Announcements/Misc.

• Essay: writing center in library for assistance with citations, general help, etc. Upload to Moodle (preferably as a .pdf) by 12:00 noon on Friday
• Wikipedia Article: sign up for one soon. Look through Prof. Holt’s posted list of underdeveloped topics to get ideas going. To start finding your own topics, google “wikiproject [desired theme/subject]”. This should take you to a “Talk:” page about whatever category you searched. Click on a specific topic. It should take you to a page that contains a colorful chart mapping the importance of the topic versus the coverage already on it. It is much easier to explain in person, so ask Prof. Holt or someone else in class to show you how to navigate this – it makes looking for potential projects significantly easier.
• Midterm coming soon

Yeeun’s Blog Post – Inca Kola

An interesting observation of material culture, we looked at how nationalism for              Inca and therefore Peruvian culture manifested itself in this specific soft drink that          has been around since the early 1900s. Invented by an English immigrant family            (the Lindleys) in Lima, this soft drink has consistently defeated Coca Cola in local            popularity and is nowadays almost tied with its competitor. Other points of interest          were how, in advertisements, traditional Andean clothing and art styles were                    celebrated and capitalized upon, but usually when worn by fairer-skinned,                        European models, and how strongly the drink identifies itself as an embodiment of          being Peruvian.

El Requerimiento

A Spanish document both very straightforward and very dense with meaning and            interpretation. At a basic level, it is a message to be read to any natives of the                New World stating that they will convert to the true Faith or face dire                                consequences (enslavement of family members, destruction of way of life, etc.).              We discussed a few major points: the self-appointed authority and power of the              Spaniards and the Pope over this part of the world, the alleviation of culpability on          the part of the Catholics on the consequences of their actions (it’s the                              natives’ decision to refuse conversion, after all; the Spaniards view it as their hand          being forced if they do so refuse), and the rhetoric used throughout, specifically              the choice to be vague when speaking of what “conversion” actually consists of,              and very explicit when speaking of the threats against the indigenous population.            Also of notice should be the fact that the Spanish believe that conversion should            not be forced. This was shaped greatly by the history Christian Iberia had had in            experiencing a religious “other” with the Jewish and Muslim populations. So                    conveniently they considered it an honest conversion to read a document of great          importance and fine instruction in Spanish to a people who do not know Spanish,            and to preface their ultimatum with saying that most of the other people who                    they’ve encountered converted willingly. If they convert, fantastic; if they do not,              they have made their own “educated” decision and have sealed their fate.