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Short Research and Writing Assignment (The Meeting of Two Worlds)
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Balderas’ paper titled “Death During the Conquest Era” connects to our group’s theme “The Meeting of Two Worlds” through their discussion of funeral rites practiced by the Mexica/Aztec/Nahua people (which I will refer to as Mexica as that is the term Balderas uses) and how these rites changed during the Spanish Conquest. Balderas first mentions … Continue reading "Short Research and Writing Assignment (The Meeting of Two Worlds)" read full post >>
Short Research Assignment
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Susan Socolow’s The Women of Colonial Latin America (2000) takes a look at the lives of Creole, Indigenous, African, and... read full post >>
Casta Paintings-SHORT RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
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Summary of Mey-Yen Moriuchi’s; The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Paintings
My source for our group presentation is based off Week 3 topic of Colonial Latin America focusing on the hierarchical system of race and classification during the eighteenth century. These hierarchical systems were portrayed in forms of vivid illustrations called “casta paintings”. The article by Moriuchi explores and examines the art form and the ways that had been used represent Spanish, Black and the Indian population of Latin America at the time. It also gives an interesting view on the other side of the world when it compares these paintings to what had been going on in eighteenth century England, much like the casta paintings, English conversation pictures had been used to express social beliefs about the place of an individual in a society. In this summary, I explore the main abstractions and ideas discussed in the article with regard to the casta paintings.
Moriuchi begins by explaining the term ““conversation,” [1] (Moriuchi, 8)
She then introduces the colloquial terms like the “Spaniard, Indian, Mestizo, Black, Mulatto, Lobo, Chino and Albino”- these had all been terms used to identify people of mixed races that lived during the colonial period in New Spain eighteenth century. The series of casta paintings consists of twelve to sixteen images on a canvas each having a man, woman and a child. The first few canvas show Spaniard and Indian mixes and there after the next few canvases illustrate Spaniard and African mixes Africans and Indians were regarded as the least elite having the lowest position in the society and therefore occupied the lower canvases.
The kind of clothing worn by people in the canvas is also examined by Moriuchi who explains how the privileged mixes would be depicted wearing silk or cotton often holding cigars or eating fruits and vegetables in their gardens or parlors whereas the Africans and non-converted or “heathen” Indians would be depicted naked, lying on the floors of corridors and holding weapons like bows and arrows. She explains how this proliferation of race and hierarchy caused the privileged to defend whiteness because of how lavish they were pictured in these casta paintings.
Moriuchi emphasizes that casta paintings are in a way humankind’s way of “perpetuating one’s memory and preserving one’s effigy” for generations (Moriuchi, 14) in a way she is implying that artists of this century did such art as a way to understand the racial mixes these were seen as conversations both internally and externally to the world to show what had been going on at the time.
Reading this article made me realize a lot of things, Casta paintings had been “used as a means of communication” they were merely portraits of what artists saw in everyday life, I feel as though the images were taken out of context and were seen as permanent hierarchies when in fact they were only just observations and forms of art. To this day the paintings continue to evoke controversial perspectives about race and hierarchy.
Works Cited:
Moriuchi, Mey-Yen . “The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Painting.” Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue, vol. 5, 2012, pp. 1–25.
[1] derived from the Latin word conversation- described as a means of expressing social and familial propriety represented the family’s wealth and social status.
Research Assignment: Marti and the Threat of Imperialism
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In “Marti Anti-Imperialist,” Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring uses a number of Jose Marti’s works to illustrate the threat of imperialism in Cuba and in Latin America. Around the end of the 19th century—which is when Marti’s works were being written and published—the threat of imperialism was double ended. That is to say, it was coming […] read full post >>
research assignment
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In Matthijs Rooduijn's 2013 article called "The Nucleus of Populism: In Search of the Lowest Common Denominator", he identifies a criticism of the elite by the leader. This is a hallmark of populism, often colloquially called an "us versus them" mentality. Rooduijn argues that this is one of the most common techniques that populist leaders use, what he calls "the lowest common denominator". For the purpose of relevancy, I am only looking at Rooduijn's analysis of Perón.
Of course, another staple in being a populist leader is charisma, and Perón had plenty of charisma, but Rooduijn mentions that his language was very important. Rather than using flowery language that would alienate his working-class followers, he used language that they would understand with metaphors that made it interesting for the well-educated.
Rooduijn argues that Perón most emphasized the gap between the "good" (the people) and the "bad" (the oligarchy) and created a very large "us versus them" mentality among Argentines. However, I believe he missed out on the opportunity to address the hypocrisy in the sentiment of "us versus them". The people arguing that the people in power are bad often hold positions of power themselves, which can make populism seem disingenuous.
Rooduijn also argues that Perón opposed the oligarchy, but he was not polarizing. That is the secret to his success, but also to his downfall. Making everyone comfortable can be good for the image and for overall popularity, but it can also lead to broken promises that are all too common in Latin America. It's possible to straddle the center as Perón successfully did before but to do so is far too dangerous for anyone less charismatic than Perón.
