Caudillos Versus the Nation State and The Slaughterhouse

     

     When reading the second chapter of "Latin America since Independence", something that I found interesting was the difference of opinion between the North and South in terms of the stealing of Santa Anna's wooden leg. The North perceived it to be "a prize, won through American ingenuity" (Page 47) as well as a symbol to show North America as a superior nation as well as having the ability to control itself. The people of Mexico have a very different view of this however, as they portray it to be a symbol of the misfortunes their country, as well as the cruelty and lack of respect from their neighboring country. Something that I found interesting was the complexity of feeling towards Santa Anna. He obviously must have been well respected due to the fact that he was elected to rule Mexico a stunning eleven times, but he was also a ruler in times when citizens had very little to no individual power.

 

     While I was reading "The Slaughterhouse" I noticed that the most prominent point which was repeatedly brought up was the Catholic churches' influence on the people. From the very beginning of the reading, which begins with Lent, the church orders for the faithful to fast, an to be gluttonous is a characteristic of the sinners. While the church was accepting towards the children and the sick to eat minimal amount of meat, however, the butchers that supplied the meat, who were Federalists as well as Catholics, would avoid the specific groups of people whom went against the churches orders. The author seems quite sarcastic at points, for example: "How strange that there should be stomachs subject to inviolable laws and that the church holds the key to all stomachs!" (Seen on the top-half of page sixty-two) which displays the control the church has over the people, which is repeatedly shown in other instances throughout the text. "A time may come when it will be forbidden to breathe fresh air, take a walk, or even to have a conversation with a friend, without first obtaining permission from the competent authorities" Which is found in the middle of page sixty-two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1 Reading

I found it interesting that in the introduction that the textbook is not just about a particular Latin American past, but stories which are considered to be crucially important, and these stories are linked in a way which can be decided by the reader. I found this interesting because Latin America is such a large and diverse place, it is difficult to be able to fit so much history into a single textbook. It was a thought provoing point made when t was mentioned that the united states is often a common enemy of many of the people in Latin America, as it they feel the united states has been fueled by the struggles of latin amercia. contradictory, the United States is an immensely popular destination for immigrants hoping to achieve a better life for themselves as well as their families and generations to come.

In Chapter 1, It mentioned that there was no significant event where there was suddenly independence for Latin America, as it makes it o look as if this had happened in North America.Especially since Latin America is such a large, diverse place, it is difficult to pinpoint one certain event at which independence was granted. Haiti was the first republic to ban slavery, and they also gained independence, which had a strong influence on other places. When the war broke out, the slaves ay have acted in different ways, but always with freedom as their desired outcome. In Brazil however, the saves were understood as being depended on for the economic well being of the country, and even after Brazil did gain independence, slavery was saved.

Lieutenant Nun and Casta paintings

I found this reading very interesting right from the start. The fact that Catalina was only raised with her family until the age of four was very surprising to me, as she was then sent to the convent to begin her training as a nun. This caused her to have absolutely no relationship with her family, especially her parents, as is revealed later in the passage. When she sees her father after leaving the convent, Catalina seems to have no emotional feelings towards him, which is understandable as she hardly ever knew him. Later, when Catalina goes back to the Convent to go to a mass an sees her mother, it is clear her mother looks right at her but does not recognize her own daughter.After Catalina left the convent, she was extremely fortunate in the people whom she met, as don Francisco de Carralta welcomed her into his home immediately, without even knowing she was in relation to his wife. This is a story od tremendous courage and self-belief, as Catalina made the decision to masquerade as a man an managed to keep this choice a secret until she told other herself.

 The Casta paintings were fascinating in the fact of the negative views on them in the 17th century, but all of this disappeared by the 18th century, an they became coveted and people would be willing to pay large sums of money in order to obtain one. The controversy in these paintings trailed back to the fact of the mixed race couples with mixed children. Back in Spain, the indigenous people were still thought of as inferior to them. The painting show a different view of the people, as they appear to be in urban setting, well dressed, and in some cases working different sorts of jobs. This would defy the European view, and cause them to worry that they may not be able to control the indigenous people as they had previously hoped.



The Voyage of Christopher Columbus

The Voyage of Christopher Columbus and Guaman Poma, The first New Chronicle

 

I found Christopher Columbus's log of his journey very interesting. Since I had never learned about his voyage in high school, this is the first time I had a more detailed description of him an his life. I did need to look up terms throughout the reading, specifically referring to distance as leagues. In the beginning, every passage mentioned how many leagues they had travelled, and how many leagues he told his crew they had travelled, which was a considerable amount less. He said later that his crew was complaining about how far they thought they had travelled without even reaching land, but I thought that was strange because I personally feel it would be an accomplishment to travel so far. Once they finally began to find land, which was done so by many ways including being given clues by the types of birds they found themselves surrounded by, I found the responses of the people to these new strangers interesting. On some islands, the people would gather at the beach and welcome them, making trades of anything they could to learn about these sailors. However, at other islands, Columbus and his men would never even see the people, they would only find abandoned homes  that had obviously only recently been fled from. Some people on islands had no idea about the usage of weapons, some even grabbed a sword blade with bare hands, wile others and made their own weapons, an were always ready for an attack. The main thing about this reading that interested me was all of the details of the journey, such as the fact that they could not continue the journey for so many days because the weather was to poor and the wind was not going in the desired direction. Gold was important in both of these passages, as it was more abundant than it is in Europe. Some places Columbus travelled every person was wearing some type of gold or silver, and on other islands the people said that only the kind had the luxury, and was surrounded by  it.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Julia and I am a first year arts student. I plan on majoring in Linguistics and Psychology, and I hope to get my masters in Speech Language Pathology. I am from North Vancouver, and I would really love to travel more. In high school I went to England, Scotland, and Greece with my school and I would really love to go to Latin America, which is part of the reason I am taking Latin American Studies. I took Spanish for three years in high school, and my teacher would tell us stories about her experiences in Mexico and it fascinated me. In my spare time I enjoy running, skiing, skating, biking, and spending time with friends.