The European colonization and conquest of the Americas is typically seen as a unidirectional “discovery” of the New World. The reality is different as shown in the documentary “When Worlds Collide”, which premiered on most PBS stations yesterday. “What's really gone on is that there's been an ongoing negotiation between the two sides, and it's still going on,” said author Ruben Martinez to the Los Angeles Times regarding his work on the film.
“When Worlds Collide” attempts to analyze how the initial interactions between Spanish conquistadors and native peoples served as the genesis for the mestizo culture in the Americas. This ambitious film also looks at the multifaceted nature of Latin American identity such as the clip below that describes how the social caste system failed in the Americas:
Please check your local listings for future airings of “When Worlds Collide”.
Online Sources- PBS, Los Angeles Times, YouTube
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4 comments:
Tried to watch your "When Worlds Collide" clip, only to be confronted by humorous irony: It's blocked to viewers in Latin America (I live in Quito, Ecuador) on copyright grounds...
Darn, that's too bad. Hopefully that copyright can be cleared soon because it really is an interesting film.
Btw, I forgot to mention that Martinez's comment on negotiations going on to this day down here, is accurate.
While the large majorities of populations in LA are mestizo/ladino, pure indigenous groups are still very much in existence, and in some countries like Ecuador, they are political forces to be reckoned with. Even in countries where they were almost wiped out (El Salvador's Matanza of 1932 comes to mind), the indigenous are making comebacks and starting to assert themselves.
I've got an Ecuadorian girlfriend who's skin is whiter than mine (and I'm pretty whitebread), but even she sometimes comments that Latinos go around wondering who/what they really are: Indian? White? some (percentage undefined) mix that's not sure which way to go? How do they/should they define themselves, and how do they deal with the consequences of the Conquest (I differ with Martinez on the use of the word, btw; the Indians were most definitely conquered)?
...Oops, I publish too fast sometimes; who's should be whose...
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