At Puget Sound, one of my favorite classes has been Central American Literatures taught by Professor Oriel Siu. We explored literature that interrogates the workings of power and oppression, from the Popol Vuh, to indigenous Maya denunciations of military dictatorships, and the \u201cmodernization\u201d brought about by the Bananeras <\/em>in Central America\u00a0as a marginalizing project. This course was also a safe space for me to explore my identity as a student of color at Puget Sound, and as a mestiza Filipino-American coming from a country that has also suffered a history\u00a0of imperialism by Spain and the United States.<\/p>\n One of the classes I enjoyed most when I was studying abroad at the Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Chile was Pre-Colombian Art. In this class we explored the following themes: the \u201cothering\u201d of American art and Shamanism, the myth and ritual in the art of Andean cultures such as the Selk\u2019nam and Tiwanaku among many others, the art of the Maya and Aztec of Mesoamerica, and finally, the manifestations of these art forms in contemporary Western art and syncretism. From this I took away an appreciation of diverse artistic forms from pre-Hispanic America and learned to understand them in their historical and cultural context.<\/p>\n Through the major I have been able to study the history of Latin America and Spain, from Pre-Colombian America, to studies\u00a0of Modern America: from the construction of the metropolis and its representation in the Latin American novel, the social processes\u00a0of modernization from Eduardo Galeano\u2019s Las venas abiertas de Am\u00e9rica Latina<\/em>, to the politics of populism under Per\u00f3n, Fujimori, and Velasco Ibarra to Ch\u00e1vez. I have supplemented these studies with my emphasis in Global Development studies, where I have incorporated my interest in Latin American studies into discussions, and for my IPE class \u2018The Business of Alleviating Poverty\u2019 wrote a paper entitled \u201cThe Role of Civil Society in the Protection of Mapuche Indigenous Rights in Chile\u2019s Transition to Democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the most interesting paper titles I\u2019ve written this year:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the Spanish Matters Colloquium with the great Guatemalan scholar Arturo Arias and my favorite, Professor Oriel Siu<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Hispanic International Studies major, also known as \u2018HISP\u2019 is not a very common major at UPS. I personally know only 3 other people in the major! Despite that I think that HISP\u2019s interdisciplinary nature is especially applicable\u00a0to doing good … Continue reading \n
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<\/a>\u00a0of Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez\u2019s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Alejandro Jodorowsky\u2019s film \u201cLa danza de la realidad\u201d<\/li>\n![\"IMG_8596\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/files\/2015\/04\/IMG_8596-225x300.jpg\")
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