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utayala10 — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:34:50 +0000

Hello, everyone! This week we saw a very interesting movie on the lives of nuns in early Latin America. After discussing, in class, why there were so many nuns in Mexico at that time, it was good seeing a movie to help us understand it better and have a more elaborate way to visualize it. For me I was a bit surprised to see that some nuns were allowed to read and write as much as some did. In Dona Marina case it was clear that she became a nun because she wanted to be educated. It shows when she had the flash back of her childhood, and goes to her mother dressed like a man studying in a university, also because she loves to read and write so much. It was sad to see when she lost her rights to read the large number of book, because you know it’s her passion, and in a way she gave up her rights to get married to become a nun, and all to have a good education. I even think she would rather be educated than keep on praying to God. Because when she gets the books taken away, the men tell her to pray and she said “why should I pray when I think that God is deaf.” Another part of the movie that was a hard to see was when Dona Marina’s mother gets mad at her for becoming a nun, all while she was on her death bed. You can tell that Dona Marina is disturbed by this and it has made the sting of lousing her books even harder.

One part of the movie that I had a hard time understanding was the relationship between Dona Marina and the Queen. For someone seeing this movie in 2010 I have a feeling that the Queen likes Dona Marina as more than a friend, because she asked her to undo her middle part of her dress, and the Queen also asked her to take off her veil than gives her a kiss on the lips. This did not look so innocent to me but rather sexual. I am not sure that Dona Marina feels the same way, if I am reading into this right. If I am not right about this hunch, it could be because this cultural of early Latin America may have been a bit more touchy feely than our current America cultural, and also it may have been normal for women to have more of a stronger and closer relationship than the heterosexual women of our time do. Although we have not seen the conclusion of this movie, I can say that I have enjoyed it.

Week 10

utayala10 — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:28:40 +0000

This week talking about Catholic Nuns seemed very interesting. I never knew that there were different kinds of nuns. Growing up Catholic and attending Catholic schools from Kindergarten through senior year I have grown accustom to seeing them walk the halls of my schools and churches. While taking many years of religion classes, they did not talk too much about the history of Nuns and why some Nuns had black or white veils. I have often wondered why some Nuns had white veils, but for some reason I never asked. I think it is due to the fact that I have mostly only seen nuns with black veils, and I have only seen white veiled nuns a hand full of times. Going to class, in a secular university, I finally knew why! All for the reason of having nuns who grew up wealthy (white veils) and for the nuns who grew up middle or lower class (black veil). This kind of makes sense that I was not taught that going to Catholic schools, due to the fact that, it in a way, was not very Christen like, to have a destined symbol of wealth over others (white veil). Another thing from this past week’s lecturer class was that many women in Latin America chose to become nuns. With thirty or more percent of Latin American women becoming nuns it shows that it was a good option for them. Knowing that it was a good way to be educated, and for the most part women seeming to have a better thirst for knowledge, due to the fact that many of them were not sent to school, becoming a nun must have seemed very liberating. It must have also been a good option for women who never had any interest in getting married, for whatever reason, or for getting out of a bad relationship. In the hands of the parents I can understand that they would rather have their daughters become nuns than get married to a man. For one thing they did not have to give too much of a dowry to the Catholic Church, giving them the option to save it for themselves or the rest of their family. It sounds a bit harsh to be stingy like that, but I can understand that in a world where money is not easy to come by and every bit counts. Also for many of the good Fathers of the Latin American women I can see why they would rather have their daughters join the Church, where for the most part were very respected and had good lives, than married to a man who could have been abuse them and treat them like second class citizens. All in all becoming a nun may have been the best option for women because of the respect that came with being a nun.

