Monthly Archives: September 2015

Week 3 Response

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This was another interesting week of information. The Casta Paintings are strange but fascinating. The amount of work that went into trying to detail each and every possible combination of races and mixes seems almost insane, and shows the deep motivations the Spanish must have held for making them. I like the quote, “It attempts to provide a place for everyone, and mark sharp dividing lines… but it is needed because those lines are, in practice, blurred.” This, I believe, shows how the Casta paintings were never going to succeed.

There were some numbers from the video that I found quite staggering. The indigenous population of the Americas by 1600 was only 1/5th of that which it was 100 years earlier, due mostly to newly-introduced European diseases. Also, by 1800, six times more Africans than Europeans had come to the Americas, showing the huge amount of slavery that was taking place.

The reading on the “Lieutenant Nun” was pretty cool, and it is truly an amazing story. Catalina de Erauso showed great daring, bravery, and willingness to follow her feelings/instincts in escaping her convent in Spain, and coming all the way to America to start a new life as a conquistador. She had many crazy stories to tell, both from America and back in Spain, before she left. These included living with her brother, him unknowing of her identity, before eventually killing him in a duel where she did not realize it was him whom she was fighting. She was a great fighter, and definitely not unwilling to use her sword. And later, once she revealed her true identity, she was met with a relatively good reception, which I found somewhat surprising.

Week 2 Response

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The video/readings this week were very interesting. I knew a bit about Columbus before, but not much more than the fact that he had “discovered” America, and did so in quite a cruel and cold manner. So I enjoyed getting some more details on the subject, as well as reading his own personal accounts. My opinion on him hasn’t changed much, though, and I still view him in a negative light.

Just from the video, there were a few interesting things that came up. First off is the quote from Todorov, talking about how the ‘discovery of America’ served as the invention of the modern European “self”, via the American “other”, and that it ‘marked the beginning of the modern era’. This just makes one think of the effect that all of these events had not only on America itself, but also on the rest of the world, and its history. Another thing that I found interesting is the fact that there was actually debate over “the significance or morality of [Columbus’] achievement” as far back as the 16th Century. I suppose that this makes sense, but it’s something that I hadn’t really thought of before, and it’s something that I am glad to hear.

Now getting into Columbus’ journal itself, I found it to be a pretty cool read. Columbus is obviously captured by the beauty of the land, and some of the things he describes really do sound wonderful. But you also get a good sense of the coldness of Columbus, and he makes his motivations of finding riches and pleasing the King and Queen of Spain, at the expense of the natives, quite clear. He looks down upon the natives, as though he is naturally superior to them. He tries not to be hostile towards them, though, as he wants them to trust and support him and his men, for when the Spanish return later.

And finally, just to touch on the second reading piece, I thought that it was a very cool idea, and well executed. The writing felt very real, and it stirred feelings of anger and sadness at the treatment of the Incas by the Spaniards.

2014 Videos Response

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I thought that most of the videos from last year were pretty well done, and that almost all of them at least managed to fulfill their main purpose, which is to provide the viewer with some information on Latin America. That being said, many of them did end up boring me, and I believe that had to do with either a lack of engagement from the speaker, a lack of engaging images, a lack of music, or some combination.

A few, however, did stand out, with one of these being The Terror. They spoke with a clear voice, and sounded like they had some interest in the subject, which in turn made me more interested. The videos they used were appropriate for the content, and overall you could just tell that they were prepared and knew what they were talking about. The use of music also really helped. Another video that I liked was Citizenship and Rights in the New Republics. This one had a pretty basic format, but I just thought that it was very clear, and managed to stay interesting. They used a lot of text to reinforce what they were saying, and I found this to be very helpful, as it allowed me to follow what was going on. They chose some nice music that, even without any videos, allowed me to stay engaged.

There were also a couple of videos that stood out as being below par. Speaking Truth to Power had a very basic format, with it being them just sitting in front of a camera, speaking without much interest. You could tell that it wasn’t very well rehearsed, and to add onto all of that I could barely even hear the second speaker. Another one that I thought was pretty poor was The Meeting of Two Worlds. I actually thought that the images they provided, with the information on them, were pretty useful, but other than that there wasn’t much to like about this video. The speaking to the camera felt unrehearsed, and there was just a general lack of flow, which often ended up losing me.

Introductory Post

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Hi, my name is Samy Megalli. I’m from Seattle, WA, in the United States. I was actually born in Istanbul, Turkey, but moved to Seattle when I was three with my mom and older brother. My mom is Russian and Kyrgyz, and my father was Egyptian. He died in 2011. I’ve been to many places around the world, going to visit my dad and step family, as well as family on my mom’s side. One place I’ve never been to, but really want to go, is South America! My biggest interest is probably soccer, or fútbol. I love to play and to watch, and the team I support is my local team, the Seattle Sounders.

There is no particular reason why I chose to take Latin American Studies, other than it sounded interesting. Also, I really like history. I look forward to learning more about Latin America!