Although Rooduijn takes the perspective that polarization can be a bad thing, I disagree. It is a stronger stance to stand behind your beliefs rather than taking a middle stance and trying to please everyone. Of course, this is not the way to get elected, which is why I am not a politician, but it is a very effective way of getting one’s message out into the world. If people hate this political view, they will continue to talk about it and spread your message out into the world where more people will be able to access it and decide for themselves. The “us versus them” mentality is a hallmark of populism, and Perón used it effectively during his time as president, but near the end, he too often tried to straddle the line between the beliefs of his supporters.
The “us versus them” mentality, or the blaming of one group of people, generally the elite, for the problems of the nation is one of the largest hallmarks of populism. This trope can be seen all the way from Perón to today, with the largest and most widely known example being the United States current political climate.
read full post >>Short Research Assignment
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My group’s Week is number 9 – Commerce, Coercion and America’s Empire. It discusses the history of the North American influence in Latin America, driven by an ambition to control the region and increase wealth. It talks about how that was done through a division of labour that favored the North Americans and put the […] read full post >>
Juan Manuel de Rosas
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Juan Manuel de Rosas can be described in many ways. An evil man filled with violence and corruption, who terrorized his province and its people for 23 years. Or, as a man that came into power during a time when Buenos Aires was in extreme disorder with Unitarian rule, and saved it. As a man […] read full post >>
Short Research And Writing Assignment
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Source 1 Russell Crandall & Savannah Haeger (2016) Latin America’s Invisible War, Survival, 58:5, 159-166, DOI: 10.1080/00396338.2016.1231537. For our group project, we decided to concentrate on the way that Latin American activist groups are portrayed in the media, and how this contributes to the overall outlook on activism in Latin America today. Together we chose […] read full post >>
Short Research And Writing Assignment
Posted by: feedwordpress
Source 1 Russell Crandall & Savannah Haeger (2016) Latin America’s Invisible War, Survival, 58:5, 159-166, DOI: 10.1080/00396338.2016.1231537. For our group project, we decided to concentrate on the way that Latin American activist groups are portrayed in the media, and how this contributes to the overall outlook on activism in Latin America today. Together we chose […] read full post >>
Casta Paintings-SHORT RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
Posted by: feedwordpress
Summary of Mey-Yen Moriuchi’s; The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Paintings
My source for our group presentation is based off Week 3 topic of Colonial Latin America focusing on the hierarchical system of race and classification during the eighteenth century. These hierarchical systems were portrayed in forms of vivid illustrations called “casta paintings”. The article by Moriuchi explores and examines the art form and the ways that had been used represent Spanish, Black and the Indian population of Latin America at the time. It also gives an interesting view on the other side of the world when it compares these paintings to what had been going on in eighteenth century England, much like the casta paintings, English conversation pictures had been used to express social beliefs about the place of an individual in a society. In this summary, I explore the main abstractions and ideas discussed in the article with regard to the casta paintings.
Moriuchi begins by explaining the term ““conversation,” [1] (Moriuchi, 8)
She then introduces the colloquial terms like the “Spaniard, Indian, Mestizo, Black, Mulatto, Lobo, Chino and Albino”- these had all been terms used to identify people of mixed races that lived during the colonial period in New Spain eighteenth century. The series of casta paintings consists of twelve to sixteen images on a canvas each having a man, woman and a child. The first few canvas show Spaniard and Indian mixes and there after the next few canvases illustrate Spaniard and African mixes Africans and Indians were regarded as the least elite having the lowest position in the society and therefore occupied the lower canvases.
The kind of clothing worn by people in the canvas is also examined by Moriuchi who explains how the privileged mixes would be depicted wearing silk or cotton often holding cigars or eating fruits and vegetables in their gardens or parlors whereas the Africans and non-converted or “heathen” Indians would be depicted naked, lying on the floors of corridors and holding weapons like bows and arrows. She explains how this proliferation of race and hierarchy caused the privileged to defend whiteness because of how lavish they were pictured in these casta paintings.
Moriuchi emphasizes that casta paintings are in a way humankind’s way of “perpetuating one’s memory and preserving one’s effigy” for generations (Moriuchi, 14) in a way she is implying that artists of this century did such art as a way to understand the racial mixes these were seen as conversations both internally and externally to the world to show what had been going on at the time.
Reading this article made me realize a lot of things, Casta paintings had been “used as a means of communication” they were merely portraits of what artists saw in everyday life, I feel as though the images were taken out of context and were seen as permanent hierarchies when in fact they were only just observations and forms of art. To this day the paintings continue to evoke controversial perspectives about race and hierarchy.
Works Cited:
Moriuchi, Mey-Yen . “The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Painting.” Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue, vol. 5, 2012, pp. 1–25.
[1] derived from the Latin word conversation- described as a means of expressing social and familial propriety represented the family’s wealth and social status.