week 9

utayala10 — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:49:02 +0000

Learning about witchcraft this week, was very interesting to see how easy the human mind can be steered. Another struggle that the women of the Latin American society had to go through. To only be accused of witchcraft because someone does not like you, for something you did, or for the having a crazy over active imagination is scary. If they failed the inspection to see if they were a witch, such as being able of float in a river, they could easily be sentence to death by being burned. This is another reason why I believe that the people of Latin America must have been paranoid of always watching their backs. It was also disturbing to learn how some women who actually practiced witchcraft, did their witchcraft, such as putting bodily fluids in their husbands food and drink. Learning more about their ways of witchcraft practices, has me wondering, did the women actually think that it was working, them getting sick from their witchcraft. Because if you think about it, when a wife puts something disgusting in her husband’s drink, and she sees him getting sick after the intake of bodily fluids, she may think that the practices of witchcrafts work, not realizing that the intake of others fluids can make someone ill. If you put it in that perspective it can be true witchcraft, if the intent of the person was to make them sick, and not being guided to find out if their husband’s were cheating on them. This could also be a way superstition in Latin America society grows. I know that I am looking at this from a modern viewpoint and it is easy to say that people believing in witchcraft are ignorant, but maybe if I were put in their time zone I would be one who is a believer of the evils of witchcraft. In a time of illness spreading like wildfire and not having knowledge of germs, witchcraft could be an easy reason of understanding why the evils of illness were haunting a town, when looking for answers. One think that I like of the whole views of witchcraft, well the only thing, was that anyone female could be accused of witchcraft. From the rich to the poor it tied the classes of the Latin American society together. Overall it sucked for the Latin American women, and it could have made them extra scared of being called out knowing that any women no matter which class they were could have been accused of witchcraft. One of the few things that I saw that showed Spanish leaders of Latin America had some Justice, what the fact that they allowed the idea of witchcraft in Latin America because they were new Christians. It must have been a scary time to live in but different viewpoints slowly got us to where we are today, of trying to understand what makes each person unique.

Blog 8

utayala10 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:12:03 +0000

Hello everybody and sad day of the vols! Well I have learned many new things this week about what was acceptable sexual practices in Mexico. For the people of Latin America, well for the ones who followed the churches rules, it must have been hard to know how and why the rules were so harsh, such as the women always being on the bottom during sex. It’s a bit hard to follow all the rules, such as the seven sins of lust, but it is a lot simpler to know the one rule of man on top women on bottom in a bed and only to try to create a baby. It’s funny that they have to point out all the other sexual practices they cannot do. It is also a bit odd to me that they have different levels of sexual crimes like stand up sex is worse than man on bottom and women on top. It also must have been scary sneaking around and always having to worry about getting caught for not following the rules of sex, especially if one could have been killed for a sex crime, such as a husband catching his wife in bed with another person and having every right to kill both of them out of anger! It was very interesting reading all the case studies on sexual crime. Most of these crime logs show that honor was a big deal, and crime of sex was a good way to tant someone’s reputation or even their family’s reputation. Such as in Catalina’s crime log, because her brother testified for her in a good way, even when it was known that she had sent many love letters to Juan. It seems that her bother could have even more of an interest for not only his sister, but of his own and entire family. Although all these case studies seem a bit crazy to me and many others, I have to stop back and look at our own ways of slander in 2010, and overall it has not changed to much, when people want to slander someone they go straight to the slut or fag and it can be a low blow to someone’s feelings. One of the major differences of today and the time of early Latin America is that we do not go to court for simple sexual crimes, like sex before marriage. I can imagine that people at that time must have been nicer to one another, because if they get into an argument and one person want them to get into trouble, they could have gone to the church and said that that person was unfaithful to the sexual rules and sent them to prison. I am happy to see that if they were caught lying they themselves could be sent to jail, but only if caught.

History 465 week 7

utayala10 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:48:04 +0000

I have learned many new and interesting things about women from Spain in c. 17 century. Mostly on the topic of how women had a strong control of their dowry. It seem interesting to me that when a man married a women that they would even get any dowry in the first place. I had the impression that the man had to provide everything he earned to his family. It is nice to learn that this dowry was to help the couple in creating a new life together. It was also nice to see that the men had go get permission from there wife to spend any part of the dowry, on the other had the wife had go get permission as well for the same privilege. I believe that overall the female had the most control over the dowry because if she got a divorce she got to take her dowry with her and she could also divorce her husband if she finds him stilling from the dowry. To me this is a sign that women in Spain are starting to gain some control and power. Also this week I enjoyed reading To Love, Honor, and Obey. It seems to be a romantic idea of the Catholic Church to let people marry for love. In the colonial time period many parents would try to get their children to marry others who were in the same social economic class not for who they fell in love with. I do have an understanding for parents wanting their children to marry a person who could provide a good living for them in the future, but to get married to someone without loving them seems to be horrible and unjust. I like how the Catholic Church did not get faded into letting their parents picking their partner and let people marry for love. Reading Seeds book I have seen many similarity in my Mexican American, Catholic family, for I don’t see much change forms Seeds research in the 16th -19th century to today. Right now my older sister is thinking about to get married to a man in the Army, which my parents are not too fond of. It’s not that they do not like men in the Army, but they do not like the high risk of having a husband who can get deployed at any moment’s notice, and also having a high risk of him passing away. They don’t think she is strong enough to handle it or the fact that she might not see him for months at a time. So in that aspect it’s a bit different, but overall the same as parents wanting to control who their children get married to. Maybe I should get my parents to read the book so they can have a better insight.

