The story of Catalina de Erauso is certainly a fascinating one.  Her bold, if reckless, behaviour seems very misplaced in this time when women were so constrained in terms of what they could do, say, and look like; growing up in a convent, these constraints would have been even more prominent.  Yet somehow, despite growing up here, where strict rules would have been in place, prohibiting any ‘unladylike’ and wild behaviour, Catalina managed to keep her daring qualities and make use of them upon running away from the convent.  This begs the question: was Catalina always a mischievous person?  Did she hide this element of her personality, keeping it in check, or was she always a bit of a risk-taker and trouble-maker at the convent?  It is not easy to be rebellious in the presence of nuns – just hearing stories from my grandparents, who were taught by nuns, gives me the impression that any misconduct was difficult to get away with.  For instance, rather than correct the nuns who said his name incorrectly for years, my grandfather changed his name!  Meanwhile, my grandmother, who went to a Catholic boarding school, had to adhere to strict mealtime rules; for example, the only way to leave the table was if your plate was empty.  This made leaving the table when large portions of distasteful food were served very difficult, and the only way my Nana managed it was to stuff food in her dress and throw it out in the river or forest around the school.  Of course this was hard to do, and if found out, punishments were harsh.  Clearly, if Catalina was to develop her bold personality in a convent, she must have been pretty skilled at keeping it hidden.

Unrestrained by common societal and Christian perceptions against transgender and other non-heterosexual orientations, Catalina was ahead of her time in her transformation to become a man.  This would have been highly controversial at the time, and she must have been very confident and courageous to carry through such a thing.  I wonder where Catalina got the idea to transgender – the convent does not seem like the sort of place where you could learn about such things; thus, I believe Catalina was a very resourceful person who could work with various situations to suit her needs.  I also wonder if Catalina changed gender more out of necessity (to remain invisible to those searching for her after running away), or if she had always had this idea in mind, if she always wanted to live the life of a man.  Regardless of why or how, Catalina successfully lived as a man, embarking on many interesting adventures; her story is very inspirational to those who live a bit differently from the societal norm.

Christopher Columbus’ journey, as described in his journal, was largely unexpected for me.  Perhaps I simply didn’t know enough about Columbus, or I had been told more legend than history regarding his expedition; but as I was reading, I realized just how little I know about the true history of Christopher Columbus.

First of all, I had always assumed the purpose of Columbus’ journey to be a search for new lands and a new route to India – and, sure, this was a large aspect of it.  What I never considered before was that his quest for India also had a motive – to teach the Great Khan of India about Christianity.  This gives Columbus’ journal more complexity, as his tasks are not only to navigate to India and claim uncharted lands on the way, but also to have a religious agenda in mind.

Since I had never been aware of the religious elements of Columbus’ journey, it surprised me how focused Columbus was on converting indigenous peoples to Christianity.  Perhaps Columbus simply documented his religious and political actions and thoughts in attempts to please the Crown; however his preoccupation with converting native people seemed genuine.  For example, even when describing these people, he continually notes that he believed they would be good Christians.

This concept of religious conversion is interesting because it always seems to be a primary purpose for Europeans when they reach the Americas and meet indigenous peoples.  In Canada, the French went to great lengths to convert aboriginals to Catholicism; and when the English came, they too worked to convert native peoples to Anglican sects of Christianity.  Down in Brazil, Portuguese missionaries traveled throughout the Amazon and other areas to convert the indigenous to Christianity.  Thus, the spread of religion (especially Christianity) appears to have a huge impact on the discovery and exploration of the Americas.  I must have been fairly naive, then, not to consider that Columbus’ journey followed the same template as the others in terms of religious motives.

A couple questions I have regarding Columbus’ journal are:

• Why doesn’t Columbus tell his (usually downhearted and unmotivated) men the truth about how far they have traveled each day?
• Upon discussing how uncivilized the indigenous people are (for example, that they lack clothing and weapons), what made Columbus note that he believes they are intelligent?
• Did Columbus’ attempts to please the indigenous people succeed?  Were the Spanish welcomed upon returning?

That’s it for today!  Thanks for reading!

Nicole

Hello everyone!  I am Nicole Gross, a first year engineering student here at UBC.  This blog will be focused on my Latin American Studies class, which I am looking forward to!  I took this class because a couple years ago, I embarked on an incredible 3-week adventure to Brazil with National Geographic, and I loved every moment of the trip!  The cultures and beauty of such a place continue to interest me even now; hopefully this class will give me some insight into the history of what I experienced!

As an introduction, here are a couple facts about myself:

• I love travelling, and have been to 4 continents and 10 countries (excluding Canada)
• I am a figure skater and skier, and love all things outdoors
• I am a lifeguard and swim instructor
• Food is fantastic

Upon looking at the first week’s readings and videos, my 3 discussion questions are:

• Since bias is inevitable when examining accounts and narratives of history, is it worth it to look for an unbiased or less biased version of the past?  Do these even exist?
• Why might Alec Dawson suggest that the world views Latin America as a stagnant region, a region without progress?  What might have led the rest of the world to adopt such views, and are these views accurate?  How can we change this perception?
• Is Latin America still in an age of revolution?

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

Nicole