Latin America: An Institutional and Cultural Survey

This interdisciplinary online course examined the indigenous and Black experience, resistance, and rebellions in Latin American history, society, and culture from the time of slavery to the present day. It looked specifically at European and U.S. colonialism, neo-colonialism, and imperialism while presenting also ongoing decolonial, feminist, migrant, and anti-racist struggles and networks of solidarity. It emphasized various socio-cultural and political contributions of Afro-Latin Americans and the implications of these manifestations for the formation of a transnational Afro identity.

“No Más Discriminación” – Kombilesa Mí

One more time I invite you
to our maroon town
where discrimination
we left her without direction
I don’t care about your color
not your religion
the only thing that matters is that you think like me
because the other is different
you are not going to damage their environment
is enough
stop
don’t you see that what you do is humiliate
The one in front of you, we are all men

My maroon town is to be admired
for all its songs full of emotions
that comes out of the heart, like an invasion
considering conservation
and tradition
Palenque is my biggest attraction
the main tools against racism are
language and education

(Black I am, black I will be
black I was born, black I will die) [x2]

I am black
because I consider myself a palenquera
black, let the whole earth listen to me
well I will always be and I will never forget my identity
much less the truth that surrounds us
a thousand times

I’m a black man
listen well and see
so I’ll say it even if you get diarrhea
listen well and see

Listen to my lyrics
I don’t come looking for violence
what I want is that black and white
look at each other with decency
and not be out there discriminating

I turn off the word racial discrimination
the whole race one world family
no one to make fun of another
because of the way they talk
or because of its color
all the world in one corner

(Hey, we are the same, we are the same, we are the same) [x2]

(No more discrimination
blacks and whites in one corner
we are the same even if we change our color
we are the same, with the same heart
although sometimes the world separates us for no reason)

This song comes in the form of protest
looking for a proposal
for discrimination
it is something that affects
this planet
like earthquakes
because there are guys who make fun of us
either because of the way we speak or because of our face
because of our skin color
or because of our way of being before others
all I want is for you to think clearly
and with reason, because you are white
you think you better than me?

Full stop, but with the permission of my friends
this song I will end
I come to say that we are being run over by racism
it shouldn’t be like that if the color of human blood is the same
mulattoes, mestizos, gringos, hands up
in this world, I do not want more discrimination

… Discrimination to hell with it [x4]

(Hey, we are the same, we are the same, we are the same) [x2]

 

Group Discussion

What did you learn in our class?

What was your favorite topic/reading/film/author/assignment?

What was difficult this semester and how you overcome that obstacle?

 

Chat Discussion

What tips would you give your classmates to finish the semester successfully? Send some words of encouragement

Response Paper on Harvest of Empire. 

Due Dates  12/4 MFA (Friday); 12/9 DWA (Wednesday) by email: rojo.roblesmejias@baruch.cuny.edu

 Instructions

1. Watch Harvest of Empire and select ONE Latin American country (from the documentary) as a case study.
2. Write a response paper using the following format:
3. Paragraph 1: Introduce the documentary. Explain the main arguments of the film and summarize the main points discussed regarding your chosen case study.
4. Paragraphs 2 and 3: Choose and analyze two relevant excerpts from the documentary. Explain them in your own words. Why do you think these sections are important? What evidence do they bring? Do you agree with the opinions expressed? Do you disagree? Why?
5. Paragraph 4: Re-state the main themes and intentions behind the documentary and the section you focused on. How the film allows us to understand the repercussions of US intervention in Latin America? Would you recommend the film? Why? To whom?

(3 Pages/Double Space/ Times New Roman/ Font size: 12)

 

Key concepts

Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending a country’s rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other areas.

Colonialism is the policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process, colonizers may impose their religion, economics, and other cultural practices on the Indigenous peoples.

Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural imperialism to influence a developing country instead of the previous colonial methods of direct military control or indirect political control.

