LAST100

Through the readings of Bolivár, Martí and Chávez, I think I was able to gain a better idea of the mentality that existed in Latin America before and during the battles for Independence.  I think all of them were quite similar in their ideas and desires. Both Bolivár and Martí highlighted a desire for an independent, united Latin America. Both questioned the Spanish rule by asking how could someone who didn't know the nation and its people govern them? While I think Martí was criticizing the colonial rule with a desperate tone that illustrated the resentment that had been arising throughout Latin America, I think Bolivár had a rather optimistic attitude. He had clear visions for the future of Latin America, and he was certain that the Spanish rule was going to come to an end. However, I was left quite surprised at the end where he says:  " The Indians living there can be civilized, and our territorial possessions could be increased with the acquisition of the Goajira Peninsula...

This week we discussed how the colonization influenced the Latin American identity. During the colonial rule, Latin American demography came to consist of a great diversity of people; Europeans, the Indigenous peoples and Africans. Casta paintings are a visualization of the desire to make sense and control this extensive diversity of population. I had personally never heard about these before, and to be honest, I found their message quite confusing. Each one of them portray a family with the mother and the father being of different races, and their child, which is, naturally, a mixture of the parents. My first impression was surprise. I was mostly surprised that they portrayed mixed raced families, because my initial thought was that the Spaniards wanted to reach homogeneity and avoid the intermingling between the people. However, I came to realize that they didn't portray all families as equals. White people are often painted in fancy clothing and in calm nature in the background....

I was never really taught in depth about Columbus and his trips to the Latin America, probably because I went to school in Finland. Maybe it was not considered as relevant for our worldview, since we are quite far from where this all took place. Anyway, I was practically told that there was this dude called Columbus, who was an explorer. He thought he went to India but in fact he sailed to South America. End of story. Later on in Argentina, I discovered that people disliked him and his trips to the Americas. My classmates would even ask my opinion about him, and I didn't know what to answer since I didn't even know that someone could have an opinion about him.  However, after watching the video and reading the journal, some of my preconceptions strengthened and others weakened. Firstly, even if Columbus doesn't appear as an evil person in his journals, his mindset and the way they treats the locals speaks for his actions. It strikes me how they clearly thought that the land...

I was genuinely surprised how good all these videos were! I personally prefer creative videos with clear speech and sound because it makes following them easier. Therefore, my favourite one was the "Aztek edition"- video by  Sophie Chevalier, Michelle Marin, Elena Munk, and Christiana Tse. I also liked this particular video for the little drawings they had made to illustrate the content they were explaining.  I also watched the "Brazilian Slavery and Abolition" -video by Linda and Magalee, and I found their work interesting. The way they delivered their message was clear and concise and the images were helpful and informative. I personally knew nothing about this topic, which was great, since they were able to teach me something new.  On the other hand, the video by Anna and Nisa called "Independence Narratives, Past and Present", was rather entertaining. I appreciated their creativeness, since they had put some clear effort into making the video fun and u...

Hello everyone!  My name is Emilia and I'm a 2nd year sociology student at UBC. I was born and raised in Helsinki, Finland, where I'll be spending this winter term. When I started at UBC I had planned to major in cognitive systems, which then turned out to be the wrong program for me. Hence, I changed into sociology and now I'm considering taking Latin American Studies either as another major or as a minor. My interest in Latin America primarily comes from my high school exchange year to Argentina. I spent a year living in Córdoba Capital, went to school there and experienced their day-to-day life. I fell in love with the culture, language and their way of living. I was also able to visit Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay and later on (last reading week, hahah) Mexico. I am not sure where a passion like this could lead in the future, but for now I am excited to gain insight of the region from an academic perspective. I look forward to gain a better understanding of the Latin Americ...