JENNIFER CANGANA – History 3072, History of Modern Latin America

Brazil’s Racial History

Work Cited

Arsenault, Natalie, and Christopher Rose. Africa Enslaved: a Curriculum Unit on Comparative Slave Systems for Grades 9-12. University of Texas at Austin, 2004.

“A Brief History of Brazil.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Jan. 2006, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/fodors/top/features/travel/destinations/centralandsouthamerica/brazil/riodejaneiro/fdrs_feat_129_9.html?pagewanted=1.

Cabiao, Howard. Movimento Negro Unificado (1978- ), 7 Feb. 2020, www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/movimento-negro-unificado-founded-1978/.

Dawson, Alexander Scott. Latin America since Independence: a History with Primary Sources. Routledge, 2011.

“Racial Discrimination and Miscegenation: The Experience in Brazil.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/racial-discrimination-and-miscegenation-experience-brazil.

Wood, James A. Problems in Modern Latin American History Sources and Interpretations. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

Latin America’s Radical Feminism Is Spreading

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/opinion/latin-america-feminism.html

The News article I have chosen is titled Latin America’s Radical Feminism Is Spreading by: Vanessa Barbara

The article goes on to explain the many protests going around Latin America in nations such as Chile , Brazil , Argentina, and more that a occurred at the start of the year of 2020.These protests that started in Chile, went on to spread throughout the whole world by women and people in support of women’s rights everywhere . One of the major key elements of the protests was to stop violence against women by attacking politics and power. The protesters would gather in front of court houses to perform a dance and chant of “Un violador en tu Camino,” which translates to “a rapist in your path.”

“The lyrics describe how the state upholds systematic violations of women’s rights, through institutions such as the judiciary and the police. It’s not just that members of those institutions simply disregard the complaints — looking the other way, doubting the victims — but that they are often the perpetrators themselves. “This oppressive state is a macho rapist,” the chant goes(Barbara).”

These protests that started in Chile spread around the world because violence against women is something that is done throughout Latin America as well as around the world. One could argue that policies are worse in Latin America than in The United States. “According to the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, the largest gender disparity in the world still lies in the sphere of political empowerment.”

What can be sad about these protests, is that it echoes a recurrent outcry of gender imbalance that has been echoed throughout the history of Latin America. One early example of women being oppressed by the patriarchy is that of their relation to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church regulated colonial times, and with the regulation , the Catholic Church set up restrictions for women to control them .Reading material an educational like was used to control women and prevent them from overpowering males.

“A multiplicity of pseudo-scientific works published during the nineteenth century allowed for the perpetuation of the view of women as eternally ill, threatened constantly by the physiological discomforts that came with birth, the female body appearing in religious dis – course “like an enemy of the soul and an obstacle to salvation.” The excessive impressionability, exaggerated sensibility, and overdeveloped imagination that characterized women set them up for mental alienation and, in this manner, the excessive reading of novels might send them into states of hysteria, which in the nineteenth century was considered the illness par excellence of the “weaker sex.” Given its anatomical origin, the situation was accepted as a nervous illness that was generally produced among women living disorderly, vice-ridden lives or from the lack of work (Wood,119).”

With this enforcement of women being the weaker sex, it has left a lasting effect that had been seen to structure policy later on. Another example of women being oppressed is during the populist movement. In the 1940s, in Argentina, women’s participation was vital to the populist movement at the time. Women in Argentina were granted the right to vote , and took advantage of opportunities during the movement. One conflicting factor during the movement was that of Maria Eva Duarte de Peron. Eva Peron was the first lady of Argentina, and was the face of Peronist feminism. During the populist movement, in order to gather support for her husband, Eva Peron called for women to come together and take action, but to stay within the grounds of traditional feminine ideals of self-sacrifice(Wood,192).The idea of women sticking to self-sacrifice in order to support men is contradictory to the feminist movement. The fact that the oppression of women has been seen throughout early colonial era, the populist era, and even in current day highlights that issues against women has been rooted in history and must be changed. The article explaining the women’s rights movements throughout Latin America is a sign that institutions must change in order to promote gender equality.

Problems in Modern Latin American History : Sources and Interpretations, edited by James A. Wood, and Anna Rose Alexander, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/baruch/detail.action?docID=5743856.
Created from baruch on 2020-12-10 13:07:52.

feminism.html

Cuban Covert Program Report, October 13, 1961.