 

ENTRY POINTS

PUERTO RICO

.After the Spanish-American War Puerto Rico became a prize/colony under a new empire

.U.S. companies benefitted from the unincorporated territory (colonial) status

.Ongoing indifference and neglect from the U.S.

.Puerto Ricans on the island cannot participate in US political decisions

.Imposed citizenship tied to the recruitment of soldiers and workers

.Migration as a safety vault after World War II

 

GUATEMALA

.Neo-colonialist power (United Fruit Company- banana republic)

.Emergence of a progressive left-wing government opposed the US involvement (land reform/ wealth distribution)

.Coveted CIA involvement leads to military and paramilitary repression

.Civil war (200,000 deads/ 50,000 disappeared especially Mayans)

 

MEXICO

Part I

.Mexican-American War (expansion to the west/ expansion of slavery/ manifest destiny)

.After winning the US wants “uninhabited” territory (fear of “contamination”)

.México loses 51 % of its land (the border crossed Mexicans)

.Two countries/ one economy

. The U.S. has an ongoing dependence on Mexican labor and army force (life savers)

.Expendable workforce (criminalization and deportation during periods of recession)

.Segregation (Jim Crow violence)

.Chicano involvement within the Civil Rights Movement (intersectional politics: Black/Latino coalition)

Part II

.Nafta agreement (unbalanced trade partnership/ disaster for México)

.Economic recession

.New migration wave to the U.S.

.Operation gatekeeper (militarization and U.S. violence at the border/ push to the desert)

.Family separation

 

CUBA

.Pro-US corporation dictatorship during the early XX century

.Cuban revolution (socialist/communist government)

.Pro-capitalism upper and middle classes fled (refugee status in the U.S.)

.US-imposed blockade

.Mariel Boatlift 1980 (black and poor Cubans discontented with the revolution arrive in Miami)

.Cubans rebuild Miami as a thriving Spanish-speaking city

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 

.First U.S Occupation led to Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship

.Trujillo leads through terror, re-inforcing white supremacy and US markets (30 years dictatorship)

. The CIA kills Trujillo

.Juan Bosch writer, intellectual and left-wing reformer wins the presidency

.Violent right-wing opposition leads to civil war

.Second US occupation led to the presidency of Joaquín Balaguer (Trujillo’s right hand)

. The U.S. offers refugee status to left-wing Dominican dissidents (migration as a safety vault)

.Migration continues through the decades initially because of political persecution but also due to extreme poverty

 

NICARAGUA

.Pro-U.S. corporations Somoza oligarchy

.Sandinista revolution

.CIA training and providing arms to counterinsurgency paramilitary force (“the contras”)

.Ronald Reagan coveted war

.50, 000 deaths

 

EL SALVADOR

.Repeated repression against left-wing guerrillas

.Paramilitary indoctrination in U.S. military schools

.CIA involvement, support for paramilitary (torture)

.Killing of pro-peace Archbishop Romero

.Massive refugee migration

In the second half of this article, Tianna Paschel argues that the “politicization of blackness is not a new phenomenon in Latin America.” Paschel proposes that black movements today are best understood as intersectional and multifaceted movements operating at the intersection of a number of political categories. Black movements today are embedded in transnational and tangible networks of solidarity. Black mobilization in Latin America has been effective in reconfiguring the terms of mainstream debates around questions of race, equality, and difference, and in some cases, they have also achieved unprecedented legal recognition.

