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Week 3: The Colonial Experience

In the video, it is said that labeling anyone with African descent as “black” is a very North American way of categorizing race. My question would be, what led to the differences between racial categorization in North and South America? As we saw from the Casta paintings, there was a different system of categorization, with more of a focus on differentiation and many more categories for an individual to be placed in. Assuming that there were strong stigmas attached to each category, it would be interesting to know how people felt about being labeled “mestizo,” “mulatto,” or “zambo” and if people other than the Spanish elite agreed with those definitions. The issue with the Casta paintings is that they only tell one side of the story, so we don’t know how the rest of the population really felt about these racial categories and if they believed in them.

The story about Catalina de Erauso went well with the Casta paintings because they both raise the question of how we differentiate people, one of those barriers being gender. I found it frustrating that her motivations for leaving and cross-dressing weren’t revealed in the story. It mustn’t have been easy for her to leave everyone she knew behind, and she showed signs of missing her past by returning to her hometown and attending church where she saw her mother. So why did she leave in the first place? Was she just trying to escape being a nun and her future as a woman or were there other reasons? I was surprised at how ruthless and brutal she was: killing a lieutenant and a judge in a petty gambling argument and hanging an indigenous captain even though the governor wanted him alive. I’m not sure how we should view her- I don’t necessarily view her as a hero, although her bravery in keeping her secret for all those years is somewhat admirable. Its hard to say what her story means in terms of gender identity unless we can understand her motivations.

I was also really surprised at the numbers of slaves that were brought to Cuba, Hispaniola and Brazil and how their numbers were far greater than the slaves brought to the United States. I’d like to better understand why this doesn’t seem to be as well known as the slave trade involving the U.S.

 

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week 2: The Meeting of Two Worlds

Before reading Columbus’s account of the voyage of 1492, I had heard a variety of different perspectives about him. Growing up in the United States, in elementary school he was spoken of in heroic terms. I didn’t question that narrative at first because after all, there is a holiday named after him. So he must’ve been a good guy, right? It wasn’t really until high school that I started hearing a different story. I began to understand the narrative that he may have been more of villain than a hero, but it left me feeling conflicted, as there are so many monuments, streets, and schools named after him. How could the whole country still be holding him on a pedestal if it was clear that he wasn’t the great guy that children should look up to? Well I realized that it still wasn’t clear to many people; the narrative of him as a courageous explorer lingered on, constantly being reaffirmed through institutions and “history” books.

After reading his account, I feel more sure that his motivations were rooted in greed and a desire for power and conquest. Reading his notes on the islanders reveals more about Columbus and his culture than about the indigenous people. He viewed everything as an opportunity for material and social advancement, a hierarchy waiting to be climbed. My question is, was his desire to control and conquest coming from a superiority complex and toxic masculinity or was it simply the social norms of Europe at the time that produced those kinds of sentiments? Was it really him that was the villain, or was it the society that he came from? He seemed to have a desire to constantly be in control– he knew that the islands were already named by the natives but he renamed them all himself, he lied to and manipulated his crew by telling them that they didn’t travel as far as they did everyday.

In the video, it is said that “Columbus had no idea he was founding anything.” I disagree with this; he seems to be very sure that he has come across land that will be very valuable for Spain. He expresses that the land is the most rich and fertile in the world, and that only Catholics should be allowed to come to the islands, calling it an “enterprise” that should be left for the sake of the “growth and glory of the Christian faith”. He knew that the place had that potential and expressed how easily the natives could be taken over; he had every intention and hope of making his voyage historical through future action. Maybe not his own action, but I think he knew many would follow after reading his account of the islands.

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Introductory Post

Hello! I am a third year student in the Latin American Studies department. I hope to be a documentary film-maker one day and I think there are many stories to be discovered from the region of Latin America. I grew up in Colorado, which had a large Mexican population which may be where my interest was sparked. My mom is Canadian so I have my dual citizenship, making UBC a great choice for me.

I watched the video “Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire II”. I find this topic particularly interesting, having grown up in the United States. I think they did a good job of breaking down their argument and explanation of America’s influence in the region and how it changed over time. They basically explained the situation in alignment with the Dependency Theory. Their graphics were interesting and relevant but maybe some more text would have been helpful, as they went through things pretty quickly.

I also watched the video “Towards an Uncertain Future” and thought it was executed very clearly. It was easy to follow and they had a good balance of text and visuals. I wasn’t aware of the extensive damage the earthquake had caused on Mexico’s economy before watching the video, and it gave insight into the workings of the government and political structures. It helped me understand the rationale behind the shift to more right-leaning politics when the people no longer felt they could rely on their government.

The students  in “Modernity in Latin America” did a good job of explaining what was preventing democracy from being attained in Latin American countries and how the government viewed the nation’s capacity for successful democracy. They also showed the importance of understanding that the rate of modernization was not being met with the proper changes necessary to the society, which resulted in slave labour for the coffee industry. The video had a balance between explaining what leaders did towards modernization but also the negative effects of their choices.

 

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