Questions on Petroleum (Galeano, When Two Worlds Collide, Standard Oil Co.)

Questions for Galeano 156-65, When Two Worlds Collide, and “Standard Oil Co.”

Galeano – “The Black Curse of Petroleum”

1.       Explain the metaphor that Galeano uses to describe petroleum within the context of his entire book.

2.       How does Galeano describe the comparison between petroleum production in the United States and production in Latin America?

3.       What is the paradox of petroleum pricing that Galeano describes in Mexico and Colombia?

4.       How have multinational petroleum corporations reacted to the attempts to control petroleum production by Uruguay and Brazil?

5.       What was the petroleum interest in the Chaco War and how did it affect local populations?

6.       What sorts of strategies has the United States used to help petroleum production stay as much as possible under the control of multinational corporations and not that of Latin American states?

When Two Worlds Collide

“The rights of the people to the natural resources pertaining to their land shall be specifically safeguarded.”

1.       In light of the Galeano reading on petroleum, comment upon President Alan García’s invitation to foreign investors to invest in Peru’s natural resources.

2.       What is the significance of the image of the suckling pigs at the beginning of the documentary?

3.       Explain the concept of “savage development” that Alberto Pizango describes. What are some of its components?

4.       Who stood to benefit and who stood to lose from the free trade agreement between Peru and the United States?

5.       Describe the difference between the arguments used by Alberto Pizango and that used by Alan García and other government representatives surrounding the indigenous protest and strike in Peru over the government’s laws governing natural resources.

6.       What does former congressman Belaunde describe as the great fraud of Alan García’s government?

7.       Describe Alan García’s reaction to the indigenous protesters’ capture and killing of police officers at Station no. 6.

8.       Describe several aspects of the aftermath of the violent clash between protesters and police.

“Standard Oil Co.”

1.       Comment on some of the imagery presented in the poem and how it reflects ideas presented in Galeano and relates to the story told in When Two Worlds Collide.

Questions for Galeano 11-31 and De las Casas

Questions for Galeano 11-31 and De las Casas

Galeano 11-31 (Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver):

1.       Besides Columbus’ voyage, why was 1492 a momentous year in Spain. How are all of these 1492 events interrelated?

2.       Comment upon the relationship between wealth and religion in the context of the early Spanish voyages to the Americas.

3.       Discuss the variety of advantages that the Europeans had over the native Americans.

4.       Describe the Spaniards’ reaction to the gold they found in the Americas.

5.       Comment on the history, importance, and legacy of Potosí.

6.       Explain the cow and milk metaphor with regard to Latin American precious metals. How did these metals influence the Spanish economy in the long range?

7.       According to Marx, what was the ultimate effect of the discovery of precious metals in the Americas, and how does Galeano expand upon Marx’s idea?

8.       Explain the idea of the horseman and the horse.

9.       What happened to the capital that remained in the Americas?

Bartolomé de las Casas

1.       How does De las Casas describe the Nativa Americans and how does he believe they compare to Europeans?

2.       How does De las Casas describe the Spanish conquerors?

3.       Comment on how De las Casas discusses the relationship between wealth and religion in the context of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. How does this compare to Galeano?

Questions for Lury and Galeano 1-8

Consumer Culture (1997), Celia Lury

1.      How is the concept material culture defined by Lury in her text?

2.      Why is the concept useful?

3.      How is it related to the concept immaterial culture? Is it a contradiction? Why/ why not?

4.      How does Lury relate consumer culture to poverty and Inequality? What can the study of poverty tell us about consuming practices in the West?

5.      Explain the following quote on page 13: “…a culture may be dominant even if most people can only aspire to participate in it: its dominance is felt to the extent that people’s aspirations, their hopes and fears, vocabulary of motives and sense of identity are defined in its terms.”

6.      What’s Douglas and Isherwood definition of consumption?

7.      What is the role of Rituals in consumer practices? Can you give some personal examples pertaining to these rituals? (You may use the examples provided on pages 14-16 to guide your answer.)

8.      Explain in your own words Sahlin’s notion of totemism in relation to consumer culture. Can you think of an example pertaining this notion that applies to the consumption of goods and commodities associated with Latin American cultures?

Open Veins of Latin America (1971 [1997]), “Introduction: 120 Million Children in the Eye of the Hurricane” (pp. 1-8) Eduardo Galeano.

1.      Investigate what the Division of Labor is. How is the DoL related to the history of Latin America, according to Galeano?

2.      What does Galeano means when he says: “Our [Latin America’s] defeat was always implicit in the victory of others…”?

3.      Who are these 120 million children in the eye of the hurricane mentioned by Galeano and why is it important to consider them in the overall history of Latin America? Can you think of a way to connect this with consumption?

4.      According to Galeano, what is the inherent contradiction of development and the “perfectly rational” capitalist system?