My Humanities Journey

My humanities project was on the environment and how people have changed the environment over time. My favorite parts of the project was the research I got to do. Over the time of doing it, some of the articles I did quote and the ones I read along the way really helped fill the gaps in my mind of the things I didn't find out through the course material. Some of the stories I read along the way were very interesting and I thought they helped me a lot on the project. I spent a total of about 6 hours on the project to help my partner on the project since we only had 2 people.

Aztec Architecture

I honestly didn't know what to expect in my first week of humanities. I had heard good things about the class before and was looking forward to the class. My goals were to pass the class with a good grade and to get a better understanding of the humanities of Latin America. Humanities is the collection of people sharing the same views and beliefs. I think I have learned quite a lot about humanities and what it means and I did get a good grade in the class.

History has always been something that interested me and I think this was a good class to learn a lot about history. Humanities have been seen all throughout history and learning about the different cultures in history is something that really peaked my interest. I learned a lot about the Aztecs and Olmecs and their history as well as changes they've gone through in the modern day. I did not know much about Aztecs and Olmecs before now and with the help of this class I learned a lot about why the Latin American culture is so important to others.

Masks inspired by Latin American culture

Works Cited

Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya. University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

 - This book is a story about twins who are known as the Hero Twins that have to fight underworld lords in order to save their parents. The whole story gives background to their upbringing and how their dad goes missing. They then have to play games against these lords in order to get their dad to be freed.

Holmes, Seth M. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies Migrant Farmworkers in the United States. Univ. of California Press, 2014.

 - This book is about Seth Holmes's time spent in the fields working with some migrant workers. He is looked at funny for being a white man in fields working but he is there to get an in depth view on what happens in their work. He gets people interviewed and helps raise awareness for the hard workers in the field who need more recognition.

Saving the Environment

Today I learned about "Indigenous Science" with Jessica Hernandez. It was posted on February 15, 2022 and I listened to it on 4/5/2022. I learned about the indigenous people being limited with a voice when it comes to the environment. They try and voice their opinions on fixing the environment but are ignored during these meetings. I liked how Hernandez was giving examples of different translations in order for me to understand where the word came from. Like here, "Most of the words in our language hint towards healing, other than conserving only because they can not be directly translated" (Latino 14:09-14:15). I didn't like how they didn't go too much into detail on the environment and indigenous people but was well done anyways.

Banana Tree

I read an article called "Longitudinal changes in the retail food environment in Mexico and their association with diabetes" by Carolina Perez-Ferrer. The article basically talks about the environment and its direct connection to the health of the inhabitants. Both the article and the Latino USA talk mentioned the correlation between the environment allowing for better production of food. As shown here in the article, "However, the food environment in this region is experiencing significant changes concurrent with the increase in obesity and diabetes prevalence" (Perez-Ferrer). Both talked about the significance of the bananas and how important they are to the health of the people.

Dr. Jessica Hernandez, Writer of Fresh Banana Leaves

I found through this article and the "Indigenous Science" episode that the environment was very important to the people there at the time for their health. As shown here, "It has also adapted over time, our environment has adapted for the better over time because of our indigenous science" (Latino 8:52-8:59). Over time the banana has not been as easily grown as in times before due to the change in the environment over time. They are hoping that in the upcoming years they can return it back to it's normal state when the people a couple hundred years ago were using the land. As seen here, "Research in this context is necessary because of the unique characteristics of the food environment (i.e. high density of fresh produce stores) which may be protective against nutrition related chronic diseases, but also because of the fast changes in the environment which may be having a negative effect on health" (Perez-Ferrer). These both show the change in environment over time that has caused these unusual changes.

Works Cited

“Indigenous Science with Jessica Hernandez.” Latino USA, 15 Feb. 2022, https://www.latinousa.org/2022/02/15/jessicahernandez/.

Pérez-Ferrer, Carolina, et al. “Longitudinal Changes in the Retail Food Environment in Mexico and                 Their Association with Diabetes.” Health & Place, vol. 66, Elsevier Ltd, 2020, pp.                                  102461102461,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102461.