Task:Discuss the ways in which Mexicans are"pioneers of a different type" as Gonzalez states in chapter 5 and give examples.
Also read or WATCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pti-l-xVMn0
https://vimeo.com/64954890
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/william-walker.htm
Lecture 2
Learning Goals
In the readings and materials for this session you will be progressing toward fulfilling the following course objectives:
A.
KNOW
oUnderstand the unequal economic, political, and social relations between the United States and the Americas since the 1800s
B.
DO
oWrite effectively, making use of description, critical analysis and evaluation of social relations
C.
VALUE
oDistinguish the justice issues involved in US relations with the Americas
The specific goals of this week involve:
·Distinguishing the different development of Spanish and U.S. colonies in the American continent.
·Recognize and describe patterns of colonial expansion
Learning History
If you have the time, try to read the suggested chapter 1 in Jose Gonzalez’ book. In it, you will learn about the conquest of various indigenous people in the Americas, including the Mexica (Aztecs). I posted some images in D2L that you may be interested in seeing. They are at the linkVarious Mexica Objects.The image you see on this page is a Mexica ceremonial object that is on display at the British Museum.
Chapter 1 in Gonzalez will provide information on the two divergent systems of colonization embodied by the Spanish and English settlers in the Americas as well as their legacies. Succinctly, European societies were in the midst of a huge transformation during the Renaissance in the 1500s; the feudal society was disintegrating and new technical innovations were allowing mechanization and the emergence of factories, as well as of new social classes. At this time, the Americas’ “degree of development” was uneven; there were some city-states (e.g., Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas) and numerous nomad groups mostly in the north of the continent.
While you are probably more familiar with the history of English colonization of North America, you may be less aware of the Aztec (orMexicas) and the Inca people, who were the populations colonized by the Spaniards at the end of the 1400s and in the 1500s. Gonzalez tells us that about “1 million people perished annually for most of the sixteenth century” due to Spanish subjugation (Gonzalez, p. 10). This and other of the author’s descriptions highlight the toll of the European conquest of the Native American peoples during this time.
Of note were the different forms of colonization and rule that the Spaniards and English used in the Americas. Spain had a centralized form of government that concentrated the decision-making power in the hands of the noble elite; the church was part of the government and functioned as a ruling structure in the colonies discouraging self-sufficiency and independence. England, on the other hand, had a centralized government but allowed local self-government and the English common law gave citizens protections. Both, Spanish and English colonizers justified domination over the indigenous peoples as God’s will but differed in their methods of domination. Spaniards, for instance, sought to rule the people but also to convert them into Catholicism and allowed for intermarriage, which produced the mixing of the races and the emergence of a large mixed raceormestizopopulation. The English colonizers differed markedly as the family settlements kept themselves separated from the Indigenous population, did not intermarry and did not engage in broad practices of religious conversion.
In Gonzalez chapter 2 you will encounter historical facts that you probably did not know. For instance, few people are aware of the active role the United States played in the creation of a new nation in Central America or of how it gained the Louisiana and Florida territories, or Texas, which was Mexico’s land, or President Grant’s plans to annex the Dominican Republic. In short, in this chapter Gonzalez describes the making of the US empire from the early 1800s to the mid twentieth century.
In chapter 5 Gonzalez reflects on the history of Mexicans in the United States. He describes the history of a Mexican American family from Texas in the context of colonization, from the 1600s to the 1800s. Further in the chapter he traces the efforts of Mexican Americans to resist inequality and oppression.
As you read, take note of the following concepts and events:
·Filibusters and their patterns of action
·Monroe Doctrine
·Manifest Destiny
·Patterns of colonial expansion
·Texas and the Southwest annexation
·The Mexican-American war: language, land, cultural and legal encroachment and wealth appropriation
Finally, Gonzalez claims that the unequal relationship between the United States and the Americas is based upon conquest and US domination. The chapters will explain how this has unfolded over more than two centuries.
Map of Latin America
Do you know the names of each of the countries in Latin America?
Look at the map in the next page and guess!Then, find out if you got the names right in the second map.