Black Feminism in Latin America

Fed up with overt and subtler forms of sexism within male-dominated black organizations, [black women] began to form autonomous black feminist organizations. Organizing separately meant that women could take leadership positions in ways that they could not in male-dominated organizations. Black feminist activists had also fought for years to make the case that black movements should pay more attention to the unique ways that racism and gendered hierarchies differentially affected black women. In so doing, they raised intersectional issues, including violence against black women, sterilization campaigns, the exploitation of domestic workers, and the negative portrayals of black women within popular culture. (242)

Zoom Presentations (DWA Wednesday):

De Los Santos,Simon C

Tosic, Mia Zuma

Tsang, Derrick

Geyer, Jessica Nicole

Antoine, Gregory

Jara, Clarissa

Zoom Presentations (MFA Friday):

Chen, Yingying

Zabiega, Nicola A

Zhang, Benjamin

Zheng, Justin Lu

Zou, Xiaojing

Group Discussion

What elements of Paschel’s discussion on Black feminism and intersectional mobilization you saw represented in the documentary?

Asynchronous Online Assignment

Instructions:

Pick ONE of the following assignments and post your answers in the comment section below. Due on 12/02 (DWA Wednesday) and 11/25 (MFA Friday) before class.

OPTION ONE

Discuss the shared number of characteristics between black women’s organizations in Latin America (Pages 241-245)

*225-words minimum*

OPTION TWO

Analyze how recent and present black mobilization in Latin America has strengthened the connections between national struggles and those of other people of African descent globally. (Pages 245-248)

*225-words minimum*

OPTION THREE

According to Tianna Paschel, what has been the political and social impact of Black Mobilization in terms of state discourse and policy (pages 248-251) OR regarding individual and soci0 cultural identities (pages 251-254)

*225-words minimum*

Tianna Paschel is an associate professor in the Department of African American Studies and the Department of Sociology at the University of California – Berkeley. She is interested in the intersection of racial ideology, politics, and globalization in Latin America. Her work can be found in the American Journal of Sociology, the Du Bois Review, SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, and Ethnic and Racial Studies and various edited volumes. She is the author of Becoming Black Political Subjects: Movements and Ethno Racial Rights in Colombia and Brazil.

Group Discussion

If you are of Latin American or Caribbean descent, how do you see mestizaje embodied by your family?

By the 1940s mestizaje had permeated the discourse of state officials in many Latin American countries. These nationalist narratives make it more difficult for racial critique and oppositional consciousness to develop. A whitening logic also became embedded in gendered social practices, shaping the most intimate aspects of people’s life, from decisions about whom to marry to individuals’ sense of worth. If the nation was thought to be collectively moving toward whiteness, it was also the responsibility of individuals to mejorar la raza. By marrying lighter, Latin Americans could presumably whiten themselves, their families, and their nation.

Escaping blackness proved an attractive ambition in societies in which blackness continued to be associated with social inferiority, hypersexuality, ugliness, ignorance, and criminality. (228)

Black Social Clubs, Newspapers and Political Parties

Black social clubs and newspapers in Latin America serve as a refuge for middle-class and upwardly mobile black people who had experience exclusion for the facto white spaces. Both directly and indirectly, black social clubs and newspapers also laid the foundations for official black political parties to form in this period. (229-30)

Urban Black Movements

Beginning in the late 1970s, a large number of black political organizations were being formed and consolidated in Latin America and the Caribbean. It came in part because of a unique and changing political context both nationally and globally. Black activists watched from afar the unfolding of black mobilization throughout the world. (232)

Ethno Territorial Movements

Organized black struggles were also brewing in the countryside and forest of the region. Whereas black urban movements tended to focus on the fight against racial discrimination and for social, economic, and political equality, black rural movements were often making claims to difference and autonomy. Many of these communities had more direct ties to the legacy of marronage. Black rural communities were constructing political platforms as lineal descendants of those same maroon communities and as their heirs to those communities’ collective territories. (237)

Zoom Presentations DWA (Wednesday):

Antoine, Gregory

Thomas,Emmanuel Kolady

Tomaszewsky,Lukian Volodymyr

Jara, Clarissa

Zoom Presentations MFA (Friday):

Trainor, Colin James

Trevisani,Sofia Matta

Vargas, Sydney

Wu, Haoming

Asynchronous Online Assignment

Instructions:

Pick ONE of the following assignments and post your answers in the comment section below. Due on 11/18 (DWA Wednesday) and 11/20 (MFA Friday) before class.

