Author Archives: Ray

Class Notes 11/20

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Class, I apologize for the delay but, here is the class notes post on the class meeting before we were dismissed for break.

To begin class, Professor Holt did an overview of our material culture audio slideshow project that is due Friday. A few tips the class gave is to provide multiple historical aspects of the debate on your topic, use lots of images to keep your audience engaged, explicitly state your thesis in the beginning of your slideshow. Professor Holt posted a link to the class website to assist anyone having issues with recording, and she also passed out an iMovie handout as well. The slideshow should be no longer than 5 minutes and the last slide should give credit to the sources used for your argument.

For LA in the News, Fred brought to us a story about a team of archeologists potentially discovering a cannonball from a Spanish galleon called the, “San Francisco”, which sank off the coast of Japan in 1609. Though the archeology team does not definitively know of the cannonball’s origin at the moment, the discovery itself displays the vastness and importance of trade routes during the colonial era. Trade routes and voyages helped developed relations between nations that didn’t usually have many encounters because communication across boundaries was not as accessible as it is today. Japan assisting the crew of the “San Francisco”, and Spain establishing a relationship with Japan in appreciation for their efforts is an example.

Our class discussion focused on the Haitian Revolution. We stated the Haitian Revolution is important to study because it is the first and only successful slave revolt, it displayed the oppression of colonialism on indigenous and African persons. The Haitian Revolution also occurred during what is called, The Age of Revolution, where revolutions like, the American, French, and Haitian revolutions occurring almost simultaneously with the Enlightenment during the late eighteenth century. Enlightenment ideals influenced the ideologies of revolutionaries in each revolution.

The Haitian Revolution occurred due to tension between a small economic elite. French colonists would form families with enslaved women, the child would be given a French education and become a powerful, free Haitian citizen, forming this economic elite. There was a stigma against acknowledging blackness on the island because majority of African people on the island were enslaved, there is even anti-Haitian rhetoric in the Dominican Republic today.

Race is an important factor of the Haitian Revolution because it is the first instance where African slaves seize the power from their European oppressors. The Haitian Revolution influenced slaves in African nations and persons in other states to earn their independence by forcing imperialist forces from their colonies. The Haitian revolutionaries were a group brought to the island with the purpose to be exploited and yet they overcame the odds and won their freedom.

We began analyzing primary sources and source number sixteen states diplomacy was attempted between opposing groups before the conflict resorted to violence. The source also conveys, children born in the New World began to feel discriminated against, even though they were free citizens. This source provides another perspective on the revolution and a broader understanding of the importance of social status and its impact on the causality of the revolution.

Coverage of the Haitian Revolution by other nations reveal the interests of the nation or groups within the nation, through their writing on the revolution. Slave states and societies, like South Africa, Brazil, and the Southern U.S., were afraid of slave revolutions occurring in their lands. States and groups that were anti-slavery like, the abolitionist movements in Britain and the Northern U.S., displayed that war could occur in their land as well if slavery continues.

What contributed to the victory of the Haitian slaves were their numbers, disease, and geography. Yellow fever spread across the French troops, killing hundreds. The Haitian slaves were immune to the disease, giving them a biological advantage and causing Napoleon to retreat from the island. The slaves knew the jungle better than the French soldiers, whom may have never been to the New World until the revolution began, and used their numbers and guerrilla tactics to defeat the French.

Wikipedia Critique: Cacique

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During our class discussions on indigenous people in Latin America, I have been very interested in their systems of government, how their leaders are portrayed, and what duties did these leaders have to fulfill and that is why I chose to read and analyze the cacique article. I believe the article is start-class and a few adjustments have been made by other Wiki users in recent years. The discussion on the talk page is centered around spelling of ‘cacique’ and determining which sources are most credible.

The article’s author attempts to keep a neutral tone but the facts presented appear to give off a Euro-centric perspective. I attribute this to the lack of written primary sources available from the colonial era. Majority of the sources cited are scholarly articles published through American universities. There is also a link to a reading about elite indigenous women but I did not see any women or their role mentioned in the article.

The origins of the cacique pre-colonial contact and the origins of the branch term ‘caciquismo’ are not emphasized in the article. The author quotes Murdo J. Macleod, a Scottish historian, whom states the terms, “either require further scrutiny or, perhaps, they have become so stretched by the diversity of explanations and processes packed into them that they have become somewhat empty generalizations.” The generalization of the terms may be due once again to the lack of primary sources which we have discussed about in class on September 10.

The history section of the article primarily focuses on the relationship between the cacique and colonial rule. Now the recurring theme behind us not knowing traditional ways of past indigenous peoples has been we do not have enough primary sources. My issue is that the indigenous people’s way of life may not be accurately represented in these articles and that a Euro-centric perspective is perceived as absolute.