One of the big themes of this week is the notion of a narrative, which I found to be worth exploring within my blog post – specifically, the ways in which narratives shape the ways in which we view the world, both past and present.  Chapter 1 of the textbook reading opens up with an anecdote illustrating the public service announcements that were often made on television that were framed to be educational.  While arguably these programs were often informative, Dawson notes that they presented the dominate narrative, calling it a “work of propaganda” (11).  I found this identification interesting, as words like indoctrination or propaganda often brings about images/ideas of dictatorships and censoring in my mind, yet in reality we are often exposed to propaganda unconsciously within our everyday lives.  As a result, I think it is valuable to question why we hold the opinions and views that we do – what are the underlying influences?

In lecture, a fact that really stood out for me is how the document with the simple phrase of “men are born and remain free and equal in rights” became a prominent slogan for slave uprisings and rebellious sentiments against their owners even though that was never the intention behind it.  It perfectly illustrates the way in which introducing a narrative (even when it is not interpreted in the way it was intended) can powerfully influence people’s ideas and actions. 

I also found Simón Bolívar’s letter to be interesting because one of the first things that he acknowledges in his letter is that it is a “candid statement” about his ideas – he does not claim to speak for anyone but himself, and yet throughout history people have used his letter to shape narratives about Latin America, often using his notions as a representation of societal ideals even though that is not necessarily always the case.  Jose Martí is another figure that has become revered from his role within the Castro Revolution in Latin America.  Although his works are undeniably valuable, both in the time which it was written in and within modern day contexts, it is important to note that his works and ideas cannot be fully representative of Latin America or even Cuba.  These narratives are a piece of a much larger picture (wow look I’m using metaphors too now just like Martí) and to accept them unequivocally would only narrow our understanding of what Latin America is and how it should be defined, if at all.

A question I’d like to pose is to what extent do the narratives of prominent political figures within Latin America shape the views of its people today?

Thank you for reading! 

Although I had learned about Spanish colonization and the conquistadors briefly in junior high and high school, I didn’t really know much about the Casta paintings until doing this week’s readings.  What surprised me about the article of the Casta paintings was that these artifacts were controversial even in their day, albeit the controversy was probably significantly smaller than if the same thing were to happen in this day and age.  But even so, the fact that there was dissent in how these paintings portrayed people of different races by attempting to create and represent a social hierarchy through art proves that we cannot make sweeping generalizations about Latin America or the people within it because there will always be another opinion/voice waiting to be heard.

Another thing that I found interesting this week was the notion of Spain having an identity crisis, namely its attempts to unify its peoples under a common culture and set of values – a venture that (in my opinion) ultimately failed due to the extreme diversity that colonization contributed to it.  What fascinated me about this was that in attempting to construct itself into a unified political entity, Spain produced identity crises for those it colonized – people who were ripped from their cultures and heritages and socially ranked over their ancestry; something that they had no control over.  Looking at this from a modern perspective, I believe that we can see the detrimental connotations that labels like “no te entiendo,” (“I don’t understand who you are”) and “salta atrás” (“a jump backward”) would have had as the phrases themselves denote a dismissive attitude towards individuals without a purely European heritage.

I found Lieutenant Nun to be an easy and engaging read!  The translations were extremely well done in my opinion and the fact that the account was given in first person really piqued my curiosity.  Having the firsthand account of what she (or he, if he was transgender – not sure what the proper pronouns are in this case, so I apologize in advance) experienced as a conquistador, although a little unconventional at times, gave me insight on what life was like from that perspective.  I also very much appreciated the note written by one of the translators of the text reminding readers to take caution in putting her on a pedestal because of her status as a transgender person – what she did as a conquistador is no less abhorrent and cannot be excused under the circumstances in which she lived her life both while as a woman and then as a man.

A question that I think would be interesting to discuss is how/if at all art within the time period of colonization (such as the Casta paintings) reflects and/or shapes the values and impressions of the people during that era.

Thank you for reading!

