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Well, this was a strange term, to say the least! Although this course occurred during a less than ideal time in human existence, I would say that it was still  really fun! Learning about Latin American history and popular culture in this class has truly helped calm some of that home sickness I feel for …

Continue reading “Reflections On One of the Weirdest Terms of My Life :)”

So this is it, my final blog post! I guess this marks the end of not only this course, but also what has been quite an unusual year of learning. Despite only seeing and interacting with everyone over zoom, I actually found the opportunities we did have (break out rooms, in class discussions..) to be […]

I can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day of class, and that in a bit over 2 weeks I’ll be done with undergraduate school. I registered for this class wanting to learn more about Latin America popular culture since I’m from Mexico but have never gone to another Latin American country, and left MexicoContinue reading “Almost Over!”

I would like to say that I cannot believe it is the end of term, better yet the end of my four years here at UBC but I am so happy. I have learned a lot about popular culture through this course and even some of my own heritage as well which I am grateful…

     I am so thankful for the things this class has taught me, for opening my eyes to the endogenous nature of culture. Although class breakout groups were my favorite part of this course, I thank these blog posts for giving me a space to fully flesh out my ideas and think through my stance before having discourse with my peers. I hope everyone reading this and writing their own can look at the work completed throughout the semester with pride. I came into this class disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to take it in person, and leaving with a sense of completion and gratefulness for the work of my fellow classmates and professor. 

    Although I particularly enjoyed the weeks about comics, stamps, and religion, my favorite week was week 5 surrounding drug culture and the cultural life of coca. The display of the United States simultaneous reliance on Latin America for drugs and the heavy policing and criminalization of those drugs highlights the insidious scapegoating promoted in the United States. Learning more about how culture is created from multiple influences assists in seeing culture as a product of institutions. As someone who used to hear much negativity about happenings on the boarder, actually learning about the history of why things are the way they are makes me indignant that so many get painted in a negative light because western perceptions of “drugs”.