My name is Sabeeha Manji. I am a second-year student hoping to major in Political Science at the UBC. As a Kenyan, I feel that in school most of the history we learned was focused towards America and Africa as opposed to other parts/countries of the world. I have always been fascinated about Latin America but unfortunately know very little about it, and after recently starting the series “Narcos” I have become very intrigued about Latin America. I hope that taking this class will show me and give me more of an insight to the history of Latin America.
A few comments about the videos I have recently watched:
Modernity in Latin America:
The content was without a doubt very informative, especially with regard to how women and men would function in the society and their roles as well as the inequality with women at the time. I do not like how the video was presented however, it lacked creativity and the transitions to different topics relating to modernity in Latin America were not coherent. The joke they had in the video (about the pause for water) was quite funny.
Caudillos:
The music in the start was engaging and got my attention immediately. The rest of the video was very monotonous, although it was informative about who the Caudillos were- dictators of Latin America that became greedy because of the power. His disdain for the rule of law can be compared to Trump which I found interesting, showing that history really does repeat itself- even though it may come in different forms.
War on drugs:
Since I started watching the series I have always been curious about drug cartels in Latin America. This video was extremely detailed and the narrative done was extremely clear. It shook me as to how 362 drug dealers were killed in the 1980s. The methods in which drugs were concealed e.g through the bellies of fish was also new to me. Transitions done to show different locations in the video were done effectively and it was easy to follow along. The interview done was also very creative and provided a different insight as to how the local people reacted to drug wars and the cities that were involved. Overall it was extremely interesting and ended off well leaving us to think about certain ideas and perspectives.
Posted in Blogs, Week 1 | Tagged with 1980, caudillos, drugs, fish, history
Comparing the excerpts from Alex Dawson’s Latin America Since Independence from last week to this week’s Esteban Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse (1838/1871) we move from speeches where the main power comes from rhetoric and recycling authors to a highly religiously powered text. The main purpose of Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse is to belay a perception of historical events through his lenses which he chooses to present the events as a sort of God influenced cosmic retribution for mans’ sins. The creation of this story, whether true or not, is one of few examples or stories told from a traditionalist perspective during this time period in Latin American history.
Comparing the excerpts from Alex Dawson’s Latin America Since Independence from last week to this week’s Esteban Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse (1838/1871) we move from speeches where the main power comes from rhetoric and recycling authors to a highly religiously powered text. The main purpose of Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse is to belay a perception of historical events through his lenses which he chooses to present the events as a sort of God influenced cosmic retribution for mans’ sins. The creation of this story, whether true or not, is one of few examples or stories told from a traditionalist perspective during this time period in Latin American history.
Comparing the excerpts from Alex Dawson’s Latin America Since Independence from last week to this week’s Esteban Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse (1838/1871) we move from speeches where the main power comes from rhetoric and recycling authors to a highly religiously powered text. The main purpose of Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse is to belay a perception of historical events through his lenses which he chooses to present the events as a sort of God influenced cosmic retribution for mans’ sins. The creation of this story, whether true or not, is one of few examples or stories told from a traditionalist perspective during this time period in Latin American history.
Comparing the excerpts from Alex Dawson’s Latin America Since Independence from last week to this week’s Esteban Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse (1838/1871) we move from speeches where the main power comes from rhetoric and recycling authors to a highly religiously powered text. The main purpose of Echeverría’s The Slaughterhouse is to belay a perception of historical events through his lenses which he chooses to present the events as a sort of God influenced cosmic retribution for mans’ sins. The creation of this story, whether true or not, is one of few examples or stories told from a traditionalist perspective during this time period in Latin American history.
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with arts, blogpost5, caudillos, UBC, Week5
To be honest- I waited this week until after class to write my blog post because I had a hard time making sense of the readings on my own. I guess it was difficult for me to distinguish a “Caudillo” from any other politician, whether in the 19th century, or any time period. The concept […]
In this week’s reading, the topic of caudillo leaders after independence was introduced and discussed. From my understanding, caudillo leaders…
Caudillismo in Latin America developed when political consensus post independence disappeared. Politics was governed by the elite and policy was not appropriate in newly independent countries. Seeing this vacuum in political power, authority, and direction; caudillos were the next logical step in the political development in many of these countries. Argentina got Juan Manuel de […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 5 | Tagged with caudillos, LAST 100, Matadero, Rosas
The first thing that I would like to comment on is the ongoing theme of the Western liberal overstepping its boundaries. There seems to be a reoccurring phenomenon that could be called the “White savior complex”. In the case of post-colonial Latin America, it was the liberals who hoped to enforce a strong central power […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 5 | Tagged with caudillos, Slaughterhouse
The first thing that I would like to comment on is the ongoing theme of the Western liberal overstepping its boundaries. There seems to be a reoccurring phenomenon that could be called the “White savior complex”. In the case of post-colonial Latin America, it was the liberals who hoped to enforce a strong central power […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 5 | Tagged with caudillos, Slaughterhouse
