Castas Paintings, bring us to the unending question of what is latin America, and if there is any definition of it whatsoever. The paintings try to include all the mixture of races that took place in he territories during the colonial period, at the same time using the new terns to define these races. The differences where marked not only by skin colors but for power in society as well. Each of the paintings generally represented the hierarchy through a family. Till today is is not very clear how this painting were bought or distributed. However it is interesting to know they were given as a gift for services in the Americas.

I did know about these different races that came to be during the colonial period and their different social powers they had according to the origin of their mixture. However I think it was shocking for me to see the painting and recognize that evidence and the way in which each of the groups is portrait most of the time by their role in society. I believe this was done somehow to remark those differences and specially the limits each of the races had in relation to rights in society.

On the other hand , the courage shown by Catalina de Erauso in those stories inspired me as woman, because in those days woman had the right for almost nothing and were set on their specific roles. It is incredible to know all she did for loyalty to Spain as well.

The journal of Christopher Columbus is truly an eyeopening reading. There are so many thoughts on this character in history and his role in the colonization period for America after his discovery. However it is important to to remark how, as we can perceive from reading his journals he is not even aware of where he is, nor that he has just opened the doors to what will be next called the new world.

By the description in his journal we can become aware of how does Columbus perceives the indigenous people, we can feel from his words a sense of superiority. For me even though it is shocking to even think about a human being feeling more than another, I also believe it is an understandable behavior from his part due to the context he has just lived in. Europe in those times had already conquered parts of Africa and Asia, therefore this perception had been already implanted on his thoughts before.

It was interesting to see the evolution and true interests of trade as we keep reading the journal. At the beginning it is a true exchange, give me and I give you. However as they see that the natives get impressed with broken plates and glasses they exchange that with them, practically giving them their trash in exchange for the food the people gave them to welcome them. Some natives thought these were people from heaven, my guess about this is the way they dressed which was obviously very unconventional for indigenous people to see, the size of the ships they were coming with, as well as all the technology they brought with them, all of these must have impressed them, and at the same time could have scared some of them as well. I would like also to be able to imagine what was it for them to feel invaded by these race who looked different with a lighter skin color and spoke a completely different language. This was what we know today as the first encounter of the two worlds.

Finally I would like to comment on the ambition of Columbus, he was triggered to explore as many islands and lands he could and report this to the King and Queen of Spain via his journal. As well as, in my opinion the reason he recorded everything and coordinates as well, was because he was feeling confident that someone else would come back to exploit these lands after him. He thought he had just discovered a new route to the Indias, and that he would gain recognition for it. However t=he was doing further than that, just he never realized.

After reading the Cuban counterpoint by Fernando Ortiz, it became more clear to me how is it that the latinamerican culture is not easily defined, but was a result of the clash between many cultures coming into the territory and the pre-Hispanic traditions. I strongly agree with the perspective Ortiz shows when saying transculturalism is a more accurate definition for what happened during the colonization period. This term, indicates that there was not only a sort of trade-off between the European, indigenous and African culture, but goes beyond that. It recognizes the existence of acculturation and deculturation as part of this process, as well as neoculturation, which is teh aquisicion of a new culture. In my perspective I think all these elements were present during and after the colonial period and definitely left a mark on what we now call the Latin american culture. One of the reasons I think the idea of Latin america is so difficult to define is precisely because of this. If we take a close look at countries such as the Guyana or Belize itself which is in Latin america, their culture differ a lot from the same Guatemala or Venezuela, countries that are just bordering them. The main reason is the cultures they were influenced by during their colonization periods and how they adopted these new cultures and traditions from what we call the “old world” referring ourselves to Europe.

An instant thought that came to mind while reading it was that it is impressive how we can see the results of this transculturation even within the same country. For example, in Nicaragua, where I am from the Caribbean region has a different culture and different language. These region was conquered by the British who at the same time brought a lot of slaves from African countries, which is the reason why most of the population in that region is dark skinned. An example of transculturaltion in these region would be the official language of “Miskito” which is basically a mixture between the misumalpan language, a pre-colonial language and English.

It is important also to recognize how transculturation was as well pre-colonial with the migration of indigenous tribes such as the Tainos, and post colonial, we could even argue we still see it now a days with the influence from the United States in Latin america. The concept of a latin american is constantly changing and evolving, is just that we are not anymore in a context in which a language or religion is being forced for us, but transculturation is still happening with the contribution of globalization and economic trades between countries, as well as the exchange of political ideals.

Hello there class,

My name is Melissa and I am from Nicaragua. I was born and raised in Latin america, and have traveled to several latinamerican countries, finding a peculiar similarity between then which you are not able to find anywhere else. I moved to the Netherlands for my last 2 years of high-school, and that was when I realized how much of did I identify with the latin american culture and people, having my closest friends being from these region I felt I belong with them and shared so much. Although I grew up there I know there is so much more to explore, specially the why is this culture so singular, and this is the reason why I joined the course of Latin american studies, also hoping to major in International Economics with a minor in Latin american studies.

I love to go running and to do spinning. I would say my biggest passion is to travel, because that is how I feel that I have learned so much about the world and the different perspectives in each culture.