During the Cold War Era, The Cuban revolution was led by figures such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos against the Batista regime. From the perspective of the U.S, the revolution was a move towards discrediting the government in place, which cut off military support to Cuba in return(Dawson,245). With the Batista regime gone, Fidel Castro took place as the leader and made reforms, as well as closer ties with the Soviet Union(Dawson,246). The United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold war era were enemies, and with the U.S not supporting the rebels, the Cuban revolution went forward in painting the U.S as the enemy.“As long as the United States remains the enemy, Cubans must live in the Revolution, which links Cuban nationalism and Socialist revolution so seamlessly that to critique the Revolution is to be a traitor to the Cuban nation. And to do that is to opt for social and economic marginalization, the possibility of jail, and perhaps exile(Dawson,247).” As Dawson describes further relations with the U.S and Cuba “One need not be too cynical to imagine that at critical moments of potential thawing in United States–Cuban relations, Castro actively sought to renew this enmity, as without it he would have no one to blame for Cuba’s problems(Dawson, 247).” With Cuba growing its government towards communism and having high tensions with the U.S, The U.S and CIA worked towards creating covert missions within Cuba to stop Castro’s movements.

The Bay of Pigs fiasco was a failed attempt by the U.S, under the Kennedy administration, to overpower Fidel Castro for his relations with the Soviet Union. “ After the failed invasion at the Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs) on April 17, 1961, he could rightly claim to have repelled an American invasion(Dawson,249).” The Bay of Pigs was a loss for the U.S and in turn gained more supporters for Castro, from the people of Cuba. In the Document labeled Cuban Covert Program Report, it should be noted that this document is listed from October 13, 1961, a few months after the Bay of Pigs fiasco had taken place in April. The U.S was still working with the CIA, after its failed attempt at the Bay of Pigs, to spy on the Castro regime, the document reports infiltration with agents on the field that were being tracked and reporting back intelligence. The document states that 26 agents were in Cuba, and reporting back on opposition groups from within Cuba that were still present and handing out pamphlets to discourage supporters from the Castro regime. The document goes on to further explain the training of agents and for possible plans of sabotage. The document further cautions against major sabotage and more of minor sabotage plans, to avoid detection from Castro supporters. The document provided is a recording in history that indicates the U.S and Cuban polarized relations during the Cold War Era at the time.

Dawson, Alexander. Latin America since Independence: A History with Primary Sources. 2^nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2015.

The National Security Archive, nsarchive.gwu.edu/dc.html?doc=6434681-National-Security-Archive-Doc-05-Cuban-Covert.

Portait of a woman from Bahia

This is a picture taken of a Bahia woman, in the year 1896. Slaves were vital to Brazil’s economy at the beginning of the nineteenth century. During the nineteenth century, Brazil used slaves for gold and diamond mining, as well as for the emerging coffee economy around the area of São Paulo(Dawson,78). Due to pressure from Britain onto Portugal, to stop the slave trade around the 1830s, the gradual end to the slave trade started(Dawson,81). During the nineteenth century, Brazil imported 1.3 million slaves it also experienced many slave rebellions, especially in the year 1835, In Bahia, one of Brazil’s poorest regions(Dawson,81-82). Brazil’s government, unlike many of the surrounding governments, loosened colonial-era restrictions on slaves that limited free people of color, due to the increasing Afro-Brazilian population(Dawson,79). During this time, in Bahia, upwards mobility was occurring within free people of color, they had worked in agriculture, owned land, and controversially, even owned slaves(Dawson,84). It is noted that specifically in Bahia, Afro-Brazilians owned both sugar plantations and slaves in significant numbers(Dawson,84).