OPTION ONE

Pick ONE of the following examples of black mobilization in Latin America and explain what were their goals, socio-cultural interventions, and political agenda. Discuss specific examples.

.Black Social Clubs, Newspapers and Political Parties (228-232)

.Contemporary Urban Black Movements (232-236)

.Ethno-Territorial Movements (237-240)

*225-words minimum*

OPTION TWO

If you are of Latin American or Caribbean descent, do you think that the mestizaje project in your country of origin represents a true step towards a racial democracy? Do you think that your family has been affected by the “whitening logic” that Paschel presents in her essay? Explain. (Pages 227-228)

*225-words minimum*

Socio-historical Context

Anti-Black Racism is  Everywhere in the Americas by Jomaira Salas

Darién Davis is a professor of history and  Latin American Studies. His areas of research are twentieth-century Brazilian social and cultural history and the African diaspora in Latin America.

Judith Williams is a professor, filmmaker, and theater director.  Her research emphasizes Black theater in Brazil and Latin America.

KEYWORDS

Pan Africanism

A Political and cultural project motivated by the belief that the people of the African diaspora had endured a similar set of social experiences resulting from the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Pan Africanist aimed to provide a forum for conversation and action among people of African descent across cultures.

Negrismo

In the 1920s Negrismo was born in Puerto Rico and Cuba. The unofficial-movement celebrates black-music, rhythm, folklore, avant-garde literature, and art. Negrismo focuses on the physical body and performance -of women for the most part- but it also brought forth a way to introduce black music, dance, instruments, and food, languages, religions, myths, and beliefs in Caribbean literature.  They promoted the unity of the Antillas by referring to the common African root. Negrismo represented the Afro-Caribbean culture rising -moving from exoticism to social critique- and becoming an integral part of the Caribbean identity.

Palés-Matos-Selection

Davis and Williams (153)

Négritude

Négritude was an international movement that held the promise of universal emancipation for Black people. The struggles for Black liberation were linked to the universal freedom of workers and colonized people worldwide.  Négritude created a bigger identity than the one previously available through kinship and ethnicity.

Davis and Williams (Pages 148-9)

Recommended Reading

AN INTERVIEW WITH AIME CESAIRE

. “I have always striven to create a new language, one capable of communicating the African heritage.” (83)

.On the negro question: “I maintained that the political question could not do away with our condition as  Negroes. We are Negroes, with a great number of historical peculiarities.” (85)

. On négritude: “… if what we want is to establish this [black] identity, then we must have a concrete consciousness of what we are- that is, of the first fact of our lives: that we are black; that we are black and have a history, a history that contains  cultural elements of great value; and that Negroes were not… born yesterday because there have been beautiful and important black civilizations.” (91-2)

Zoom Presentations (DWA Wednesday):

Prince, Shawn

Ramsaran, Alyssa

Reyes,Jonas Alexander

Zoom Presentations (MFA Friday):

Mora Barbecho,Jeniffer Johanna

Ng, Judy

Nunez, Patricia

Pinzon, Jacob S

Sewdass, Tulsi

Conclusion

Davis and Williams (Page 164)

Asynchronous Online Assignment

Instructions:

Pick ONE of the following assignments and post your answers in the comment section below. Due on 11/11 (DWA Wednesday) and 11/13 (MFA Friday) before class.

