Through Latin American Studies
Humanities 7, presented on-line through Santa Rosa Junior College, focused on seven major projects. These projects focused mainly on the Latin American historical eras including the Pre-Columbian, Conquest/Colonial, Independence, and Contemporary Periods. Each project was composed of three components. Component A work included on-line research, from a list of topics, and a written essay. Component B work was a fictionalized first person account based on Component A’s research. Component C work included an evaluation of human expression of art, architecture, and other artistic representations of the culture. The class work emphasized the philosophy of Paulo Freire.
Paulo Freire was born in Brazil in 1921. He believed that adult education, as it was being practiced, not only inhibited critical consciousness, but contributed to the oppression of those being taught. He believed that top-down schooling should be replaced with a mutually supported learning environment where both teachers and learners worked as equals. He believed that the process to learning is dialogical and that by critically analyzing and testing thoughts and problems learners would move from observation to action. He further believed that everyone is a victim or a perpetrator by virtue of human characteristics, and therefore everyone has experienced oppression. Typically, few hold power over and at the expense of many. He believed that strength is in numbers and that social change is accomplished in unity. This mutually supported learning environment is called liberatory education and is the foundation for social change.
The topics that I chose to research included the Aztec Calendar, La Malinche, Camila O’Gorman, and Paulo Freire. The human expression pieces included the Aztec Calendar, Mexican urban design, a caste painting from an unknown artist, and an abstractionist painting by Lilia Carrillo. The movies that I reviewed were A Walk in the Clouds and Like Water for Chocolate both films by Alfonso Arau.
In studying La Malinche, I learned that although she is considered the mother of the first “Mexican”, many in Mexico today remain undecided as to whether she is a traitor or a heroine for her role as translator for Hernan Cortes while he tried to negotiate valuables away from the Indians. Camila O’Gorman’s story is about how the power of one person, Juan Manual de Rosas, could control a whole community and turn innocent lovers into political exiles, who were eventually executed, all in an attempt to control and oppress the masses. Both films that I reviewed also showed examples of how one person’s beliefs, the father in the first film and the mother in the second film, can be pushed down on others, stifling them, not allowing them to question or to act upon their own thoughts and desires.
As part of my work, I also reviewed work by Rebecca and Angela. In Rebecca’s Project 4A, The Virgin of Guadalupe, I learned that after Hernan Cortes’s conquest of the Aztecs, many natives were ready to revolt. An Aztec native, baptized Juan Diego, saw an apparition and through an emblazoned cloak, the Virgin of Guadalupe was born. This religious symbol united the cultures causing the conversion of six million Aztecs to Catholicism within six year.
Rebecca also wrote about Evita in Project 5A. Evita came from nothing to become one of the most powerful women in Argentina. Her selfless support of both descamisados (the poor) and women, in providing wage increases and help to schools, and hospitals, is a tribute to her role as First Lady. She is still a symbol for overcoming adversity to her people today.
Angela described Hernan Cortez in her Project 3A as an amoral pragmatist that relied on his ability to manipulate people as well as his sword. By order of his King, a whole culture was lost in order to satisfy his desires. This is a prime example of how the wishes of one are accomplished at the expenses of others.
This class has taught me how to learn and appreciate cultures by studying their people and their human expression. Further, it has taught me to apply Freirian logic and to step outside of my own experiences to critically analyze the thoughts and feelings of others. I’ve discovered that liberatory education can be very liberating and that in order to affect social change, groups must unite and awaken the collective power.