Over the course of this term I have exceeded my expectations on what I had hoped to learn. In previous classes I had leart a lot about the history of Latin America, but nothing about the current culture as well as social movements. In addition to this, I had never read books that had been written in Latin America. Many of the muralists and painters I had already leart about, however, it was interesting to go through it all once again. I enjoyed the rich imagery that this course provided and the depth of the information that was provided to us.
Thanks Alejandra!
Latin America - Knowledge and Adventures
Friday, June 22, 2012
Some of the Most Popular Social Movements in Latin America Exemplified
Peronismo
Castrismo
CHAVISMO
MST
SANDINISMO
ZAPATISMO
CONTAG
FARC
MUJERES DE PLAZA DE MAYO
WIRIKUTA
Guatemalans in the Aftermath of Violence Analysis
This book report is of the
ethnography of Guatemalans in the Aftermath of Violence by Kristi Anne Stolen, was published by
the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2007 and there are 236 pages. The story
takes place over a range of time depending at what part of the story you are
at. Some parts are reminiscing in the past before even the times of the
Guatemalan war, but the majority of the time it is set in the present, and what
the people are facing currently on a daily basis to be able to survive on their
“new” homeland. The story takes place in Guatemala, but specifically in Petén and
Ixcán but even more specifically the village of La Quetzal and some surrounding
villages there. In this ethnography, there are many eyewitness accounts within
the book, but there are no concrete characters that follow through the whole
story to be able to describe.
In
this ethnography the author Kristi Anne Stolen just processes many eyewitness
accounts of the Guatemalan war and cross-examines them with the theory set out
by many other various authors of the time, about the war. It is crucial for all
of the viewpoints and eyewitness accounts to have been added into this
ethnography because they give the reader a good sense of their home lives
before the war, during the war and as well as now, after the war. It is
important for the reader to have a good sense of their home lives and how they
may have been raised in certain situations because it really places the reader
within the context of the book and allows the reader to develop a well
described image in their mind with little or no problems. In the book, Stolen
uncovers many problems faced by the returnees in Guatemala in all the different
locations that the refugees had returned to. Some of these problems include a
matter of retaining their land again, building after their homes and central
buildings had been destroyed in the war and readjusting to life back in
Guatemala. Obviously these eyewitness accounts are catalysts in the story and
are what move the story forward through a progression of events.
In
this ethnography there are many recurring themes such as racism, power
imbalance, and sexual inequality. All of the themes are equally important to
the book and it is hard to narrow just one specific theme to describe. With
this being said, racism and sexual inequality cause a power imbalance. This
means that two recurring themes actually join together in order to form the
third and another prevalent theme throughout the book. The racism in Guatemala
was prevalent from the very beginning eye witness accounts in this book from
even the times before the war occurred and follow through the whole book, right
into the racism experienced in Mexico when they were received as refugees and
again as they returned to Guatemala. Many other Guatemalans that had remained
in Guatemala during the time of the war think that the Guatemalans who had
returned should have stayed in Mexico because now they are receiving financial
help because they are refugees, but the others are not. They do not think that
is fair. This is one current example of racism detected in the novel. This
current example of racism shows that although they are in fact the same race,
the Guatemalans who remained there the entire time of the war, no longer
consider the refugees as Guatemalans but rather as more Mexicans. Sexual inequality was another large theme
throughout the whole book, but was more prevalent in the beginning than the
end. At the beginning of the book it was clear that men and women were defined
by their traditional roles and no one should ever dare step outside of those
boundaries. However, after the returnees came back to Guatemala, the women had
been very enlightened and learned that it was okay for them to speak up for
their rights as well as to exercise their rights when necessary. It was made
possible for these women to stick up for their rights because they were backed
by different international organizations that helped to show them, what rights
they had and how to use them. What this means is that the Guatemalan women
before would have never dared to speak out because it would have gone against
the men’s wishes, and in most cases they would have been beaten for speaking
out. With international organizations backing the women, it provided them a
source of comfort to stand up for what was right. These two problems were most
important at the beginning of the story when it starts out with the eye witness
accounts of a time before the war, the power imbalance continues throughout the
whole story. Just as the racial problems and sexual inequality problems seem to
diminish near the end of the book this is a similar case with the power
imbalance struggle. At the beginning of the book there is a large gap in the
power imbalance and this is a large catalyst for the civil war in the first place.
