Erin D

Coronavirus ‘Could Wipe out Brazil’s Indigenous People’

Photo of indigenous women sitting in a waiting room, Brazil. — Image Source: João Fellet, BBC Brazil.

This news story explains the impact of COVID-19 on the indigenous communities in Brazil. Doctors predict that COVID-19 has the potential to decimate these communities that already have high mortality rates from respiratory illnesses such as the flu. On April 5, Brazil, “Brazil had reported more than 11,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 486 deaths” (Fellet). In addition, there are fears across Brazil for the indigenous communities and the changes they will face as COVID-19 spreads. As Dr Mendonça says, “everyone gets sick, and you lose all the old people, their wisdom and social organization” (Fellet). This virus will have detrimental and long-lasting effects on these communities in Brazil, with the likelihood of fundamentally changing their societies and traditions. With limited access to healthcare and a society based on close interactions, such as sharing utensils and water, COVID-19 has moved quickly through these groups. They are being encouraged to practice isolation by professionals. Bolsonaro on the other hand has likened COVID-19 to a “little flu” and encouraged society to resume as normal. Indigenous communities are asking people to, “to suspend trips to cities and prevent visitors from entering their territory” (Fellet). These communities that are looking into ways to isolate themselves are worried about their access to food and resources, as they will not be able to enter a city to buy them. Marivelton Baré, president of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro says, “”if the choice is either being infected or going hungry, most will choose the first,” he warns. “Then the consequences will be dire” (Fellet). This article addresses many concerns and issues the indigenous communities face today in the era of COVID-19.

As Chasteen presents in Blood and Fire, there is a huge discrepancy in the treatments of various groups in Latin America. With the wealthy having access to the means of production, healthcare, and generally access to what first-world countries have access to, the poorer communities do not have this. In fact, as seen with the indigenous communities, they will struggle with the basics needed to combat COVID-19, such ways to self-isolate, access to food, healthcare, medicine, etc. This pandemic, like in many countries worldwide, is demonstrating the ways in which capitalism has created mass inequality that will determine who will live and die in a situation like today.

Fellet, Joao. “Coronavirus ‘Could Wipe out Brazil’s Indigenous People’.” BBC News. BBC, April 6, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52139875?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world/latin_america&link_location=live-reporting-story.

The Motorcycle Diaries

My discussion question is: throughout the novel, how was the idea of “Americanism” expressed?

Americanism was expressed throughout Guevara’s journey. When traveling between places in Chile, he said, “I say our friends, because in no time at all they were mine too” (48), indicating a sense of American identity that he and Alberto were a part of. When discussing the Chileans, he also writes that they were, “exceedingly friendly people, were warm and welcoming wherever we went” (56). This allowed him to travel and have access to resources and people who could help him. In Argentina, the two rely on family, friends, and other people they know to help them with food and lodging. When Alberto decided to stay behind, Guevara felt, “Alberto’s absence so sharply… [saying] It seems like my flanks are unguarded from some hypothetical attack” (160). Alberto is his friend but also represents the larger theme of a Latin American identity during the time period.

Azuela

My question is: what does Palomo represent and how is the treatment of Palomo representative of the Revolution?

Palomo is Demetrio’s dog in the beginning of the book. In Spanish, Palomo means pigeon or dove, thus representing innocence. His alarm at the approaching men (5), signifies a danger approaching for his family. Like the onset of the revolution increasing in intensity, so too are Palomo’s barks (5). Palomo’s jumping over the fence heralds the remainder of the book as the start for Demetrio in the revolution. As innocence dies, the revolution begins.

The treatment of Palomo, in a way is representative of the remainder of the book. Palomo’s anger fuels him to jump the fence (6) yet results in tragedy. So too the anger of the characters leads them to band together with the rebels. All of them fighting for different things in the end. Palomo’s anger at the approaching horses is the beginning of Demetrio’s desire for vengeance.

One central message of this book is that there will always be someone below, who will face the treatment from those above. Palomo is a symbol of Demetrio and all the rebels. Once ruled by one person, fighting for a cause only to be later ruled by someone else. In Palomo’s case killed by an invader.

Narrowed: Student Research: Social structures of nineteenth century Jamaica

My project will look at the depiction of the various groups in Jamaica during the nineteenth century. The question I will explore, and answer is, how did the social structures of Jamaica exemplify the social structures of Latin America? This is significant because by doing a case study of Jamaica, a wider analysis of Latin America can be conducted into the social structures between races, economics, and other aspects of Latin American society in the nineteenth century.

Primary Source

Hakewill, James. Llanrumny Estate, St. Mary’s, Jamaica. 1820 and 1821. Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Jamaica. In Yale Center for British Art. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3632989.

Secondary Sources

Armstrong, Douglas, and Mark W. Hauser. “An East Indian Laborers’ Household in Nineteenth-Century Jamaica: A Case for Understanding Cultural Diversity through Space, Chronology, and Material Analysis.” Historical Archaeology 38, no. 2 (2004): 9-21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25617142.

Burnard, Trevor. “European Migration to Jamaica, 1655-1780.” The William and Mary Quarterly 53, no. 4 (1996): 769-96. doi:10.2307/2947143.

Palmer, Colin A. Freedom’s Children: The 1938 Labor Rebellion and the Birth of Modern Jamaica. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469611709_palmer.11.

Paul, Kathleen. “Keeping Britain White.” In Whitewashing Britain: Race and Citizenship in the Postwar Era, 111-30. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 1997. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv5rdvw1.10.

Robinson, St. John. “Southern Loyalists in the Caribbean and Central America.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 93, no. 3/4 (1992): 205-20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27568303.

Class notes 2/5/2020

In class we discussed enslaved life in Cuba and Brazil. The Digital Public History: Slave Voyages site allows a deeper understanding of both larger trends in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as well as micro trends by looking at individual ships, people, and ports through which slave ships would leave from.

The map with the arrows depicting the number of people of African descent leaving Africa and entering other continents shows the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a global network. Europeans were the economic victors in this history. Within Cuba, Brazil, and other Latin American countries, there were different forms of control than in North America, specifically the United States. In Latin America, the use of violence and manumission were used to control and create a sense of false hope for many slaves. If a slave “behaved” they might be able to be set free in Latin America, thus placing blame for their conditions and punishments on slaves rather than masters.

During the 1835 revolt, many slaves were executed, though what we can learn from this are from the trial records. These records give slaves a voice to an otherwise voiceless subaltern. In some instances, we can also see cultural aspects of slaves. One person, had an Arabic prayer book, thus showing their religion before they were brought to South America.

Overall the life of a slave in Latin America was violent and short. Though some gained their freedom, many were not able to. The systems of slavery in Latin America were fairly different from those of the United States. More slaves entered Latin America because the death rate of people of African descent was higher and therefore demand required more people to be brought over whereas the United States established a system that required fewer slaves to be brought over due to the longer life expectancies and the higher birthrate over death rate.

Student research: Jamaican Classifications of People

I’d like to look at the different classifications of people in Jamaica during the 19th century. As a colony of the British Empire, there were three main classifications of people: British, slaves, and maroons.

For my research I’d like to focus on slaves and maroons and how they interacted in Jamaica with the presence of the British. While the Maroons were up in the hills, the slaves knew of them and many hoped to one day join the Maroon communities.

While I don’t have a specific question yet, I’d like to look at race and class relations within Jamaica.