Toledo, Classes, Racismo en España (pt 2)

This past weekend we went to Toledo for an overnight. It was really cool and definitely reminded me of what a stereotypical European/Spanish city would look like: narrow streets, cobblestone walk ways, teeeny tiiiiny cars. Here is a picture of some people enjoying said streets:

We did a lot of sightseeing including one of the most biggest cathedrals I've ever seen. There were so many parts to it and the paintings and murals were everywhere. It was incredibly astounding. Here is a picture from my good friend google of the cathedral: 

We walked around the city a lot and also saw one of the oldest mosques, a painting called El Greco, and some other exhibits. 

I had two of my program classes on Tuesday, sketchbook and Imaginando Las Americas. I was a little nervous for sketchbook because the class is actually getting more difficult and it's harder for me to be able to translate the things that I am seeing onto paper. Luckily, during one of our skype video chats, Kai helped me out with this one technique called crosshatch. He also showed me some of the different ways that you need to shade (according to light, etc). It was really helpful the next day in class when we had to draw things with "volume" aka make them look like they are real on paper. I'm actually really excited by the way mine turned out! Here is a picture:

Imaginando Las Americas is also turning out to be a really cool class. At first I thought that the class was going to be taught about "discovering" the Americans from the perspective of the Spanish but the professor is addressing the issue in a much more complex way (as it should be). She presented the ideas of the construction of the other and the ways in which the Native Americans are portrayed and began to ask the class why. I really wish that it was some kind of critical race theory class so we could talk about controlling images and whiteness as property and the ways in which ideas and norms are reproduced, LIKE ACTUALLY ADDRESS ALL OF THE ISSUES. But, at the very least we are skimming the surface which I guess is better than nothing. I've been trying to push the envelope in my response papers...

I've been really frustrated by the history of Spain. Thinking about my Americas class and also all of the buildings and cathedrals and palaces that we've visited... it makes me really angry. Most of these things were constructed after the 15th century aka AFTER Colombus robbed the Native Americans and all their land of all of the gold and "valuable" things they had to offer while at the same time erasing their culture and the indigenous people themselves. No one talks about this. Literally on one tour, the guide was talking about how there was no money for a time, the empire was declining a little bit and then all of a sudden Fernando e Isabel had all this cash money to do big things. Stolen money and treasures are what paved the way, what paid for the bricks and the decorations and the murals and the statues and everything yet no one seems to acknowledge all of the people that were brutalized, raped, and murdered for these "great" monuments. Yes, they are amazing and beautiful to look at but once you actually recognize where they are really coming from....

I'm excited because I think I am actually going to start working with SOS Racismo pretty soon (probably within the next week or so). Gaby Hernández and I had a good conversation about race/racism and a lot of the concepts that I learned last semester in my Critical Race Theory class. Kai and I have been having a lot of conversations about race too which have been really good. Those conversations often include gender; which I haven't really studied as much as race so it's really cool to be able to see the intersections and the ways in which different people are empowered/disempowered. I just feel like it's been a while since I've done something more concrete, especially coming out of the Wrench/Handgun work last semester. I'm really happy to see what SOS Racismo is all about and be able to better understand my position as a woman of color in Spain. It's been difficult sometimes. I'll be walking down the street or standing somewhere... a lot of people mistake me for a prostitute. Only one person has actually said something but others often make the assumption, I can just tell. A lot of women of color (especially darker women) are prostitutes in Spain so there is definitely that association with all women of color. It doesn't make it right at all. I think it will be interesting to work with the organization and learn more about the history of immigration in Spain, which in itself is a super recent issue --- mass immigration just started 20 years ago. 

Gaby and I are actually doing a collabo on a race blog (my perspective from Spain and of course hers in Amuuuuuurcah). I'll pass the link along once we get it up and running. 

All in all, things are interesting here. I'm learning a lot, getting WAY out of my comfort zone, and having some fun along the way.