Fruit?

Have you choose your fruit yet?? I think I earned a couple extra marks there... I made you and the whole class laugh... hahaha

Final Blog

As a Latino I was very curios about this course. I wanted to take it to see how other cultures look at us and what they think. I have to admit that at first it was a little boring, we covered a lot of history about where our culture comes from, but I guess we need to know where we come from to see where we are going, so even if I didn't like it I assume that we need it to hear it, maybe it was boring for me because I've already hear it quite a few times. After a while we started getting into more interesting subjects, like futbol and J.Lo, and honestly that was more what I expected from the course, to discuss more contemporary things. The first couple of classes were interesting too, because I learn things about Canadian culture. I think is always nice to see how people look at your culture from different perspectives, as we saw with both Peron's readings, and how even if its "popular" culture it may vary with the class level you are in, so its not really popular at the end. Also things differ a lot from the eyes that are seeing it, we saw it I think more explicitly in the Pongo's Dream where we saw how the little indian guy was abused by the "powerful" spanish guy. We also learned about the theories of mixture and how they have already helped to shape our culture, and finally we saw that our culture is endind. I don't really think is ending, but at the end over a really long period of time what might happen due to globalization is that al cultures will fuze into one, but so far I feel that the differences are still there, and even if our culture is becoming "more globalize" is still latin and has very strong characteristics.

The end of pop culture?

In the first article they talk about this "super hero" figure that was developed in Mexico, he was a fighter for his believes, but did the people that followed him had the same ideology? or did they follow him just because "he is cool"? Also you can see how this mysterious figured appeared and created so much impact in the people that they started writing love letters to him and doing shows that in some way involve him. I think that a point that this article is trying to make is, where is the line that divides popular culture, the division where people follows things just because and where people follow things because they actually believe in that.
Jennifer Lopez is one of the most famous Latin people, she is famous for acting, singing, having her one clothes line and maybe some other things, but the first thing that called everyone's attention was her butt. She went to Hollywood to prove herself as an artist and she made it, and she never felt that she should change her body in order to achieve it. As most Latin women, she is voluptuous, and american people notice that quite fast. She got there and prove all the stereotypes wrong, she prove that curvy women can be hot too. She is an icon for Latin people, because she was one of the first ones to step up in Hollywood and have success. Was her butt the reason why she success? Nobody knows, but it sure helped her, and it also help other people, many comedians and singers took advantage of her physical atributes to get more audience and followers.
Latinos are well knowed for exotical dances, one of them is Salsa. It has been used in other countries to attract the latin community there, and also to make more exotic the enviroment in their own country. Again, as JLo, "big" women are used to sell the image of the club and the dance. They are used as sex symbols, and lets face it, it's better to have girls dancing on stage than men, they move better and know how to sell the dance, and dependig on their looks it would be the personification of Latino in all its glory.

Futebol and Telenovelas

This week readings are about two of the greatest vices that Latin American people have, futbol and telenovelas, eventough both genders enjoy them; futbol is seen as a manly thing and telenovelas as a girly thing.
Is not a secret that soccer in Latin America is huge, but in Brazil it's something else, actually there are people that consider it a religion and not a sport, and we could get a scoop of that in this text. One of the phrases that I liked the most of the reading is: "Only three people have, with just one motion, silenced the Maracana: Frank Sinatra, Pope John Paul II and me" (Gigghia). It's amazing how important is soccer to Brazilians that a single action can silenced a whole country, or on the other hand, engage all the people with a huge celebration. The Maracanazo is the biggest example of this, because for the Brazilian's this has been the biggest tragedy that has ever occured in their country, but it wasn't only because of the game; it was also because of the moment when it happened. In Latin America futbol is nearly the only thing that has the power to bring a whole nation together when the national team is playing, but also it has the power to divide the nation when the two biggest teams play against each other. Futbol is a party and as such the whole nation is paralyzed when an important game takes place, most countries are "soccer ruled" and the country moves and works according to the games or soccer events.
Telenovelas are mostly enjoyed by women. These shows usually involves ridiculous love stories, a lot of drama, things that will never happen on real life and people that are extremely good looking that makes you doubt if they are real. They are compared to soap operas, but there have several differences, for example telenovelas eventually get to an end, as soap operas don't have a final episode. Because of the way they are developed and their structure they really get people consumed on the story, tuning it everytime it is on. It is always on people's conversations the day after, and sometimes even a couple of minutes after the episode is done. People always wait eagerly for the end of the telenovela, but they feel that there is an empty space after it is done.

