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Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire: Contesting Hegemony
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All the text in this chapter convey in one way or another the complexity of the American presence in Latin America. The first text, a manifesto composed by the guerrilla leader Augusto Santino in 1927 as he confronted the Marines, the most visible sign of United States hegemony. Moreover the second document, a film called Silent War, […] read full post >>
Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire: Contesting Hegemony
Posted by: feedwordpress
All the text in this chapter convey in one way or another the complexity of the American presence in Latin America. The first text, a manifesto composed by the guerrilla leader Augusto Santino in 1927 as he confronted the Marines, the most visible sign of United States hegemony. Moreover the second document, a film called Silent War, […] read full post >>
Donald Duck and American Hegemony
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By far the most interesting reading/film this week is Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, “From the Noble Savage to the Third World”. Disney movies have long been on my radar for American hegemonic agendas. Disney has reached all corners of the world. Whenever I visit my relatives in Argentina, they ask me if life in America is like in the Disney movies. These movies send messages around the world of what it looks like to live the American Dream and perpetuates the American mission to bring freedom and democracy to uncivilized, undeveloped nations around the world. It also instills ideas of the "undeveloped" world in the American population. Themes of the exotic, the foreign, the stupid, and the uncivilized are consistently characteristics of the people living in the settings taking place abroad. Donald Duck is one of the most extreme examples. Donald is a racist capitalist, exhibiting characteristics of greed and imperial attitudes.
Dorfman and Mattelart quote the Polynesian natives who imitate Donald, “You save our lives. . . We be your servants for ever.” to which Donald responds, “They are natives too. But a little more civilized” (159). This quote makes the direct connection between servitude and civilization. To be civilized means to be obedient, docile subjects of the foreign power. The natives are seen as being stupid, malleable people that could not understand the complexities of a modern civilization and are thus in eternal debt and dependent on foreign intervention. Their most convincing argument is on page 159. They describe the time Donald went to "Outer Congolia" to save Scrouge's business because his stock was falling. This example eerily resembles how neoliberalism has been functioning for the past, say 50 years. Scrouge's business represents corporate interest in foreign countries for resources and labor to optimize profits. Donald represents military intervention to coerce the government to structurally change economically and politically. Donald gets rid of the king of "Outer Congolia", makes himself king, and rules until: "The king has learned that he must ally himself with foreigners if he wishes to stay in power, and that he cannot even impose taxes on the people, because this wealth must pass wholly out of the country to Duckburg through the agent of McDuck.". Donald's purpose was to assure the alliance of the foreign country of many riches in a unilateral relationship with the states that favors corporate interests. The relationship continues in a dependent trap in which the foreign nation gives monetary aid or resource, in this case, food. In return for their obedience. Disney may seem like innocent child entertainment taking place in imaginary locales. However, It perpetuates American interests and exacerbates the narratives used to colonize and degrade foreign nations. read full post >>
Dorfman and Mattelart quote the Polynesian natives who imitate Donald, “You save our lives. . . We be your servants for ever.” to which Donald responds, “They are natives too. But a little more civilized” (159). This quote makes the direct connection between servitude and civilization. To be civilized means to be obedient, docile subjects of the foreign power. The natives are seen as being stupid, malleable people that could not understand the complexities of a modern civilization and are thus in eternal debt and dependent on foreign intervention. Their most convincing argument is on page 159. They describe the time Donald went to "Outer Congolia" to save Scrouge's business because his stock was falling. This example eerily resembles how neoliberalism has been functioning for the past, say 50 years. Scrouge's business represents corporate interest in foreign countries for resources and labor to optimize profits. Donald represents military intervention to coerce the government to structurally change economically and politically. Donald gets rid of the king of "Outer Congolia", makes himself king, and rules until: "The king has learned that he must ally himself with foreigners if he wishes to stay in power, and that he cannot even impose taxes on the people, because this wealth must pass wholly out of the country to Duckburg through the agent of McDuck.". Donald's purpose was to assure the alliance of the foreign country of many riches in a unilateral relationship with the states that favors corporate interests. The relationship continues in a dependent trap in which the foreign nation gives monetary aid or resource, in this case, food. In return for their obedience. Disney may seem like innocent child entertainment taking place in imaginary locales. However, It perpetuates American interests and exacerbates the narratives used to colonize and degrade foreign nations. read full post >>
Donald Duck and American Hegemony
Posted by: feedwordpress
By far the most interesting reading/film this week is Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, “From the Noble Savage to the Third World”. Disney movies have long been on my radar for American hegemonic agendas. Disney has reached all corners of the world. Whenever I visit my relatives in Argentina, they ask me if life in America is like in the Disney movies. These movies send messages around the world of what it looks like to live the American Dream and perpetuates the American mission to bring freedom and democracy to uncivilized, undeveloped nations around the world. It also instills ideas of the "undeveloped" world in the American population. Themes of the exotic, the foreign, the stupid, and the uncivilized are consistently characteristics of the people living in the settings taking place abroad. Donald Duck is one of the most extreme examples. Donald is a racist capitalist, exhibiting characteristics of greed and imperial attitudes.
