Week 12:

It is often said that the worst thing one can experience is the loss of a child. Listening to The Madres of the Plaza de Mayo of Argentina, it becomes clear that the torture of not knowing if your child is passed is at least equal. The mothers and grandmothers in this video clip plea to an unknown person begging for answers, hopeful for the best, but as long as they know where their child is. Where there child's child is is the bear minimum. Considering this as a part of Latin America's long history of genocidal acts, both overt and subtle, being both inflicted upon and inflicted by, it's evident that this fits in here. The tearing of children from family, from identity, from culture fractures everyones' roots. The children have had their past ripped from them; the family, the mothers have had their future torn away. The desperation goes beyond the transfixed power of the mothers in this short clip and echoes in volumes when they speak of the "anguish" they feel because they don't know if their children "are cold, if they are hungry". When the doors that supposedly stay open for everyone, even the most violent, close their doors to childless mothers, where should they go look? When should they stop?

Week 10: Power to Peron

Examining the different interpretations in translating Eva Perón's speech (August 1951), where her apparently moving words reached over a million people, where "she discovered the power of the crowd" (176). This happens to be the opposite of what is often seen in areas where there is such a strong and vast history of political turmoil and tension, Perón's speech that evening reached so many ears in a variety of ways that there is no unifying point of it except for the power it arose from it's audience. As Perón addressed the crowd as the head of the Peronist Women's Party of Argentina despite her failing health it became evident that the people wanted not only to support her, and have her support her husband, but they wanted her. Their continuous interruptions reportedly made it impossible for anyone to settle the crowd, let alone finish her planned speech, it went from a lecture to a conversation. Maybe this is one of the reasons the crowd loved her so much, they wanted someone to not only talk for them, but to listen to them. The dissenting opinions from journalists covering this story underlines the conflicting views not only held about Latin America from other nations, such as the New York Times anti-American representation of Perón's speech, but also within Argentina. This being the 1950's where women's rights were limited internationally also marks upon an important turning point in women's involvement in politics both domestically and internationally. The representation of her talking in this conversation further represent the journalist, and by extension their nations, differing views of powerful women in politics, one with many interruptions and missing key paragraphs in the recording might signal her silencing. It alternatively my be paying respect to the nation's fierce support for such a powerful First Lady.

Week 9: Taking Literary Stock

Examining the levels of respect currently held for Indigenous people globally, we have to remain conscientious of the methods in which we interact and pay respect to the cultures of the people's who's land we reside on. In Latin America this is truly evident with the historical to present portrayal of the Indigenous people, we go from castas paintings to Disney, with an advancement unprecedented in its lack of actual speed. This so called advancement is called into question by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart by their calling out of the "Noble Savage" in their essay From the Noble Savage to the Third World. Depicting Disney's representation of the Indigenous people in Mexico, "Aztecland", and representing Indigenous cultural identity through gross appropriation and racism. The essay continues to analyze the harmful stigmas that are represented through the framework which the "Noble Savage" is represented. Although this essay is from 45 years ago, its criticism are as valid as they were then, the frame which Indigenous people of Latin America area "allowed" to exist and represent themselves and their ancestral identity is influenced heavily, if not dictated, by the oftentimes shallow perspective of mainstream media.

Week 8: Rubén Darío's To Roosevelt

Reading through Rubén Darío's To Roosevelt (1867-1916) makes it clear the attitude against President Roosevelt and the United States' actions during his years as president (1901 - 1909). The emotions and the principles addressed by Darío within this poetic article are themes that, unbeknownst at the time, would remain relevant for years to come. Darío contextualizes the hypocratic irony of America having such a progressive leader, for example animal rights or opposition to Tolstoy (L10), Darío goes on to acknowledge Roosevelt's "cultured" and "skillful" (L10) state. To an extent, Darío uses Roosevelt as synecdochal for the whole of the United States. The mastery in the fight for equality on subjects that directly concern the people's immediate interest. Rubén Darío describes the United States' as a "future invader" (L6) of states not void of Indigenous people, in particular, Central America. He further depicts a historically ironic insult that the United States "lack[s] one thing: God" (L51), even though the United States is rich, and is godly in it's presence, it lacks the relation to God through their natural surroundings which Darío reminds the audience has an expansive and lively history that Euro-United States hasn't been long involved in which makes Central America superior in the conduct and affairs of it's proper business.

Week 11: The Terror

Focusing on Latin America (L/A) during the 1970's through to the end of the 1990's there emerges a pattern of new wars. Two examples that come to light in the 1980's is the 1) the proxy war occurring in Guatemala between US and USSR with China and 2) Peru's dirty war as a part of their civil war. The contrast between these two conflicts coincide with their attempts to differently create "prosperous peasantry" (Max Cameron); to change the rural structure during this time period. Where Guatemala suffered from a largely external conflict conducted within the agricultural and political infrastructure of the state, Peru's conflict stemmed largely from a "collapse of rural production" (Max Cameron) following the land reform enacted. Despite these differences in quasi core issues, the effects parallel on another. The use of right wing Death Squads used by the governments upon rural dissidents who were largely Indigenous, black or impoverished communities in rural areas.
Although systemically these issues are obviously heavily influenced by colonialism and their attempts to advance naturally being repeatedly interrupted through intervention from the USA (proxy wars and further colonialism) and other nations.

