Chapter 2 - The Slaughterhouse

Echeverria's 'The Slaughterhouse' is a fascinating portrayal of the clash between the civilized ways of the Europeans and the violent and barbaric ways of the Americans. It constructs the idea of the butcher being a symbolic representation of a dictator and the bloody, gruesome slaughter of animals to be a physical representation of the suffering, anguish and destruction experienced by the Argentinian people during the Rosa dictatorship. It is clear from the beginning that Echeverria sides with the Unitarians, those who held strong christian beliefs whilst he rebelled against the Order of Rosa and the federal party who he describes as wild animals. The constant use of gruesome descriptions such as the '49 steers were stretched out on their skins' and 'nearly two hundred people trudged around in the sloughy ground the was drenched in the blood from the animals' arteries' further creates the symbolic imagery of mass killing and gross violations of human decency. This piece of literature has gone down in history as an important part of Latin American history; the long history of oppression and death has and I would argue, formed a key part of modern Latin American culture.

The chapter itself provides an interesting anecdote into the role the Church and the Emperor played the in the politics and lives of Latin Americans. Furthermore it describes the great difficulties that faced Latin America. Firstly, compared to the relatively United States who's population mostly resided in Easter cities with land that was relatively flat and easily traversable and greater Europe with established trading routes by both land and sea, Latin American colonies were isolated and difficult to get to. Most cities and ports were located around resources centres such as gold mines or nitrate deposits. Isolation most likely contributed to the ease and ability of foreign powers to oppress and rule freely the oppressed people of Latin America.

Dawson, Intro and Chapter One

As a reader and as someone who is relatively un-knowledgable about the history and culture of Latin America, this weeks reading provided a fascinating insight into the history of Latin America and where it has gone today. I found the that history itself is fragmented by the views of many different people an interesting one; similar to the idea that history is written by the victor, the history of Latin America has come from both European sources as well as local primary sources. Whilst over the years many scholars and politicians have dreamed of a united Latin America who had the both the power and resources to stand against Europe and the United States of America, the individual nature of the Latin America countries does not conduce well to inter-state cooperation on a grand scale. As clearly stated in the introduction, whilst the majority of Latin American's are Roman Catholics, the practice of this religion differs from community to community, from country to country. I am looking forward to reading further readings that don't provide the history of Latin America from single point of view but rather from many sources. I agree completely that history is fragmented and this approach should be used for other moments in history around the world. It should be impossible to create a single narrative without questioning what is written to be 'truth'.

Chapter 1 creates the idea that Latin America did not 'fight for its' independence' like the United States did or other countries around the world have done, but, as individual countries who rose up against their colonizers at different time. Whilst most shared similar views of oppression and a willingness to fend for themselves, these views were not shared by all at the same time. When one country overthrew their colonizers, the revolutions continued to spread like wild fire. This idea of a spreading revolution can also be seen in modern times during what is now known as the 'arab spring'. I think what occurred in Latin America was a natural reaction of human nature when they are oppressed and their freedom is robbed.

Lieutenant Nun and the Casta Paintings

The Casta paintings provide a unique perspective into the mixture of races within the Spanish colonies of Latin America. Commonly presented on a single canvas with 16 individual paintings, The artworks depict the mixture of Spanish colonizers and local indian. In some some cases, the racial mix includes Spaniards and blacks as well as Indian and Blacks. Initially it is quite clear that the paintings were criticized for sending back to Spain the message that creoles, the Mexican born children of spanish blood were relatively common. Presumably, Spanish nobles would have deemed creole children to be inferior and those involving themselves with primitive locals (having relationships and children with indians) would have been blasphemous. Furthermore, the paintings did not show the popularized image of drunken depravity associated with local indians rather 'productive labour, commerce and consumption'. The break down of the 'sistema de casas', the hierarchy of spanish colonisation that favoured the white as the dominant ruling class, had the potential to develop into resistance and potentially rebellion. This would have angered the Spanish royalty considerably. As history progresses, the access to these paintings becomes restricted as they become more popular with the wealthier Spaniards; the paintings came to hang in universities, museums and the officers of high ranking officials.

The story of Lieutenant Nun is a story of incredible daring and bravery coupled with adventure and enough action to satisfy the palettes of even the most thrill seeking people! The Lt. was obviously a hard woman who had the ability to remain emotionless when she saw her parents and her brothers. I can understand her rationale for not attempting contact; it would have been clear that if she had been caught dressed as man she would have faced serious punishment. It is incredible that she managed to continually dupe thousands of soldiers, officers and city officials into thinking she was a girl. Clearly, Lt. Nun was a hardened woman who did not believe that she had to live the life of a nun but rather seek glory, adventure and battle!

Guaman Poma, The First New Chronicle

The translated excerpt taken from Guaman Poma's chronicles provide a fascinating and thought provoking account of the history of Peru during the time of Spanish colonisation of the Americas. Immediately Guaman Poma depicts the Spanish conquistadores as men driven by religion, by greed and by a lust for power. Something that I presume many would not know is that term 'indian' was derived from the term 'indies' or land in the days.

The discovery of a land filled with immense wealth ultimately proved irresistible to the Spanish and soon after Candia returned to Spain with stories of 'cities paved with gold', two of the captains general assembled an army and return to the shores of Peru seeking glory.

It is clear, even from this small excerpt of the chronicles that religion proved to be the sole cause of the destruction of a civilization which held such a rich and beautiful culture. The chronicles speak about the attempts by the Spanish to convert the native Inca's to Christianity however were met with impenetrable opposition. The native believed in the worship of the Sun god, and typical of this time, this could not be accepted by the Spanish conquistadores. As a result, 'Indians were trampled like ants', as the Spanish forced their will upon those who did not deserve. This idea of religious fanaticism bringing about the destruction of civilizations and the killing of innocents is not unique to South America or Christianity. Although historically, Christianity has been the source of millions of deaths through the crusades and holy wars, the majority of religions have been used at some point to justify senseless killing. I hope someday that the world will be able to respect peoples desires to practice their own religion without requiring bloodshed to satisfy their beliefs.

Hello everyone,

My name is Mitchell and I am an exchange student from Brisbane, Australia. Whilst I am at UBC I will be studying part of my International Relations major as well as elective courses as part of a dual-degree program. I am looking forward to meeting both other exchange students as well as local Canadian students. My hobbies include mountain bike riding, snowboarding, international relations and anything adventurous like skydiving or white water rafting. Can't wait to meet more of you over the semester!

Cheers,

Mitchell