All
three of themes being carried throughout the book made the book much more
exciting to read because every time you put the book down, you were almost left
wondering if the situations would ever get better for the people, and at the
end it describes to you how their lives have improved. Obviously their lives
are not perfect, and one cannot expect that, however, it is nice to feel an
emotional attachment to the dialogue because of the eye witness accounts that
are placed within the text. The eye witness accounts are for me, the most
important part of the book, because not only are they the most interesting, but
they are the most thought provoking and insightful. Stolen’s research and
incorporation of other author’s works is interesting, but not nearly as much as
the actual eye witness accounts themselves. For me, the eye witness accounts
provided more information and insight into the lives of the Guatemalans than
her analysis did.
Stolen’s
main argument throughout the book is that the Guatemalan guerilla movement did
not receive as much support from the indigenous population as was supposed
originally. In fact, after she had done much investigating and interviewing it
was clear that most indigenous groups strongly opposed the guerrilla movements
in Guatemala. I feel that Stolen did achieve her purpose because she made clear
the lack of support for the guerilla movements by the indigenous, as well as
the hardships faced by the groups, as discussed above. The racism, sexual
inequalities, and power imbalances were portrayed and explored well in her book
to show the reader the full impact on the people of the civil war. The guerilla
movements were just as bad as the actual military movements, and this was the
reason that the majority of the indigenous population did not in fact want to
support the guerilla movements. The indigenous chose not to support the
guerilla movements because they did not want to lose everything that they had
gained not long ago, but they ended up losing it all in the end anyways.
The
writing in this book is very effective; again I think personally it is most
effective and touching when reading the individual accounts of the situations
by actual returnees. That is the most authentic account that you can receive,
and for this reason it is very powerful. To think about all the hardships that
these Guatemalans have gone through and that many of their spirits are not
broken is incredible. After all of the injustices that many of these people
have been through, they are making a conscious, active effort to re-build their
lives on the land that before the war had belonged to them. The fact that many
Guatemalans had gone to extraordinary lengths to acquire those land parcels and
build on them in the first place, is incredible in of itself, let alone the
fact that they are fully prepared to re-acquire the land and start all over
again. This book is truly inspiring because of everything that the Guatemalans
have and still currently are going through just to get their lives back to
“normal”. I also think that the eyewitness accounts are what make the book
beautiful and unique. Of course there are many other books that one can read
that will entail eyewitness accounts, but the fact that these indigenous people
just keep struggling, and persevering to continue developing their lives makes
this story different from all the rest.
The
strengths of the book clearly are the eyewitness accounts and the number of
them, however, the weaknesses of the text are the amount of contextual
information that is provided via third-party sources and the analysis that
accompanies them. I think that without these two parts, or with these two parts
in a much more limited form it would have been a much more enjoyable read. With this being said, I did enjoy the book,
and for the number of first-hand experiences that were recorded in the book, I
would have liked to see even more. I know though that it was mentioned in the
book that Stolen was only able to get so many indigenous returnees to
participate in her study, and this was more than likely a limiting factor, but
I feel this would have greatly increased the reader’s enjoyment of the book.
I
am not entirely clear on Stolen’s qualifications to writing on the topic other
than she did a 3 year field study there, which in my opinion constitutes a
large qualification to write about the area. It is also clear in her writing
that she has done a large amount of research in order to make comparisons and
analyses between what the indigenous people had said and how to connect with other
author’s previous works about the region. I do agree with Stolen’s conclusions
and arguments. At first I was skeptical of what she was trying to convey to me,
but the more I read, the more convinced I became. Stolen proved to me that she
knew the topic that she was analyzing and because she knew this topic well the
reader should put a certain amount of “trust” in her knowledge of the region. I
think this is particularly important in the case of Guatemala because out of
all the Latin American countries, Guatemala is one of the least studied and
talked about countries in the region. For whatever reason, many of the
countries in the whole of Central America are usually largely disregarded, but
Stolen definitely conveyed to me that the indigenous people did not in fact
want to support the guerilla movements at all.
