LAST 100

The reading this week painted the picture of Latin America being left in complete disarray following the departure of the Spanish. The resultant “power vacuum” was filled by the controversial Caudillos and the region was heavily divided between the new Latin America and the old. It is still unclear to me whether the Caudillos did more harm than good. Although they did provide a structure when there was none and did truly work in the best interests of their followers the Caudillos were also quick to turn to violence and only provided the “appearance of functioning states”. This is evident in the case of Peru and Bolivia when they were defeated by the poorer Chile. However, although it is easy to condemn the Caudillos as incompetent and unsuccessful if they had not stepped up into such a position of leadership anarchy could have ensued throughout the region with graver consequences.   What I found particularly interesting was the difficulties in ruling a region with such diverse geog...

I really enjoyed the readings this week, in particular I found Catalina de Erauso’s diary particularly engaging and surprising with it reading like a soap opera at times!  What struck me most about Catalina’s story was that she received no punishment when her identity was revealed but instead was honoured by both the Pope and the King. I found this so surprising as even in Europe today queer people are not always accepted by the Catholic Church – in Italy gay marriage is not legal due to the Catholic Church’s controversial influence over the country’s politics. The fact that she was so readily accepted would perhaps suggest that the Church and the King were not aware of her sexuality but only saw her as a woman who had dressed as a man for the sole purpose of serving her country and not as a way of expressing her own gender identity.   Furthermore, I was surprised that the highest powers at the time, the State and the Church, both recognised that a woman was capable of doing a...

  Having watched a number of these student videos on topics ranging from the Cuban Revolution in the 1960s to the meeting of two worlds: the Spanish and the Aztecs I can say that I’ve learnt much from some and very little from others but more importantly I’ve learnt what makes one of these videos so engaging and informative.    The videos that impressed me the most out of the ones I watched were ‘The Legacy of US Interventionism in Latin America’ by Joe, Felipe and Olga as well as ‘The Meeting of Two Worlds: Aztec Edition’ by Sophie, Michelle, Elena and Christiana. The first of the two began with a clear introduction outlining the cases that would be examined in order to illustrate the legacy of US interventionism in the region as well as stating how they would use the historical context of the intervention, the rhetoric and tactics used by the US government to justify the intervention and the political, economic and social consequences on the region to explain their view...

Hi I'm Serena from London, England and I'm in my first year hoping to pursue a BA in Modern European Studies and Spanish. I was particularly drawn to this course partly due to my interest in Spanish but mainly due to my lack of knowledge about the region. Having spent my years at school only being exposed to European history, politics, culture etc. I am keen to broaden my knowledge of the region and in particular the development of political systems from colonial rule to modern day. I hope to one day travel to the area and not only learn the variations in Spanish throughout the region but to experience it's rich and diverse culture which sadly receives little coverage in European media.