☆ suelta en banda todo lo que te atrasa ☆

 katie, ravenclaw || learning spanish, portuguese, italian and hebrew || also at @italianoacasa

[magictransistor]

Huichol (Wixáritari); yarn paintings. Mexico. 20th through 21st century.

[lonesome-lemming]

I feel like the fact that gendered pronouns even exist in the first place is a testament to the grotesque importance of gender within civilization as a means of stratification and control. When you refer to someone, why do you use pronouns for gender, of all things, given the grammatical reason for the existence of pronouns (to serve as a short substitute to a person’s name when referring to them repeatedly)? Under the logic of gendered pronouns, pronouns could be used to indicate any property or characteristic of an individual and yet they were chosen to indicate gender. Are the ideal physical characteristics and/or societal role of an individual, i.e., their gender, necessary to mention constantly in casual speech as a substitute for their name? The fact that gender is given so much importance in language is a clear illustration of society’s dependence on gender and the division of labor that comes therewith.

[patrexes]

this is a great take and also a really entertaining time to let you know that grammatical “gender” of pronouns in sumerian was not divided as masculine/feminine but rather animate/inanimate, and the “animate” gender was used of humans, gods, and…. statues…..

[peoriarhetoriapeoria]

Other languages use age instead.

[whetstonefires]

swahili divides its nouns into over a dozen classes, which are sometimes referred to as ‘gender’ in English because their grammatical weight is comparable and the first time i saw this usage i became. so confused.

abstract gender. no-one-cares-whether-it’s-plural gender. artificial inanimate object gender. plant gender. person gender.

lions have ‘no one cares how many there are’ ‘gender’ except for some reason it’s the custom to pretend they have person gender and inflect your sentences that way, and i once failed a quiz because of this and have never forgiven the lions.

[languagessi-deactivated20210423]

Beqaa, Lebanon

[lonesome-lemming]

I feel like the fact that gendered pronouns even exist in the first place is a testament to the grotesque importance of gender within civilization as a means of stratification and control. When you refer to someone, why do you use pronouns for gender, of all things, given the grammatical reason for the existence of pronouns (to serve as a short substitute to a person’s name when referring to them repeatedly)? Under the logic of gendered pronouns, pronouns could be used to indicate any property or characteristic of an individual and yet they were chosen to indicate gender. Are the ideal physical characteristics and/or societal role of an individual, i.e., their gender, necessary to mention constantly in casual speech as a substitute for their name? The fact that gender is given so much importance in language is a clear illustration of society’s dependence on gender and the division of labor that comes therewith.

[patrexes]

this is a great take and also a really entertaining time to let you know that grammatical “gender” of pronouns in sumerian was not divided as masculine/feminine but rather animate/inanimate, and the “animate” gender was used of humans, gods, and statues

[linguisticparadox]

There are languages with complex grammatical gender systems still around today as well!

[lnguages]

Huh. Idk how I feel about this. Op, as a fellow Polish person, you probably know that in Polish for example the word for grammatical gender is ‘rodzaj’ (type, kind), and gendered pronouns apply not only to people but to all other classes of nouns as well. You’d use a feminine pronoun for a spoon, a neuter pronoun for a chair, and a masculine pronoun for a table. Plenty of other languages have more than two genders, or no gendered pronouns at all. 

I don’t disagree with what you’re criticising about gender in society and I don’t disagree that language can be sexist. But gender in language is a means of classification. I don’t know that you can view it as inherently sexist or illustrative of anything, and I wonder if a lot of these doubts are only there because of the use of the word “gender” for both grammar and people. 

change my mind

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

#MemoryMonday: a glimpse into Brazilian history - Sepé Tiaraju (1723 - 1756)

Sepé Tiaraju (or Djekupé A Djú) was an indigenous warrior and figure of resistance against colonialism in Brazilian territory during the 18th century. He was born in 1753 in a village that was, two years later, devastated by European colonialists, and left orphan. He was then adopted and raised by a Guarani tribe, where he had a military formation and was educated with a strong will of protecting land. The tribe was notorious for a surprisingly egalitarian and communal system, in which leaders were elected, while absolute monarchies still ruled most of Europe and the French Revolution had not yet even happened. The tribe also raised what was possibly the largest cattle of all Latin America, a reason why Europeans’ interests in the region grew beyond mere land appropriations.

