Olivia-LAS-470

            There were two aspects of the movie Fizcarraldo that particularly stuck out to me, the contrasting treatment and disposition of Fizcarraldo towards the native populations and the aspect of race throughout the film. One scene I found particularly intriguing in the movie is when Fizcarraldo and his ship return to what appears to be an island to collect sections of the railroad track to be used for collecting rubber. There is a black man and his family there and it appears as if he is the only one left who has continued to build the railroad and he has been waiting for Fizcarraldo to return. This scene highlighted the impact of failed industrialization as well as the issue of race in the movie. The man was left to continue building a railroad that Fizcarraldo had known for a long time was never going to be finished – but he left the man there to continue working on it anyway. Further, when the newest shini...

I never thought I could be so moved by a fruit. The materials discussing banana farming were fascinating and left me angry and disturbed that human beings could justify committing such atrocities against other human beings for the purpose of monetary profit. Further, it was eye opening for me to dive deeper into the story behind a fruit I buy at Publix all the time and it has caused me to be more aware of the food around me and the story behind what I am consuming.   Moberg and Striffler discuss the monopoly on the banana market created by foreign companies from the United States and Europe, particularly United Fruit Company. Similar to colonization, the economic dominance of the foreign companies in Latin America has left the people there suffering. As we have seen in previous readings, the people of Latin America had to lose for big business to win. Moberg and Striffler describe how lives were loss in the establishment of mass banana production and gave an exc...

Both de las Casas and Galeano discuss the exploitation and abuse of the native peoples in Latin America by Europeans during the colonial era. Particularly, in the context of European history, Christianity was used as a noble cover for the destruction of Latin America for its resources. Galeano discusses how in 1492 while Spanish Explorers were conquering the Americas, in Spain the empire was also reconquering land they had lost to Arabs. So, while Christianity was being fought for at home it makes sense that it would be the lens for conquering abroad. I found this particular aspect of the reading fascinating because it opened my eyes to the global impact events had even before an era of constant communication across continents. Further, both Galeano and de las Casas discuss the importance of Christianity in the conquering of Latin America. De las Casas consistently describes the perpetrators of the destruction of the natives in Latin America as Christians. He associat...