WEEK 3-
Catalina de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun
The story of the Lieutenant Nun from her own perspective is extremely fascinating. As the translator says, she is a "perfect colonialist" before anything else. I found it incredible that even in that time period, Catalina was rewarded by King Philip IV for her services rather than punished for disobeying the strict boundaries of gender. The story itself is riveting, and dramatic as she narrowly escapes being recognized, even by her own father. In a Spanish colonial world with so many feelings of superiority and strict classifications (such as presented in the Casta paintings) I find it very uplifting to see that with a strong will and determined cause, people were able to go above the fact that she was a woman, and respect what she did.
The Casta paintings reveal an intriguing light on where the Spanish colonial and Latin American worlds met. What I find most interesting about the Casta paintings is how unknown their purpose and audience still is. The images distinctly place racial roles of the coexisting cultures on a hierarchy. I agree with Arce y Miranda that the paintings seem damaging to the Spanish outlook on creoles, making them appear "mixed" and literally lower than a "pure" Spanish man. The paintings seem to establish a form of superiority, and send the message back to Spain that all is well, productive and orderly systemized. This is quite the contrast to the chaos and
violence that existed. Also, although the images appear peaceful, there are underlying disruptive messages which place a stereotype on each ethnic group.
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about the Lieutenant Nun who was living in a time where gender, religion and culture played a huge role in the person you had to be and how surprising it was that the Pope actually forgave her. I feel like maybe these rigid classification systems that bounded one to certain occupations and lifestyles extends beyond simply race as the Casta Paintings show but can even apply to gender, religion as well.
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ReplyDeleteIn response to Lieutenant Nun: I also found it quite shocking that he (I assume Catalina would have preferred this pronoun) was accepted by the king and the pope since it took for today's Pope Francis to address the homophobia within the religion. It makes me wonder, maybe it mattered more that she was a good soldier and that she fought for the nation than her identity. Although, I don't find what she did uplifting. Instead I see it as concerning. She was one of the most ruthless soldiers as she describes herself in her journals. Is what she did respectable?
ReplyDeleteBuilding on Michell's comment, I think the celebration of Catalina's transcendence of gender roles distracts from his direct, violent contribution to the subjugation of the Aruacanian people. It's important to keep a holistic view of his actions. This doesn't mean his personal triumph over gender repression is any less significant, but it can't vindicate him from benefiting from the mass murder of natives.
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