OPTION ONE

By citing Davis and Williams, analyze Marcus Garvey’s proposal of a return to Africa and his “performance of black pride” and the “potential strength of the black masses” (Pages 145-148)

*225-words minimum*

OPTION TWO

How the Teatro Experimental Do Negro (TEN) challenged the idea of a racial democracy in Brazil? Describe how they adapted the ideas of négritude to the Brazilian context? (Pages 155-163)

*225-words minimum*

OPTION THREE

Explain Nicolás Guillén’s vision of bringing together his double heritage in “Ballad of the Two Grandfathers”?  Explain his negrista point of view by referencing the ideas presented by Davis and Williams (Pages 152-155)

Ballad of the Two Grandfathers- N- Guillén

*225-words minimum*

OPTION FOUR

Discuss how Aimé Césaire in “Elegy” initiates his poem by praising the beauty of the tropical region but also showcases the painful effects of colonialism in the Caribbean. To examine his négritude poetics integrate Davis and Williams’ discussion (Pages 148-152)

LOST BODY

*225-words minimum*

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the host of Black in Latin America, is an American literary critic, teacher, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual who serves as the Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

In the documentary series Black in Latin America, Professor Gates discovers, behind a shared legacy of colonialism and slavery, vivid stories and people marked by African roots. Latin America and the Caribbean have the largest concentration of people with African ancestry outside Africa — up to 70 percent of the population in some countries. The region imported over ten times as many slaves as the United States and kept them in bondage far longer. On this series of journeys, Professor Gates celebrates the massive influence of millions of people of African descent on the history and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean and considers why and how their contribution is often forgotten or ignored.

Asynchronous Online Assignment

Instructions:

Pick ONE of the following two-questions assignments and post your answers in the comment section below. Due on 11/02 (DWA Wednesday) and 11/05 (MFA Friday) before 11:59 pm.

OPTION ONE

Why after the Haitian revolution, Cuban elites expanded the slave trade and thus increased the enslaved population during the nineteenth-century? (Minutes 2:16-6:30)

Expand on the role of Black people in the wars of independence. (Minutes 6:30-10:30)

OPTION TWO

Examine the United States’ conflicting role in the final phase of Cuba’s independence struggle. (Minutes 10:30-16:05)

How segregation policy and generalized racial prejudice, in part motivated by the US, whitewashed history and generated anti-black violence? (Minutes 16:05-23:25)

OPTION THREE

Discuss the efforts of the Cuban revolution in eradicating systemic racism in Cuba? (Minutes 30:15- 41:45)

How the collapse of the Soviet Union and Cuba’s Periodo Especial (a period of extreme scarcity in the 90s) represented the return of a racial divide in Cuban society? (Minutes 41:45-47:41)

OPTION FOUR

Explain the change from a notion of Cubanidad mostly based on the Hispanic heritage to a mestizo/mulato (mixed-race) Cuban identity. (23:25-30:15)

How predominantly Black musical genres like son (23:25-26:25) and hip hop (47:41-51:15) facilitated a cultural discussion in Cuba about the African legacy?

In the second part of this chapter, George Reid Andrews discusses three countries that took advantage of the fall of Saint Domingue as the center of sugar production in the Americas: Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. Opposite to the rest of Latin America, which reluctantly was dismantling slavery, these countries re-inforced their commitment to the exploitation of forced African laborers for most of the nineteenth-century. (Page 67)

Andrews clarifies that in Cuba, Brazil [and Puerto Rico] the expansion of the slave trade during the early 18oos intensified “all the conflicts and divisions of a slave-owning society: the conflicts between slaves and masters, rich and poor, blacks and whites, and Africans and [citizens]. These divisions contributed in no small measure to the defeat of every one of the nineteenth-century uprisings.” (Page 77)

Andrews also discusses the proliferation of African-based cultural institutions and practices. He mentions for instance the cabildos: mutual aid societies that helped and benefitted members and serve as official negotiators with the government. “One of the recurrent points of contention between the authorities and the cabildos were African cultural observances: music, dance, and religion.” (Page 70)

The historian introduces then some major African-derived spiritual and cultural formations in the Caribbean and Brazil. “These religions had much in common. Each emphasized the powerful role in people’s lives of the spirits of their ancestors and of supernatural forces embodied in nature; each invoked closely guarded sacred mysteries and secret knowledge.” (Page 70)