HIS 465 Week 5

utayala10 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:01:54 +0000

After going over a few of the readings this week I got a good insight of what it was like for the Spanish during the 1700’s, in the form of males and females. It was very interesting to me that some of the Spanish women had the right to own land. This is something that I was not expecting to learn, after learning how some of the women in Latin America were treated and for them not having too many rights. I guess this is one example of how some of the Spaniards viewed the Indians from Latin America. I understand that Spanish women did not have as many rights and the Spanish men, but I think it is impressive for that time period. Another interesting thing I have leaned from the readings this week was how many females in Spain were treated in the courts. For the most part it was very difficult to get a divorce in Spain, due to the fact that the Catholic Church has many rules for divorce, but the women seemed to be more believable than the males at that time, in others words they favored the women over the man. The women also could clam rape when they cheated on their husbands, which I know did not always work, but the fact she could get away with it, is surprising. I liked how Spain at that time was a mix of different cultures and had a major influence on the Spanish government. Which seems to be why many Spanish women had more rights than other countries at that time. It kind of reminds me of the U.S., a mixture of different cultures coming together and creating a good government. You can argue that we have a bad government but we are far better off than most. Some other interesting reads from this week was how the Spanish viewed masculine men. Martinez pointed out that to be a masculine male you needed a deep voice, strong, bold, ect. Which does not seem to be so different in America today, but the part that caught me off guard was now they would castrate some boys to get the “perfect voice.” This seems to contradict what they say a man is, because that is overall what a man really is. It is also very interesting to see that for the most part what it is to be a masculine male has not changed much in time and seems to be the same all over the world. This point may also explain that most men from where ever they are from and what time period they lived in, they can have natural acts and drives that they are born with, and instilled in their minds.

His 465 week 4

utayala10 — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:56:43 +0000

Learning more and more about the slave-traded system from the past, over the last few weeks, has help me realize how harsh they were treated. Yes, I have learned that they were beaten and had horrible punishments from learning about it in grade school, but seeing the clip from the video this past week has opened my eyes and, makes me sick to my stomach, of how hard it really was. The part that got me the most was when they lined up the slaves on the ship and had the bag of rocks and let them sink to the bottom of the ocean, pulling the slaves down with it. It was a hard realty for them, although it was a bit interesting to learn that some of the slaves from Latin America were allowed the sew their masters for harsh punishment, which I know it was not too common but the fact that they has some rights is surprising, for all the were put through. One story that I have enjoyed from this weeks readings was Angela Batallas, A Fight for Freedom in Guayaquil. There are a few things I enjoyed from this story, and one of them was when Angela was allowed to baptize her baby even thought it was mixed race baby. It showed that they recognized it as a worthy enough baby to be seen as a product of God. Another part from the story that I liked was when the Minster believed Angela when she said that her baby’s father was her master. The Minster could have very easily said I do not believe you and dismissed her and the baby. It showed that even thought she was a slave; her word did count for something. One thing that I did find very odd about the story was the fact the many masters would have sexual relations with their slaves even thought many of them had wives and lived in very Christian towns, where cheating on your wife could send you to hell. The fact that the minister knew that Angela’s master was having sex with her, and he was not punished shows that money was power. Another thing that is odd about many master having sexual relations with slaves was that fact the their wives had to know something was up but would not say anything to their husbands, just shows you another example that women in the 1800’s were always second class citizens, and men with money always had strong power. The last thing that I had a hard time understanding about Angela’s story was that even thought he knew that Angela’s child was his, he did not seem to look at him as a son, because his mother was a slave. It was a hard life for the slaves and its crazy to see how people could be so cruel to one another.

