I found the speech by Hugo Chávez to be the most interesting of the the reading this week as it highlighted how many countries in Latin America struggled against the lingering grasp of colonialism. In his speech, he refers to the Simón Bolívar and the Letter from Jamaica (which was written a century ago at the time); though […]
Much like anything written, spoken, read, watched or otherwise left to interpretation of an audience, specific members of the audience will always interpret the message of the speaker in the way that suits them best. From the Bible to the Qu’ran to Lord of the Rings to any historical document in the world, people will take the action of explaining the meaning of something to what serves their own interests best. Relating to the excerpts from Dawson’s Latin America Since Interdependence (LASI) to different peoples’ interpretations of actual events such as Esteban Echeverría’s Slaughter House (aka El Matadero) or interpretations of other’s author’s works such as Hugo Chávez’s speech at the XII G-15 Summit (2014) invoking Pablo Neruda’s poetry and piggybacking Simon Bolívar’s rhetoric to push his own political agenda. These being good or bad is not really the subject of importance rather the rhetoric and diction deliberately chosen from and the intent of that interpretation. We see that the use of Neruda’s Chant to Bolívar both reinforces and defines Bolívar as the “father” of modern politics in the region as well as preemptively endorses the proposition Chávez is about to announce. These sorts of interpretations create a rich tapestry which intricately weaves the history of such a diverse region together through art, politics and social revolution.
Posted in Blogs, Week 4 | Tagged with Independence Narratives Past and Present
Much like anything written, spoken, read, watched or otherwise left to interpretation of an audience, specific members of the audience will always interpret the message of the speaker in the way that suits them best. From the Bible to the Qu’ran to Lord of the Rings to any historical document in the world, people will take the action of explaining the meaning of something to what serves their own interests best. Relating to the excerpts from Dawson’s Latin America Since Interdependence (LASI) to different peoples’ interpretations of actual events such as Esteban Echeverría’s Slaughter House (aka El Matadero) or interpretations of other’s author’s works such as Hugo Chávez’s speech at the XII G-15 Summit (2014) invoking Pablo Neruda’s poetry and piggybacking Simon Bolívar’s rhetoric to push his own political agenda. These being good or bad is not really the subject of importance rather the rhetoric and diction deliberately chosen from and the intent of that interpretation. We see that the use of Neruda’s Chant to Bolívar both reinforces and defines Bolívar as the “father” of modern politics in the region as well as preemptively endorses the proposition Chávez is about to announce. These sorts of interpretations create a rich tapestry which intricately weaves the history of such a diverse region together through art, politics and social revolution.
Posted in Blogs, Week 4 | Tagged with Independence Narratives Past and Present
Much like anything written, spoken, read, watched or otherwise left to interpretation of an audience, specific members of the audience will always interpret the message of the speaker in the way that suits them best. From the Bible to the Qu’ran to Lord of the Rings to any historical document in the world, people will take the action of explaining the meaning of something to what serves their own interests best. Relating to the excerpts from Dawson’s Latin America Since Interdependence (LASI) to different peoples’ interpretations of actual events such as Esteban Echeverría’s Slaughter House (aka El Matadero) or interpretations of other’s author’s works such as Hugo Chávez’s speech at the XII G-15 Summit (2014) invoking Pablo Neruda’s poetry and piggybacking Simon Bolívar’s rhetoric to push his own political agenda. These being good or bad is not really the subject of importance rather the rhetoric and diction deliberately chosen from and the intent of that interpretation. We see that the use of Neruda’s Chant to Bolívar both reinforces and defines Bolívar as the “father” of modern politics in the region as well as preemptively endorses the proposition Chávez is about to announce. These sorts of interpretations create a rich tapestry which intricately weaves the history of such a diverse region together through art, politics and social revolution.
Posted in Blogs, Week 4 | Tagged with Independence Narratives Past and Present
This week’s readings discussed the various stories of independence from the 1800s, focusing on Latin America. I personally was intrigued…
Posted in Blogs, Week 4 | Tagged with Chávez, independence, Martí
Dawson’s first chapter reinforces the point made in the introduction that Latin America is more of an idea than a physical place as the history of each country is unique and in many ways independent from one another. While most countries in North America were host to revolutions between 1790 and 1830, each has a […]
After reading the “Letter to Jamaica” by Simon Bolivar, it really got me thinking if colonialization is actually a good idea, however, I don’t think I have enough knowledge about the Latin America history to judge. To me I feel like, Colonialization allows the colony to develop way faster than it could have originally, by…
The Jamaica Letter or “Carta de Jamaica”, written by Simon Bolivar on September 1815 and addressed to English merchant Henry Cullen served to justify Latin American Independence and ask for English help supporting the cause. After having lost a number of military and political disputes with the government of Cartagena, Bolivar flees Colombia for Jamaica hoping […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 4 | Tagged with Bolívar, independence, Jamaican Letter, The British
Generalization is an issue that’s present almost everywhere in Latin America, and it is false because even though someone can identify themselves as Latin American, within a region, there is an immense diversity of language, culture, customs, beliefs, traditions, economical stance, political view etc. A good example of differences within a region would be the communities of… Continue reading Week Four – Independence Narratives, Past and Present
