In 100 words describe the set of ideas, facts or events that most opened your eyes. That is, describe what you will remember most about what you learned in the course.
[21] The lessons that I will most remember from this course are of the caudillos and of the foreign interventions. I found it interesting when the caudillos were compared to cowboys of the old west, mainly because at first when I read the section of the text it didn’t seem all that clear of a connection. Through further reading and knowledge about what the government was like during that time frame, parallels became more obvious. Much like the old west cowboys, the caudillos took advantage of the lack of government and perhaps law enforcement and took matters into their own hands, whether for better or worse of the communities ruled by them. And similar to the many John Wayne and other western movies in our culture, their culture had numerous songs about the caudillos showing them in either a positive or negative light- which gave me insight into how the caudillos might have effected the lives of the citizens. I also found the lesson on U.S. interventions interesting, because it showed how corruptible our government leaders were to big businesses and corporations. Maybe this was foresight into what is happening now in the U.S. were public schools are funded in part by Pepsi or other corporations. How corporate greed ruins the economy and funds governmental candidates or lobbyists. The chapter open my eyes to the possible beginning of the power of companies.
[14] The topic that most opened my eyes in this course was how much the United States interfered in Latin American affairs over the years since they earned their independence from European powers, especially during the Cold War. The United States was willing to do anything to stop the spread of Communism in Latin America, including backing dictators who would cooperate with them and planning assassinations of foreign Latin American leaders all in the hopes of keeping the world safe for democracy, whether by constitutional means or not. Another topic that I will remember the most from this course in addition to the extensive U.S. interference in Latin America is caudillos. Before taking this class I had never heard of caudillos, but I found them fascinating because they came to power in Latin America after the Wars of Independence because the countries did not have stable economies and the politics and procedures were unorganized. Caudillos helped to bring some order and control to the countries and they attracted many loyal followers.
[15] The military interventions that we studied in Assignment 6 were one of the most memorable studies in this class. I was never aware of how much the United States intervened in Latin American affairs. For the assignment, I studied Mexico. In Mexico alone, there were 5 interventions. Reading the other blogs posted by course mates really opened my eyes to the turmoil and unrest that happened. Also, the readings in “The House of Spirits” made me realize the social and economic unrest going on in Latin America. Reading the accounts from characters that were involved helped reiterate the materials in an interesting way. Understanding past dealings of political and social turbulence is crucial to comprehending the current state of “Modern Latin America.”
Well the topic that got my attention was the military inventions. What I thought was really interesting was the logic of the United States before they were believed in manifest destiny. They at first did not share the same views as the Europeans for the social Darwinism, but as they saw Europeans were taking over foreign markets, they decided to join in that race for world dominance. I learned a lot in this class. I enjoyed learning about the characters in the House of Spirits and how they shared their views about society. This course helped opened my eyes to a new world of diversity in Latin America’s political and social aspect of Latin America.
[7] This course covered many different time periods, each containing different ideas and events. I agree with previous posts stating that the United States intervention in the different countries of Latin America is something to remember because it was an issue in the development of the region. However, the information I will remember most is the content in which I spent the most time reading and studying. This would be the stories told in the novels, The House of the Spirits and The Last Days of the Incas. Reading history books has never been easy for me but these books enabled me to be able to understand the conquest and discovery in The Last Days of the Incas, and in The House of the Spirits I was able to follow the family through social, cultural, and political development.
[11] This course covered many topics ranging over a long period of time. My favorite topic that we covered, in which I learned the most was about the interventions performed by the United States. The covert operations of the United States during Operation Charly were very surprising to me. I also did not know much about the Bay of Pigs Invasion so I enjoyed learning about that. Reading House of Spirits also taught me about the social class conflicts. I did know about that there were racial tensions within Latin America, so that was also new to me.
[20] Modern Latin America has thoroughly enlightened me on many subjects pertaining to Latin America and how the region has been influenced and evolved. The most interesting topic for me was learning about the social structures of the region. The House of the Spirits helped me to understand this even more. It is interesting to see how the people dealt with others within their own class and race and how people viewed others outside of their class and race. It is interesting to see that the United States social structure and the Latin American structure have a lot of similarities, in how people are treated the same. This opens my eyes to see that even though the United States and Latin America are so different, when it comes to human behavior there are many similarities.
