Primary Source Research Paper (Pt.II)

Büschges, Christian. “Aristocratic Revolutionaries: The Nobility during the Independence Period of Spanish America and Brazil (c. 1808-1821).” Journal of Modern European History, vol. 11, no. 4, Nov. 2013, pp. 495–513. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=30h&AN=91860381&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Written by Christian Büschges, this academic article explores the effects the Aristocracy and nobility hierarchy had on Latin America between 1808-1821. Although Büschges

Primary Source Research Paper (Pt. I)

Guedea, Virgina. “ The Process of Mexican Independence.”  The American Historical Review, vol. 105, no. 1, Feb. 2000, pp. 116–130., https://www.jstor.org/stable/2652439 Accessed: 10-11-2019 23:27 UTC. Written by Virgina Guedea, this academic journal article chronicles Mexico’s journey towards Independence by contextually exploring the historical conflicts within and outside the nation’s borders between 1808-1821.  Guedea begins by

Week 8: The Mexican Revolution’s Full Picture; Elite and Rural Perspectives

Last week, the reading and our class discussion reviewed the positive outcomes and impressive national expansions throughout Latin America during the golden age of the export boom. The featured document, James Creelman’s interview with dictator Porfirio Diaz, presented a biased view of Diaz as a, “hero of the Americas”, and his unmorally successful modernization of

Week 5: New Views on Independent Liberalism

After last week’s discussion, my idea surrounding independence shifted. Before, I associated the word with declarations, constitutions and negotiated transitions of power; Mainly because that’s how it was taught to me in the Canadian schooling system. Now, I understand that independence does not immediately promise or secure a stable and properly negotiated internal political system. 

Week 3: Identity Anxiety

Like many of the mestizaje from Latin America, I am of mixed ethnicity; I am a Japanese-Irish-Danish-Czech Canadian. Born and raised in Canada, but with ancestors from different countries around the world, I heavily relate to the identity anxiety Latin America people hold within their history, culture and society.  Watching this week’s lecture was very

Week 2: Representation and Misinterpretation

In regards to this week’s topic, I stand with a strong negative opinion on Christopher Columbus and his effects on the Americas. I have been educated, and personally believe, that Columbus’s colonial ‘conquest’ and ‘claim’ over the Americas is un-doubtfully wrong, regardless of whether his voyage to the Americas was a mistake.  However, after watching

Week 1: Latin America’s Essence

“Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it.” Beautiful, succinct and to-the-point; Gabriel Garcia Marquez opens his acclaimed autobiography, Living to Tell the Tale, with a simple sentence, that I believe, captures the essence of Latin America; Storytelling. All of Marquez’s books celebrate