What did I learn from X’s talk? Do I now think about this issue or topic in a new light? (In particular, point to connections between this guest lecture and the background provided by our Chasteen text or other readings.)
As funny as this may sound, concubinage is not a new concept for me. My mom’s side of the family (all the Venezuelans) have some story related to concubinage. My extended family is really large and it is mainly because of that.
I like the new perspective Prof. Weirtheimer brings into this. As an outsider who probably does not have immediate family involved in this, it is interesting to see how my normalized view of this is not as common to others. It is really interesting to think about this problem in light of sexism- even before the lecture I never thought of it as people I know being more “macho” but rather a normal, consenting act between three adults (or more) who do not mind these dynamics. I never really had thought about the power dynamics implications and how “consenting” adults might be forced into this because stigma and economic status would be the worst case scenario of this happening.
Furthermore, I never knew why Latin Americans have distinctively two last names, and it is conflicting to think that it originated as a matter of pride and social status. And the legal implications down the road, of how in catholic times “law reinforced marriage” but years after independence and moving towards secularism “law reinforced families” which I think has a lot of positive side effects for the children, but has probably detrimental effects on the women, who not only have to endure this on an emotional level, but it also establishes an implicit power dynamic were women have to be silent, submissive, and caring for their children. In this new law that cares for family, really focuses on how women should be the ones holding the family together, while men in this case are making “families” elsewhere.
In the specific case of Gloria and Julio (and many others), we could also see a normalization of pedophilia, that Latam’s women are still victim of until this day. It is common for men to go to younger women (in all places of the world), but in Latam rape cases were around 56,000 cases in 2021, which could be a result of this sort of power dynamic that has been established from centuries since catholicism until the emergence of “secular” systems that only marginalized women further backing themselves up by culture instead of religion.
In the beginning, when I started the reading I was extremely confused as we had really diverted from the original readings (colonization, economics, etc..) but thinking of the implications of concubinage in a larger scale and how it affects social interactions make a lot of sense and I am happy to have had this lecture.