[17] We learned so much throughout this course, whether it was about the geography of the continent or the politics and U.S intervening in Latin America but what I will remember and what I enjoyed the most about this class, was reading The House of the Spirits and the different classes and structure of the government during that time. Learning about the history and culture of Latin America through a novel makes it much easier to comprehend and relate to. Class structure is something that still exists today and hearing about how it affects other countries and people makes it interesting and more real. It was interesting to learn about the relationships between the landowners and the peasants and how they survived. Even the upper-class families dealt with their share of problems and it was interesting to learn about Esteban and how he owed everything he had to the peasants but he did not like them and did not want them to share in his wealth.
[24]What I will remember most about the course will be what we read out of the book The Last of the Incas. The entire story was very interesting and made me not want to put the book down. The fact that Pizzaro’s men were able to come up with a strategy to defeat Atahualpa massive army was quite amazing. Even with the horse and advanced weapons, 168 verses 40,000 to 80,000, the 168 should not win. I liked reading about the way Atahualpa mind set was after he was captured and how he believed they were simply after the gold and would leave upon receiving it. Also how his men still followed his orders after being captured shows the power he had. This was definitely my memorable assignment from the class.
[22] I think the greatest thing I will remember about this course was the ability for me to understand history. I was never a big history buff but reading the short stories in MLAH and also reading the House of the Spirits really opened my eyes to this culture. I especially enjoyed the House of the Spirits much more than I thought I would. In MLAH, I especially enjoyed reading the stories about the rise of the caudillos. I wish we would have gone deeper into the aspect of the caudillos and how they really shaped Latin America. Possibly even relate them to current people in Latin America today. Overall, this course taught me a lot about another culture in which I knew nothing about.
[10]] I was most surprised at how much the United States has interfered in Latin America. The United States justified their actions by saying that they were stopping the spread. Of communism. In some cases there was no evidence of communism in the country. This showed me how the United States took advantage of the Latin American countries.
The material that stood out the most for me in this course was the material I learned from The House of Spirits. I thought the book was very well-written. It was interesting to read the book and see the parallels between the story and the Chilean Revolution. I think the material has and will stand out for me because of the way it was presented. Reading The House of Spirits allowed me to connect in a way with the characters in the book and really relate to not just the historical facts of the Chilean Revolution, but how it affected families. I thought Isabel Allende presented the information in a very unbiased way, especially considering this must have been a very emotional and traumatic time for her and her family.
[5] This course opened my eyes to how negatively Western countries, especially the United States, had affected the independent Latin American countries and inhibited their growth. Before taking this course I had very little previous knowledge of Latin American History, and now that I do, I can understand why it is not typically taught in high schools as it reveals such a sinister side of the United States. I was unaware as to how deeply the United States government was involved in attempting to control Latin American economies in order to maintain their monopolies there. What I learned from this course has added to both my understanding of Latin America, and to m understanding of U.S. and European history.
[9] My favorite thing in this course was reading The House of the Spirits, and I feel that this really opened my eyes to the culture in Latin America. There were so many themes throughout the novel, including the struggle of social classes and the rights and power of women. Although it was fictional, it presented the information in a very realistic way and allowed the readers to understand what life was like in this time. One of the most interesting things about this was how the author was able to relate the novel to the Chilean Revolution. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and by the author using her own life as an example, it gave the reader the opportunity to really relate to and experience the lives of the characters.
Throughout the course I learned various ideas and events that occurred throughout the history of Latin American. The even that opened my eyes the most was the interventions put in place by the U.S. The U.S. not only intervened in Latin America but also many other places. The U.s. place all the interventions in Latin American almost making it seem like they wanted total control over it. While looking at the many interventions it seemed like in some cases the interventions didn't help the situation at hand. With all the interventions placed on Latin American it didn't allow Latin American to be it's "own spirit." This by far was my favorite topic we covered in SHY 345. It really opened my eyes to see how much the U.S. intervened in many places.