My
overall response to the book is that it was a very well-written book, even
though I would have enjoyed to read more individual accounts from the
indigenous people there, and maybe even of other perspectives. This would make
the book an even better read than what I already consider it to be. I found
this book extremely interesting because I was not very familiar with the war in
Guatemala before reading this book, so for me, the whole book was an entirely
new experience, so to speak. The book I think was interesting most of all
because of the individual accounts of every individual perspective that she
tried to capture, to assemble somewhat of a puzzle montage storyline. This book
was very moving for me in the sense that I am going to make sure that when I am
learning about Latin America in the future, I will make sure to take a closer
look at the other countries not necessarily discussed in as much extent as the
larger nations. Specifically, I am going to pay more attention to Guatemala and
the people there. It seems odd to me that so much common knowledge about Mexico
is possessed in the minds of so many, yet, the country that shares borders with
Mexico seems non-existent to the rest of the area.
I
would recommend this book to others because it was an interesting read, and
because I know that not a lot of people go out of their way to learn about
Guatemala. Another reason that I would recommend this book is because I think
to know about the civil wars in different countries in Latin America is very
important so that in your mind you can form the framework of being able to link
all of the movements and wars together in one way or another. This book for me
was very interesting even though I had skeptical thoughts about it to begin
with. Stolen is a great author that conveys her message and opinions through
her thesis well.
In
conclusion, the ethnography written by Kristi Anne Stolen portrayed many
different aspects of the Guatemalan culture and hardships incurred by many of
them due to the war torn areas. Most of the refugees that went back to
Guatemala after having lived in Mexico were making the best of what they were
given. It will take a long time and a lot of work to restore the Guatemalans to
what they had before the war however, with the support of international groups
it is possible.
Bibliography
Adams, Abigail E.
“Journal of Latin American Studies.” 42.2 (2010): 436-438. Online. http://journals.cambridge.org.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/action/displayFulltext?type=1&pdftype=1&fid=7837614&jid=LAS&volumeId=42&issueId=02&aid=7837612. Accessed June 19, 2012.
Motorcycle Diaries Analysis
The novel The Motorcycle Diaries
is written by Ernesto Guevara was published by Verso in 1995 and is 155 pages
in length. The genre of this book is that of an adventure novel, but it blends
the notion of fiction with the notion of non-fiction. The book is written as a
fiction type story, but with a non-fiction perspective. This provides the
reader with a unique reading experience that is not often found in many books
anymore.
In the novel The Motorcycle
Diaries written by Ernesto Guevara, it records the journey of the young man
and his friend Alberto Granado across the continent of South America. The theme
of the story is that in the novel Ernesto dreams of having a united borderless
Latin America free of prejudice and injustice. The journey starts out in
Argentina and works its way west into Chile where it then works its way north
up the Pacific Coast of South America and into Colombia and ultimately
Venezuela. The point of view is from the view of Ernesto Guevara who was not
yet at the time nick-named “Che.” His best friend and trusty companion on his
journey shares many experiences and interacts with many characters along the
way as well. The story starts out discussing the troubles and other problems
incurred by the two men at the start of the trip, but it quickly shifts into a
discovery of people, civilizations and corruption throughout the region. Along
Guevara’s trip on “La Poderosa” the motorcycle, it ends up breaking down in
southern Chile which is a large turning point for the men in the story where
they then end up taking any other mode of transportation possible to complete
their journey. Along the way, the two men were faced with many different
situations and were introduced to different people as well as their individual situations.
For example, Guevara and his expedition partner were introduced to many
injustices of the average people in Latin America such as the mining operations
in Chile and knowing how many Chileans had died as a result of the American
mining companies. In addition to this the corruption that faced these people on
a regular basis was nothing short of outright stripping them of their rights.
People were not allowed to be communist in many regions and Guevara resented
this. I feel like this plot is so compelling because it provides a direct
insight of the trip that was taken by the two men and allows the reader to
transplant themselves to the time and place at which this story is taking
place. For me I am able to create direct imagery with the surroundings that are
described by the two men, but primarily Guevara. Another aspect of the plot
that makes it so interesting is the way in which the story is told and that it
is a true story. For me true stories mean more than just a fictional series
made up or defined by different events, but not actually as an eyewitness
account. A firsthand experience such as
the one this novel provides is a much better way of conveying to the reader
specific feelings that are emotionally elicited rather than fictional ties to
characters. What I mean by this is that it is extremely easy for the reader to
make emotional connections with the characters and their feelings because they
are real people who really did this journey and in fact makes the clear
distinction between fiction and reality.
