Assignment 5

Religion played a large role in the conquest of the Incas. At the same time, most of the conquistadors were in it for the money, not for religious salvation. Unfortunately, the use of religion, or political ideology to legitimate aggression against others is common throughout history and into the present. Most wars involve religion or ideology to mask the real goal which is the conquest of wealth. But the practice of fronting religion or ideology to legitimate conquest is not limited to nation-states alone. Individuals do the same thing, as do small businesses, institutions and large corporations. In fact it seems that almost all politics are the fronting of ideology or religion to rationalize the acquisition of power and wealth. Think of an incident in which an individual, institution or corporation has used or is using ideology or religion as an obvious smokescreen for justifying behavior that is clearly designed to enrich themselves. The incident or example can come from the past or the present. In 100 words or more, describe it. Who is using what ideology (religious or political) to justify what actions calculated to enrich and empower themselves at the expense of others. Cite a source of information from which we can learn more.

Due on Saturday, March 31, by 5 pm.

Assignment 4

This week we will be paired with a partner for the blog assignment. After you have read the assigned reading in MLAH, contact your partner. Together pick two aspects or characteristics from the three primary source articles (“The Lions of Payara,” “Ribbons and Rituals,” and “Protagonist on a National Stage”) that seem to be central to the individuals described in the articles. Discuss these characteristics with your partner with relationship to how those characteristics either confirm or refute assumptions made by the authors in one or both of the first two articles (“Caudillo Scourge” and “Caudillos as Profit Maximizers”). In the blog, post a description of the two characteristics you have chosen and how they support or contradict the biases in the first two articles. Please post your answer on Saturday the 24th only and as close to 5 pm as you or your partner can make it. I want to avoid some students leading and others following.

Pairings:

[1+4] , [2+12] , [3+13], [25+14], [6+24], [7+23], [8+22], [9+21], [10+20],[11+ 19], [15+18], [16+17] .

Assignment 3

Blog: The blog contribution requires a small bit of additional reading in one of our texts, The House of the Spirits (HoS). This novel is essentially an historical autobiography. The character in the book named Alba is the author, Isabelle Allende, but Alba comes late in the book. The history covered in The House of the Sprits (HoS) runs from 1925 to 1975. Therefore, it begins at the tail end of the neocolonial period and runs into the heart of the Cold War.

I have an edition of the book published in 1993. You have an edition published more recently. Because of that, the page numbers in my edition may not correspond to those in yours. So, what I want you to do is find the last seven pages of chapter 4. In my edition those are pages 134-141. I want you to read those seven pages which begin with this sentence:

“Esteban Trueba entered a very prosperous period.”

That paragraph very quickly describes the way neocolonial wealth was made. The book is a history of Chile, one of the only countries in Latin America that traded in both temperate agricultural goods and minerals. Be sure to look back on the geography map to know where Chile lies. After you read that paragraph go back to MLAH, p. 129 and read the second paragraph. Note the following sentence:

“A sharp price rise on the international commodities markets triggered national euphoria; a sharp fall spelled national disaster.”

Then go on in HoS to read about the “exanthemic typhus” that struck Chile in the aftermath of a price drop in nitrates on the world market (1932). Keep reading about how the characters in the book cope with the disaster by consulting psychics. Clara and Blanca are the two main characters in this scene and they take to the streets to help the poor, sick and dying. Clara explains the following to Blanca,

“This is to assuage our conscience darling. But it doesn’t help the poor. They don’t need charity, they need justice.”

Read on from there to learn how the character Esteban Trueba reacts to the idea of justice. His argument corresponds to the notions of evolution and progress embraced by Latin American elites in this period as described by E. Bradford Burns in our Reading in MLAH pp. 134-140. These are the notions of Social Darwinism and Positivism that constituted the spine of white ideology in this time period. Keep the paragraph in HoS handy to better understand what Burns is talking about.

As you read the following five or so pages in HoS to the end of chapter 4, you will be introduced to the interplay of characters who favor justice and are called Socialists, Communists and Bolsheviks versus Esteban Trueba, the patron (Spanish for boss), who looks at justice from an elite perspective.

Go to the blog “Assignment 3” and post 100 words (or more) providing your interpretation of the story told at the end of chapter 4, HoS, about the fox and the chickens. The story is metaphorical. What is it about (not just chickens and a fox) and how do you feel about it? Post by 5 pm, Saturday March 17.

Assignment 2

Topics. 1. Alliance for Progress 2. Neoliberalism 3. The American Century 4. Import Substitution Industrialization 5. Populism 6. Liberation Theology

People. 1. Juan Peron 2. Evo Morales 3. Hugo Chavez 4. Augusto Pinochet 5. Ernesto Cardenal 6. Che Guevara

Directions. Briefly research the basic meaning and contents of the 6 topics above. Then do the same for the 6 people above. Then find a relationship between one of the topics and one of the people. In the blog under Assignment 2, explain the content of the topic, identify the individual and describe the relationship you have discovered between the topic and the person.

I provide an example using a different topic and person than those in your list.

Topic – Sandinismo (English—Sandinism) Person – Daniel Ortega

Sandinismo is a social and political movement that arose after the assassination of Augusto Sandino in 1934. Sandino had been a Nicaraguan rebel who fought successfully in the late 1920s and early 1930s against U.S. Marines occupying the country. Invited to peace talks in Februay 1934, Sandino was betrayed and assassinated. The movement that carries his name lingered in Nicaragua for forty years until the start of a revolution in the 1970s that overthrew the U.S. sponsored dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. Danial Ortega was fighter in the Sandinista revolution. He rose through the military ranks of the Sandinista army and upon their successful overthrow of the Somoza government, Ortega became a ruling member of the revolutionary Sandinista government. Since then he has been elected president of Nicaragua three times. The core of Ortega’s official ideology derives from the principles of anti-Americanism developed by Augusto Sandino now called Sandinismo.