Category: Investigating Historical Power Dynamics Through Literary and Historical Case Studies

Introduction Bolivia’s education system has long illuminated broader struggles over identity, power, and nationhood. Historically, education functioned as a tool of assimilation through castellanización, the imposition of Spanish language and culture on Indigenous populations. However, resistance to this model has similarly deep historical roots. Beginning in the 1970s, intellectuals and activists articulated critiques of the… Read more

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Introduction In Rosario Castellanos’ The Nine Guardians, Ladino authority declines as agrarian and educational reforms as well as emerging Indigenous political consciousness threaten the traditional hacienda hierarchy, yet the Argüellos’ racist beliefs about Indigenous inferiority persist and at times intensify. This paradox raises an important question: why do Ladino characters continue to believe in the… Read more

Material Records Cannot Preserve Living Knowledge By contrasting Theo’s refusal to abandon his luggage, which reflects his attempt to preserve Indigenous knowledge as material records for Western validation, with Evan’s willingness to discard his possessions and develop a spiritual relationship with the environment, Embrace of the Serpent demonstrates that Indigenous knowledge survives not through detached… Read more

Introduction After World War I derailed the European film industry, American films enjoyed minimal competition and thus a rapid rise in popularity, which encouraged the United States government to work with Hollywood as the country joined the conflict. Studying films produced during this collaboration reveals their propagandistic nature, which, along with the film industry’s other… Read more