In the book, one major
turning point is when the motorcycle breaks down and for this reason the two
men are forced to work odd jobs here and there to earn enough money to travel.
This is important because they were relying on the civilians in the regions
that they travelled, for food and shelter in some cases. This worked well because
they were doctors that were willing to help many sick people in most instances
and therefore the communities respected them for this and it was their way of
“paying” the men. Although this was not the case in all places that the two men
visited, it was a way that the men received food. Near the end of the book
Granado decided to stay in Venezuela rather than going with Guevara to Miami
and then back to Argentina. This is important because to me this signifies
wholly Guevara’s total independence that he had gained on this trip because now
he was taking a sort of “mini-trip” within his original trip to Miami, all on
his own.
Guevara’s discovery of
the conditions in which many people in South America were forced to live, gave
him an entirely new appreciation for everything that he had had, and that he
was able to practice medicine. This gift of studying medicine was a great gift,
and one that his parents so eagerly wanted him to complete upon his return from
his eight month voyage, he did in fact end up completing his studies. I did not
personally notice any foreshadowing in this novel and many other literary
devices that were employed were solely to increase the visuals within the
reader’s mind as they read along. All of the above mentioned ideas are crucial
to Guevara’s notion of a borderless unified Latin America, and more importantly
the theme of the entire book. In this respect I feel as though Ernesto Guevara
did achieve his purpose and in fact opened up the eyes to many not only in the
areas that he visited, but as well as around the world. I say this with all
confidence because this has been an extremely popular novel particularly in
Latin America as well as even here in Canada. I have heard lots about it since
I was a young child, and I have no familial ties to Latin America that I am
aware of. The writing in this book, as mentioned above allow the reader to have
a great description of the places and things that Guevara and Granado are
seeing in the flesh. For example, a quote from the book says; “He had a scar
just above the shoulder blade, from a bullet show at almost point-blank range
out of ‘vinganza’ he said in a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese,” (130). This
quote shows just how detailed the book was in providing a description to the
audience about the conditions the two men were surrounded by. This makes the
writing not only effective but extremely powerful. For a novel to be able to
illicit specific emotional reactions such as the one of cringing at such a
thought of a bullet piercing through skin at point-blank range, shows the
powerfulness of the text itself and how it is demonstrated. In addition to the
text being effective and powerful it is also extremely easy to read. This book
is one that provides no difficulties for readers with fairly limited reading
abilities. By in large the majority of the vocabulary and language used
throughout writing in the novel are simple and plain. The text gets right to
the point with enough detail and accuracy that there is no need for confusing
language and a varied vocabulary. At the time when this book was produced, it
was important to write it in such a way that was easily comprehensible as well
as easily depicted in the minds of the readers. In summary, the whole narrative
of the book itself is very beautiful in its construction, its layout and its writing
style. The fact that the reader is given enough detail to create images in
their mind on their own is enough alone to be able to consider it beautiful,
however, the fact that the book works all of these details out in a straightforward
narrative that serves as a catalyst for the rest of Guevara’s life, is even
more beautiful.
A strength of the book is
that it provides another view of the world from a Communist minded eye. This is
extremely important particularly living in Canada or the United States because
Guevara provides a totally different outlook on the same situation just solely
based upon his ideological perspective. In Canada and America, it is hard to
imagine anything but a capitalist viewpoint as a way of viewing the world, but
in Latin America, communism was very much a viewpoint as well. Although it was
largely controlled by the capitalists living and controlling the economics of
the areas, it shows that capitalism, however strong and mighty is not the sole
perspective taken on the world, and when looking at the world from another
perspective, it sheds light on matters that before seemed to be obsolete. The
first and earliest example I can think of is just the Spanish themselves
conquering the Americas and in specific the Incan empire. Although the
ideologies of capitalism and communism were not yet present during this time,
it seems as though this invasion was foreshadowing what was to come in their
not too distant future. For the Incan empire, their religious ceremonies were
stripped from them, and their religious temples torn down. The materials from
these torn down temples, as noted by Guevara, were used to construct the new
Churches of the Spanish rulers. Not only did this serve to desecrate the
culture, but humiliate the Incans over the next thousand or so years. The fact
that the Spanish exploited what the Incans had already built to be able to create
their own establishments is much the same as what many capitalist American
mining companies do in Chile. This was the case when Guevara was on his
expedition through the Southern part of the Americas, as well as today. This
perspective of seeing life through the eyes of the poor, sick, indigenous and
otherwise politically inept people reserved the communist viewpoint as the main
ideology of looking at any situation. In my opinion there is no weakness to the
book except that maybe Guevara’s voyage did not last nearly as long as I would
have liked to continue reading about.
