This semester, I want to gain a better baseline understanding of Latin America before, during, and after the arrival of European imperialists. Thus far, I have noticed that history courses tend to somewhat overlook how colonialism affected, and still affects the people in a variety of different ways. I think it is important to highlight not only the strategies and reasons why Europeans decided to invade Latin America, but also the full history of how Latin American peoples lives were impacted. In this, I think it is easy to paint the colonial experience as singular, generalizing how individuals and communities were conquered by colonizers; however, I would like to learn how to more intentionally study the intricacies of colonial Latin America while highlighting the variety of experiences among different individuals and communities.

More specifically, I would like to learn more about how material culture was influenced by the arrival of colonizers. While the assumption among most who study this subject is that Spaniards arrived in many communities in Latin America and imposed their way of life upon innocent people, this obviously paints the picture that the colonized lacked the autonomy and power to decide what they desired for themselves. I would like to learn more about how indigenous Latin American communities reacted to the influx of Europeans and how power, identity, and the desire for development affected the culture shifts inevitably took place.

During this semester, there are a couple things that I would like to learn in this class. The most important thing is that I would like to learn more about how Latin America, and its colonization, impacted the European world, as in previous classes I’ve mostly only learned of its impact on the United States. Understanding its impact is vital to understanding how it shaped the world as we know it today, and I would like to learn more about this.

I would also like to learn more from the points of view of the natives, as I have generally only read and looked at European documents and ideas before now. Understanding diverse cultures and ideals will help me to open my eyes, and look at things from a new angle.

This semester I am excited to learn about a variety of things related to Colonial Latin American history. I think that it will be interesting to be able to go really in-depth in this world, which isn’t something that I have been able to do in my past history classes. I remember a world history class that I took in high school that literally covered millions of years. While the patterns of history that we explored were interesting, the class didn’t allow us to learn about any specific details of a given time. In this class, I think that the opposite will be true, and I’m excited to learn about people, places, and events that I haven’t before.

More specifically, I’m excited to learn about the various revolutions that occurred during this era, because I think that these especially are ignored in other history classes. Events like Mexico’s independence, the Haitian Revolution, and people like Simon Boliver were instrumental in forming the world that we know today, but I don’t know that much about them, especially when compared to my knowledge of similar events in other regions of the world.  I think that this class will broaden my knowledge of our world’s history, and I’m excited for that to happen.

This semester, I want to learn more in general about Latin America and the history of its colonial past – I have never really taken a history class that covered this area of the world and its past in depth, despite having taken quite a few in the past. I feel that it’s an extremely important area of history that is not nearly discussed enough, especially concerning the culture of the Native American societies present in Latin America prior to the arrival of Europeans. I’ve always been both fascinated and horrified by the sheer scale of the epidemics that wracked the Americas during this period of time. The truly unprecedented events that occurred are only made more interesting for me by the continuously emerging evidence of larger and larger population sizes and developed civilizations. I’m deeply interested in learning more about these societies, and how they dealt with the events brought on by European contact.

Another, far removed area of Latin American history I’m very interested in learning more about is the era of the revolutions and independence movements in the emerging nations of the region during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. I feel that this time period is criminally underrepresented in comparison to its sheer importance to the history of Latin America, especially in American education. When compared to the likes of the American or French Revolutions, I feel that these events are almost completely ignored by the majority of popular history. I certainly haven’t learned much about them, and I’m hoping that this class will do a lot to advance my knowledge of the subject. This is also why I chose a book about Mexico City during the revolutions for my report.

Last semester, I took a class called Decolonial Philosophy with Dr. McBride. The first two weeks of the course we spent talking about how different regions had wildly different histories with colonization that shaped current world economies, political structures, and social hierarchies. Therefore, the process of decolonization in each of these regions began differently and should still be approached differently. As a class taking place in the United States, we spent a lot of time talking about how decolonial philosophy affects our lives in the US. I look forward to spending a semester specifically focusing on the colonial history of Latin America.