[19The one thing that I have learned in this class, as with all my liberal Arts classes, is an ability to see subjects in a different context and realize there is a big world out there to explore. It is amazing when you step out of your comfort zone and dabble into topics that you may not normally be exposed to. This class has made me want to explore deeper into the Latin American culture. For the second half of this semester I am taking Spanish. I do feel more confident after taking this class to proceed further in to my studies. Eventually I hope to travel to Latin America to see in person some of the beautiful scenes you showed us in your pictures. Thank you for sharing them with us.
One of the things that I will remember the most about this class was the assignment on the conquest of the Incas by Francisco Pizarro in the 1500s. This was in Peru and this stood out the most to me because Pizarro invaded this country with less than 200 men. He and his men knew they were going up against an experienced army with thousands of warriors and yet they still decided to fight. Pizarro and his inexperienced group of men defeated the Incas. Even though they had no right to invade the country this story still amazes me because they were so few in number. Being an athlete I looked at this as just because the one group may seem like they have the upper hand they really may not; anyone can win on any given day. This story also taught me that we can not go into other people’s homes and expect to change everything nor can we make a whole bunch of rules in a language they don’t understand and then punish them when they disobey the rules.
The event that most opened my eyes was the story of the Incans. The reading assigned described the brotherly rivalry that caused a civil war in their area. After the description of that they told of how the Spaniards had moved in and, with a low number of men, destroyed the Incan army of thousands. This opened my eyes because it shows the lengths that the Spaniards would go to take over the land that the Incans were located. The story told of the lies told by the Spaniards to gain the trust of these indigenous people, and then stabbed them in the back with their overpowering weapons and tactics. I never really learned about the Spaniards before; that is why it interested.
The assignment and reading that i will remember from this class the most would have to be the story of the Incan people, and the spaniards. I found this to be captivating, and engaged me more than most assignments. The story basically to me outlined the entire process of the european takeover of Latin America. It was intriguing to see the more realistic side of how we arrived in the America's and how the stories differed from what I had learned previously throughout my history classes.
[2] The lesson I will not forget can be found in The Last Days of the Incas. It was really, really interesting to read about Pizarro's determination and the discovery of Machu Picchu among other various items. It was also really neat to read about the establishment of the hidden capital Vilcabamba and the Incan emperor who led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards that inflicted heavy casualties and nearly wiped out the conquistadors.
[6] As this course wraps up, the thing I remember most is learning about the American Intervention in Latin America. I never knew how much American tried to change Latin America. They did not like that their government was communists and was trying to do anything to stop that. They helped form social and political groups such as the Caudillos, and they also showed Latin American’s what it would be like if they were not under the control of a communist government. After learning about this I feel that Americans feel they can do whatever they want, even when they are not needed. I do not think there was any reason for them to intervene in Latin American since they were under the control of the Europeans. This will be a lesson that I will never forget from this course.
[8] The topic that I will remember the most is that of the involvements of Washington in Latin American countries after World War II. I've done a lot of research on American interventions in Europe for my Political Science classes, but I was not aware of the Latin American involvement. It just shows how powerful we were as a nation during the Cold War. How we support "democratic" regimes in order to protect our capitalist economy just shows that we operated imperialistically. We took control of others land, and did not let them benefit from the changes we were making.
[18] What opened my eyes up more and caught my attention throughout the course was reading The House of Spirits. As I was reading it, I found it interesting that between the social and race classes; there were similarities before the Civil War in the United States. There was class and race struggle between the peasants and the land-owners. The peasants didn’t have any rights and worked on the lands with little to no pay. In the House of Spirits, Esteban gave them vouchers to buy things from the grocery store on the land whether giving them the opportunity to receive money and go to town to buy things that they want and need. I’m not much of a history buff outside of genealogy that my mother and I do together, but I definitely learned a lot in this course and how history affects the genealogy of a person’s life along with their ancestors and family and what happens whether for the better or for the worse. The genealogy of the book had shown what a generation had gone through, the struggles, political events, etc. and what led to the following generations.
