Blog #11: D.I.E Model

Description:
Greetings was an interesting cultural difference to observe in Chile. Everyone greeted each other with a hug and kiss on the cheek, which we were told about. It was more of a shock and interesting to see because whether you are just meeting the person for the first time or know them very well, every time they would greet and say goodbye with a hug and kiss on the cheek. Every person I met in Chile greeted me this way whether it be my host family, teachers, children, colleagues, etc. everyone was greeted this way.

Interpretation: 
I have heard of this in other countries as well so I was expecting it but it was interesting to see because it is not a thing in America not unless it is towards family usually. I think this is just a cultural thing amongst the Chileans and also a respectful way for them to greet each other and welcome people.

Evaluation: 
It was a little strange at first constantly being greeted this way but as time went on it became natural. It makes greeting more comforting and welcoming this way. In America most are just greeted with handshake or possibly a hug but that is it. I appreciate this type of greeting because no matter how well you know the person you are still accepting of them and welcoming them in a respectful and comforting way. People seem much more friendly and family like amongst the Chileans compared to America where there is a lot less interaction amongst people and a lot less physical contact.

Blog #10: Chilean Dance

      A famously known dance in Chile is know as the cueca, this traditional Chilean dance is danced with a man and a woman in which they hold handkerchiefs while they dance. The cueca symbolizes something deeper then just a dance, it became a form of protest during the Pinochet regime. They had a cueca solo done where women danced alone to represent their loved ones being alone or a part from  those who are dead or missing. The cueca stands has a very powerful and symbolic meaning for the Chilean people and their culture.  

      While I first watched the dance I saw pairs of people dancing to music, doing a series of steps while holding and waving around a white handkerchief. My interpretation of this was that it was a famous cultural dance amongest the Chileans. It looked like an upbeat fun dance done at celebrtaions or with some type of crowd, since there were peole gathered aorund and it seemed very upbeat and happy. In doing the reading about the dance ti was once a celebratory dance but I was suprised to find out that later became a dance for protest. The cueca is very significant in theor culture and has a lot of meaning to it and is a very traditional and well known dance among the Chileans.

Blog #9: Chilean Art

Arpilleras

Chilean art is very significant among the people of Chile, all the art you see has a meaning behind it, usually associating with social and political struggles within Chile. One type of art I watched a video on is called arpilleras, these are pieces of fabric sewn together to create a picture that had a deeper meaning behind it to represent what was happening during the time of struggle in the 70s. Another form of art they use to express feelings and emotions is through graffiti or street art. All throughout the streets especially in Valparaiso, there is art on all the walls painted by many different people, but each and everyone is significant because they have a strong and powerful message or meaning behind them.

Street Art 

Art is very significant in the Chilean culture, it is a way for people to express themselves. Many people also use art as a way of protest in their country. A guy known as Papas Fritas stole debt documents of students from the University Del Mar and set them on fire, later put all the burn ashes in a bin and displayed them in his art exhibit.  He did this because the University has been having financial irregularities and students are in so much debt for trying to seek higher education. He was making a statement through his actions and through art. Art was a way for the people to be able to fly under the radar of censorship because it could have many meanings to it, so without the real message it can be seen as harmless. 

Blog #8: Chilean Music

Violeta Parra: 
She was a Chilean composer, folk singer, and social activist, through her work she expresses her viewpoint on politics. She used her music to help the Nueva Cancion movement, a social movement, and musical genre characterized by folk-inspired styles and socially committed lyrics. She was one of the most influential women in this movement, her songs incorporated ideas that played a role in political movements of that time period. Parra, in particular, focused on writing her songs using the poor as her social theme. She traveled the world to collect information, she also spent time trying to spread her works, musical and artistic with the world. 



Victor Jara:
He was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter, and political activist. He was against violence and included his ideals into his songs. Victor Jara would use political issues and his advocating for Allende’s election and work them into his music; he also played a large role in the development of la Nueva Canción Chilean. Victor Jara was later killed by the military. men because of his political ideas. His music left a lasting impression on the music world, the political ideas expressed in his music were still relevant and gave a long lasting impression after he died.