HIS 464 Week 3

utayala10 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:21:36 +0000

Going over a few of the Nahuatla speeches and dialogues, and the class lechers, has given me some in site of how men and women in Mesoamerican society lived. Reading the sixth dialogue speech called Grant of a house site in the Nahua Tetzcoco has helped me understand the hospitable nature they can have. This is shown when Ana’s older brother Juan Miguel lets her family live in this house for a month. They also are very grateful for him letting them live with in his house. Ana also seem to have an understanding that having her family live with him can be some what of a burden, and asked for a piece of land so they could build a hut for her family. This is nice but to me seems some what unfair because they have the same father, Saint San Miguel, but she dose not own any part of the land, and only her older brother owns it. It tells me that in the Mesoamerican society the fathers passed on the land to the sons and not the daughters. Which I am assuming that the sons inherit everything and the daughters married a man and got her wealth from him. Another thing that I have learned about the Mesoamerican society is that they must have elders permission to get large tasks done. This is shown when Juan Miguel has to ask other men if he could allow him to give up some of his land to give to his younger sister and her family. It tells me that they land owners never had complete control of their own land and the elders must approve many things. One last thing I have learned from the “Grant of a House site in the Nahua Tetzcoco” is the fact the Mesoamerican women seemed to be very domestic, because in the story, Ana, was the one who cooked for the men who were coming. This shows that the influence of the Spanish society had began to grow in the Mesoamerican land. Some of the things that I have enjoyed in the Grant of a house site in the Nahua Tetzcoco story is how willing people were buy her brother letting her sister take some land for her family, and the rulers giving Ana’s family the right to do so, without having to do something for them in return of the grant. Another thing I liked from the story is the face that they all seemed to be willing to help each other out, and were not so barbaric. I have enjoyed reading the Nahuatl speeches and dialogues, because they have given me a better insight on how the people in Mesoamerica lived in the 1500’s

HIS 465 Week 2

utayala10 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:00:23 +0000

Going over this weeks readings and going to class has taught me that, not all societies from the past were all dominated by the males in the relationships. I understand that it was not completely equal in the Indian relationships, but they had many parallels that were not very common for that time, in the world. It is nice to know that they seem to have a lot of respect for the women in their cultural. They seem to have a good grasp on how important women are in society. Unlike the Spanish society having the men rule, and for the most part, treating women like second-class citizens. They both come from different world and it is a bit crazy too see how much the Spanish society changed the world for Indians. I know that some good came out of this, and it did change the world, but I would of like to see more of a mix for both culturals in this emergence.

Also going over the readings I was very surprised to learn how some Indian women wanted to get married to Spanish men. It seem to me that there have been a few reasons for this but the main one was probably because some Indian women wanted to move up to the noble class. It is also surprising to me that some Spanish men wanted to be involved with Indian women because it would seem that cultural from the past with more money and or technology would be the upper class cultural and for the most part they did not want to mix with the lower class cultural. For example, going back to 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia the English men did not mix with the Indian women, other than John Smith and Pocahontas, because the English men looked down upon the Indians, and did not want to mix with them.

Another theory of mine could be that sicene the Incans had a very elaborate décor the Spanish men could of seen the Indians as equal or even more wealthy then them, because of what they had, GOLD, and the Spanish men could of found the Indian women attractive. I guess what I am trying to say is that, not only having the Indian women married Spanish men to raise higher in the noble ranks, but maybe the lower class Spanish men would of seen the upper class Indian women as high nobles and could of married the Indian women to gain nobility. For the most part I think this is a good expiation of the mixing of cultural, they are not raciest, but rather wanting to move up in the noble ranks, who know maybe it could have been because of true love!!!

HIS 465 Week 1

utayala10 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:03:14 +0000

Going to class this week has been very interesting and there are many new ideas of gender that I may have really not thought of too much. Like most southern males I have seen gender in only two ways, male or female. Yes I have known about homosexuals, hermaphrodites, and transgender people, and no I do not think that is so wrong, but having been raised in the south I have never been told to much about people who are. So this new idea of gender has been making me think out side the box and try to have an understanding of how and what makes someone male or female.

This past December I had the privilege to visit some of my family members in Southern California. I have never been to a large city like Los Angeles, and it was a big wake up call for me, to see how different it was from East Tennessee. My family took me on a tour of Los Angeles and ended up in West Hollywood, where there seem to be just as many homosexuals as San Francisco. In West Hollywood my cousins introduced me to one of his college friends who was bisexual. He seemed to be a really cool person and was very open about being bisexual. He asked me a few questions about Tennessee, having heard that it was a bad place to live for homosexuals, and I told him that from what I have seen, he is right, for the most part. Talking to him some more I had a better understanding about the homosexual lifestyle. From what I got it was biological (mental), something that he could not control.

Which makes me think that being male or female may not just be if someone has a penis or vigina, but it could be the mental state of the persons mind, being more masculine or feminine, and it can also be a mix of the two mindsets. This thought also is strong in watching my older brother’s children grow up. My brother has one set of twins and one is a boy and the other a girl. They have grown up at the same time and same household. Knowing their parents they are very open and don’t make their kids do anything they don’t want. They seem to be like average children, for example the boy loves playing sports and the girl hates sports and love every thing pink. From time to time they like the same things but for the most part the boy likes masculine things and the girl likes feminine things. I know that it may not just be as black or white as having a masculine or feminine mindset but it can explain a large amount of it.