Dorfman and Mattelart quote the Polynesian natives who imitate Donald, “You save our lives. . . We be your servants for ever.” to which Donald responds, “They are natives too. But a little more civilized” (159). This quote makes the direct connection between servitude and civilization. To be civilized means to be obedient, docile subjects of the foreign power. The natives are seen as being stupid, malleable people that could not understand the complexities of a modern civilization and are thus in eternal debt and dependent on foreign intervention. Their most convincing argument is on page 159. They describe the time Donald went to "Outer Congolia" to save Scrouge's business because his stock was falling. This example eerily resembles how neoliberalism has been functioning for the past, say 50 years. Scrouge's business represents corporate interest in foreign countries for resources and labor to optimize profits. Donald represents military intervention to coerce the government to structurally change economically and politically. Donald gets rid of the king of "Outer Congolia", makes himself king, and rules until: "The king has learned that he must ally himself with foreigners if he wishes to stay in power, and that he cannot even impose taxes on the people, because this wealth must pass wholly out of the country to Duckburg through the agent of McDuck.". Donald's purpose was to assure the alliance of the foreign country of many riches in a unilateral relationship with the states that favors corporate interests. The relationship continues in a dependent trap in which the foreign nation gives monetary aid or resource, in this case, food. In return for their obedience. Disney may seem like innocent child entertainment taking place in imaginary locales. However, It perpetuates American interests and exacerbates the narratives used to colonize and degrade foreign nations. read full post >>
Dorfman and Mattelart quote the Polynesian natives who imitate Donald, “You save our lives. . . We be your servants for ever.” to which Donald responds, “They are natives too. But a little more civilized” (159). This quote makes the direct connection between servitude and civilization. To be civilized means to be obedient, docile subjects of the foreign power. The natives are seen as being stupid, malleable people that could not understand the complexities of a modern civilization and are thus in eternal debt and dependent on foreign intervention. Their most convincing argument is on page 159. They describe the time Donald went to "Outer Congolia" to save Scrouge's business because his stock was falling. This example eerily resembles how neoliberalism has been functioning for the past, say 50 years. Scrouge's business represents corporate interest in foreign countries for resources and labor to optimize profits. Donald represents military intervention to coerce the government to structurally change economically and politically. Donald gets rid of the king of "Outer Congolia", makes himself king, and rules until: "The king has learned that he must ally himself with foreigners if he wishes to stay in power, and that he cannot even impose taxes on the people, because this wealth must pass wholly out of the country to Duckburg through the agent of McDuck.". Donald's purpose was to assure the alliance of the foreign country of many riches in a unilateral relationship with the states that favors corporate interests. The relationship continues in a dependent trap in which the foreign nation gives monetary aid or resource, in this case, food. In return for their obedience. Disney may seem like innocent child entertainment taking place in imaginary locales. However, It perpetuates American interests and exacerbates the narratives used to colonize and degrade foreign nations. read full post >>
North America and Neo-Colonialism: Week 9 Reading
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While the term neo-colonialism is usually applied to the period after 1960, when the former metropoles of European imperialism created policies that sought to economically subvert their former colonial subjects in Africa and Asia, the situation of Lati... read full post >>
North America and Neo-Colonialism: Week 9 Reading
Posted by: feedwordpress
While the term neo-colonialism is usually applied to the period after 1960, when the former metropoles of European imperialism created policies that sought to economically subvert their former colonial subjects in Africa and Asia, the situation of Lati... read full post >>
Chapter 6: Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire
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Chapter 6 Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire touches on the deep history of the relationship between the United States of America and Latin America, and how colonization has significantly altered both these regions. The views on the American presence in Latin America are rather interesting, as it states they are often viewed as a violent […] read full post >>
