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Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire
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This weeks reading was very interesting to me. It is clear to me that learning about the market in commodities, like bananas, can shape outsiders' views about places of exportation/expropriation is important. To me, it really sheds light on how certain stereotypes were formed for political reasons. Cartoons establish/enforce stereotypes which allow empires of the global north to appear benevolent in their involvement in places such as Latin America and mask their hegemony to the public. In document 6.4 "From the Noble Savage to the Third World", Dorfman critically analyses cartoons to reveal their political role in hegemony in "third world" countries. Among many examples, Dorfman concludes that by stereotyping the people of developing nations as the "noble savage" excludes them from the use of their domestic resources because "noble savages" are "forbidden to become civilized" and "because [they do] not even understand that these objects have been produced" and/or they are "of no use" to them. The discourse evident in these cartoons reminded me of Columbus' Journal, when he described trading with the 'indians' bits of cotton or gold for pieces of broken plates. I wonder if this is where these stereotypes began? -this way of representing a society that one hopes to obtain dominance over. Essentially this is still colonialism that is taking place, whether Latin America has gained independence from Spain or not. In the early 20th century, in Guatemala, these tactics of domination happened on an international level (US-Latin American relations with UFCO) and on a national level (elites-indigenous relations) as well, at the beginning of coffee exportation in the 1870s. During this time, advertisements in Latin America strategically blended US ideals and Latin American familiarities to build consumerism. In the US, advertisements promoted consumerism of Latin American products by creating appealing imaginaries of a cultural 'other', while at the same time sending stereotypical/political messages to desensitize the public from injustices, and give reason for their political actions in Latin America. read full post >>
Caudillo State
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The Slaughterhouse (El Matadero), was written by Esteban Echeverria in 1858, when he was exiled from Buenos Aires and relocated to Montevideo. The piece comes at a time when Buenos Aires was enduring a brutal dictatorship, under the hands of Caudillo Rosas. Although the piece is a work of fiction, it reflects on the barbarism that existed at the time of Rosas dictatorship. Racial divisions, class divisions, and sexual tensions were highly prevalent during Argentinean society at the time, and The Slaughterhouse exemplifies a highly divided people. After the colonizing powers were thrown out of Latin America, caudillos such as Rosas took power, and created the highly violent and divided society that Echeverria comments on. It was very interesting to read about the barbarism that existed in Argentina at that time, as I spent two months in Buenos Aires this past summer. I knew that Argentina holds a highly violent past, full of passionate people who would go out to the streets and protest, as it happened many times while I strolled through “microcentro” in Buenos Aires. I past by a very busy street in Buenos Aires called Cabildo, and always wondered what it meant never thinking about looking it up. After reading Dawson’s text I know that cabildo’s were town councils of meeting for people in order to settle disputes, and other political topics. They were prevalent during the caudillo age, hence the similarity in the two words caudillo and cabildo. It is not hard to imagine Buenos Aires as having such a violent past, after having been there, and now knowing some of the actual history it possesses.
read full post >>Caudillo State
Posted by: feedwordpress
The Slaughterhouse (El Matadero), was written by Esteban Echeverria in 1858, when he was exiled from Buenos Aires and relocated to Montevideo. The piece comes at a time when Buenos Aires was enduring a brutal dictatorship, under the hands of Caudillo Rosas. Although the piece is a work of fiction, it reflects on the barbarism that existed at the time of Rosas dictatorship. Racial divisions, class divisions, and sexual tensions were highly prevalent during Argentinean society at the time, and The Slaughterhouse exemplifies a highly divided people. After the colonizing powers were thrown out of Latin America, caudillos such as Rosas took power, and created the highly violent and divided society that Echeverria comments on. It was very interesting to read about the barbarism that existed in Argentina at that time, as I spent two months in Buenos Aires this past summer. I knew that Argentina holds a highly violent past, full of passionate people who would go out to the streets and protest, as it happened many times while I strolled through “microcentro” in Buenos Aires. I past by a very busy street in Buenos Aires called Cabildo, and always wondered what it meant never thinking about looking it up. After reading Dawson’s text I know that cabildo’s were town councils of meeting for people in order to settle disputes, and other political topics. They were prevalent during the caudillo age, hence the similarity in the two words caudillo and cabildo. It is not hard to imagine Buenos Aires as having such a violent past, after having been there, and now knowing some of the actual history it possesses.