Article Review: Casta Paintings

Diana DiPaolo Loren argues in her article in the journal of Historical Archaeology titled “Corporeal Concerns: Casta Paintings and the Use of Images in Archaeological Interpretations” that the main issue of simply analyzing the 18th century’s casta paintings through only an archaeological perspective. Loren aligns herself with other critics such as Gallaway, Wylie or Stahl on the opinion that in ignoring “archaeological, ethnohistorical and visual” (Loren, 27) differences between the (approximately) 500 casta paintings it results in a simply “functional” (27) understanding of culture. Allowing other perspectives in order to examine these pieces of art and through highlighting (Loren; Hall, 1992, 2000. 27) the differences or supposed juxtapositions “illuminate central contradictions” (27) faced within 18th century Latin America (including Mexico and Texas); perspectives on how people should act within specific racial socioeconomic classes. Reading Diana DiPaolo Loren’s perspective allows those of us the opportunity to re-examine our proper interpretation of these pieces; to see how the smaller details of portrayal belay different perspectives on the sociopolitical environment of 18th century Latin America.

Diana DiPaolo Loren, Historical Archaeology, Vol. 41, No. 1, Between Art & Artifact (2007), pp. 23-28

Not unlike the previous article, Rebecca Earle contends a new model for examining the socioracial stratification depicted within the 18th century’s casta paintings through her paper “The Pleasures of Taxonomy: Casta Paintings, Classification, and Colonialism”. However this article focuses on the aspect more of the intent of the paintings as not so much being reflective of that era in society, but rather to represent the “outcome” (Earle 2016, 428) of racial mixing through depiction of family composition and social status. Earle also investigates the epistemologies which arose during the Enlightenment period that contributed to the popularity of socioracial classification and representation of families within colonial Latin America. The oftentimes racially idealistic portrayal of the people within the typical 16 frame casta paintings “that so captivated Enlightenment thinkers” (432) resulted from the visually aesthetic manner in which they saw their own ideas of racial classification harmoniously represented. These ideals may have been upheld through things like clothing, diet and setting which also upheld the belief of “passing” as or actively changing the caste you belonged to through simple changes to one’s outward appearance; this is prevalent globally today. In short, Earle describes a debate of the “outcome” (428) of racial mixing within Latin America during the 1800’s Enlightenment era.

Earle, Rebecca. The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 3 (July 2016), pp. 427-466

Week 7: "Export Boom as Modernity"

Throughout the 20th century we see revolution after revolution, the response of the elites to their supposed victimization and threat to privilege. Alec Dawson delves into the response of the elites following the diminished  oppression against ethnic and gendered marginalized peoples when tools were "no longer being used by the subject" (Dawson, Golden Age of the Export Oligarchy). Examining agricultural and technological advancements as a catalyst for both the furthering of oppression and the alleviation of oppression throughout specific casts of people, the lines of social progression becomes blurred. The invention of barbed wire used to divide and classify land ownership furthering the division between the growing upper/middle class and the more rural population. While these more urban workers may experience more opportunity to social development and rights, it was to the detriment of the rural population. Composition wise, these more rural areas were traditionally inhabited with the mestizo, Indigenous, population including those of other marginalized ethnicities. This fortified the dichotomy between the classes and plays into later themes of white feminism. Essentially unlike other places, Latin America's so called rise to independence was less linear when we look at the mass introduction of technologies to Latin America as "the modern instruments of oppression" (Dawson, Golden Age of the Export Oligarchy).

Week 6: Citizenship and Rights in the New Republic: ERASURE

The readings ,much like the prior weeks didn't dwelve into anything too shocking, that within itself is kind of horrifying. Something I did extract as an underlying issue for the independence movements in L/A was a form of ancestral/ethnic  (ethnic for a lack of better term) erasure. The role this played in the undermining of citizens from uniting with people of similar ancestral colonial relations and erasing all issues that didn't effect the ruling classes in a negative way. This similarly parallels the erasure of current issues facing the Black Lives Matter Movement, wherein people erase issues of marginalization and violence by "not seeing colour", or stating that these people are "all just Americans",  like what was said in this weeks readings where the Peruvian government was recalled saying such things as there's no such things as "Indians", that everyone is now just Peruvian. These types of "micro"-violences erase the reality of those in marginalized groups/communities by denying identity to these groups and enforcing horizontal or internalized racism. Internalized and horizontal violences can work their way into these communities/peoples and reinforce already present doubt and/or self hatred. This has never been okay and as the interference of people obtaining their rights has always been  (later) deemed as unlawful and unethical, so must be deemed the process of erasure.
 These actions have and will always be just an attempt to stop progress of marginalized communities in either establishing or obtaining their literal human rights, fortunately, these actions while generally win battles, do not win wars of equality.