Whenever Christopher Columbus is mentioned, much of the time the discussion goes in one of two directions, either painting him as a hero or villain (I use these terms loosely).  But this week’s material has caused me to think deeper about the narratives that we share, specifically the fact that the character of Christopher Columbus cannot be neatly categorized into either good or bad.  He had no intention of discovering America, it was an accident; just as it would have been impossible for him to fully know the ramifications (such as the disease, and assimilation attempt of the indigenous peoples) of his unintentional discovery as well as the long lasting effects of it even to this day.

I find that the narratives of Christopher Columbus in popular media can be ambiguous at times in that no one really knows (or can know) what our world would be right now had Columbus not found land.  I also found it interesting to deliberate the idea that the only reason 1492 has significance is because we give it significance – and yet even as our narratives praise or scorn Columbus, if he had not found America when he did, someone else probably would have sooner or later.  While that would have dramatically changed the world that we live in today, I personally believe that many of the hardships that the indigenous peoples faced from European influence as a result of Columbus’ discovery would not have changed because at the end of the day, Columbus was really nothing but one of many factors in the process of globalization.  I think this idea of uncertainty parallels what we are trying to learn about Latin America within this course: the notion of referring to Latin America as merely an idea rather than a physical place already places doubts on the preconceptions and stereotypes that I held about Latin America.

Another thing I wanted to touch on within this blog post is Columbus’ attitudes towards the indigenous people, which I think again touches on the theme of how there isn’t necessarily a clear cut black and white of good and bad – and that if we merely see the world within those terms, we are limiting our perspective because there are countless factors to account for.  Columbus’ enslavement and allowance of his men to rape many of the indigenous population is abhorrent and despicable behaviour.  Yet knowing the culture of the time, as well as the strong focus on ‘God, Glory, and Gold’ along with the ethnocentric worldview that most Europeans held, I am attempting to understand Columbus’ precarious position (for example, had he forbid his crew from raping the women, they probably would not have obeyed) even as I condemn his actions.

To end this post, a question that I think would be interesting to discuss collectively is why there are generally significantly fewer accounts of Columbus’ discovery from indigenous perspectives and how that influences the way in which the narratives of Columbus are presented.

Thank you for reading!

Hi everyone!

My name is Christiana and I’m a second year student within the faculty of Arts.  I’m interested in all things culture/music/politics/social issues related (just to name a few), so naturally, LAST 100 seemed like a great elective to take.  In taking this course, I hope to broaden my perspective on Latin America as I’ve recently come to realize that I know very little about it beyond what is portrayed through popular media.

Although I liked many of the student videos, to keep this blog (relatively) short and sweet, I’ve decided to give a few of my thoughts on only 3 of my favourite videos:

Caudillos by Anna Wilmann, Elyse Doyle, Emma Elsner, Isabel Masters, and Rachel White
I appreciated the hand-drawn graphics within this video – it reminded me of a production of Crash Course, but with more basic production quality.  I also like the background music used as it complemented the information given in the voiceovers well but didn’t overpower it.  If I were to improve the video in any way, I would prefer to have a more steady camera since the transitions between images were a little shaky and less background noise in conjunction with the voiceovers as I found it a little distracting and it took away from the production quality.  Overall, the students presented the information in a creative, clear, and engaging way; making their video one of my favourites.

The Meeting of Two Worlds II by Jackson, Spiro, and Chica
The expressive music of this video was extremely engaging and the information was presented in a clear and coherent manner – I enjoyed the mix between the graphics and information points in the first half of the video coupled with the lesson like voiceover and moving graphics in the latter portion of the video.  The voiceover was extremely smooth with no discernible background noise which made it very easy to focus on what was being presented.  However, the appearance of the [insert title here] at the beginning of the video as well as the spelling mistake took away from the content a little bit (in my personal opinion), and I found the ending of the video a little abrupt.

The Meeting of Two Worlds IV by Thomas Seagrave, Daniel Fielburg, Jasmin Jhaj, Rick Cheng, and Christine Santa María
This video immediately caught my attention by the undisturbed sound quality and smooth voiceovers.  Their descriptions of Columbus’ journey as well as the repercussions his ‘discovery’ created for the indigenous people were detailed and the pronunciation of some of the names were flawless.  I really liked the mix of images that went along with the commentary as well as the interactive elements within their video coupled with unexpected humour injected into certain parts of the video, given that their topic was quite heavy.

Thank you for reading!