Anastasia Beaver-Hausen ([info]yseultaine) wrote,
@ 2006-11-11 11:41:00
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I'm still trying to figure out how to use this new mac computer. Everything is in the wrong corner and I'm not sure how to copy/paste or bring up spellcheck. And I accidentally deleted part of a story I was writing and I don't know where the undo button is.

Good thing it wasn't very good writing anyway.

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[info]hortensio
2006-11-13 07:11 pm UTC (link)
Hi, [info]yseultaine. I'm sorry to drop in on your LJ uninvited like this, but I'm not a member of [info]feminist (though I read there often), and I had some thoughts on your Americas post/argument that I don't think anybody else addressed.

1. You should be aware that the approach of referring to both of the continents that we call North and South America together as "America", in Latin America, is usually rooted in a particular political bent -- a sort of pan-Americanism that draws from, among other things, the programme of Simon Bolivar, who led the fights for independence from Spain of many of the current countries in South America. His vision was of one united, non-European America. His vision failed spectacularly even in his own lifetime, because a lot of the various provinces and areas in South America just wanted to do their own thing. I'm not an authority by any stretch on these matters, so I'm only giving you a sketch -- it's just something you should be aware of when you say "in Venezuela". There are, often, political overtones to this kind of nomenclature, which some people even in South America may find problematic. It's also worth noting that while in recent years there has been a resurgence of a kind of Bolivarism, it has also been used by (among others) Hugo Chavez to promote a very particular version of it, to which people might (even non-historically) object. I'm just pointing out that in this, as in other matters, you should be careful in assuming that you're speaking for non-US Americans in general. It's best to just ask how they see it, rather than relying on your friend's secondhand testimony. :)

2. With respect to Americans (as in US people) using "America" to refer to North and South America together, there's a whole different problem -- and it's a pretty serious one. Put simply, it can be taken as having very sinister implications. Historically, the US has played with the concept of "America" top-to-bottom, and in practice it meant that the US took its own proximity to Latin America as a kind of divine right to meddle (because hey, we're all Americans, right?). I suggest you look up the Monroe Doctrine, and research some of the logic behind US interventions in (eg) Panama, Cuba, etc. Some extremely exploitative trade agreements and economic approaches, too, have been forced on various parts of the Americas by the US based (largely) on this kind of attitude. So although it's clear that you mean well, it might be counterproductive for US citizens to speak of the Americas as one continent. People may legitimately take it as an expression of an approach that has had very negative consequences.

As to Americans calling themselves American... people have complained about that at length, and I'm not American (in any sense) so I have no stake in any of it and can't really comment. In the languages I'm familiar with, the people are usually Americans even if the country isn't America (mostly, I think, because it's hard -- harder in some languages -- to make an adjective out of an acronym like USA or a compound like "United States").

Again, I'm sorry to harass you on your personal LJ. Feel free to respond in mine, or at felix-hortensio -at- lycos.com. :)

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[info]yseultaine
2007-08-14 08:19 pm UTC (link)
it's not harassing, thanks for the insight!

Don't worry about Americans calling themselves Americans, as I repeated many times, that's not what the post was about.

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