Blog 2 Reaction: Sydney's Blog

The comparison that you made to the fairy godmother representing letting European influence civilize a person is great. The fairy godmother makes Cinderella an elegant person through the possession of luxury items such as carriage, dress, and glass slippers. This comparsion definitely connections with the Europhile Modernity and the idea that Europe can civilize Latin America. I enjoy reading your Disney connections!!

Blog 2: Frustrations

This blog is going to address the cliff-hanger about my frustration that I know some many are dying to hear about. This semester, I have been feeling really frustrated leaving the class because of the content. This blog post is going to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize in advance.

My first frustration is regarding the lack of unity within each state. I understand that there are disagreements on how the nation should be formed and how the government should work. The thing that is so upsetting to me is that these disagreements got in the way of the state success by creating political instability. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that people would start wars, overthrow leaders, and exploit power over their beliefs for the future of a country. These people were so stuck in the short-term success of the country that they could not see the damage they were doing to the long-term success. It is hard for me to believe that these people did not realize that their violent actions would not have consequences that would cause disunity through time.

My second frustration is regarding the irresponsible spending of a countries budget. As far as I am concerned, not one of the Latin American countries were in a fiscal position to declare war on another country. I acknowledge that I am looking at history with a bird’s eye view, but come on Brazil was it really smart to spend a large percent of your budget on the war with Paraguay? I am not saying that all Latin American countries need to be allies. It is just frustrating to me that these countries could not realize that they would be stronger together. I believe that Brazil and other Latin American countries would have had a more stable economy without the heavy expense of war.

It is a good thing to get frustrated with history because that shows that I am thinking deeply about the past and how I can be more aware in the future to prevent history from repeating itself. I want so badly for there to be a happy ending to the content of this class but I know that Latin American countries are still striving playing catch up in the present. It is sad to know the potential for Latin America and American Republican Modernity, but history cannot be changed. We can only educate ourselves from the mistakes of the past and apply them to the future.

Blog 1 Reaction: Sydney's post

This is great connection you made from course content to pop culture. I grew up watching Pocahontas on VHS and getting to revisit this movie through applying newly gained knowledge is really fun. I like that you made connections on the relationship between human and nature because those are both apparent themes in both Bello and Pocahontas. Hopefully, we will see more Disney connections on this blog! :)

Blog 1: Latin America V. United States: Independence

Today in class I felt very frustrated. Over the past couple of class discussions, I have been thinking about how the United States independence differed from Latin American. How could both originate from similar ideas of equality and liberty yet have such drastically different outcomes? What did the United States do so differently that allowed them to become a world power both economically and politically?

The United States did not have to address the problem of racial equality as slavery and discrimination continued to dominate throughout the nation. A majority of Latin American countries abolished slavery and as a result, had to find a way to incorporate people of color into their society. This encouraged policial instability because there were many contrasting ideas on how to go about achieving this. In addition, abolishing slavery created a void of labor to produce goods for export. Slavery in the United States acted as a catalyst for economic development by having a consistent labor force to produce goods for export. Slavery brought in a large amount of revenue for the United States which contributed to a stable economy which, in turn, encouraged political stability.

The United States politics from the beginning was divided into two parties—federalist and anti-federalist. This I found similar to Latin America two-party ideology of liberal and conservatives. All of these ideologies were different beliefs on what the future of the nation should look like. The federalist and anti-federalist were arguments on how powerful the federal government should be in relations with the states. Liberalism and conservatism were arguments on the how modernity's role in the nation and whether they will look to the future or focus on the past.

I understand that this is a very complex comparison and cannot be summarized in a short blog post. I just find it very interesting on how one nation could have much success in their independence while others find themselves playing catch up. I plan to continue to make connections to the United States in later class discussions and future blog posts.