The Seven People of the Missions territory, Sepé’s land, had between 30,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. The territory encompassed big part of the south of Brazil and north of Argentina, and it had a significant presence of Jesuit missionaries who aimed to christianize indigenous peoples. Their arrival introduced abruptly new configurations of community, such expulsion of pajés (indigenous spiritual leaders) to replace them with Jesuit leaders, creation of collective houses and Spanish administrative centres, changes in the division of labour and property, and imposition of Christian religious studies. Sepé knew how to read, write, and speak Spanish, and often dealt with the Jesuits in order to defend the Guarani’s interests.

In 1750, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Madrid, with the goal of dividing the new continent’s territory between them. In 1753, the two nations united forces to clear out the Seven People of the Missions. The indigenous peoples in the area, who had occupied it for 150 years, strongly opposed the evacuation, leading to the Guaranitic War. Despite the tendency from that period of Jesuits to oppose the indigenous causes, they had the Guarani’s back this time.

Sepé lead the Guarani in the war against the Spanish and Portuguese colonialists. They got up in arms and, under his strategies, implemented innovative battle tactics, focusing more on guerrillas than on large battles. Sepé even created four pieces of artillery, made with wild cane. In a letter to the Spanish, he wrote “This land has owners”, his most famous saying. The indigenous gave the Europeans quite some headache, and the Guaranitic War went on for three years.

In 1753 the Battle of Caiaboaté took place. The indigenous were ambushed by the Europeans. The Guaranis followed a battle tactic with a formation in shape of a half-moon, in which the army, aware of being significantly outnumbered, concentrates in a center to draw the attackers in, and then two big parts move to the corners in order to flank and surround the other army. However, the Europeans had way more firepower, with even cannons and blunderbusses, which had way longer range than the indigenous’ usual bows and arrows and spears. Most of the native army was killed before they could get close enough to use their weapons or flank the invaders. While there were around 40 deaths in the European army (of 4,000), 1,500 indigenous persons died - among them, Sepé Tiaraju. Legend has it, since Sepé’s body wasn’t found, that he ascended to the heavens. The Battle of Caiaboaté wasn’t the final one in the Guaranitic War, and figures such as Nicolau Nhenguiru took up his place. But they didn’t follow Sepé’s more defensive and planned tactics, and lost the following battles.

Sepé Tiajaru became a notorious symbol of indigenous resistance, even if he’s rather neglected by school history books. He was informally canonized as a saint by many people, indigenous or djuruá (not-indigenous), who live in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, which has the native territory, and there’s a project for formal canonization with the Catholic Church. It was said by many Jesuits that Sepé had converted to Christianity and strongly embraced its doctrine, and it was even believed that Jesuits were the ones who raised him and main strategists for the resistance. That idea, however, is coming under scrutiny by current historians (especially indigenous ones), who claim Sepé accepted, respected, and embraced much more the Guarani beliefs and customs, and also his adoptive grandfather, who was a very respected spiritual leader.

Sepé’s legacy leaves on, inspiring countless poems, romances, chronicles, and even modern-day graphic novels. In Rio Grande do Sul, there are museums, monuments, and touristic spots, as well as the Centre of Gaúcha Traditions (gaúcha/o = from Rio Grande do Sul), that has documents and tributes to him. He’s been officially recognized by the government as a gaúcho symbol and native icon. The month of February is popularly recognized as the month of tribute to Sepé. Annual celebrations are held out in his name since 2005, year in which it an average of 5,000 attendants. Indigenous groups from Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay gathered to discuss his history and legacy. Sepé Tiaraju is still seen as a symbol of bravery, resistance, defense of the underdogs, and reason of changes in the State, and his legacy shall live on. There’s a 1986 Hollywood movie on the Guaranitic War, called The Mission, starring Robert de Niro, Liam Neeson, and Jeremy Irons, but (if you haven’t guessed that with the white protagonizing) it’s rather fanciful, truncated, and full of historical inaccuracies (and if IMDb is to be believed, Sepé isn’t even featured in that movie).

