Did the Spaniards defeat the Indians by means of signs?

In short, yes. However, I would like to break apart this question to try to reformulate it to better represent the situation. It is well known and described in Conquest of America how the natives' society was formulated and run supremely by prophecies and omens. They believed solely in “omens and divinations deserving the greatest prestige” (Todorov, 66). This mindset, that all events would be justified by prophecies showed how spontaneous actions were nonexistent and that any events that occurred had to be previously seen by a sign.  

I would rather change the format of the question then as these signs gave Spaniards power without them knowing. A question I propose would be the role and significance the signs played in the downfall of the nation's empire. This question puts a focus on the fall of power, rather than handing of power to the Spaniards, as well as, the idea that the Indians were solely defeated by their relentless belief in prophets. I believe that this difference is important since there was no ulterior motive for the Indians to concede their power to the Spaniards by simply following their beliefs and there were many other factors that gave enough leverage for the Spaniards to survive over the natives. 

Although it is interesting to take the “control” out of defeat, yes, the Spaniards wanted to defeat the Indians, but they did not have control in it. They were going through with concepts and ideas that had never been tried in this environment before. In many ways, their societies and beliefs were so dissimilar that neither were able to overlap enough for one to have control over the other. 

Signs did contribute to the downfall of the Indians, but they were not the single form of defeat by the Spaniards. The difference is that signs were the instigating factor that established differences between the two sides. Although the Spaniards, from being seen as divine gods to dictating their omens like the moon, were not aware of the impact that these signs were having in leading to a hierarchy being created. These signs allowed the Spaniards to take advantage of, and they did. For example, Columbus fabricated a tale that he would take away the moon in exchange, while he knew of the lunar eclipse, for the Indians to “bring him provisions without his having to pay for them” (Todorov, 19). This action was at the luck of Columbus that there (a) was an eclipse and (b) the Indians were easily swayed by prophecies and signs. 

This truly shows how although signs were a large contributor to the downfall of the Indians, they were not the cause of defeat. It would be interesting to look at more factors that played into the complete makeup of the (Spaniards) new world.

Mixed Signals

To answer the blog question, I do believe that a large part of the Spaniard's victory resulted from their superior command of signs. Although this seems like a confusing premise at first, since the conflict was so focused around outright violence, disease, etc, the Spaniard's strongest advantage may well have been their literacy and capacity to manipulate the Natives' impressions. I think this advantage can be most easily broken down in terms of a constructivist's "blank slate" approach to new social situations.

With regard to the interactions between the Spaniards and Natives, the Spaniards have already had experiences meeting and introducing their civilizational qualities(forced conversion, teaching language, cultural practices, etc) to entirely foreign groups of people, and therefore to some extent had the ability to use this experience in dictating their chain of actions and responses in this particular situation with the Natives.

On the other hand, Montezuma and his people were hit with a culture shock of sorts when the Spaniards initiated contact. Another element to the whole interaction was that the Spaniards harbored a significant amount of ulterior motive that they knew through practice how to navigate and manipulate Natives through. Conversely, the Natives had no significant other motive than their survival and preservation. The argument could be made that the Natives, cautious of the Spaniards, wanted to advance their own interests in expelling or defending against the onslaught of Cortes and his crew, however the intent of the Natives was still very surface level, causing them to pay no mind to the possibility or reason for the Spaniards to manipulate their perception.

These arguments about the various constructivist backgrounds of each party show a clear advantage on the part of the Spaniards just simply due to situational experience and pre-existing knowledge allowing them to take a greater command of the "first contact".

Distance = Higher Good: Reflection 10

This semester has taught me a very valuable lesson so far, and that is the art of distancing oneself from things or people that do not serve one’s higher good. It’s easy to be passive and to become complacent with things that are not encouraging one’s personal growth. It wasn’t until recently that I thought about the place of things that do not serve one’s higher good  from different perspectives. While sitting in TDR, and consuming a decent vegan pasta with vegan meatballs my friend asked me a golden question concerning a particular situation in my life; She asked, “In what ways does this individual and this situation serve you to your higher good”? The weight of this question was heavy because I struggled to find a positive way that this individual and the particular situation was actually benefiting me and encouraging my personal growth as an individual. I came to the conclusion that having this individual in my life was no longer necessary because no mountains are being moved nor are any milestones being met. Life is short, and time is precious to waste one’s time on unfruitful affairs  is unwise. This reality can even be applied to bad habits. If anything in your life isn’t serving you for your higher good, then more than likely it will be in your best interest to let go. Never be afraid to let go because the pain of letting go and distancing yourself from the things, or people that do not contribute to your higher good will be the strengthening process for you to achieve the better you.

College Gave me a Home Upgrade

This week, I reflected a lot on the idea of home. With Thanksgiving coming soon, I keep finding myself saying I am excited to come back home… as in back to AU. This idea is completely wackadoodle as I have lived in New Jersey for 18 years and only here for 3 months. In a conversation over TDR, my friends were reiterating the idea of home being found in people and not in places. Although it is easy to love DC more than New Jersey… I mean, NJ doesn't get bad stereotypes for no reason, I still feel that AU has become my home because of the people I am surrounded by daily. The community built here has pushed and challenged me while also providing comfort and relentless love. I feel so lucky that AU has brought so many beautiful people into my life that make it feel like home. 

