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History and the way that we use it as a society is so important. Everyone is familiar with the saying “history repeats itself”, a phrase that comes with a warning: no matter the consequences of events that have happened previously, it is inevitable that similar events will come to occur in the future. Between politiciansContinue reading "A Response to: Independence Narratives, Past and Present" read full post >>

Studying the history of my country, especially the independence part, is both disappointing and infuriating to me. The disappointment comes from being taught in school that our independence was a direct byproduct of our fight for liberty. I remember that one year we had an illustration competition on Independence Day (September 7), in which theContinue reading "Week 4 – Independence Narratives" read full post >>

It was interesting to compare and contrast the three narratives of independence this week. Between Bolívar’s “Letter from Jamaica”, Martí’s “Our America” and Chávez’s speech at the G-15 Summit, all narratives expressed the importance of acknowledging Latin America’s independence. I found myself particularly interested in Martí’s essay. José Martí, being a poet and journalist — […] read full post >>

This weeks readings are focus on how the populations in ‘Latin American’ began to protest against the imperialist rule of the countries that ‘owned’ them. The experience between North America and ‘Latin American’ experience differ considerably on their yearning for independence. The majority of the population in ‘Latin American’ countries were forced there, rather than […] read full post >>

I never really questioned the exact transition of power in Latin America. There always appeared in my head a simple... read full post >>

Up until taking this course, I did not realize how complex and somewhat confusing the hierarchies of the Spanish were at the beginning of the 19th Century. Most commonly, the Peninsulares (Spanish people born in Spain) viewed the Creoles (those born in the colonies) as inferior, the Creoles viewed the mixed populations (Mullatoes, Mestizos, etc.) …

Continue reading "Revolutionary Hypocrisy: 1815 to 2019"

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During the colonial age of Latin America, powers of different origins set governing rule over a people that did not have a say in what they wanted for or from those in power. These colonizers imposed new government structures and societal forms that created social unrest amongst the populations marginalized by the colonized states. AllContinue reading "Week 4: Generalization Turned Diversification" read full post >>

For this week's blog post, I want to discuss Marti's narrative. In Puerto Rico, Marti is revered as one of the most influential intellectuals of the Caribbean in the last two centuries. Thus, I desired to historically investigate his contribution. Namely, this post will attempt to explain and contextualize Marti's "Nuestra America."

The article was written in 1891 in New York. It's written as a direct response to the first Pan-American Conference that took place in 1890. The conference tried to establish a diplomatic relationship between North and Latin America. Thus, the utmost objective of the meeting was the establishment of Pan-Americanism as a new way of interaction between the two hemispheres. But, José Martí did not agree with this conceptualization of uniting these two hemispheres. He tried to oppose this concept by emphasizing the differences between the United States and “Our America.“

To understand Martí‘s essay, it's also crucial to analyze what was happening in Cuba. Under Spanish occupation, Cuba was struggling hard to become independent from Europe, while also fighting the potential threat of its neighbor North America. After the U.S. had successfully taken over California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah as well as parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas from its neighbor Mexico, it seemed to be more and more interested in Cuba as another addition to its territory. In addition to this threat from Cuba‘s North American neighbor, it was still trying to liberate itself from its colonizer in Europe. After the Grito de Yara in 1868, the first declaration of independence, Cuba was at war with Spain for ten years, which very much helped it to form a distinctive Cuban identity, but also had profound impacts on its economy. In the Paz de Zanjón (Peace of Zanjón) Spain tried to make some minor concessions that were rejected by the rebels. José Martí then founded the Revolutionary Party of Cuba in 1892 and mobilized Cuba to rise again against Spain in 1895.

This is the situation in which José Martí wrote his famous essay “Nuestra América.“ He tries to create a Latin American identity and to liberate Latin America from the oppression of the powerful neighbor North America and the former colonizer Europe. The article is addressed to his own people, especially Cuban intellectuals living in exile, as a call for unity and shared identity, but also to Europe and the United States for them to understand the differences between North America and Latin America. read full post >>

For this week's blog post, I want to discuss Marti's narrative. In Puerto Rico, Marti is revered as one of the most influential intellectuals of the Caribbean in the last two centuries. Thus, I desired to historically investigate his contribution. Name... read full post >>

I think the patterns explored this week were really interesting. To know that Bolívar’s letter was that influential, that it is still a major point of reference in the 21st century is incredible. A lot of the themes expressed in the letter were also mirrored in Martí and Chávez’ later contributions. I’d like to take […] read full post >>