Yoruba, Lukumi: Spiritual, Philosophy and Ethical Conceptions

The History of Capoeira

The Philosophy of Capoeira

Zoom Presentations (DWA Wednesday):

Nunez, Christian

Paul, Cheyenne

Pierre, Delange Ruth

Zoom Presentations (MFA Friday):

Lopez Jr, Paul

Lu, Jin

Luna, Ethan Angel

Macas, Bryan A

Chen, Jiabao

Group Discussion

Describe the final days of Brazil’s slavery? What factors contributed to the final “strike” and exodus to quilombos? (Pages 82-3)

Conclusion

Just as in other countries in Latin America, slavery in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Brazil, was overthrown in large part by the enslaved themselves. But in these countries, the triumph against slavery was a product of some larger political crisis that “broke the unity of ruling elites and created openings through which the slaves could strike for freedom.” (Page 83)

In Cuba, the obvious crisis was the extended war for independence led for the most part by the Black population (1886). In Puerto Rico (1873) and Brazil (1888), it was a combination of the work of abolitionists, rebel groups, the enslaved population born in these countries, and the cross-racial, cross-class alliances that push for total termination. (Page 84)

In this, the second chapter of his book Afro-Latin America, historian George Reid Andrews discusses how the Latin American wars for independence created a hemispheric debate on the abolition of slavery. (Pages 54-5)

Short Group Discussion (5 minutes)

Does freedom from European colonial rule in nineteen-century Latin America imply liberty and equality for all citizens? 

*Pick one person to report back.

(Page 56)

Parallel Wars

The wars presented many opportunities for enslaved people to fight for their liberation through official (the end of the slave trade; bargaining; manumission; joining armies) or unofficial methods (escaping; creating isolated maroon towns; rebelling; making war against their enslavers).

Zoom Presentations DWA (Wednesday):

Kurtz, Lawrence

Lora, Ethan K

Malina, Kelly

Zoom Presentations MFA (Friday):

Jerez, Daniela

Krueger,Derek Jonathan

Li, Mei Yan

Li, Wendy

 

Maroon Enclaves

“In the Cartagena and the Cauca  regions […] plantations slaves fled to nearby runaway communities, looting and pillaging the plantations as they left.” (59)

Conclusions

“Fighting for their freedom, slaves played a crucially important role in winning independence for Spanish South America, and in so doing they triggered the programs of gradual emancipation enacted during those years.” (Page 64)

“Manumission, freedom through military service, high rates of mortality (both in the wars and in daily life), and the absence of any further slave births all combines to greatly reduce the numbers of slaves in the years after independence” (Page 65)

 

Asynchronous Online Assignment

Instructions:

Pick ONE of the following three assignment options and post your answer in the comment section below. Due on 10/20 (DWA Wednesday) and 10/22 (MFA Friday) before 11:59 pm.

OPTION ONE

What were the different takes about whether or not to arm enslaved people? (Pages 60-62)

200-words minimum

OPTION TWO

Andrews says that many enslaved people were “far from certain that military service represented the most likely way to obtain freedom,” What were the costs paid by the Black populations in the wars? (Pages 62-4)

200-words minimum

OPTION THREE

Discuss the importance of the free womb laws and manumission for the decrease of the enslaved population in Latin America? (Pages 64-65)

200-words minimum

“The revolution had begun when various elements of the colony’s free population […] took up arms against each other and went to war. The resulting turmoil and disorder, and the breakdown of coercive controls on the island’s sugar plantations, gave the slaves […] the opportunity to rise up and go to war on their own behalf […] the lessons  to be drawn from Haiti were obvious: wherever large populations of nonwhites lived under conditions of forced labor, political revolution could all too easily become social revolution.” (Page 54)

-George Reid Andrews, “An Exterminating Bolt of Lightning: The Wars for Freedom”

Asynchronous Online Assignment

Instructions:

1. Watch the documentary Egalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution

2. Pick ONE of the following assignment options. Due on 10/6 (DWA Wednesday) and 10/15 (MFA Friday) before 11:59 pm.

OPTION A

Create a meme on one of the aspects you learned about the Haitian Revolution.