With the idea that people are home, I am looking forward to seeing some of my friends

from New Jersey over Thanksgiving break as I am excited to hear about their new homes at college. Although going back to NJ will be sad not being able to see my sister as she is working at Disney World until January, so this will be the longest stretch that we will not be able to see each other. Although technology is amazing, facetime misses out on a lot of things. 

Facetime did prove useful this past class. It was an interesting experience having a facetime call running our class, however, it was a fun experience to see how it came out. Must have been a funny thing for an outsider to see a bunch of students yelling to the computer about Columbus’ “chosen ignorance”. I am looking forward to the return of our normal class dynamic.

Why Don't Animals Run the World

In class, the question was raised about how the human treatment of any being or entity that is not the same as us may be justified or not simply because we do not care to understand life from any other perspective than that of our own. About something that PTJ mentioned in terms of animals and our treatment of them, I find this discussion immensely interesting. While I am in no way comparing the treatment of Native Americans to the treatment of lab mice, I am interested in speaking a bit about what some differences and similarities may be.
The world has become run by humans. We have ruined the environment and now the preservation must be falsely generated to account for the damage done. Due to this, animals and plants have a new interdependence on humans. They were once able to survive alone and independently but now must rely on sanctuaries and research funding to maintain their species. Although Koko the gorilla was able to be taught sign language and prove more similarities these animals have to humans, they are still placed as inferior to us. Is this done because of the ignorance that humans have towards understanding the language and society of different animals, or is it because instead of understanding, humans instead force their language onto animals. When they are unable to completely adapt, they are deemed as inferior.
This relationship is interesting, and I am not sure what the answer is… as it seems like it has many different possible routes. While there are millions of ways in which humans mistreat and abuse animals for all sorts of goods and services (for no reason), I am not sure if other species of animals, no matter how advanced, will ever be considered equal to humans. Despite this, I will always be out supporting animal rights and cruelty- free world because whether one being is superior to another or not, I do not see any reason why there should be so much abuse of power and cruelty on another living thing.

"Imma break every box they try to put me in" -- Week 12 Reflection

This week was pretty standard, just working hard to balance different parts of my life and tread water until Thanksgiving break comes along. Nothing huge stood out to me this past week, but the weekend was a different story. On Thursday night the madness started as the Browns won a crushing victory over the Steelers which had me and most Clevelanders celebrating, until the crazy fight at the end of the game that resulted in a damaging suspension for our team. No, it doesn't really connect to the rest of my reflection, but I'm still pretty salty about it.

Friday night, I went to my first concert since being at collge and my second live concert ever. Getting ready for the concert, which I went to with Asim and another friend, I realized that it was about more than just music, especially for them. NAV, one of the performers, is ethnically Punjabi, which means his family originates from the northern Punjab state of India. He has made it really big in the hip hop community and is an icon as a brown man who has achieved success in an industry that's quite hard to break into. A lot of his music refers to this aspect of his identity, which I really appreciate as something that helps him stand out and put out a good message. One of my favorite quotes of his is "Imma break every box they try to put me in.", which is a lyric in one of his songs that shows why he's such an inspirational artist for so many.

One big thing I've realized since I've been at AU is that despite everyone's "openness" and "tolerance", people are still put in boxes here for whatever reason. People who take certain majors, have certain political opinions, observe certain religious/cultural traditions, etc are still sometimes treated differently in odd ways for strange reasons. Life in general also seems to be very much a series of boxes that one is trapped in, always striving to break free and move on to the next goal and next part of their lives. I hope to reflect more about this in the future while also making a concerted effort to just be myself and not care as much what other people expect me to do, what me to do or how they view me.

Reflection Week #12

The Conquest of America has been quite an interesting read. After our discussions concerning colonization, it's been fascinating to read about one of the first colonizers. Reading about actions that he took is hilarious on some accounts but also disgusting to know that his actions were widely accepted. To go back in time to essentially the beginning of so many issues really puts into perspective how institutionalized oppression of native peoples are and how colonization has been causing problems for so many years.

I also feel like it's very timely to read this book with Thanksgiving coming up. The holiday and this book bring about conversations concerning our country's history, the systematic oppression of native people, and community, and I think it's beneficial to have those conversations. My roommate Nadia and I were discussing this book in the context of Thanksgiving and we both recognized that while the origins of the holiday were less than favorable, it's become a holiday that's very important and wholesome. The idea that Thanksgiving has been rebranded to represent community, family, and unity shows how something can be turned completely on its head. Even though the holiday was founded in dividing people between the pilgrims and the natives, or the "others," it now creates unity among families and communities who come together and I think there's a lot of power in that.

In terms of life in general, A Doll's House performs next weekend! It's kind of crazy how we put this show together in three weeks but it's been really rewarding to see everything coming together. I've been spending more time at rehearsal so I've been getting closer with the different members of the cast and I really like working with these people who I didn't necessarily know before. I think there's something powerful about theater because you can start a production not knowing anyone very well, but by the end of it you've become very close to several people and created a real family. Theater is at its core community building and that's one of the reasons why I love it so much.

Speaking of theater, I went to see my high school's fall play on Friday night. It was incredible to see my friends who are still in high school put on such a great show and I was so proud of them. It did, however, sadden me because it reminded me that life moves on even when I'm not part of it. It made me realize that I have to work on distancing myself from high school more because right now I'm still very attached to it and it causes a lot of emotional stress that I don't need. It's definitely something I know I have to work on but I'm not quite sure how at the moment. Right now, all my attention is focused on work for my classes and the play, so we'll see how both of those things turn out!