Week 5 Post

The Code Noir

I thought this was very interesting to read. I had no idea there were so many rules for the slaves on French American islands. I really thought that XIV was really cold. It's the one about slave burials and how they will not be buried in Holy Ground. "They will be buried at night in some field near the place where they died." I was pretty amazed when I read that.

Julien Raimond

I also liked reading this. It was interesting to read the perspective of someone who was of mixed descent. It was kind of shocking to me that he was a slave owner, especially when this article was to dismantle colonial racism. I kind of felt like it was a little hypocritical. He mentions that there were three different ages of colonialism in Saint Domingue. He also writes about how there were no European women on the island when the French got their, so they formed relationships with the slave women.

Letters

I thought everything Thomas Jefferson mentioned in these letters was interesting, especially the letters to George Tucker. When Jefferson talked about the Revolution, he mentioned that something needed to be done and if it isn't, "we shall be the murderers of our own children". It was interesting to read the perspective of Jefferson. The letter to Aaron Burr talked about the French invading America. But Jefferson said that the U.S was secure and would be safe because of all the troops. Jefferson definitely knew what was going on and was very wise in his decisions.

Week 2 Post

In the reading "Letter to Charles V", I thought Cortes listed reasons on what would justify his expedition.  I think he took everything to the extreme.  Many things he wrote about were not true, especially when he mentioned that their is an abundance of gold.  Specifically when he talked about the human sacrifice, it felt as if he over exaggerated everything purposely.  In this letter, I felt Cortes was trying to persuade Charles V to have Spain colonize the land and it's people.  

I thought the poem was very sad.  I seemed like life was turned upside down.  I can't imagine something like that happening in this day and age.  

The art work was pretty cool.  I really like figure 19 (the warriors being evaluated).  It is also interesting to see how the some maps were interpreted back in that time.  

I'm not too sure what "Captain and Cousins" was about.  I think it is about life during the colonial times in Mexico.  But I'm not familiar with any of the names mentioned in the reading.

  

Week 1 Post

I thought the article had a wonderful perspective on colonialism and civilization.  The author admits that there is a big difference between colonialism and civilization.   The author states that civilization in contact with other civilizations is a good thing, but I sense the author think negatively about colonialism.  The article mentions that many bad things come along with colonization including "forced labor, tax, rape, theft, and domination".  Overall, I found the article very informative. 

The poem was also quite interesting.  It was quite hard to guess what the author is referring to with his choice of words.  I imagine the author is writing about the Americans colonizing the Philippines.    I think the majority of the poem is criticizing the Americans for putting the people of the Philippines in slavery.  

The video was pretty cool.  Said mentioned that the Middle Eastern people are looked at with a stereotype.  He also said that people assume that all middle eastern people have the same background, and culture.  I like how he tried to explain that it is important to differentiate middle eastern cultures.  I really liked all the art work the video had, especially in the beginning of the movie.