My overall response to this book is that it
was extremely moving for the fact that it was able to provide me with an
entirely new perspective on Latin America, different from all the perspectives
with the knowledge that I currently have about Latin America. This book was
interesting enough to keep my attention which is not always the case, and in
addition to this, it was able to teach me something new about my own
perspectives. I knew that growing up in Canada I was not always getting the
“full truth” about certain aspects of the world, but I did not realize that
this truth was as skewed as it was. I know that many people think of Canada as
a free country of thought, but until you really start to learn about other
nations, that is when you learn the most about your own. I think what I am really
trying to say is that not only did this book teach me about Latin America and
the hardships faced during the time from a much more communist viewpoint, but
it also taught me a lot about my own country. This in return means that I do
consider the book very moving, because if a book is able to teach me anything
it is successful, but if it is able to teach me about the topic, as well as my
own country and perspectives then it is extremely moving. I learned from this
book that there is always more than one way to view the world, and this was
exactly the way that Guevara looked at any situation because he thought about
things from the perspective of the people living in that situation. This is
what made him so popular in Latin America after his journey.
Generally speaking this
novel in Latin had more than a large impact on the society. It was not only the
novel itself, but the ideas developed by Guevara during his travels that
created many movements in Latin America towards a more distinguished society of
what the people actually wanted. Of course, Guevara was eventually killed by
the Bolivian military for his radical movements, and the fact that he was
“implanting” many of these ideas into the heads of other Latin Americans.
Guevara challenged many of the governments in Latin America, and in doing so he
inspired the people to follow in his direction, so that they would be able to
fight for this more unified and borderless set of nation-states. With the help
of Guevara and his radical communist ideologies, many people were inspired to
follow in exactly the same steps that he had taken in order to force the
government in their region into a more democratic state, rather than a
dictatorship.
My overall response to
the book is that it was a very interesting book and was extremely insightful.
Just the account alone of the novel is extremely insightful and the fact that
these two men decided to take a journey throughout Latin America. Their
accounts of everything along the way make the book moving and a book that I
would definitely recommend to others. I would recommend this book to others
because of all of the insightful material discussed above and the fact that it
could potentially change one person’s view about the whole world. Obviously it
is a powerful book if it can so easily change one’s whole outlook on the world,
as it did to mine.
In conclusion, this book
written by Guevara about his adventures and travels in South America is very
inspiring by in large because of his descriptions of all the places that he
travelled to, as well as the people he met along his travels. No matter where
he was in South America he was almost always able to find someone to help him
out even if they themselves had not much to offer in return for his services,
or just out of their own kindness. This demonstration of good will from all of
the poor, indigenous and sick in South America was a direct inspiration for
what I do in my own country and inspires me to think twice about decisions that
I make as a person and consumer here in Canada. It is important that people in
the first world countries whom are rich and enjoy many luxuries reflect on
those who go through living their daily lives without even the most basic needs
to survive. The difference in perspectives and worlds between North America and
the Southern Hemisphere is a great difference and one that needs to be
discussed further in order to provide the people of these regions with the
assistance that is necessary for them.
Bibliography
Guevara, Ernesto. The
Motorcycle Diaries. Verso, 1995. Book.
Spartacus Educational. Che Guevara. n.d.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDguevara.htm. 11 June 2012.
Prohibido Olvidar - Song Analysis
SONG ANALYSIS:
Rubén Blades: Prohibido Olvidar
Prohibieron ir a la escuela e ir a la
universidad
Prohibieron las garantías y el fin
constitucional
Prohibieron todas las ciencias, excepto la
militar.
Prohibiendo el derecho a queja, prohibieron el
preguntar.
Hoy te sugiero, mi hermano, pa' que no vuelva a
pasar,
¡Prohibido olvidar!
¡Prohibido
olvidar!
Prohibido esperar respuestas.
Prohibida la voluntad.
Prohibidas las discusiones.
Prohibida la realidad
Prohibida la libre prensa y prohibido el
opinar.
