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The story of Catalina de Erauso is a shocking and interesting tale of one woman’s adventure. I had never heard of Catalina de Erauso before reading the extract from her memoir. Her tale seems fictional to me; I find it difficult to believe that all these events actually happened, it also bothers me that I […] read full post >>

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. read full post >>

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 Catali... read full post >>

The texts about the Casta Paintings and the Lieutenant Nun were both very interesting. The thing that resonated with me most about the Casta Paintings was the fact that they were enjoyed by Spanish society even though they depicted these mixed race peo... read full post >>

The texts about the Casta Paintings and the Lieutenant Nun were both very interesting. The thing that resonated with me most about the Casta Paintings was the fact that they were enjoyed by Spanish society even though they depicted these mixed race peo... read full post >>

The texts about the Casta Paintings and the Lieutenant Nun were both very interesting. The thing that resonated with me most about the Casta Paintings was the fact that they were enjoyed by Spanish society even though they depicted these mixed race peo... read full post >>

Castas Paintings, bring us to the unending question of what is latin America, and if there is any definition of it whatsoever. The paintings try to include all the mixture of races that took place in he territories during the colonial period, at the same time using the new terns to define these races. The […] read full post >>

The article on the Casta Paintings from this week’s readings honestly bothered me.  As I begun the article I empathized... read full post >>

It’s shocking to me that I haven’t heard about the Lieutenant Nun before. I feel that this would have been a concept more spoken about considering her actions and what she did was completely against the values specifically towards religion people had during her time. Overall I think what she had done was very brave, […] read full post >>

After reading this lecture about Lieutenant Nun, i just realised that she was a brave woman but also a desperate one. First of all, I think this kind of adventure started in the first place because her parents listed her as a nun and this was a very common thing in those times. The second […] read full post >>