As my friends and I continued to explore the many murals of the crossing between 24th street and Balmy Street, I found a mural that not only connects to the topics we covered in class but also to my own family’s life and our “ancestral” home. On the far end of the alley full of murals, past the depictions of gentrification, aztec pyramids, and mobilized social uprising of the past, there was a fiery image of violence against a mestizo village by what looked as military soldiers of some type of government. From afar, you could not tell the exact event depicted in the mural because after all, Latin American history is plagued with abuses from the government against its indigenous communities, citizens of other nation states and even their own
... A few photos of Tenochtitlan and warriors headdresses, clubs and obsidian blades would increase the pleasure 10 fold. Also in places the author tends to divert to other Ameriindian cultures and use their ritual practices as examples. These comparisons can bring the ritual practices of a 500 year extant culture into modern day belief.
It is no secret that the United States has a history of economic and political interventions in countries around the world, especially in Latin America. By comparing the lives of the characters in Tobar’s novel, The Tattooed Soldier, to events that occurred in Latin American history, this paper will focus specifically on how U.S. imperialism, political and economic interventions in the central American countries of Guatemala and El Salvador forced many to flee and immigrate to the United states. Where the newly immigrated Central Americans faced lives of hardships and poverty compared to other Latin communities such as the Cubans who had an easier migration due to their acquisition of the refuge status.
Miguel Melendez’s book, “We Took the Streets” provides the reader with an insightful account into the activities of the Young Lords movement established in the latter years of the 1960s and remained active up until the early seventies. The book’s, which is essentially Melendez’s memoir, a recollection of the events, activities, and achievements of the Young Lords. The author effectively presents to the reader a fascinating account of the formation of the Young Lords which was a group of college students from Puerto Rico who came together in a bid to fight for some of the basic rights. As Melendez sums it up, “You either claim your history or lose authority over your future” (Melendez 23). The quote is in itself indicative of the book’s overall
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
Although Pancho Villa is known to be a rebel and a bandit, he wasn’t born into a life of crime. Due to an awful circumstance, in which a wealthy man attempted to rape his young sister, Pancho Villa killed the transgressor. Pancho Villa had no choice but to change his name, hide in the mountains, and live as an outlaw. Over the years he gained the public’s attention for being sneaky and cunning towards the wealthy, and generous amongst the poor. His popularity as a modern day Robin Hood caught the attention of Francisco Madero who promised change to the lower class if they fought alongside him. Azuela recounts some of the problems the poor people faced “…Government people who've declared war to the death on us, on all the poor.”(p7). Many soldiers were w...
Bauer, K. Jack. “Mexican War,” Handbook of Texas Online, last modified June 15, 2010, accessed May 2, 2014, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdm02
In “Black in Latin America,” Henry Louis Gates provides a quick, witty documentary about the extreme difference in the Haitian and Dominican Republic’s views and cultures. Gates provides evidence on how the different nations label themselves racially and religiously. He gives many examples of how the Dominicans label themselves as white or Spanish, ignoring their African roots, while the Haitians identify with their black roots even though they’re of the same island and thus have near the same history and past identities. Due to their rocky past and malicious dictators, the overall geography of these two nations was close (living on a single island of Hispanola), but the cultures were very
War and violence in Central America is a result of governmental injustice due to the United States’ foreign policies. The United States supported El Salvador with weapons and money throughout the civil war. As a result of enforcing these policies, El Salvador’s poverty, population and crime rate increased. The books “…After…” by Carolina Rivera Escamilla and “The Tattooed Soldier” by Hector Tobar give us a glimpse of the issues Central Americans faced.
Latin American Independence was the drive for independence from Spain and France by the Latin American people. There were many contributing factors that ultimately led to the uprising of Latin American colonies. Europe's strong hold on the economic and political life of Latin America, was creating friction between the Latin Colonies and the European nations. Eventually, this would become enough for the Latin American people and the drive for independence from France and Spain would begin.
In schools, students are being taught wrong information. “Our gods were vanquished after the fall of Tenochtitlan as were our traditions. Our warriors and nobles were eradicated, our children starved and our women ravished by the white conquerors and their allies.” (157). In books across America, the Spaniards were said to be good people, but the way that Huitzitzilin described what happened, shows the complete opposite of how the Spaniards actually were.
The language of Gloria Anzaldua’s “We Call Them Greasers” can be used to disseminate the culturally constructed codes and conventions which influence the realities of both the author, and the poems’ fictional speaker. The poem illustrates the intolerant and brutal nature of border rangers as they sought to rid Mexican border towns of their inhabitants. As well as its language, the subject matter of the poem, too, is telling of the author’s cultural influences, which influence the stance she takes on the subject matter. Anzaldua constructs the poem’s speaker, however, to be a person who holds views which are in staunch opposition to her own. This use of clear contradiction helps readers identify underlying messages meant to be conveyed and understood beyond the text of the poem itself.
Encomienda to Hacienda and Latifundio in Latin America The encomienda system developed in the Antilles (the islands of the West Indies except the Bahamas) when the group of settlers Columbus brought with him on his second voyage to the New World were, essentially, unwilling to work (Vigil 218). They solved this problem through forced Indian labor. Queen Isabella I of Spain considered the native people "free crown vassals" (Vigil 218) and instructed Governor Nicolas de Ovando, Comendador Mayor of the military order Alcantara, to inform the Indians that they had to pay tribute to the crown equal to the other subjects.
Scholars have debated not only the nature of Iberian colonialism, but also the impact that independence had on the people of Latin America. Historian Jaime E. Rodriguez said that, “The emancipation of [Latin America] did not merely consist of separation from the mother country, as in the case of the United States. It also destroyed a vast and responsive social, political, and economic system that functioned well despite many imperfections.” I believe that when independence emerged in Latin America, it was a positive force. However, as time progressed, it indeed does cause conflict.
Postmodernism is the 19th and 20th century reaction against the previously dominant western foundationalism, or modernism. Foundationalism is rooted in classic Cartesian philosophy: ontologically, an objective reality exists independent of our perception of this reality and we can gain access to it if our theories are logically based on some indubitable foundation. For Descartes, this indubitable, uncontroversial point of reference aligns with "I think, therefore I am." However, after each stated foundation posited the process of critical undercutting begins; we find no extant foundation upon which to build our ontologically relevant theories.
Children wrestled with the current and slippery rocks, while mothers laundered rags in the languid river. Saints painted in vivid salt boasted as families stepped deftly around them. I gathered with my friends at the only park in town. In the background, there is an empty bomb, concealed in army green paint. El Salvador had a civil war in the 1980's.