This week’s lecture “Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age” mainly focuses on the poem “To Roosevelt” (the original Spanish title being “A Roosevelt”) by Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, and the differences between Latin America and the United States. For this week’s blog post, I would like to focus on the question “What emotions ofContinue reading “Week 8: Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age”
This week’s topic asked the question: given that modernity and the export boom were coming (in all its superficial, gilded glory), what would be the cost for Latin American countries? One element seems to have been almost a positive feedback loop – new technologies introduced by modernity (railroads, telegraphs) lead to more upheaval in Latin […]
The anger and opposition to the United States’ interventionism that is expressed in Rubén Darío’s poem “To Roosevelt” still is…
As we have discussed previously, Latin America is an extremely diverse place. This, combined with the residual left by the casta system, leads to a separation of groups; a lack of national solidarity. This has various effects. From last week we learned these barriers resulted in the unequal distribution of modernization/progress, that the benefits ofContinue reading “Week 8: Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age”
A conversation with Alec Dawson
week 8 lecture (video)
Throughout history, there are several works of literature that can guide us and help us to understand in a very exhaustive way a certain era of the unique history of our world. Sometimes and in various contexts it may be that the pen and the inkwell, w…
Throughout history, there are several works of literature that can guide us and help us to understand in a very exhaustive way a certain era of the unique history of our world. Sometimes and in various contexts it may be that the pen and the inkwell, when accompanied by a current mind and a surface on which the owner of that clever and perceptive mind can write, are the most useful tools for painting a historical moment. Surely, the outstanding poem A Roosevelt by Nicaraguan Rubén Darío written in 1904 is a good example of this phenomenon, as it allows the reader to perceive the acute feelings of Latin Americans more than a century ago during the summit of the era of US imperialism in American continent.
Written in the early twentieth century during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, this poem can be seen primarily as a social order text and in addition to a strong denunciation against the continued interference of the United States government in national matters concerning Latin American countries , particularly from the Caribbean. The United States, which is described by the poem as a powerful but unjust entity that continues to carry out its interventionist and selfish policies, is represented by the unpopular and imposing figure of Theodore Roosevelt – its imperialist president at that time that had already harmed and considerably dismissed the Latin American people and lands during his presidency.
Undoubtedly, this work forms an essential and valuable part of the historical complex not only of Latin America but of the whole world, and that is why it is worth reading and analyzing it. In addition, despite the fact that it is often despised by many people, this poem continues with the tradition of literature that has a truly significant impact on history and even today to better understand the events of our past
It is interesting to think about Latin America in the 1900’s as a mix of progress and, sometimes, regress. As mentioned before, in the 20th century Latin America experienced many positive changes, like the modernization of the industry sector, as well as the buiding of more roads and rails across country. But at the same […]
I was very interested in the aspect of fear that seemed to drive most of the events that the readings discuss. It seemed that throughout the Americas, every group of people was scared of another group. That fear sometimes led those groups to lash out at another, creating a self-sustaining cycle of fear as violence […]
