Growing up in Canada the topic of slavery wasn’t really discussed, especially not the events that happened in Latin America, which is what makes this chapter kind of eye opening for me, I now have a different view not just how slavery affected western societies, but how others were affected as well. The topics of caste systems, race, rights, and the limitations of citizenship are just some issues that affected many in the New Republics. The chapter also compares how slavery functioned in the United States to how it functioned in Latin America, highlighting how slavery in Brazil, didn’t have much to do with race. The chapter was particularly interesting to me as it contrasted slavery in Brazil, to the one in the States.

In the USA slave owners wanted their slaves to live longer, even wanting them to form a family, as to create a lineage that would work for the owners for generations to come. Obviously, this was not to say that their living conditions were improved by any means, The life expectancy in Brazil of slaves was three years.The treatment of slaves in the United States heavily affected their politics. It created a clear division of race and generated stereotypes and prejudice attitudes which are still present today.

And of course, the ever so surprising passage written by Josefina Pelliza de Sagasta. I found the way that she described women to be in some ways contradictory to what she said their roles were. Although she painted women in this poetic and beautiful form, she still believed they were inferior to men. It was just strange to read that someone genuinely believed that women did not deserve the independence that their male counterparts had because it would “lose their poetic charms and prestige of their weakness”, it’s troubling and saddening to read, because women are seen in her eyes, as beautiful creatures, whose limitations make them desirable.