A big theme of that class was on the definition of “man”, as defined by western hegemonic powers. Sylvia Wynter said that the original definition of “man” was a Christian-European man and that allowed for the dehumanization of the rest of the world. She then says the definition changed with what we now call eugenics. This changing definition of what it meant to be human affected the way imperialism developed in the 19th century. In my last class with Professor Holt, Latin America & the US, we talked about how ethnic and economic classes looked different in colonial Latin American than in the rest of the world. I want to learn more about how people were categorized and defined by colonial powers in Latin America and where we can see remnants of these ideologies today.

Last semester I took the course Readings in Latin America/ Spanish 224. A majority of the readings that were assigned for that class had to do with the topic of colonization of Latin America. We specifically discussed Bartolome de Las Casas and Sepulveda, and their arguments for and against colonizing Latin America. I found this portion of the class to be extremely interesting, and I’d love to learn more about their impact on colonial Latin America.

On a different note, I am studying abroad this spring in Argentina. The program that I am participating in is called Social Movements and Human Rights in Argentina. I thought that with taking this class I would better understand the history of Latin America as a whole, and specifically Argentina. Therefore, a research topic relating to Argentinian historical social movements would be a great fit for me.

One historical event I am interested in learning more about is the Túpac Amaru Rebellion that occurred in Peru in the late eighteenth century. I took an interest in this rebellion last spring, after it was discussed in Dr. Welsch’s History 201 course Rulers & Rebels in European Empires. I would love to investigate this event more deeply because Túpac Amaru II, despite his upper-class position in society, helped to spark an uprising against Spain. I am also interested in looking at the high levels of both colonial and rebel violence during this time. Overall, I am curious about the motivations of various people that were involved and — after learning more about this event — I hope to identify parallels between the actions, reactions, and incentives of the Túpac Amaru Rebellion and other uprisings that have occurred in Latin America.

Another idea I am interested in exploring is how indigenous peoples were represented in written texts, especially those from the late medieval period. I found the first chapter of Anthony Grafton’s New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery to be fascinating because I love learning about the Middle Ages. Furthermore, Grafton’s discussion of scholarly perspectives piqued my interest, so that I now wish to learn more about this topic. Ultimately, I would love to learn more about medieval perspectives as they are presented within a variety of written works.

Throughout my years in school, Latin America is one topic that was not covered much. A few of my history classes may have skimmed the topic, but we never went in depth. This is the main reason why I decided to take this class. First and foremost, I would like to learn about the people who comprise Latin America. I would like to learn about their rich histories and various different Latin American cultures.

Another topic I would like to learn about is the interactions between Native Americans and the Europeans. I have mostly only seen these interactions from the European perspective, so I think it would be interesting to see it from a different point of view. I want to know what life was like for these individuals before the arrival of the Europeans and how much life has changed since their arrival.

Throughout my academic career I have spent very little time learning about Latin America which was my main motivation for taking this class. I vaguely remember reading about the conquistadors in elementary school but we never went into the specifics. I am hoping that in this class I will be able to expand my knowledge of Latin America, its culture and how colonization has influenced modern life in the region. I look forward to reading accounts from both Natives and europeans to hopefully paint a full picture of the events that took place.

Most of my little knowledge about colonial Latin American history was told by the point of view of the conquistadors and others who invaded the region giving me a false impression of the damage that they caused. This course will hopefully change that and give multiple accounts about the colonization of Latin America. Finally, I am looking forward to learning about how colonization may have influenced the modern culture in Latin America, what if any were the positive impacts and what were the negative impacts.

One of the reasons I decided to take this class was because I feel that we are taught only about North America during the time of colonization in the New World. I would like to learn about colonization in Latin America and how it differed from more Northern parts of America. How the native cultures were affected and how the newcomers responded to these new people seems like it could be very different compared. When I think of Native Americans and how they faired, unfortunately, a lot of cultures was lost and they were pushed and forced to live on smaller and smaller reservations. I would like to learn about how the cultures of the natives in South and Latin America faired when faced with the conquistadors, how much survived, how it survived, and partly how the present South and Latin America view these native cultures now.

Along the same lines of culture, I would also like to learn how the cultures of the New World natives and the culture of the colonizers mixed. Like what parts were shared and continued to be included in each other’s cultures. For example, I know that Catholicism is still very prevalent across South and Latin America. But what other aspects combined with each other. We can learn how South and Latin America is a unique place becuase of the cultural combinations from this period of time. I would also like to see what still remains as common practice today.