Sources: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

[insomniac-arrest]

people always talk about how the masses used to watch gladiator fights or public executions for fun, but we rarely discuss how people also went to human medical surgery’s for sport and entertainment, just showed up in a big tent and watched official operations, sometimes a flutist played music in the corner for it

like, “I’m not not dying of some random disease or having to work a 50 hour work day today, better go watch some dude get his leg sawed off in a science tent.”

what I’m saying is that it’s good we invented tv 

[insomniac-arrest]

me, about to have my appendix removed in Victorian England:

random citizens there:

the bard:

[linguisten]

MADAR (Multi-Arabic Dialect Applications and Resources) is a three-year joint project among the NLP Group at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), the Computational Approaches to Modeling Language (CAMEL) Lab at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), and Columbia University. The project also involves collaborators from the University of Bahrain (UoB).

The project aims at improving dialectal Arabic processing by:

developing resources for Arabic Dialect modeling, including the creation of a 25-city multi-dialect lexicon and a 25-city multi-dialect parallel corpus;

developing machine translation systems among dialects, dialects and English, dialects and Standard Arabic; and

developing dialect identification systems that can work on a variety of granularity levels.

The MADAR Project is the largest in scale and depth to date when it comes to working on natural language processing of Arabic dialects.

[macchilangi]

Football vocabulary

Women’s world cup just started and due to this amazing fact, I did some research and came up with a football-themed vocabulary list in three languages for practice! I realized I had zero knowledge of football related words in english but since it is a topic that is truly entertaining for me, I thought I could use it as practice for my target language. I also learned one or two things in my native one. Making this list was really fun!

Here’s some words related to football in english, portuguese and italian:

Footbal - O futebol - Il calcio

▶a match - a partida - la partita

▶a pitch - o campo de futebol - il campo di/da calcio

▶a referee - o juíz - l'arbitro

▶a goalkeeper - o goleiro - il portiere

▶a defender - o zagueiro - il difensore

▶a midfielder - o meio de campo - il centrocampista

▶an attacker - o atacante - l'attaccante

▶a skipper - o capitão - il capitano

▶a substitute - o reserva - la riserva

▶a manager - o técnico - l'allenatore

▶a foul - a falta - il fallo

▶injury time - tempo de acréscimo - il recupero

▶extra time - a prorrogação - i tempi supplementari

▶score - a pontuação/o placar - il punteggio/il tabellone

▶a goal - o gol - il gol

▶the win - a vitória - la vittoria

▶a defeat - a derrota - la sconfitta

▶to knock out - eliminar - eliminare

▶to kick- chutar/ dar um chute- dare un calcio

▶penalty- o pênalti- il rigore

▶a pass- o passe- il passaggio

▶a cross- o cruzamento- il cross

▶the team- o time- la squadra

▶to score a goal- fazer/dar um gol- segnare un gol

▶the net- a rede- la rete

▶a draw/ a tie- o empate- il pareggio

▶to switch fields- mudar de campo- cambiare gioco

▶first/second half- primeiro/segundo tempo- passagio di prima/secondo

If I made any mistakes, don´t hesitate and correct me! Your help will be more than appreciated. You can also answer this post with some info about football culture in your country, it would be so interesting! Good studies!~~

[polyglotinprogress]

Spanish language film recommendation time

Okay here’s a brief summary of some interesting movies I’ve seen, hopefully you guys can find something you like and practice your Spanish:  

Amores Perros (2000). dir. Iñárritu. This one isn’t optional, if you haven’t seen it, you MUST. Seriously this is one of my favorite movies of all time, saying that it’s about relationships in Mexico City doesn’t even BEGIN to cover it. The cinematography, the music, the plot, the acting–everything is fantastic.

¡Átame! (1989). dir. Almodóvar. This is…an interesting (infuriating?) film. Basic plot: Guy gets out of a psychiatric institution, becomes obsessed with a woman, kidnaps her, Stockholm Syndrome. I think it’s supposed to be edgy with its sort of BDSM-esque aesthetic, and in 1989 Spain (Franco died in 1975) it definitely was. The ending of this film would make for some interesting classroom debates, that’s for sure. 