(Send it by email)

or

OPTION B

In the comment section below, answer ONE of these questions:

.In which way the violence against French colonists and enslavers in the early and last stages of the revolution was a response to the conditions of slavery in the plantations and to colonial rule? (Suggested minutes: 15:20-23:23; 47:02-52:00)

200-words minimum

.How the ideas and development of the French Revolution influenced the revolution of enslaved people in Saint Domingue? (Suggested minutes: 3:20-4:50; 29:00-31:15; 33:20-36:15; 41:15-42:40)

200-words minimum

.Discuss the major role of Toussaint Louverture in the revolution (Suggested minutes: 9:20-11:08; 20:42-22:30; 23:26-29:00; 31:15-33:20; 36:15-41:15)

200-words minimum

 

Memes on the Haitian Revolution

by Lawrence Kurtz (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Derrick Tsang (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Delange Pierre (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Nicolas Altman (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Christian Nunez (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Alyssa Ramsaran (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Jessica Geyer (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Mia Tosic (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Madison Jacquet (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Clarissa Jara (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Ethan Lora (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Shawn Prince (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Simon De los Santos (LTS 1003 DWA)

by Alegna Gomez (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Danlu Ding (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Sofia Graber (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Daniela Jerez (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Nayeli Cabral (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Sofia Trevisani (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Benjamin Zhang (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Jin Lu (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Judy Ng (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Tulsi Sewdass (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Patricia Nunez (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Jason Chen (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Nathaly Angamarca (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Brian Macas (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Jenniffer Mora Barbecho (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Haoming Wu (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Colin Trainor (LTS 1003 MFA)

by MaiYan Li (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Navin Daneshwar (LTS 1003 MFA)

by Ethan Luna (LTS 1003 MFA)

In “Wanwe” Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro focuses on African traditions and affiliations, emotional landscapes, and inter-tribal feelings of solidarity and compassion under the context of European abductions in West Africa. In “Midwives” and “Arrowhead” she enters fully into the discussion of daily individual and collective rebellions.

“Midwives” examines the act of poisoning colonizers and enslavers, one of the most common acts of African rebellion in the Americas (89).  We see also metaphysical escapes. Through Ndizi and the “army of midwives,” (85)  the reader gets to know the belief that death will deliver freedom and reunification with ancestors and deities (77-8). Just like in “Wanwe,” Arroyo Pizarro also pays attention to the personality, ideas, emotions, and skills of the enslaved women. For instance, via the relationship between Ndizi and the priest, Petro, we see the process of linguistic creolization in Puerto Rico and the Antilles.

Lastly “Arrowhead” presents the sexual labor/exploitation enslaved women endured (103-5; 115). The story of Tshanwe also shows the dehumanization of enslaved people by the creole enslavers and their children (123-8). As an object, the arrowhead signifies different aspects of colonial life. Arroyo Pizarro presents it as archery, a “sport” of the colonists and criollo elite, then it becomes a tool of sadism and animalization in the hands of the children and finally, the arrow becomes a magical instrument that implies full rebellion (120-1; 131-2)

One sentence discussion

How do you interpret the ending of “Arrowhead”?

 

Zoom Presentations:

Hussain, Adib

Jacquet, Madison Renee

Jara, Clarissa

 

Individual Activity

Write down a question you will like to ask Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro on Friday 10/9 at 11:10 am?

Think of different aspects of her work in Negras

.the inner life, emotions, and ideas of African women

.West African tribal traditions and Spiritual beliefs

.Motherhood

.African Religions/ Christianity

.Linguistics

.Sexual labor

.Marroons and fugitives

.Domestic and larger rebellions