Prohibieron la inteligencia con un decreto
especial.
Si tú no usas la cabeza, otro por tí la va a
usar.
¡Prohibido olvidar!
¡Prohibido
olvidar!
Prohibido el derecho a huelga y el aumento
salarial.
Prohibieron ir a la calle y al estado criticar.
Prohibieron reírse del chiste de su triste
gobernar.
Prohibieron el desarrollo del futuro nacional.
Yo creo que la única forma de darle a esto un
final es:
¡Prohibido olvidar!
¡Prohibido
olvidar!
Prohibieron los comentarios sin "visto
bueno" oficial,
Prohibieron el rebelarse contra la mediocridad.
Prohibieron las elecciones y la esperanza
popular.
Y prohibieron la conciencia, al prohibirnos el
pensar.
Si tú crees en tu bandera y crees en la
libertad:
¡Prohibido olvidar!
¡Prohibido
olvidar!
Pobre del país donde lo malo controla,
donde el civil se enamora de la corrupción.
Pobre del país alienado por la droga,
porque una mente que afloja, pierde la razón.
Pobre del país que, con la violencia crea
que puede matar la idea de su liberación.
Pobre del país que ve la justicia hecha añicos
por la voluntad del rico o por orden militar.
Cada nación depende del corazón de su gente.
Y a un país que no se vende, nadie lo podrá
comprar!
¡No te olvides!
¡No te olvides!
The song that I am going to analyze
is called Prohibido Olvidar and is written and performed by Rubén Blades. Blades is from Panama City, Panama and the
song was written in 1991. The style of this song is salsa, presumably because
the majority of Rubén Blades’ works were of the same style and therefore this
would have been his common style to use. During the time when the song appeared it was
right after the Americans had invaded Panama and all throughout Latin America
there was a recession. Unemployment in the region was a serious problem because
of the invasion and the abolishment of the military in the region. Panama in
1991 was in a state of re-building after the American invasion.
The
underlying message of the song is that the government is not allowing its
citizens to be able to do anything and it’s not fair to the people. The
government in Panama at the time was run by a man by the name of Manuel Noriega
and he was very intertwined with illegal drug and weapon smuggling. Although
the Americans invaded for many reasons, this was the largest reason that they
would invade Panama and ultimately, it would result in many losses to the
Panamanians at the time. The people were not allowed to do anything and Rubén keeps
repeating the words “Prohibido Olvidar”. With all of this being said I think
that the overall underlying message of the song is that these people should not
give up or forget about what they have been through and they should continue
pressing on with their lives. What this means is that although they had been
through some hard times with civilian casualties, and pressures by the
Panamanian as well as American government, these people should never forget
these problems so as to combat them in the future. In addition to this, the
song tells the story of major oppression by the Panamanian government and even
possibly by the American government at the time that they invaded Panama.
By
having Rubén Blades sing the song, it adds a little bit of meaning because his
parents and himself were originally exiled by the government, and when Blades
decided to return to Panama, he ended up running for President and finishing
third place. What this symbolizes is that Blades clearly had at least some
influence in Panama, and so hopefully people would have taken the lyrics of his
song a little more seriously and important. With this being said, the song did come
out after the American government invaded Panama, and before Blades ran in
government for the President. Rubén Blades was also the son of two talented
parents in Panama which gave him the background that was necessary for people to
understand his thoughts and also to understand him as a person a little better.
His parents were very established in Panama at the time, and well known to the
general population for their works, therefore, Blades had a certain amount of
popularity among the people prior to this song being released. This popularity
was of the ‘infectious’ sort and for the general population of Panama, Blades
would have been much like a person that was held in high regard for his
political opinions and ideas, which his songs conveyed meaningfully to the
general population. The lyrics of this song would have been enough to be able
to spark the minds of the Panamanian people that what was going on was wrong,
and that it was within their power to prevent it from happening in the future.