[21] The lessons that I will most remember from this course are of the caudillos and of the foreign interventions. I found it interesting when the caudillos were compared to cowboys of the old west, mainly because at first when I read the section of the text it didn’t seem all that clear of a connection. Through further reading and knowledge about what the government was like during that time frame, parallels became more obvious. Much like the old west cowboys, the caudillos took advantage of the lack of government and perhaps law enforcement and took matters into their own hands, whether for better or worse of the communities ruled by them. And similar to the many John Wayne and other western movies in our culture, their culture had numerous songs about the caudillos showing them in either a positive or negative light- which gave me insight into how the caudillos might have effected the lives of the citizens.
ReplyDeleteI also found the lesson on U.S. interventions interesting, because it showed how corruptible our government leaders were to big businesses and corporations. Maybe this was foresight into what is happening now in the U.S. were public schools are funded in part by Pepsi or other corporations. How corporate greed ruins the economy and funds governmental candidates or lobbyists. The chapter open my eyes to the possible beginning of the power of companies.
[14] The topic that most opened my eyes in this course was how much the United States interfered in Latin American affairs over the years since they earned their independence from European powers, especially during the Cold War. The United States was willing to do anything to stop the spread of Communism in Latin America, including backing dictators who would cooperate with them and planning assassinations of foreign Latin American leaders all in the hopes of keeping the world safe for democracy, whether by constitutional means or not. Another topic that I will remember the most from this course in addition to the extensive U.S. interference in Latin America is caudillos. Before taking this class I had never heard of caudillos, but I found them fascinating because they came to power in Latin America after the Wars of Independence because the countries did not have stable economies and the politics and procedures were unorganized. Caudillos helped to bring some order and control to the countries and they attracted many loyal followers.
ReplyDelete[15] The military interventions that we studied in Assignment 6 were one of the most memorable studies in this class. I was never aware of how much the United States intervened in Latin American affairs. For the assignment, I studied Mexico. In Mexico alone, there were 5 interventions. Reading the other blogs posted by course mates really opened my eyes to the turmoil and unrest that happened. Also, the readings in “The House of Spirits” made me realize the social and economic unrest going on in Latin America. Reading the accounts from characters that were involved helped reiterate the materials in an interesting way. Understanding past dealings of political and social turbulence is crucial to comprehending the current state of “Modern Latin America.”
ReplyDeleteWell the topic that got my attention was the military inventions. What I thought was really interesting was the logic of the United States before they were believed in manifest destiny. They at first did not share the same views as the Europeans for the social Darwinism, but as they saw Europeans were taking over foreign markets, they decided to join in that race for world dominance. I learned a lot in this class. I enjoyed learning about the characters in the House of Spirits and how they shared their views about society. This course helped opened my eyes to a new world of diversity in Latin America’s political and social aspect of Latin America.
ReplyDelete[7] This course covered many different time periods, each containing different ideas and events. I agree with previous posts stating that the United States intervention in the different countries of Latin America is something to remember because it was an issue in the development of the region. However, the information I will remember most is the content in which I spent the most time reading and studying. This would be the stories told in the novels, The House of the Spirits and The Last Days of the Incas. Reading history books has never been easy for me but these books enabled me to be able to understand the conquest and discovery in The Last Days of the Incas, and in The House of the Spirits I was able to follow the family through social, cultural, and political development.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete[11] This course covered many topics ranging over a long period of time. My favorite topic that we covered, in which I learned the most was about the interventions performed by the United States. The covert operations of the United States during Operation Charly were very surprising to me. I also did not know much about the Bay of Pigs Invasion so I enjoyed learning about that. Reading House of Spirits also taught me about the social class conflicts. I did know about that there were racial tensions within Latin America, so that was also new to me.
ReplyDelete[20] Modern Latin America has thoroughly enlightened me on many subjects pertaining to Latin America and how the region has been influenced and evolved. The most interesting topic for me was learning about the social structures of the region. The House of the Spirits helped me to understand this even more. It is interesting to see how the people dealt with others within their own class and race and how people viewed others outside of their class and race. It is interesting to see that the United States social structure and the Latin American structure have a lot of similarities, in how people are treated the same. This opens my eyes to see that even though the United States and Latin America are so different, when it comes to human behavior there are many similarities.