In this picture, the picture’s only description is that it is a woman from Bahia. From her appearance, she seems to have formal traditional clothing. From understanding how slavery evolved in Brazil, I believe this woman could have possibly moved away from Bahia, or even have acquired certain rights. In Brazil, former slaves were treated differently depending on where they lived. “In São Paulo, slaves tended to move away from their former masters. The libertos (former slaves) in this part of Brazil often demanded respect, an end to corporal punishment, appreciation for their family units, and wages that planters would not offer(Dawson,79).” Another interpretation of this picture could be that this woman was still in Bahia and in service of her former owner. “In Bahia, by the late nineteenth century one of Brazil’s poorest regions, former slaves often remained tied to their former owners, working on their estates as agricultural laborers, only migrating away from estates that suffered economic catastrophes in the aftermath of emancipation(Dawson,86).” Whether this woman moved away from Bahia or not, she was pictured and it is now a photograph that is documented in history. The topic of citizenship with this woman comes into question as well, due to Brazil’s complicated history with slavery. Brazil was a racially mixed society during the time, though Brazilians of color didn’t have full access to civil rights. “Moreover, because people of African ancestry could hope to move up the social hierarchy by acquiring wealth, prestige, and power, after 1889 a confrontational struggle for civil rights gave way to more individualized strategies of advancement. If you followed the rules of the system, you might get ahead. If you protested, you were certain to be left behind(Dawson,87).” This woman pictured above has many possibilities of what her history could have been. Whether she was a free slave, or fighting for freedom. Nonetheless, Brazil’s history of slavery can be discussed in detail by looking at this one photo of the woman from Bahia.

Dawson, Alexander. Latin America since Independence: A History with Primary Sources. 2nd ed. Taylor & Francis, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central.

“Bahia Woman.” Bahia Woman | Tulane University Digital Library, digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:10732.

“Atabaliba Strangled”

In the image, it describes:

“A native American wearing a feathered headdress is tied to a tree and strangled or garroted by two others. Spanish soldiers and a Catholic priest observe. Built environment includes dwellings and palisade.”

The image is titled “Atabaliba Strangled,” with the source date from the year 1760. Atabaliba was another name for the last famous Incan emperor, Atahualpa. The image depicts what life was after Spanish colonialism took over the Americas. Cuzco, Peru, was the center of life for the Incas. When the Spanish colonialists arrived, the Incas were oppressed by the conquistadors and the legacy that the Catholic Church left behind. The image of Atahualpa being strangled, not only shows the disregard that the Spanish had for the Incas, but as well as the hierarchy that existed after the conquest of the Incas.

The Catholic Church was a major force that shaped Latin America throughout history. “The Roman Catholic Church in colonial Latin America was a conglomeration of institutions, including ecclesiastical offices, the parish clergy, and various orders of nuns, monks, and friars that ran hospitals, schools, orphanages, missions, and even slave plantations.” Both The Catholic Church and the Spanish empire ruled together, in the picture, one can see that this is true by the way in which the priests and soldiers are both spectators of Atahualpa’s death. Kris Lane describes the view of the Spanish as

“With few exceptions the colonizer’s baser impulses and reflexive self-deception predominated, coarse veils of greed and pity alike obscuring the chaotic splendor of multiple Andean chiefdoms and lowland tropical cultures of astonishing physical, linguistic, political, and artistic range. The new administrative order, Spain’s typically tone-deaf late Renaissance bureaucracy, demanded this kaleidoscope be shattered, its varicolored sand grains separated and sorted, individuals and whole communities alike reduced to quanta called “Indians.”

So low was the hierarchy of the “Indians,” that the Spanish had no fear in ending the highest member of the Incan hierarchy. Although the Spanish viewed the Incas as savages, one can argue that the priests were present for the execution of Atahualpa, for religious reasons of “resolving one’s sins before death.” The Catholic Church had missionaries arrive in the Incan empire to not kill, but to spread the faith and to “guide, the subjects of God and king.” The Catholic Church continued to regulate the Incas throughout history because they believed it was God’s w.ish. “Furthermore, the pope had declared Amerindian souls equivalent (perhaps even superior) to those of Europeans in the eyes of God. The message to all colonists? Mistreat His innocent “children” and risk damnation.” It was due to religious reasons, that the Incas were converted to catholic religion and treated by the conquistadors as subjects of the king with limited rights. In the image “Atabaliba Strangled,” it can be concluded that the Incas demise started with their crowned ruler being killed. The Spanish soldiers and priests were the highest members of the colonial hierarchy, while the rest of society was oppressed

Citations

Problems in Modern Latin American History : Sources and Interpretations, edited by James A. Wood, and Anna Rose Alexander, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central,https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/baruch/detail.action?docID=5743856.

“Atabaliba Strangled.” Atabaliba Strangled. – JCB Archive of Early American Images, jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~6835~115902696:Atabaliba-Strangled-?sort=image_date%2Csubject_groups.