Los Prisioneros:
They were a group of 3 main members of a Chilean rock/pop band formed in Santiago, Chile. They are one of the strongest musical influences that Chile has made to Latin American music and the band with the strongest socio-political impact in Chile. They wrote their songs on controversial topics that criticized these topics, such as socio-economic issues, education, economic policies, etc. Their songs were used by Chileans to protest the military protest against Pinochet. Their band did become banded at one point from 1985 to 1990, but their music continued to spread in Chile.

Ana Tijoux: 
She is a French-Chilean musician, originally an MC of a hip-hop group Makiza, later she crossed over to the mainstream of Latin pop. Her parents were Chilean but were imprisoned and escaped and fled from Chile because of Pinochet at the time, fleeing to France where they had Ana. She became a hip-hop artist and moved back to Chile in 1990, where she started developing songs discussing the politics that happened in Chile, even though she didn't live through it. Her music is about feminism, education, and politics. She used Victor Jara and Violeta Parra as inspirations and musical role models that she used in creating her own music.

Blog #7: Chilean Film "Bear Story"

         "Bear Story" is a short film telling about a family of bears. The dad bear of the family creates a putppet show to explaing his life and show what his family went through. In the puppet show you see a bear family of three, mom, dad, and son, sitting at home eating breakfast. That morning the authorities come into the apratment building breating and dragging animals out of there homes and forcing them to join the circus, seperating many of these animals from there families as they did to the dad bear. While in the circus these animals were treated poorly, forced to perform tricks for crowds of people all around the world. During one of the bears perfomances he manages to escape the circus and the authorities. He returns home to a destroyed house and he thought his family was gone, but they end up coming out and the puppet showing ending with all them hugging eachother. The Dad bear goes out onto the streets to show his puppet show to others around and to bring happeniess to them as he did for the little bear that came to watch. In real life he seems to have not got the happy ending of finding his family as he did in the puppet show but he finds joy in bringing others joy and continuing to share his story.
         This short film was well portrayed in showing Chilean history and the tough times they went through. In this film it shows the authorities taking over control and harming others with no regards to how it affects the people or there families, this relating to how the government has taken over many times in Chile destroying families and harming people. It also show the harm done to people, all the people outside of the circus dont see any harm being done, just like the Colonia Dignidad, those outside thought it was a nice community of people doing service work when really there was harm and torture being done to those inside as was to the animals in the circus. It shows how those affected by this history will never forget and are here to show and share there stories such as the bear is doing everyday. This film was a visually appealing short film which could also be good for children  to watch and make understadning out of it, it was a creative film and also mad a strong statement.

Link to video:
https://vk.com/video244132350_171200778

Blog #6: Chilean Indigenous Cultures

       The Mapuche are an indigenous tribe located in southern-central Chile. The Mapuche people believe in a concept to be part of nature, part of life. They say the best caretakers of the environment, of our earth, are the indigenous people. They have strong beliefs and respect for their lands because they believe to have received everything they need from nature. The Mapuche struggle and continue to this day to fight for there land and to save their culture. During the era of the Spanish conquest, the Spaniards did not invade their territory they left them with three free regions. They successfully achieved peace, territorial treaties, and frontier agreements during this era. It wasn't until 50 years later a new invasion of colonizers were brought and installed into their territory by Chile, the new settlers were Germans, French, and Italians. The land that they rite fully owned was being redistributed and taken away from the Mapuche, much of their land being overtaken by large forest industries, native forest being destroyed and burned. They also face problems living along the coastal area where they use the sea for economic and religious uses, without even taking the Mapuche into account laws were being placed to privatize the sea. The Mapuche are being repressed, punished, marginalized, and discriminated it is stopping them from being able to evolve and grow. Lack of space provided for the Mapuche to continue to live and grow as a culture is causing for some to move to the city, Santiago where they begin to adapt to that culture and lifestyle out there they feel pressured to consume and be consumers of that lifestyle, causing some to trail away from there roots and what it means to be a Mapuche. Many of the Mapuche who now live in the city wish to go back to there native lands but do not see it as a reality. They fear if they do not get back the majority of their ancestral land they to will have to move to the cities and their culture, so closely bonded to the soil, will die out. The Mapuche continue to fight for the survival of there people, but most importantly for their land that the Chilean government took away from their ancestors in the 19th century.