ReplyDelete[17] We learned so much throughout this course, whether it was about the geography of the continent or the politics and U.S intervening in Latin America but what I will remember and what I enjoyed the most about this class, was reading The House of the Spirits and the different classes and structure of the government during that time. Learning about the history and culture of Latin America through a novel makes it much easier to comprehend and relate to. Class structure is something that still exists today and hearing about how it affects other countries and people makes it interesting and more real. It was interesting to learn about the relationships between the landowners and the peasants and how they survived. Even the upper-class families dealt with their share of problems and it was interesting to learn about Esteban and how he owed everything he had to the peasants but he did not like them and did not want them to share in his wealth.
ReplyDelete[24]What I will remember most about the course will be what we read out of the book The Last of the Incas. The entire story was very interesting and made me not want to put the book down. The fact that Pizzaro’s men were able to come up with a strategy to defeat Atahualpa massive army was quite amazing. Even with the horse and advanced weapons, 168 verses 40,000 to 80,000, the 168 should not win. I liked reading about the way Atahualpa mind set was after he was captured and how he believed they were simply after the gold and would leave upon receiving it. Also how his men still followed his orders after being captured shows the power he had. This was definitely my memorable assignment from the class.
ReplyDelete[22] I think the greatest thing I will remember about this course was the ability for me to understand history. I was never a big history buff but reading the short stories in MLAH and also reading the House of the Spirits really opened my eyes to this culture. I especially enjoyed the House of the Spirits much more than I thought I would. In MLAH, I especially enjoyed reading the stories about the rise of the caudillos. I wish we would have gone deeper into the aspect of the caudillos and how they really shaped Latin America. Possibly even relate them to current people in Latin America today. Overall, this course taught me a lot about another culture in which I knew nothing about.
ReplyDelete[10]] I was most surprised at how much the United States has interfered in Latin America. The United States justified their actions by saying that they were stopping the spread. Of communism. In some cases there was no evidence of communism in the country. This showed me how the United States took advantage of the Latin American countries.
ReplyDeleteThe material that stood out the most for me in this course was the material I learned from The House of Spirits. I thought the book was very well-written. It was interesting to read the book and see the parallels between the story and the Chilean Revolution. I think the material has and will stand out for me because of the way it was presented. Reading The House of Spirits allowed me to connect in a way with the characters in the book and really relate to not just the historical facts of the Chilean Revolution, but how it affected families. I thought Isabel Allende presented the information in a very unbiased way, especially considering this must have been a very emotional and traumatic time for her and her family.
ReplyDelete[5] This course opened my eyes to how negatively Western countries, especially the United States, had affected the independent Latin American countries and inhibited their growth. Before taking this course I had very little previous knowledge of Latin American History, and now that I do, I can understand why it is not typically taught in high schools as it reveals such a sinister side of the United States. I was unaware as to how deeply the United States government was involved in attempting to control Latin American economies in order to maintain their monopolies there. What I learned from this course has added to both my understanding of Latin America, and to m understanding of U.S. and European history.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete[9] My favorite thing in this course was reading The House of the Spirits, and I feel that this really opened my eyes to the culture in Latin America. There were so many themes throughout the novel, including the struggle of social classes and the rights and power of women. Although it was fictional, it presented the information in a very realistic way and allowed the readers to understand what life was like in this time. One of the most interesting things about this was how the author was able to relate the novel to the Chilean Revolution. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and by the author using her own life as an example, it gave the reader the opportunity to really relate to and experience the lives of the characters.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the course I learned various ideas and events that occurred throughout the history of Latin American. The even that opened my eyes the most was the interventions put in place by the U.S. The U.S. not only intervened in Latin America but also many other places. The U.s. place all the interventions in Latin American almost making it seem like they wanted total control over it. While looking at the many interventions it seemed like in some cases the interventions didn't help the situation at hand. With all the interventions placed on Latin American it didn't allow Latin American to be it's "own spirit." This by far was my favorite topic we covered in SHY 345. It really opened my eyes to see how much the U.S. intervened in many places.