Latin Store

In case someone is interested here is the store I talked about website http://www.modelsofidentity.com/losguerrerosvancouver/index.swf, they are located on 3317 Kingsway. The address is on their website.

"1st half"

During this past weeks we have learned a lot of Latin American culture. First we study some general concepts of what culture is and how is developed, also which factors affect the most on this development and how culture is formed. We realized that culture is basically ordinary and everything that surrounds us and that there is not a real definition of what it is, but we all have the idea of culture in our heads. Then we start getting a little more involved with latinos with both articles about the people, how they were spoken to and the different perspectives, while Borges was a more "on the surface" article, Peron's one was more from "above", even if she always said that she was like the people. But they give a clear idea of who are the people, el pueblo. Then we got a little more into Latin culture and folklore, how they were "created" when the Spanish arrived, and how they have been devoleping in all these years. How we were created from a mixture of different cultures. Also we saw how natives were treated back then and they are sometimes in some places still treated like slaves. We saw also how important are legends and how we create them and inherit them from our ancesters, but they are not written, they are passed by narration from generation to generation. We have seen some of the more general aspects of our culture and in the biggest countries, with the exception of Guatemala, but that is just a scoop of what we latinos really are.

Theories of mixture I: MESTIZAJE

Mixture of cultures has been present since the earliest civilizations, and it seems that the mixture between similar races gives a better and more beneficial effect than the mixture of different races., for example the United States and Argentina are a mix of similar cultures and are two of the most developed nations in our continent, but most of Central America and some South American countries have had side effects due to the shock between the Spanish and the natives and are not fully develop. Spanish people and anthropologist give a lot of credit to the invaders that they have help and bring all Latin America to where they are, maybe it is true, but we can't prove it, and we don't know what could have happen if they have never reach American soil. They think that natives didn't have other choice than to be abused and exploited by them, but as I say before, we will never know what would've happen if the Europeans will stay in Europe. There are four main races that are combining to produce every culture in the world, especially in America, these are: Black, Mongol, Indian and White. The author believes that after all these races are fully mixed they will develop a new race, which he calls the fifth race... The cosmic race. He thinks that this race is going to be guided by Christianity and that all cultures will be rooted in European culture and then mold from there.

POPULAR CULTURE AS FOLK CULTURE

I think the first reading can be a little tricky for people who haven't experienced reading Latin American legends, but besides that it's a very good way for people to familiarize with it because it has a lot of elements that represent very well native Latin American culture, for example quetzal plumes, rolls of drums, war songs, faces painted with fruit, etc. (pg. 82, 2nd P). It is also a clear example of our legends, because it incorporates a lot of natural elements, it uses metaphors, and it gives mystical characteristics to normal things. You can also see that in religion they believed in many different gods and it was until the Spanish arrived that Latin America became monotheist. One of the legends also talks a lot about the conquest and how Spanish people ask for "prizes" to the indians to "give" them as presents to their Spanish saints. On the pongo kid story you can see how the indians were always abused and treated like objects. In the eyes of the conquerors they were just possesions that they can do whatever they want with them. But this story has a valuable lesson and is to treat everybody with respect, disregarding their race or background. You can also notice in the story how the catholisism is being impossed and that people prayed to "God" and his saints instead of their old believed gods.

what is popular culture in latinoamerica?

