So I started this week’s readings with Nelson Ortega’s essay on telanovelas. Immediately all I can think about is “Jane the Virgin” a show on Netflix that my sister has me hooked on… The show is described on wikipedia as an “American telanovela” but after reading about the difference between a soap opera and a telanovela, I think that this show is more soap opera-y. But it’s a really cool show filled with Latin American actors and strong women actors and LGBTQ actors, which is awesome. It’s like kind of a good show – but mostly just a really good way for me to procrastinate from doing my life duties… Such as writing this blog post…
Ortega’s essay really enlightened me about telanovelas and their role in Latin America. I think it’s sooooooo cool how ingrained they are in culture and it’s so unique – I have a hard time thinking of an equivalent projection of culture in our society. It’s amazing to me that viewers get so engulfed that they actually reach out and write letters to the actors and give personal opinions about the plot and characters.
It’s neat that almost every Latin American country has it’s own telanovela and it was interesting to in depth look at “Por Estas Calles” role in Venezuela.
I think it would also be interesting to read about critiques on telanovelas – as Im sure there are some problems with declaring that a television show represents a whole country.

The other reading, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, is great too.  I didn’t get a chance to finish it- but I think futebol is definitely similar to the telanovela as a lot of people within one country identify with it- and recognize their culture within it, and by participating and watching this sport- a sense of nationalism emerges.  Similar to that song we watched the video of – El pueblo Unido in Chile – I think Sport, like Music, can be transporting- and can ease tensions between people temporarily.

Soooooo ridiculous! Reading the Cosmic Race was an experience this morning. So many lines made me crinnnnge. Even in the very first chapter: it ends with saying that the Christians made American Indians advance from “cannibals” to “a relative degree of civilization.” Yeeeeshhh. I was thinking what the hell am I about to read here?

Reading this chapter reminded me of when you sometimes get in a conversation with an elderly person who uses pretty offensive language sometimes, and doesn’t really realize there’s anything wrong with it, and they don’t see any issue in the things they are saying. There is a ton of racism in this text, but it doesn’t come across as malicious. It’s like he’s this sad man with really bad ideas, but he’s very confident about all of it.
Into the chapter, when he starts getting into the specifics of a cosmic race- how it would come about, what implications it would have, how exactly it would function… Kinda made me feel like I was reading somebody’s dream journal. Vasconcelos idea’s are pretty wacky. He seems like a very imaginative fellow, with not a lot of room for logic in his thoughts.
Overall though, the idea of this piece is that the cosmic race will someday occur and there will be peace on earth. Right now though, today, the world is seeing the highest number of refugee’s than there ever has been. There is a ton of racial mixing that is on-going. And hey, there is no peace. Actually, there’s more conflicts, racial and ethnic and otherwise than ever before. It seems like even though there is mixing happening, the state of the world is just getting worse. This idea that someday there will be one super-race, where we are all the same and no problems exist, is a myth.

[These are just initial thoughts. I’m sort of embarrassed in case I am interpreting it all wrong. That’s what class is for though, right!? See you all soon. ]

Looking forward to class this week as I had a hard time placing these stories in the context of Pop Culture in Latin America.

Reading translated fiction always makes me wish I was fluent in the original language the text was written in. These stories in particular possess super animated, descriptive & imaginative language, and it’s interesting in English. I bet it’s even better in Spanish.

I was reading up on Asturias and he seems like a pretty interesting guy.  He is an artist who felt it was very important to represent indigenous Guatemala and is credited with having done this accurately and well. That’s pretty sweet.

The stories are very beautiful.

I didn’t get a chance to read the second reading yet. I will update this post when I do!

I really like this reading so far. It is intimidatingly long but haaaay, this is University after all!
I like how sensitive the author seems to be, for the most part, about respecting indigenous populations all over LA throughout the article. I also like the indepth look and detail about dance, spiritual and religious rituals in the beginning half of the chapter. I took Intro to Latin American Studies last semester and loved the course, but didn’t love how general every section was. So I’m happy to be able to see more clearly some detail.
It’s a cool article though, definitely relevant to the beginning of this course. It kind of shows the history of exactly how the entire notion of “popular culture” began in Latin America. It’s hard to imagine a world where “popular culture” exists with the absence of social media. Like “popular culture” in the 1800s without Instagram to confirm everything. Strange.
The first half of the chapter brought me back to last semester in school where we learned about “sycretism” – basically the mixing of two cultures, and in the case of Peru specifically, the mix of pre and post colonial traditions. And I guess in this context – out of that mix, comes new notions of pop culture.
Also something I have been thinking about, not only during this reading, but in all of them so far, I’m thinking back to our first class in LAST201 where Jon made us think real critically about what culture is and what it is not and how you can appropriately define it… And honestly it’s kind of difficult to read anything super neutrally now because all I can think is like… IS THE AUTHOR EVEN CONSIDERING HOW MANY DIFFERENT THINGS CULTURE CAN BE?
For example, in this chapter, page 64, the author is outlining what he is going to examine next, and he states: “Our frame of reference excludes Southern Mexico and Guatemala because they have the highest presence of native culture, instead we’ll focus where cultural boundaries are more fluid.”
Like that still leaves the rest of Mexico, which is HUGE. Stating that the cultural boundaries are more fluid for the rest of the region is pretty bold statement to make I think? And also there is definitely “native culture” that exists in the remaining part of Mexico, why is it’s presence more or less fluid??

Just wild! I’ll never be able to hear the word “culture” again without my head spinning.

Eva Peron says a lot of relatable things in very vague ways. It is clear that her message is directed at the oppressed and the working class, but she keeps it vague enough that everybody can relate to her words to some degree or another.
Throughout the long work of writing, she continues to empower the people of Argentina and condemn the elite. While reading her words, i was thinking about an article I read about how Trump is a populist- and yeah, actually you can find a lot of similarities between Eva and Trump’s words. Their style of vagueness and appealing to the people with nationalist ideas, very similar. Although a pretty fundamentally different message. It doesn’t really matter which message you’re pushing to be a populist I guess.
I feel like I can’t have a full opinion on Peronism, because I don’t clearly understand both sides. As it stands, I think that the message the Perons’ expressed, both Eva and Juan, were all messages I stand behind… Like workers rights, and equal rights for women.
I know there is a lot of controversy about “Peronism”- and I assume it’s probably because like with any politician, they have their downfalls. But I just think that having the Peron’s speak and act on worker’s rights and women’s rights and more was a good thing in the 1940s/50s.

As for the second reading – I definitely had a hard time grasping the overarching meaning within it. Don’t really have much to say about it, except that I’m looking forward to getting the in depth analysis in class lol!

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Hello! I’m Rachel.

I’m a first year student at UBC. I’m from Northern Ontario and moved to Vancouver about two years because WOW, Vancouver is so beautiful.

My interest in this course stems from always having loved the Spanish language, loving my Latin American friends and a big ol’ backpacking trip through Costa Rica and Nicaragua last year.

I spend my free time running, skiing, dancing, chillaxing, and occasionally doing homework.

Catch ya on Tuesdays and Thursdays!