This week’s topic, “the colonial experience” is largely centred on the ways in which colonialism expressed itself with regards its impact on the societies and peoples which it touched. Colonialism, as a very complicated phenomena finds expression in many modes, and has had wide-reaching impacts that persist today. Nevertheless, colonialism tends to strike in a pattern of faultlines in social fabric, compartmentalizing populations and polarizing relations. Of those faultlines, two are especially highlighted in this week’s readings: race in Casta Paintings, and gender in the case of Lieutenant Nun. Race is a…read more
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with castas, colonialism, divisions, faultline, gender, race, social constructs
Although I had learned about Spanish colonization and the conquistadors briefly in junior high and high school, I didn’t really know much about the Casta paintings until doing this week’s readings. What surprised me about the article of the Casta paintings was that these artifacts were controversial even in their day, albeit the controversy was […]
What became of the America’s after colonization was a complex process of cultural diversification. It is interesting to see how after 1942, the continent of America (both North and South) became diversified in terms of the different races and peoples that began to settle in the Americas. The Casta Paintings are a very clear example […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, colonial experience, indigenous, mestizo, population
I will be honest – Before LAST100, I had never heard of Casta Paintings before. However, after watching the lecture video, reading “Casta Paintings” by Susan Deans-Smith, and taking a closer look at these paintings, I have learned a fair bit. Casta paintings depict the different mixes in Latin America, starting with 3 different ‘purebreds’ …
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, social heirarchy
So this week was focused on the Casta Paintings or grouping of people based on race. It was used for social control and often dictated someones role in the social system. Some defining characteristics depicted in the paintings were the clothes the people were wearing. Generally the “purer” European descendant wore the most elaborate and expensive clothing. So Spain during this time of colonization and expansions of the new world seemed to be having a sort of identity crisis in the homeland. They wanted to create a more uniform land….read more
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, race
So this week was focused on the Casta Paintings or grouping of people based on race. It was used for social control and often dictated someones role in the social system. Some defining characteristics depicted in the paintings were the clothes the people were wearing. Generally the “purer” European descendant wore the most elaborate and expensive clothing. So Spain during this time of colonization and expansions of the new world seemed to be having a sort of identity crisis in the homeland. They wanted to create a more uniform land….read more
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, race
I was standing at a museum in Mexico when I learned for the first time of the names and titles given to all the mixture of races. I remember being baffled while I stared at the chart of names that seemed to continually grow. My mom explained that after the conquistadores came, the Spaniards and […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, Catalina de Erauso, Colonial, Mexico, race
The idea of a “crisis of representation” was initially raised in the previous lecture video, about the “Meeting of Two Worlds.” It was mentioned in relation to the definition of Latin America, given the uncertainty that surrounds the general understanding of what Latina America actually is. As a set of complexities and challenges come about in trying… Continue reading Identities →
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with colonial experience, crisis of representation
First and foremost, I would like to say shoutouts to Jon’s haircut in this one. It looks nice.
Re: Religion as Weapon
In one of our previous classes, we discussed (briefly) the use and implementation of religion re: the new world. In my group, we discussed that religion has the ability to be used as a weapon intended to indoctrinate people. One of my classmates in the discussion called himself a “recovering catholic”, and never have I found a term with more relatability than that one. Upon leaving this discussion, I wondered if there was any room for spirituality in religious institution. It seems to me that in history (such as the Philippines, which was also a Spanish colony at one point), religious institutions are primarily used to instill certain morals and ideas in the best interests of the colonizers. The term “ethnic cleansing” comes into play in the lecture in pertaining to this, with the King and Queen of Spain made it clear that an unwillingness to concede to their religion would be punishable by death. I find it really tough to come up with a response to this aside from silence and a lot of lingering thoughts all pointing to “that’s so wrong.” Really depressing stuff.
///
Re: Casta Paintings
Casta paintings are an interesting breed, as they function as art pieces, as well as a potential piece of anthropological and historical research for a shifting culture. I kind of see a lot of relevant contributions that casta paintings. The first being the aforementioned potential piece of anthropological and historical research of latin american culture during colonial rule. It allows us, as people who are looking into history and culture, to contextualize and peer into the ideals and societal perceptions of the spanish colonial elite on the growing society they are a part of, as well as how they perceived groups of people. However, that component is dedicated more to the future (us as observers) as opposed to the present of the casta paintings. I feel like casta paintings have the capacity to be construed as blueprints for to literally box in certain groups into certain stereotypes. And even as anthropological and historical research, they can get pretty unreliable at certain parts, like having certain groups of people labelled as “I don’t know understand you are” or “a step backward”. There are points when looking at and reading about casta paintings where it’s remarkably easy to say “that’s problematic”.
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, colonialism, cultural appropriation, ethnic cleansing, indoctrination, problematic, religion, Spain, spanish
First and foremost, I would like to say shoutouts to Jon’s haircut in this one. It looks nice.Re: Religion as WeaponIn one of our previous classes, we discussed (briefly) the use and implementation of religion re: the new world. In my group, we discuss…
Posted in Blogs, Week 3 | Tagged with casta paintings, colonialism, cultural appropriation, ethnic cleansing, indoctrination, problematic, religion, Spain, spanish