Latin American culture is very heterogeneous and varies a lot depending on the region, still there are some similarities, that's why the text uses three big areas on its attempt to describe it, the Andean region, Brazil and Mexico. Ever since the Conquest, Latin America has been changing, but even with all the changes it has had, there are still some rituals and traditions, from our native American ancestors, that are kept, but there are also some bad things, like due to globalization some of the same ancestors are taken aside and exploited or capitalists have taken away their lands. Also the development and social trends of the different areas may vary due to the country that conquer them and to urbanization and industrialization. Another area of Latin American culture that was very affected by the conquest was religion, after they invade America they imposed their religion and tried to change the rituals that were already used, but Europeans had an advantage, that they used written documents, as Indians usually had more a vocal heritage (narrative). Part of the traditions that are kept by some of the Indians are music and poetry, and there still are people that write in their native language, and also they keep native instruments. Another tradition that is trying to be kept is all the artesanias, which have a lot of different meanings, and they were related to religion sometimes, in a bad or a good way, but also, beside their meaning they have become in some cases an income for families. It is really hard to describe a region so vast like Latin America, but I think the authors here gave us very good idea of what in general concepts is Latin America.

what is the people?

I will like to start this post quoting one of the most outstanding lines of the paper: " Fanaticism is the only force that God gave the heart to win its battles". I feel like the first is very political and how that environment affects people, and she established a difference between the people and the liars, and how they are move just by envy, and also how this people would never be the leaders of the people, because in order to do that they should be fanatics of the people. Also the author feels disappointed and mad about how all people are liars, and she knew about lies, because she was married to a president, but not necessarily because he was a liar, but because of the environment she was involved. She also feels like a responsibility to tell the world about these lies. Even though she felt like she lived in a world of lies, she always admire and respect her husband, and would follow him where ever he would go. Because of the life she was living, she was always surrounded by people that would lie to take advantage of some situations, and because of that her will was been washed away, so that she wont believe in some people anymore. She believes in the people, or what she called the people, because they are truthful, they have heart and ideals. She always stood for the people, and that people is Latin America, being oppressed and exploited by the Imperialist, mainly USA. She wanted que la voz del pueblo fuera escuchada en todo el mundo, dando un grito de lucha por la justicia y libertad! For Peron, people's happiness comes first, because if people are not happy, then a country can't be great. I also feel that they use a lot the principle of democratics, the voice of the people, and how the government should really reflect that and be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. Even if it has a valid argument, I feel that after a while the text becomes monotonous and redundant, going over and over again on the same idea: How the people must fight, must not become sell outs, must want to be listened so they wont be opressed and mistreated by "the others". I don't really get the second one, it was kind of confusing and couldn't get the main idea, but I feel that the idea of the people is like any random person, any average joe, the country people, just living an ordinary life, but the characters of the story didn't seem that ordinary, but still they were not part of the oligarchy.

Culture...

In the first article the author establishes something from the very beginning and is that culture is ordinary, and he also relates culture to society, how they are made of common meanings and directions. He also seems disappointed about the path that society is taking, how it is getting worse and worse everyday. Culture is always changing, and those changes are the things that mold it into what is becoming, and the way people adapt to those changes is the only way to survive in this world. This has a lot to do with how people were raised, so that they can accept these changes and get use to them and take the best of them also. He makes a really clear and strong statement saying that culture is expanding and all the elements on it are too, because as time changes, people changes which means culture is changing, our culture is not the same as 50 years ago, due to a lot of things, for example technology and education. Culture is a reflect of people, and people are a reflect of their education, so culture is a reflect of education and changes with it. On the second text, culture is seen like the consequence of the past, a mix of the old and new, there they use the word collage or coral reefs, because culture comes from a lot of different things and places that have "deposit", and in most of the nations of the modern world that were conquered is a mixture of appropriations, resistance and accommodations, as the text says.
The term culture has also been misused and twisted in a wrong way, since now is applied to ways of life and as a thing, that can be steal, manipulated or sell. There has been a lot of moments in history that have changed the way culture is developed, also not every culture is the same, since there are ones that believe in magic and others that do not believe in magic or things related to it. Some things such as dances, typical dresses, that people think defines their culture, sometimes is not more than heritages from the colonial processes and are not really part of their true roots. Culture is the consequence of many things and the recompilation of a lot of history and events that occurred, but sometimes those things that made us really proud of our culture, are not what we really think, and sometimes what we think and referred as culture is not really it.

Me

Hi
My name is Rommel Fernandez, I'm from Costa Rica this is my 2 term here in UBC, I've been here since august and I'm a Science student.

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