History 216
Looking for support as you work on your timeline entries? Woo Write-Ins are a place where students who don’t have I.S. can come and focus on their paper and essay assignments. They will be held every other Thursday, starting February 6th from 7-9pm in Williams 140. Hope to see you there!
We spent Monday’s class participating in a digital public history workshop with Megan Smeznik to help us learn how to format and post our timeline entries. Before we began the workshop however, Professor Holt gave some overall feedback on our timeline draft entries. Her two main points of feedback were: 1) to use clear evidence within the entries and 2) to make sure that the entries do not have too much of a conversational tone or use first-person language. Megan then walked everyone through the basics of posting on our COW Latin America page and answered students’ questions.
Here are some basic instructions and tips on how to post an entry:
Here are some links to articles that might be interesting:
Questions to consider:
Argentina has been one of the most progressive feminist countries in recent years, as demonstrated by the rapid change of social norms. There have been social movements such as #AbortoLegal and #NiUnaMenos that women raised their voice to fight against patriarchy and the traditional gender roles while fighting for many rights. Women in Argentine history has a history of oppression, resistance and activism. We can trace these activisms since the second half of last 19th century when a group of anarchist-communist women started their magazine called “La Voz de La Mujer” in 1896, Buenos Aires, Argentina to fight against church oppression, children and women’s rights and labor oppression. In their very first publication, they said “we have decided to raise our voice and demand our part of pleasures in ‘the life concert.'” Their bravery started to challenge all the traditional roles that women were considered as incapable of being independent, and their destiny is to be domestic and caring. They could not inherit any properties, represent themselves legally or initiate divorce. However, with a series of feminist literature and education implementation, women started to fight against inequality.
For this research project, I would like to analyze how impactful at the end of 19th century to the start of 20th century in feminist social movement as a result of education and literature. I would like to argue that education and literature at the end of 19th century and start of 20th century set a foundation for Argentine women in fighting for their rights. First, it is important to analyze the role of education as an antecedent of the movement. In the 1870s, President Sarmiento made education at a national level and set up institutions to formalize. As well as making Spanish the official education language. Then, I will investigate how much accessibility women had gained from Sarmiento’s policy and how education changed them in careers and different fields. At the same time, I will compare the opportunities of men and women back in the second half of 19th century. Lastly, I would like to analyze important feminist literature such as “La Voz de La Mujer” and its influence in the development of feminism.
The primary sources could be original and official documents from the end of 19th century and start of 20th century. A possible resource could be the digital archives of “La Voz de La Mujer” from América Lee. http://americalee.cedinci.org/portfolio-items/la-voz-de-la-mujer/ The secondary sources would be gender studies presentations, scholarly articles and news paper articles.
Reference
Wu, Tongtong. “La percepción e interpretación del femicidio en Buenos Aires: Por qué la gente juzga diferente?” IFSA Global Flagship-Buenos Aires, published Dec 2 2018.
Sanchéz, Ana. “La primera edición de la voz de la mujer.” La izquierda diario, published Jan 9 2018, accessed Feb 4 2019. http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/La-primera-edicion-de-La-voz-de-la-mujer
For my research project, I would like to explore the life of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz. My research would include analyzing her significant poems and additional writings to examine how Cruz challenged the gender roles of her time. The reason I want to do research on her life is because her story interested me while reading our textbook, Born in Blood and Fire. A few questions I would examine include: How did Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz challenge the gender roles of her time, and how did this influence other women during her time and after? How far did the church go in making sure her voice was not heard? Did Cruz influence the social hierarchy during the 17th century? This research would help me better understand gender roles during the 17th century and how this role changed over time until the modern day.
For my research project, I would like to explore: How did deep prejudice toward homosexuals in Cuba during the Revolution motivate the development of Cuban LGBTQ+ rights to the present? I am interested in researching this development because I would like to observe how much progress or lack of progress has been made toward establishing more rights for the LGBTQ+ community in Cuba since the initiation and discontinuation of placing homosexuals in labor camps during the Cuban Revolution. This research can be beneficial toward understanding modern Latin America because it will provide greater insight toward the development of the LGBTQ+ movement in Cuba, which may then be compared to LGBTQ+ movements in other Latin American countries to assess the development of these movements as well.
Learn how Wooster alumna Sarah Coffin’s career took a different path than planned, how she’s overcome being a young female in a male dominate industry, and how she’s moving her career forward.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
6:30 p.m. in APEX, Gault Library
Please RSVP here!
