Daisy, Latin American Studies 2019

For this week, I decided to write about Chile. Chile is in the middle of a decisive moment as students went to the streets to protest against a rise in metro costs. The unrest is surprising as Chile lauds itself for being one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America. For my articles this week, I picked two opinion peaces that look into the nuances of the situation. The first piece, by the New York Times, titled Chile Learns the Price of Economic Inequality, examines the protests in the context of economic prosperity. While the Chilean economy is quite strong, the economic inequality means that only a few benefit from the wealth. Public spending on hospitals, public welfare, and more general methods of distributing wealth are virtually nonexistent. The article also points out that while the protesters began their movement after the rise in bus fare, tensions have existed for a long time due to this evident wealth inequality. The wealth gap in Chile is incredibly visual; San...

This week's reading was incredibly powerful to read. I have learned about the Madre's before; their white bonnets seem to have become a symbol of resistance. The concept of the disappeared within Latin American politics is an interesting positionality. In the eyes of the state, individuals are reduced to bodies where no rights are guaranteed. Its such a devastating position as there is no sense of justice; the feeling is alien to me as I have always lived somewhere with a certain extent of due process. The Madres were successful because of their position as older women; the government could not kill mothers and grandmothers in the public sphere without large reproductions. This could be attributed to significant gender roles. As women were seen as fragile, homemakers, and child-bearers, there was an element of weakness associated with their murder. However, I believe this was true for the Madres because they had already gained global attention. The Argentinian government had no...

I was really happy this week to see that we would be discussing the Cold War in Latin America. I think that the reason why by the 1980's few of the countries mentioned had democratic governments was largely due to U.S. subversion in fear of communism. Latin America during this time seems to be heavily ideological; groups are created within every subset of identity and strongly politicized. Peasants, hacendados, caciques, politicians, and elites all existed within political niches with varying levels of credibility and political capital. I found the story of Peru to be especially confusing this week. I think this is largely because from what I have read, I have always viewed socialist groups within Latin America as the sort of moral underdog; I think of Che and the sort of heroism he generated ideologically. The Shining Path, due to their embrace of gratuitous violence lost any form of heroism. The kind of violence they employed lacked any real justification and seemed largely depen...

I found Eva Perón to be incredibly compelling as a leader and historical figure. In my history of Mexico class, we talk a lot about how within Mexico women were either seen as prostitutes or angels and there was very little space for them to occupy in between. Evita existed in a complex space where she had tremendous political capital and agency yet was constantly demeaned by sexual insults. Culturally, where machismo is very prevalent, women's purity is of utmost importance. Sexually liberated women were seen as deviant and untrustworthy. Yet the distinction seems to be surrounding women in positions of political power. Carmen Miranda was celebrated for her sexuality yet had she tried to be in a position of power, I would find it likely that she would be berated for her loose image. While I did find Eva Perón to be a compelling speaker, I was a little wary of her language use. She constantly frames herself as belonging to her husband. While I understand it was a tactic to delegat...

I learned a lot about the United States presence in Guatemala growing up. I think there is something especially consumable about a war waged based on fruit. While I appreciate Dawson's use of this example, I think that it obscures and takes place of other extremely violent forms of United States interventionism. The Cold War resulted in some of the most despicable maneuvers that are often left untouched in Latin American history courses such as the heavy involvement in the Sandanista movement. I wish that textbooks and more accessible literature widened their scope of example. Nicaragua is one of the most compelling revolutions in my opinion just from the massive female involvement in creating a new government. In reading about the United Fruit Company, I remembered a Pablo Neruda poem titled "United Fruit Co." When the trumpet sounded everything was prepared on earth, and Jehovah gave the world to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other corporations. The Unit...