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Chapter 6: Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire

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 […]

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Ch. 6. Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire

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.  

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.  

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Latin American Studies – Krista Anderson 2014-10-27 15:22:00

Chapter 6:I thought a major issue that this week’s reading and film touched on was stereotypes in both a negative and positive sense. Both films seemed very propaganda-like. They displayed cooperation between the Americas as a whole: the first in fight…

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Latin American Studies – Krista Anderson 2014-10-27 15:22:00

Chapter 6:I thought a major issue that this week’s reading and film touched on was stereotypes in both a negative and positive sense. Both films seemed very propaganda-like. They displayed cooperation between the Americas as a whole: the first in fight…

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What’s wrong with Donald Duck?

Very interesting sources for this week. Starting from a political manifesto and ending with a close analysis of Donald Duck. And yes- two short films. The feeling I got from the video’s was a sort of a disgust. I don’t … Continue reading →

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Week 9: On “Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire”

It has been hard for me to read the first half of this chapter calmly and unemotionally. As if China’s misery in the 19th and 20th centuries inflicted by European and American imperialism had not stung me enough, the similar experience that Latin America undertook reminded me of the interest-driven nature and ruthless measures of some if not all states. The claim […]

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Week 9: On “Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire”

It has been hard for me to read the first half of this chapter calmly and unemotionally. As if China’s misery in the 19th and 20th centuries inflicted by European and American imperialism had not stung me enough, the similar experience that Latin America undertook reminded me of the interest-driven nature and ruthless measures of some if not all states. The claim […]

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Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire – Daniel

Augusto Sandino’s Political Manifesto (document 6.1) is a text with which I can really empathize. It’s strange for me to think of the Chamorro family as a malign one, as Sandino did, because I know their descendants. They’re people I have known for a couple of years now (I actually met some of them at a […]

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Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire – Daniel

Augusto Sandino’s Political Manifesto (document 6.1) is a text with which I can really empathize. It’s strange for me to think of the Chamorro family as a malign one, as Sandino did, because I know their descendants. They’re people I have known for a couple of years now (I actually met some of them at a […]

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Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire

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…

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