Sarah Coffin graduated from The College of Wooster in 2010 and attended the Steele Internship Program at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, obtained a master’s degree in Museum Studies from Harvard University, and is the Curator at the Boston Red Sox.
Sarah’s primary job is preserving the history of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park. This includes caring for over 200,000 artifacts and images, creating exhibits, and supporting historical research. As a member of the team’s community relations team, Sarah also leads all of the team’s senior programing focusing on those who can no longer come to Fenway Park but whose memories and love of the Red Sox remain. Her latest partnership has included creating programing with the Alzheimer Association for those with various levels of memory impairment.
For my research project, I am going to be focusing on the mass-mobilization of university students in Chile and its effect on public policy. Chile’s university students have historically been at the forefront of Chile’s mass-mobilization to protests. I am interested in exploring the influence and power exerted these protests. How successful are they? What major legislation or policy have been altered as a result of these protests? Are these protests effective in the long run or not?
Essentially, I am asking, How successful are mass-mobilized protests in changing public policy in Chile?
I am asking about this because I am in love with Chile, and I am fascinated by the ongoing public dilemma in Chile.
Brazil’s far-right government has implemented a new program in an effort to combat the country’s high pregnancy rate and H.I.V. infections: abstinence. Damares Alves, the minister of human rights and family and women, is behind the new policy change. The new policy is a collaboration between Ms. Alves and a group of evangelical pastors. This change has sparked heated debates about reproductive rights and sex education in Brazil. The government’s new stance on abstinence closes the gap between church and state. It also leaves teen less informed, which could led to them making poor decisions about sex.
Sex and sexuality was a huge theme in the recent presidential campaign. President Jair Bolsonaro has accused his leftist opponents of trying to encourage teens to have sex and promoting homosexuality. Evangelical voters are among the presidents strongest supports. The country’s teenage pregnancy rate has always been high, and is now around 62 per 1,000 births. But it used to be much higher, and the government’s new abstinence program could undermine this progress. Furthermore, H.I.V. is also spreading at an alarming rate in the country. The new policy would not have much effect in stopping its spread. The new abstinence policy might resonate with evangelical teens, but will most likely be ignored by most. Ms. Alves says the new policy will work with, not replace, existing ones. In defense of the program she sited similar campaigns in the United States, that she said had been effective. Her claim about the effectiveness of these programs is largely untrue, occurring to studies. At the same time sex education and reproductive rights are being restricted in Brazil. The government has pushed to ban access to sites that provide information about reproductive health and abortion. The restriction of this information could be harmful.
The article portrays two extremes in the country’s debate over sex and sexuality. The high rate of teen pregnancy is contrasted with the more conservative evangelical stance of abstinence. While teen births rate are high in Brazil, showing the middle ground would have produced a more well rounded picture of the country. This might have curbed the article’s tendency of portraying Brazil as an incredibly polar society. This could have been done by addressing policies that are already in place, and policies that the public would like to see be implemented.
The clear connection that connections the article back to the themes of class is the separation of church and state, or lack of separation. The Catholic church and evangelical Christians have been a large part of Latin American history. Similar to other Latin American countries the catholic church is deeply embedded in Brazil’s culture and institutions. Since the Portuguese colonization and with that the arrival of the Church, Catholicism has remained dominant in the region. Even with the countries attempts secularization, the catholic church continues to play an important role in the lives of Brazilians. The debate now regarding sex education and reproductive health has sparked recent concern over the separation between church and state. The emphasis on sex and sexuality in the recent presidential campaign means that this is a deeply important issue in the country. It is likely that there will be continuing debates on the subject, especially when the health on safety of million in the country will be affected.
Bibliography
Londoño, Ernesto, and Letícia Casado. “Brazil Under Bolsonaro Has Message for Teenagers: Save Sex for Marriage.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Jan. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/world/americas/brazil-teen-pregnancy-Bolsonaro.html.
“The Catholic Church in Brazil.” Religious Literacy Project, rlp.hds.harvard.edu/faq/catholic-church-brazil.
Additional articles
Ms. Alves’s essay on her recent abstinence policy:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/opiniao/2020/01/abstinencia-ou-autonomia.shtml
New York Times article on gay marriage in Brazil:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/29/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-gay-marriage.html