This week, we covered the violent wave of terror that swept through Latin America during the late nineteenth-century. Despite this being a very sad and tragic period for Latin America, I was interested in learning why and how these events occurred. Anyways, these are my thoughts on the subject, and what I understood from the […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 11 | Tagged with Civil War, communism, latin america, military, sendero, violence
This week, we covered the violent wave of terror that swept through Latin America during the late nineteenth-century. Despite this being a very sad and tragic period for Latin America, I was interested in learning why and how these events occurred. Anyways, these are my thoughts on the subject, and what I understood from the […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 11 | Tagged with Civil War, communism, latin america, military, sendero, violence
This week we have been looking at “power to the people” and certain political leaders that transformed Latin America.
Populism having been characterized as having charismatic leaders being able to easily speak to people because of their use of speech. This tactic I have noticed has been around for ages, I remember having studied Julius Caesar and exploring the ways in which he speaks to his people, and he had been able to get the vote of people because of the way he would speak- and this would be by coming down to their level instead of speaking as if he was superior to them. We can see this trait used by many leaders today in the world.
Populist on the other hand I discovered contrasts greatly with the ideas expressed above. It is, in fact, negative as they are seen to be going against the views of the majority. Populist leaders will also deny the fact that they are these types of leaders.
Peronism is also explained in the video, it incorporates socialist ideals as opposed to capitalist ideals. By using simple ordinary language Peron became a popular character.
Whilst all these ideas, theories and concepts were being introduced, it happened during a time were mass communication was being introduced. This had been done through radio, photography and other forms of technology. Moreover, the number of people that had begun living in cities as opposed to urban areas had also significantly increased. Due to the number of people that had moved into the cities, shows and radio was increasingly popular and almost everyone had access to these. These types of technologies was used as a tactic to gain the vote of the people. Radio shows like the “Agentine President” Juan Peron used a radio show to connect to their people. He had wanted to put an end to oligarchy and even though he had been imprisoned he was able to make a huge difference through his radio show which his wife, Evita managed to take control off after- this was also during a time where women were emancipated so they were allowed to have rights for themselves and this was one way that they were able to voice their opinions.
Although radio was increasingly popular back in the days, I feel as though it is no longer significant in today and there are newer techniques that are being used to harness power and control over people- like fear. Most recently with Trump and even Putin. My question for this week was how did leaders like Peron manage to win over people that had no access to radio-communication or technology? Especially for those who lived on the outskirts of the city.
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Evita, latin america, Perón, Power, radio, Theories
This week as we are moving towards the 20th century, we are seeing more and more of USA’s influence and presence in Latin American culture, economy, etc. As there were no lecture/interview videos or podcasts, I decided to watch the “Silent War”, which I found pretty interesting. Since I had no idea what Silent war … Continue reading Week 9
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with banana land, Banana Republics, coercion, economy, fiebre amarilla, good neighbour, imperilaism, latin america
This was an extremely interesting topic to read on. It was basically about the ideas of Roosevelt and how the pictures of Latin America were depicted towards the rest of the world. Such could be cartoons and live action documentary series with Walt’s Disney. These shows described Latin America as beautiful, friendly and lively. Until today I didn’t realise the amount of Latin American influence on television. There had been in shows like Donald Duck and a few others which show and illustrate Latin America’s ideals and the country as a whole. One such instance of Latin American influence in cartoons is when Donald dances to Samba music. Even though this is minor it still shows a lot about the country itself and portrayed how Latin America had been associated with things like dance and music at the time, and even now.
These shows were mostly used to provide propaganda and the interactions between Latin America and USA in order to provide some sense of stability in the eyes of the Europeans.
The lecture also talks about the drug cartels and how the US was not doing enough in order to prevent such situations. I was shocked to discover that US had invaded Latin America over 20 times in the 20th century and it makes me question what they wanted from them as they kept coming back to invade.
Moreover, the lectures explore the dominance of the USA on the rest of the world and how they have huge involvements and interventions with regard to South America and other countries in the world.
The topic of imperialism is also explored: It is associated with a ton of other words such as globalization. The country used the “divide and conquer” method for its own selfish interests. The second video done by students was very interesting. Over 4 minutes of the start of the video was about Banana’s and their adverts and how it had become a monopoly. Some countries like Guatemala relied on such goods and because the US was a monopoly at the time other countries suffered while the US thrived.
I can now see and relate to certain perspectives that have been explored within the student video and the lecture videos as it is evident how US controlled such a huge part of the world and kept wanting more dominance from other countries for their own selfish reasons.
For a fact I know that the US is still one of the most powerful territories in the world, but do events such as these still happen today? Are there any current situations like US and Latin America but with other countries instead?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with bananas, dance, Disney, greed, Guatemala, Imperialism, latin america, Music, south america, USA
The whole history of “the Banana Republic” is an interesting concept! I didn’t know that bananas had to be scientifically altered in order for them to grow effectively and create a fruit that we see as a staple in most homes. It’s interesting that there was a whole company dedicated to fruit (UFCO), and that […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 9 | Tagged with bananas, Corruption, latin america, trade, U.S
Before I finish my blog, I just wanted to say that I had a bit of a harder time understanding this weeks subject. I was even debating writing this post after the class just so I could get a better grasp on the topic. Also, midterm season has taken a bit of a toll on […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 8 | Tagged with Change, latin america, Mexico, Reform, revolution
Before I finish my blog, I just wanted to say that I had a bit of a harder time understanding this weeks subject. I was even debating writing this post after the class just so I could get a better grasp on the topic. Also, midterm season has taken a bit of a toll on […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 8 | Tagged with Change, latin america, Mexico, Reform, revolution
