Colonial Latin American History - Essay Example

? Colonial Latin American History Colonial Latin American History Colonialism in Latin America is a broad topic. From a Spanish colonial foot soldier, the Latin America has experienced many changes in the rule and way of life after the settlement of the Spanish troops. The era of Latin, colonialism was long. Most of the natives of the lands were wiped out. By the time, it was the 15th century the Spanish colony in Peru had done enough destruction of the culture of the Andean people with the aim of Europeanizing the local population. The society in this era was made in the patriarchal system of the family and the families here are suffering the oppression of the male chauvinists. The women resulted in the console of the convent. The fight to have better lives as compared to that they had with their families is rampant changing the direction of marriages (Bethell, 1995). Gender and family of the Andean nun I have the notion that the society in this colony is having a big change in the direction of the gender and family ties. The Spanish America is experiencing the change in the way nuns try to empower themselves as they were presenting themselves as the brides of Christ in the community. I see that they take the scene with the dowries, which is then pooled together and managed by salaried men. This act was instigated by the colonial administration of the government where the promotion of Catholicism created a safety haven for the orphans and single mothers. Marriage is permitted, tied by the destinies of the two involved individuals, which is contrary to their own cultures. The government has mandated the instigation of the catholic religion to the population. Despite the introduced religion, stipulate the marriage system be done under the influence of consent from the involved parties the families of the elite were made in the fashion of arranged marriages. Initially the societies in the region were more compact and observant of to the ideas and norms the cultures they had presented. The case of the Andean nun is more specific as many in the convents went to escape the atrocities that came with marriage. The native race being wiped out by the fornication and interracial relations created the new races in the Latin America. Being a member of the Spanish troops, it was clear to view of plight of the woman in the Andes came as derogatory and nerve wrecking. The way the husbands treated, the so-called wives made the women run for the convent to escape the humiliation. They resulted into the comfort of the convents where they devoted their lives to religion. As the elite focused on retaining the wealth in their circles, arranged marriages made the women want to feel as independent people instead of a person’s property (Bethell, 1995). This was instrumental in the shaping of the family ties in a different perspective. The core of the marital denotation of the elite colonial society entailed a sex/gender structure of honor therefore meaning not only to distinguish women from men but also to divide people by class.  The colonial elite were notable amid people who had honor, gentle decent, and people who did not show lack of latency.  Therefore, when a woman opted or accepted a connection of prostitution, she lost her reputation and reinforced her lower-class standing.  The society here was of the dual standard embedded in this masculinity structure, as the upper-class men would not recede their honor when they had mistresses of a lower class or race, simply if they married them. This was infuriating to some of the Andean women who opted to revolt in their own way. The convent was a good way to escape the chauvinist world and get a good life in the convents. Caste/class/race Another aspect of change I experienced in the society that experienced change was the paradigms in the class, social order and the race. The colonial government the Mexico was very strict in the depiction of class and racial status. The laws were stringent to the miscegenation but the society was not following the laws since the Portuguese and Spaniards were fond of cohabiting with the Negro women who they found very attractive compared to the Indians. The caste system dictated the racial depiction of the individuals in the colony varied according to the importance in the society (Socolow, 2000). The society experienced the issues of concubines, which they found hard to stamp out. The Castas were discriminative to the Negros who was regarded as the slaves but the descendants were free. In general, the people who were a mix of races were referred to as the Castas. The colony experienced the society creating different names for different groups in the empires vicinity. The Castas meant that each group had certain privileges in the Spaniard society. Most of the racial categories in the Latina America were linked to the diverse continental ancestry inferred as the phenotypes. The castas were socially under the same economic status. In the colonial regions, I saw the African ancestry linked to the lack of character and the capacity to forge on and the trend was stamped by the marginalization of the Africans. The social status was slowly changing toward the independence as the Africans could look for better jobs in the end making them the struggling group. The issue of class was still an issue in the set up where the society was in clusters of the elite, the poor and the middle class, and the royal. The class and castas were geared towards the social control of the colony (Socolow, 2000). I would see the rich continue to have more concubines since the upper class was not obligated to have morals and the simple move to marry the concubine made it so easy for the morals in the society to be downgraded. The trends in the social status bred the social theorists who had views on the equality. Initially, in an attempt to retrieve this term, the focuses regarding the lives, religions, households, political values, and efforts of indigenous and African people with their descendants. Although the era was initially focused on either indigenous or African people, more recently the cultures have put effort to know the associations involving these distinct oppressed populations of the era populations. The caste system that the elites have argued was not efficient or based on caste was still a subject that saw the social platform of the time out of the orderly and against social norms. I noticed the focus on the peculiarity of class, masculinity, and intimate practices that articulated restrictions connecting and amid colonial Latin Americans. Rural urban life The life in the urban areas was stratified by the fact the rich had their niche and the poor would wait on the invitation of the rich to get a piece of the pie the rich were in control. The urban improvement saw many peasants coming into the city and seeking better lives. Concubinage was a trend in the urban areas as the illegitimacy in the community that was under privileged was more prominent. The rich were on the safer side as they would take up the responsibility and marry the woman. The urban area for instance in Sao Paolo was run by the widowed women who were single from the men they had and they abandoned them (Socolow, 2000). The more the development of the cities the better the stratification grounds were created by the underprivileged. The people in the cities went there for the labor and wages that they saw were much better compared to the rural areas. It was clear to notice the moral decay that crept into the urban centers and the rural areas remained under the dark mirrors, which blocked the minds of the people in the areas from development and independency. The elite would use the ignorance of the poor to further exploit their innocence and make more money for that reason. In another clear depiction of the area, the common person was to remain in the same point no matter what as the race depicted the status in the society of the region. The elite saw their wealth multiply as they oppressed the week in the society (Bethell, 1995). The changing public structures as the urban areas received the learned poor who were in the front line to make the living standard improve made sure there was empowerment of the small society. This twist saw the birth of revolution in the colonial Latin Americas. Reference Bethell, L. (1995). The Cambridge history of Latin America: Vol. 11. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Socolow, S. M. (2000). The women of colonial Latin America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Read More