ReplyDelete[19The one thing that I have learned in this class, as with all my liberal Arts classes, is an ability to see subjects in a different context and realize there is a big world out there to explore. It is amazing when you step out of your comfort zone and dabble into topics that you may not normally be exposed to.
ReplyDeleteThis class has made me want to explore deeper into the Latin American culture. For the second half of this semester I am taking Spanish. I do feel more confident after taking this class to proceed further in to my studies. Eventually I hope to travel to Latin America to see in person some of the beautiful scenes you showed us in your pictures. Thank you for sharing them with us.
One of the things that I will remember the most about this class was the assignment on the conquest of the Incas by Francisco Pizarro in the 1500s. This was in Peru and this stood out the most to me because Pizarro invaded this country with less than 200 men. He and his men knew they were going up against an experienced army with thousands of warriors and yet they still decided to fight. Pizarro and his inexperienced group of men defeated the Incas. Even though they had no right to invade the country this story still amazes me because they were so few in number. Being an athlete I looked at this as just because the one group may seem like they have the upper hand they really may not; anyone can win on any given day. This story also taught me that we can not go into other people’s homes and expect to change everything nor can we make a whole bunch of rules in a language they don’t understand and then punish them when they disobey the rules.
ReplyDeleteThe event that most opened my eyes was the story of the Incans. The reading assigned described the brotherly rivalry that caused a civil war in their area. After the description of that they told of how the Spaniards had moved in and, with a low number of men, destroyed the Incan army of thousands. This opened my eyes because it shows the lengths that the Spaniards would go to take over the land that the Incans were located. The story told of the lies told by the Spaniards to gain the trust of these indigenous people, and then stabbed them in the back with their overpowering weapons and tactics. I never really learned about the Spaniards before; that is why it interested.
ReplyDeleteThe assignment and reading that i will remember from this class the most would have to be the story of the Incan people, and the spaniards. I found this to be captivating, and engaged me more than most assignments. The story basically to me outlined the entire process of the european takeover of Latin America. It was intriguing to see the more realistic side of how we arrived in the America's and how the stories differed from what I had learned previously throughout my history classes.
ReplyDelete[2] The lesson I will not forget can be found in The Last Days of the Incas. It was really, really interesting to read about Pizarro's determination and the discovery of Machu Picchu among other various items. It was also really neat to read about the establishment of the hidden capital Vilcabamba and the Incan emperor who led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards that inflicted heavy casualties and nearly wiped out the conquistadors.
ReplyDelete[6] As this course wraps up, the thing I remember most is learning about the American Intervention in Latin America. I never knew how much American tried to change Latin America. They did not like that their government was communists and was trying to do anything to stop that. They helped form social and political groups such as the Caudillos, and they also showed Latin American’s what it would be like if they were not under the control of a communist government. After learning about this I feel that Americans feel they can do whatever they want, even when they are not needed. I do not think there was any reason for them to intervene in Latin American since they were under the control of the Europeans. This will be a lesson that I will never forget from this course.
ReplyDelete[8] The topic that I will remember the most is that of the involvements of Washington in Latin American countries after World War II. I've done a lot of research on American interventions in Europe for my Political Science classes, but I was not aware of the Latin American involvement. It just shows how powerful we were as a nation during the Cold War. How we support "democratic" regimes in order to protect our capitalist economy just shows that we operated imperialistically. We took control of others land, and did not let them benefit from the changes we were making.
ReplyDelete[18] What opened my eyes up more and caught my attention throughout the course was reading The House of Spirits. As I was reading it, I found it interesting that between the social and race classes; there were similarities before the Civil War in the United States. There was class and race struggle between the peasants and the land-owners. The peasants didn’t have any rights and worked on the lands with little to no pay. In the House of Spirits, Esteban gave them vouchers to buy things from the grocery store on the land whether giving them the opportunity to receive money and go to town to buy things that they want and need. I’m not much of a history buff outside of genealogy that my mother and I do together, but I definitely learned a lot in this course and how history affects the genealogy of a person’s life along with their ancestors and family and what happens whether for the better or for the worse. The genealogy of the book had shown what a generation had gone through, the struggles, political events, etc. and what led to the following generations.
ReplyDelete