read full post >>Caudillo State
Posted by: feedwordpress
The Slaughterhouse (El Matadero), was written by Esteban Echeverria in 1858, when he was exiled from Buenos Aires and relocated to Montevideo. The piece comes at a time when Buenos Aires was enduring a brutal dictatorship, under the hands of Caudillo Rosas. Although the piece is a work of fiction, it reflects on the barbarism that existed at the time of Rosas dictatorship. Racial divisions, class divisions, and sexual tensions were highly prevalent during Argentinean society at the time, and The Slaughterhouse exemplifies a highly divided people. After the colonizing powers were thrown out of Latin America, caudillos such as Rosas took power, and created the highly violent and divided society that Echeverria comments on. It was very interesting to read about the barbarism that existed in Argentina at that time, as I spent two months in Buenos Aires this past summer. I knew that Argentina holds a highly violent past, full of passionate people who would go out to the streets and protest, as it happened many times while I strolled through “microcentro” in Buenos Aires. I past by a very busy street in Buenos Aires called Cabildo, and always wondered what it meant never thinking about looking it up. After reading Dawson’s text I know that cabildo’s were town councils of meeting for people in order to settle disputes, and other political topics. They were prevalent during the caudillo age, hence the similarity in the two words caudillo and cabildo. It is not hard to imagine Buenos Aires as having such a violent past, after having been there, and now knowing some of the actual history it possesses.
read full post >>Doc 3.5 “Women: Dedicated to Miss Maria Eugenia Echenique” (Josefina Pelliza de Sagasta)
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In this extract, Josefina Pelliza refutes Miss Maria Eugenia’s ideas on the present condition of women during the 19th century. She believes that making women “entirely free”, such as the independence of men, would lead to the loss of their charms and poetic prestige of their weakness. She also highlights the idea that women have a sacred throne in the household (where they best belong), which doubles their beauty. She claims that independence of women would lead to a change in society, in the aspect that a change in gender...read more read full post >>
Doc 3.5 “Women: Dedicated to Miss Maria Eugenia Echenique” (Josefina Pelliza de Sagasta)
Posted by: feedwordpress
In this extract, Josefina Pelliza refutes Miss Maria Eugenia’s ideas on the present condition of women during the 19th century. She believes that making women “entirely free”, such as the independence of men, would lead to the loss of their charms and poetic prestige of their weakness. She also highlights the idea that women have a sacred throne in the household (where they best belong), which doubles their beauty. She claims that independence of women would lead to a change in society, in the aspect that a change in gender...read more read full post >>
The Bolivarian Dream Still Resonates Today
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Hugo Chavez’s speech at the opening of the G15 summit still firmly believes that a unified and strong Latin America would prosper. This idea began with Simon Bolivar and inspired many politicians up to today. Both Simon Bolivar’s Letter Fro... read full post >>
The Bolivarian Dream Still Resonates Today
Posted by: feedwordpress
Hugo Chavez’s speech at the opening of the G15 summit still firmly believes that a unified and strong Latin America would prosper. This idea began with Simon Bolivar and inspired many politicians up to today. Both Simon Bolivar’s Letter Fro... read full post >>
The Bolivarian Dream Still Resonates Today
Posted by: feedwordpress
Hugo Chavez’s speech at the opening of the G15 summit still firmly believes that a unified and strong Latin America would prosper. This idea began with Simon Bolivar and inspired many politicians up to today. Both Simon Bolivar’s Letter From Jamaica and Hugo Chavez’s speech sustain clear similarities about Latin America’s position, despite being produced almost 200 years apart, and this is what most struck me about the chapter. Hugo Chavez emphatically challenges neo-liberalism throughout his speech, commenting that it was created by imperialists for their own personal interests. He comments on the north-south divide that exists in our globe today, which is widening and becoming more distant instead of improving. It was interesting to see how Hugo Chavez tried to get his point through, using a lot of statistics about poverty and especially children in Latin America, who do not live in conditions adequate to live. He criticized the inequality in Latin America, using as an example Mexico, where the richest man in the world lives, as well as having a vastly poor population. What most resonated in Chavez’s speech, was the international economic order that has demised Latin America to the position it sustains today. Chavez calls for the spirit of the south to be reclaimed, for the social and economic order to be improved. He acknowledges the fact that the south has had a “miserable role as backwards, exploited, and humiliated”. He ends his speech with a poem by one of Latin America’s most famous literary figures, Mario Benedetti, entitled The South Also Exists. The poem is basically a plead for the south to wake up, and for others to acknowledge the south also exists, something which has seemed to be forgotten. Chavez does the same, asking for the south to rise, and be acknowledged in the face of a global economic order in which Latin America has been exploited.
read full post >>Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age
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The documents in “Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age” all illustrate a common paradox of being secure in and proud of the Latin American identity, but insecure and vulnerable with regard to Latin American sovereignty. It seems that Latin American academics and writers express wanting more for their people, yet face internal conflict that […] read full post >>
