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.