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).