company (UFCO) which “immediately became the largest banana company in the world” (Dawson, p.187).  I was also fascinated to hear that Walt Disney got some inspiration from Latin America when creating his cartoons.  I did not know much about the shows The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos but it was interesting to learn that Walt Disney made these shows to promote tourism in Latin America.

Two of the documents in this chapter that stood out to me was Sandino’s Political Manifesto and the film, Silent War. In Sandino’s document, he asserts how he was strongly opposed to influence from the U.S. and that Nicaragua should live more independently. His tone seemed that he was strong about his opinion and was willing to do anything for the better of his country.  In the film Silent War, it emphasizes on what the U.S. can contribute to Latin America and can end up having a positive impact to the people.

The title of this chapter says it all, this chapter emphasizes on problems that happened during modernity. In the previous chapter, we only hear about the great impacts of modernity and how Diaz was optimistic about Mexico’s future. In this chapter though, we hear a contrasting side to the story, we see how Diaz made a blunder during his interview and that not all people experienced positive things during modernity, particularly people from the countryside

Modernity had some negative impact to the countryside. “In Mexico, almost every mile was accompanied by some minor conflict. Rural groups were neither as compliant nor as easily controlled as Porfirio Diaz had hoped” (Dawson, pp.142-143). Many violence had occurred in the countryside. Whenever the rural groups could not agree with the elites, they would respond to them with rebellion.

One of the most interesting things in this chapter is the document La Raza Cosmica by Jose Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos talks about his appreciation of racial mixing, and pretty much describes what is considered “beautiful”.

Overall, what I liked most about this chapter is we hear another side to the story. Rather than just hearing the positive outcomes of modernity, we finally hear voices that were left out in the previous chapter, voices of people who faced negative impacts and struggles during modernity.

This chapter focuses on the modernization of Latin America right after it gains its independence. According to Dawson, modernization involved innovation. New and advanced technology was invented. For instance railways that extended many miles, and photographs that could provide information and “were also critical to documenting the material signs of progress” (Dawson, p.126). The lives of the middle class and women were also improved. There were more opportunities in the labor force for them.

What was interesting to me about this chapter was how the elites in Latin America ruled and wanted more modernization. They believed that the only way for their society to become modern was to have order. Latin Americans also wanted their society to have similar values to European Western culture. For instance, Brazil and Argentina had many European immigrants coming to their country.

A document of Creelman’s interview with Diaz, the Mexican president who was announcing his retirement is shown in this chappter. Creelman was very elaborate when describing Diaz. Not only was he describing Diaz’s personality but emphasizes on his physical characteristics. An example is when he mentions something about his nostrils! Creelman’s description of Diaz is what actually stood out to me when reading this chapter. I could see how much Creelman idolized Diaz and thought of him as a great figure and/or hero. Another thing that I found interesting in this document was Diaz’s optimism. He showed a lot of confidence and believes that even though he is retiring, Mexico has a good future ahead of them. Having said that, I thought this document was very much one-sided. It pretty much talks about positive things and ignores the inevitable conflicts that could happen in modernization.

Chapter 3 in the Dawson’s book emphasizes on emancipation, racism, and gender  The chapter first talks about the definition of a “citizen” and the qualifications vary. Latin America in particular had a difficult time getting a clear definition of a citizen especially that they are now independent republics.

The chapters discusses emancipation (freedom from slavery). It talks about how freedom from slavery took a long time. Emancipation varied from each country in Latin America. Additionally, they talk about racism, how people of color were treated and discriminated in Latin America. The U.S. was also brought up which I found interesting. Dawson even refers to the scientists, Charles Darwin and Carolus Linnaeus on their views and arguments on how & why people have distinguished skin colors.  At that time, people believed that your position in the social hierarchy depended on your race. Also if you marry someone of a different color than you, you’re  either promoted or demoted in the hierarchy depending your spouse’s skin color. The majority of slaves in Latin America happened to be people of African descent.

Getting to the part of gender in this chapter, two women; Maria Echenique and Josefina Pelliza were discussed and passages written by them were shown. Echenique was a feminist, while Pelliza was anti-feminist. Both made very good arguments about their views.  Pelliza’s tone in her passage showed that she was strongly against feminism and that women and men should not be equal. She argues that women are meant to be caregivers and they are the man’s other half. Though Pelliza’s views were mostly provocative, she made a good point on how women should embrace their true nature and their femininity.

First, I will talk about the wooden leg of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. I thought it was weird and funny how they talk about Santa Anna’s leg in the beginning of the chapter. Also, I liked that his leg is hold a symbol for both the North Americans and the Mexicans. To the North Americans, they leg symbolizes Mexico’s inferiority in controlling their destiny, while to the Mexicans it symbolizes a disaster caused by “their northern neighbors” (Dawson, p.47). It made me think that Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the Mexican President, is a significant person in Latin American history. After all he is a Caudillo

Caudillos were important people in the 19th century, they are described to be strong men and political leaders. They were all about defending their interests and the interests of their supporters (p.48). Not only was Santa Anna, the caudillo of Mexico talked about, but other caudillos in each Latin America were also discussed (eg. Ramon Castilla of Peru, Rafael Carrera of Guatemala, etc.). Though the era of the Caudillos was also about fighting for their people, this did lead to national disasters. After reading this, I do have mixed feeling towards the Caudillos. I feel they were somewhat heroic at the same time some of them caused trouble.