This
song is important for Latin American people because it represents everything
that they had gone through in terms of oppression by both the Panamanian forces
under the command of Manuel Noriega as well as the American government. This
song would be a very influential song to show the people not to give up even
though they have had a lot of their rights stripped from them and there was
dying and despair all around them. This song may be more important to
Panamanian citizens, however I think its universality applies to the larger
portion of Latin America as a whole. This is because, Panama was not the only
country to suffer under oppression of government forces and therefore this
seems like it could have potentially been anywhere. Many countries in Latin
America faced problems with dictatorships and the rulers oppressing the general
population, therefore this song conveys this sort of universality. The
undertone of the song is what makes it universal to the people in Latin America
as a whole rather than solely the Panamanians. Perhaps the specific examples do
not pertain to every nation all of the time, however the underlying message and
overlying tone can be felt and conveyed throughout Latin America as a whole.
To
me the song conveyed emotions of sadness and disparity, but it also conveyed
emotions of strength and courage. I feel like in this song Blades is telling
his audience not to give up and that as long as they keep remembering and
fighting then maybe one day then will be able to have all of the things that he
mentions they cannot have and cannot do. What this means is that with their
strength against the government regime in Panama, it will becomes easier for
them to fight for what they believe in and that should they not forget, then
they will be able to conquer these powers at work. The fact that this song is
able to show the disparity of the Panamanian people as well as the driving
forces for courageousness and self-determination, establishes just how
important this song was and is. It is important to note that this song conveys
such polar opposite feelings, because it is in fact only one song so it seems
unreal that it would be able to convey so much in such a little time frame.
This song conveys multiple emotions to allow people of all different
atmospheres and backgrounds to be able to relate to this song.
My
personal opinion of the song is that I think it would have been a very
important aspect of culture at the time in 1991. However I cannot be sure
because I was not born at this time. I feel like if I were in a situation such
as the people in Panama were in 1991 then this song would have appealed to me
on a large scale. This song would have given me a drive to fight for what I
believe in and I would hope that it did for others at the time. It is
unfortunate that so many people have had to put up with oppression of all sorts
in Latin America on such a large scale, however, songs like this one are what
allow people to be able to cope with certain situations and get through hard
times. I did in fact like this song because of its meaning as well as its beat.
The song itself without the lyrics is very relaxing, but when the lyrics are
added in, the song has a much deeper meaning. I did understand what the song’s
underlying meaning was, and I feel like to have had a better understanding I
would have to put myself back in the situation of the people that were living
in Panama at the time that this song was released.
In
conclusion, the song Prohibido Olvidar by Rubén Blades was and still is a very
influential song in Panama as well as the rest of Latin America. This song
speaks to the emotions of the past and present governments in the region and
how the people feel under such pressures. Songs like this one have a great
influence on the people in Latin American countries and give them a ‘voice’ to
the rest of the world, that may not always have a clear understanding on what
is going on in the region. Ruben Blades is an amazing performer from Latin
America with a superior voice and writing talent that allows everyone to feel
emotionally connected with the song.
Works Cited
Keen, Benjamin
& Haynes, Keith. A History of Latin America. Belmont: Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning, 2009.
McGraw Hill. "Vox Compact Spanish and English Dictionary."
Larousse
Editorial, 2008. Book.
Blades, Ruben.
“Prohibido Olvidar”. 1991.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Pre/Post Conquest Indigenous Images
MAPUCHE
Sculpture - Artifact
Gold Character - Art
Oral Bat Tradition Painting - Art
Artifact
Easter Island Statues - Artifacts
MISKITOS
NAHUA
House - Architecture
Painting
Sculptures - Artifacts
GUARANÍ
Architecture
Painting
Sculpture - Artifact
QUECHUA
Architecture
Art
Shepherd's Horn - Artifact
CHIBCHI
Observatory - Architecture
Gold Character - Art
Artifact
PIPIL
Ruins - Architecture
Oral Bat Tradition Painting - Art
Artifact
RAPANUI
Architecture
Art
Easter Island Statues - Artifacts
GARIFUNA
Architecture
Painting - Art
Artifact
MISKITOS
Houses - Architecture
Wooden Sculpture - Art
Artifact
NAHUA
Architecture
Art
Sculpture - Architecture
In Latin America there is so much diversity within all of the indigenous groups but very little is known about the majority of these groups. For example, many of the pre-conquest cultures are extinct now due to the diseases brought over by the Europeans as well as hands on combat with the Europeans, but even though there are many that are extinct, there are still many that have survived. Not only have these cultures survived the conquest, but they have also survived modernity in an ever changing world. With the indigenous cultures that still survive, they have many similarities and differences so it is important to try to continue preserving what is left of all of these remaining cultures.
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