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During week 5, we learned about the era of caudillos in Latin America and how their reign forestalled the implementation of national government, democracy and modernization. We discussed the impact of the vacuum left by independence in creating this political phenomenon that became a corner stone in Latin American political history. However, there were many […] read full post >>

Constituent Assembly: One important aspect of Venezuela and its current crisis is a National Constituent Assembly. A National Constituent Assembly is a temporary parliament that is set up to draft or reform a Constitution[1]. Hugo Chavez was the first to call for a Constituent Assembly with the purpose of modifying the constitution that so far […] read full post >>

  Hugo Chavez   Hugo Chávez was born on July 28, 1954, in Sabaneta, Venezuela. He was president of Venezuela from 1999 until 2013, when he died of cancer. Early in his life he was introduced to ideas about Marxism and Communism. In 1971 he entered the Venezuelan Military Academy in Caracas, where he became […] read full post >>

This week’s reading applied an interesting component to the course that I haven’t really uncovered until now- Latin American counterculture movements. Though much of the readings described many themes and aspects that were already explored, like US intervention and the corruption of Latin American nations via politicians, the extension into this element into Latin American culture feels like an integral piece to the puzzle. Last week, I briefly mentioned the usage of music and culture to implement ideas within the populace (at least I remember writing that), now I feel like we’re discussing the ideas at work. The brief explorations of counterculture movements and the way the elite and governments go to repress the nation echo many sentiments made in different nations, I think about China’s cultural revolution in particular.

One of the most interesting components of this week’s readings was looking into llosa’s essay. I’ve been familiar with Llosa’s work for a while, but this is the first time I’ve encountered one of his essays. What gravitated me toward the essay was that he spent a lot of time with visual components. Films. Photographs. The interpretation of history through visual means as opposed to other forms of media is that is depicts reality as is. The introduction of visuals to the “dirty wars” allows and provides context to situations that are only described. read full post >>

This week’s reading applied an interesting component to the course that I haven’t really uncovered until now- Latin American counterculture movements. Though much of the readings described many themes and aspects that were already explored, like US... read full post >>

Jose Marti and Fidel Castro were two men who loved their country very much, that can not be denied. That country was Cuba. Though these men come at different very different eras of Cuba, Marti in the back half of the 19th century, and Castro in the back half of the 20th century. And even …

Continue reading "Cultural Independence of Cuba: Marti and Castro"

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Jose Marti and Fidel Castro were two men who loved their country very much, that can not be denied. That country was Cuba. Though these men come at different very different eras of Cuba, Marti in the back half of the 19th century, and Castro in the back half of the 20th century. And even …

Continue reading "Cultural Independence of Cuba: Marti and Castro"

read full post >>

The selected chapter for the team is Citizenship and Rights in the New republics, our focus is on women rights. As we saw through the course, after independence was reached another problem surged; Who belong to the country? What rights are people entitled? Are we all the same? Fortunately, these questions were “solved on their … Sigue leyendo Short research assignment → read full post >>

In Latin America during the late 18th– early 20th century caudillo leaders arose in societies that faced tremendous class conflicts. The idea of caudillismo is a “non-democratic rule by strong men, who generally arose via the military… and usually ruled with the support of the rural aristocracy” that spread around politically unstable regions in Latin … Continue reading Porfirio Diaz as a Caudillo read full post >>

My source for our video project (The Meeting of Two Worlds) is a journal article called Public Health in Aztec Society written by Herbert R. Harvey, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  The source focuses on Aztec society prior to colonization, particularly in the sector of public healthcare and sanitation.  Opening with statistics […] read full post >>