Week 5: Caudillos Versus the Nation State

Comparing the excerpts from Alex Dawson's Latin America Since Independence from last week to this week's Esteban Echeverría's The Slaughterhouse (1838/1871) we move from speeches where the main power comes from rhetoric and recycling authors to a highly religiously powered text. The main purpose of Echeverría's The Slaughterhouse is to belay a perception of historical events through his lenses which he chooses to present the events as a sort of God influenced cosmic retribution for mans' sins. The creation of this story, whether true or not, is one of few examples or stories told from a traditionalist perspective during this time period in Latin American history.

Combining Narratives

Much like anything written, spoken, read, watched or otherwise left to interpretation of an audience, specific members of the audience will always interpret the message of the speaker in the way that suits them best. From the Bible to the Qu'ran to Lord of the Rings to any historical document in the world, people will take the action of explaining the meaning of something to what serves their own interests best. Relating to the excerpts from Dawson's Latin America Since Interdependence (LASI) to different peoples' interpretations of actual events such as Esteban Echeverría's Slaughter House (aka El Matadero) or interpretations of other's author's works such as Hugo Chávez's speech at the XII G-15 Summit (2014) invoking Pablo Neruda's poetry and piggybacking Simon Bolívar's rhetoric to push his own political agenda. These being good or bad is not really the subject of importance rather the rhetoric and diction deliberately chosen from and the intent of that interpretation. We see that the use of Neruda's Chant to Bolívar both reinforces and defines Bolívar as the "father" of modern politics in the region as well as preemptively endorses the proposition Chávez is about to announce. These sorts of interpretations create a rich tapestry which intricately weaves the history of such a diverse region together through art, politics and social revolution.

The Colonial Experience

I think it's important to recognize the diversity of Latin America and it's incredibly complex history of immigration. Keeping this in mind, to recognize where some of the sensualization or fetishization of these stories comes from; the story of Catalina de Erauso, or the Lieutenant Nun being a perfect example. One of the major draws of this memoir, besides it being nearly 400 years old, is the fetishization of the transsexual, transgender or cross dressing young Erauso. This young person was raised in a granted, less than ideal setting for anyone, yet almost idealistic for any other woman of this era was afforded, had the opportunity to escape, which they promptly took at the age of 15 as they started onto a journey only bringing benefit to themself.
By no means would I think Erauso particularly worse then any other European colonizer of the 1600's, nor somehow exempt of their acts of violence they alone committed, what I would argue is that Erauso did what they believed they had to do in order to survive. This is not an argument on their gender identity or their gender presentation, nor sexuality, but rather a statement of facts, Erauso went beyond their personal safety to insulate themselves and become who they had to be in order to feel safe. From the stealing to the lying to the murders and even considering the sexuality, these things all present a desperate desire to feel safe, successful and desired.
At the end of the day, Erauso was not a great person, a terrible icon for any community (LGBT2SQ+, trans, women, colonial, or otherwise), recognizing the main reasons for their claim to fame through literature are frankly unremarkable. Their depictions of life details events they held important, things that iff others were as educated or whose families held these relics in such condition may have rendered this account less then amazing leaving the only draw of their "un-explainable" sexuality or gender presentation to account for their sudden rise in popularity nearlu 200 years ago. There are numerous reasons why this documentation holds valuable historic information, but less about why this account in particular if it were to be written by another.

Christopher Columbus

Reading Columbus' journals leaves me with a reinforced belief that Columbus may not be the villain of Euro-American history, but he played a very significant role as a villain. Although the reality that understanding does not time travel well, the things Columbus did were against the beliefs of his own God, the Church through Antonio de Montesino, Bartolomé de las Casas and the Spanish heads of state, including, albeit arguably, King Ferdinand II and his son King Charles V during that time period. Although the violence Columbus committed against the Natives of the Americas' was horrific, it was far from surprising. The thing I found most surprising in these excerpts were the lack of the details of what he did to the peoples he had plans to "subjugate" as when the Lucayan peoples refused his orders or him stating “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand". Unfortunately, this seems to be in the further future of Christopher Columbus.

Read more: 

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/14/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day-151653

In Defence of the Indians, Bartolomé de las Casas

About Me

Hi, my name's Mikayla Milne.

I come from Victoria, the lowest part of Vancouver island and was born in Seattle, Washington. Basically still Canada distance wise. I hope that in this class I will broaden my understanding of the world and other cultural groups about a part of the world I know rather little about.