Ch. 6. Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire
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The first document of chapter 6 took me by surprise. First off, I just recently finished reading Gabriel Garcia Marques’ Cien Años de Soledad, and made some amazing connections with Sandino's Political Manifesto. Sandino was a liberal rebel alongside general Moncada. His manifesto claims Moncada as a “greedy traitor” for compromising with the Diaz and the conservative government. Cien Años de Soledad has a character names Moncada who governs the town of Macondo for a short time during the war, but in Garcia Marquez' novel Moncada is a Conservative. It is the character Colonel Aurelinano Buendia who more realistically represents Moncada in the narrative, or perhaps Sandino himself. Sandino clearly objected US intervention in Latin America and especially his country of Nicaragua. He describes the desirable climate of Central America which provide fertile lands for the production of natural resources and foods which have converted Central America into an epicenter for trade. He may specifically be eluding to the Nicaraguan Canal in the Manifesto, but also to the United Fruit Company (UFCO) and the US railways. This is another huge element to Marque’z novel: the Banana company. The US expanded its empire throughout central America by bringing new technologies and influencing the industry. They took advantage of the tropical climate to grow Banana plantations as well as many other foods and used railway to make the trades.
read full post >>The next document I would like to comment on is “From the Noble Savage to the Third World”, by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, 1970. This write up addresses the problems caused by the US popular media and culture (predominantly by Disney); it establishes a common ideology of who foreign people are and what their lands are like. The issue is that the foreign socio-political problems are made comical or “cartoonicized” by Disney. This, in turn, creates a huge misunderstanding and underestimation of the intelligence and sophistication of other nations and cultures, and places the US above everyone else. The cultural stereotypes of foreign lands are exaggerated into a mythical savagery and directed towards a young audience. For the children who do not question these stereotypes, they grow to know nothing else about these countries besides this equivocal sketch. What I gather from this write up is that the authors are trying to point out this single media (Disney) as one of the many influences on the US common beliefs that undermines an even larger misdirection.
Chapter 6
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I found it interesting that the chapter began with discussing the separation of cultures between the North and the South, and that America is " is often represented in simple terms, as a violent oppressor or noble saviour" (pg 181-182), and then is described "The United States has been a violent and often unwelcome presence in Latin America" (pg 182). This attitude of looking at the United States with both a positive and negative light is carried on in many aspects. For example, the discussion of Carmen Miranda, and how she became widely well-known in Brazil, and when she had the opportunity to go to the United States she gladly went and as a result left her home country behind. This showed the fact that the United States is so dominant, and draws upon the attitude that one is not truly successful until they have "made it" in the USA, However, there were positive factors as well, as tourism in Brazil greatly increased, as well as attention to Latin America as a whole.
Document 6.4. I found this reading especially interesting, as it focused on Disney and the heavy stereotypes that are not only used in cartoons, but also comics and Disneyland itself. Starting from the stereotype of Mexico in "Aztec land" showing all the prototypes of Mexico, without showing the actual facts about the country itself. " Disney did not, of course, invent the inhabitants of these lands; he merely forced them into the proper mold" (pg 201). This reading also goes into detail about specific cartoons and dialogues which show stereotypes of underdeveloped countries, and the feeling of prestige by the United States. The example that stood out the most for me personally was the very first one, in which Donald Duck is speaking to a witch doctor in Africa. This dialogue translates to the fact that Africa may have many goods (telephones in this example) but few are useful, as well as putting Africa into the mold of continuously being in debt. Luckily these types of cartoons do not appear to be produced anymore.
read full post >>Chapter 6
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I found it interesting that the chapter began with discussing the separation of cultures between the North and the South, and that America is " is often represented in simple terms, as a violent oppressor or noble saviour" (pg 181-18... read full post >>