       The Dakota Access Pipeline is a pipeline made to transport barrels of crude oil across four states, from North Dakota to Illinois then where it can be shipped to refineries. Having this pipeline would be more cost-effective and a more efficient way transporting oil rather than shipping by trains. The indigenous people of the land, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe began to protest. They have several spiritual camps set near the Missouri river, they argue this project would contaminate drinking water and damage sacred burial sites. Environmental activist say the pipeline would perpetuate fossil fuel production. During parts of construction, parts of their sacred land were trespassed and destroyed, many protest and violent riots have gone on to try and stop the continuing of this pipeline. A large number of protestors have joined, resulting in much violence, dog attacks, police and military weapons, water cannons. Much of this has grabbed the media attention, Trump later approved for the pipeline to be completed, many of the protestors began to decrease in numbers and or were later evicted.
      These two tribes show many similarities to each other in how the government is disregarding there culture and rights to their sacred territory and land. Both tribes hold the right to fight for there land that is being stolen and destroyed. They continue to fight for there culture and territory, they have all rights to their lands but the government continues to disregard them and their land and uses it for there own benefits. Both tribes continue to struggle and fight against the government to protect their tribes.

Blog #5: Chilean History and Politics

Daniel Sparler: 
Much of this information presented on Chilean history is new to me. He talked much about politics in Chile which were interesting to see the differences compared to the US in such how they have more than two political parties. He states many different facts about Chile and shows how they differ from other Latin American countries. Such as Chile having the highest life expectancy rate and low infant mortality rates. It's interesting to hear facts like these and see how vastly different Chile is especially compared to other Latin America countries. One fact that I remembered and really stuck out to me was the fact that they do not know what the word Chile means, it could literally mean anything, I am surprised that they still to this day they don't have any assumptions or have tried to come up with something for it. I never really have read much or done much research on Chile but learning about it is very fascinating, I am glad to be learning about it before I go and I am excited to learn more about Chile while I am visiting.



Colonia Dignidad: 
A man named Peter Schaefer organized and ran a colony in the countryside of Chile. What most were led to believe it was a place of happiness and a place of communal work. What actually happened inside this colony was much worse. There was abuse, torture, molestation, forced labor, and much more that occurred. He was able to keep this colony for over 50 years torturing and manipulating many people. Still, to this day, there are many people who were involved in this colony who are still scarred emotionally and physically. This event immediately reminded me of the holocaust and it was so shocking to see how one man can have so much power and influence amongst these people and torture them in many ways such as Hitler did. It was astonishing to me to see them just build a resort on top of this colony as if it never happened. They seem to be wanting to forget it ever happened, which I think is not fair to those who went through this. I wonder why they don't acknowledge it and try and do something for the victims? They could always do a memorial or something rather than trying to make it disappear.

Orlando Letelier

Letelier (Forgotten terror in DC):
I had never heard about this attack before, happening right in Washington, DC a former Chilean diplomat, Orlando Letelier, and his assistant Ronni Moffitt were killed in a car bombing. As they said in the video this piece of history has been forgotten or "replaced by Lindsay Lohan's latest escapades", which is sad but true. It seems as if Americans have pushed this piece of history aside as it could portray the Americans in a bad way. It was sad to hear not only how little this is talked about or remembered but also about how Letelier didn't really receive justice in the end and how those who were involved in the bombing didn't receive much jail time and are free-living normal lives.