Babel (2006). dir. Iñárritu. Another wonderful film by Iñárritu (my fave), this isn’t completely in Spanish but definitely deals with some Hispanic themes, namely Mexican/American, and also deals with much broader international themes–the film follows three different story lines, similar to Amores Perros, except all are in different countries instead of in the same city–yet they are all still connected. Really interesting and visually gorgeous film.   

Bajo la misma luna (2004). dir. Riggen. This is… a sweet, feel-good film about an incredibly (unbelievably?) intelligent and motivated young boy who crosses the Mexican-American border looking for his mother.  

Biutiful (2010). dir. Iñárritu. This film is also incredibly gorgeous (have I said I love Iñárritu yet?)–very sad film but super interesting, takes place in Spain, highly recommended. 

Como Agua para Chocolate (1992). dir. Arau. This fits in with the “magical realism” genre, if that’s your thing. It’s a Mexican film based on a book by Laura Esquivel, and a love story, very dramatic. 

Crónica de una fuga (2004). dir. Caetano. This is a really interesting film based on a true story about “the disappeared” youth in Argentina. 

Cronos (1993). dir. Guillermo del Toro. This is a vampire movie, very del Toro in style, if you like his work and fantasy/horror stuff you might like this. 

Cuatro Lunas (2014). dir. Velarde. WELL I watched this movie just because it was gay but it actually had kind of a surprisingly cute plot line (exploring 4 different phases ‘moons’ of the life of different gay men) so if you want a gay movie, I recommend it, it’s on Netflix.  

Danzón (1991). dir. Novaro. Good movie from a female director (!) that explores some themes of gender, I remember having interesting conversations in class about the gendered “gaze” of the camera, and it’s a fun dancing/music related film theme-wise.  

El ángel exterminador (1962). dir. Buñuel. Okay this movie is definitely an “art film” and may be difficult to understand on the first watch, but it’s actually great. Black and white, some really interesting camera shots, explores themes of the helplessness of bourgeois society, if you like film history or technique, give this a shot. 

El laberinto del fauno (2006). dir. Guillermo del Toro. Everyone loves this movie, and if you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s dark fantasy mixed with Spanish history. 

El lugar sin límites (1978). dir. Ripstein. This is based on the novel by Donoso, it’s basically about a transgender* [*this may not be the best term–the term I would use is ‘travesti’ which is closer to ‘transvestite’ but this is one of those cases where because of the differences in culture/language it’s hard to translate exactly] woman and the dynamic between the travesti community and ‘macho’ gay men, and is the origin of an archetypal character [’La Manuela’]. If you’re interested in LGBTQ+ themes/history, this is an interesting watch.     

Evita (1996). dir. Parker. This is a musical about Evita, Antoni Banderas is in it (idk why but this is hilarious to me he’s so Spanish?)–if you like musicals or are interested in Argentinian history, it’s not a bad film (though I don’t think this should be your only source to learn about the Perón family).  

El secreto de sus ojos (2009). dir. Campanella. The ending of this movie is so amazing. There is a fairly graphic rape scene so be aware of that. It’s basically a detective film from Argentina, with all of the local accents and slang (which for me at least is fun).   

El último verano de la Boyita (2009). dir. Solomonoff. Okay, I watched this movie because it’s the only movie I’ve ever seen or heard of about an intersex child, and it was actually quite good.  

Il Postino (1994). dir. Radford. This film takes place in Italy but I’m including it because it’s basically about Pablo Neruda, so if you want to watch a film about the poet, this is your film. 

La batalla de Chile: El poder popular (1979). dir. Guzmán. This film comes in three parts, and it’s a documentary about Chile surrounding the rise and fall of Allende and life under Pinochet. Quite good if you like history.  

La hora de los hornos (1968). dir. Getino & Solanas. Also a documentary, about Argentina. Very good, deals with a lot of historical issues. 

La Lengua de Mariposas (1999). dir. Cuerda. I LOVE this movie, it’s so sweet, it’s basically about a little boy and his relationship with his teacher with the Spanish civil war looming in the background. Watch this.  

La ley del deseo (1987). dir. Almodóvar. This is actually my favorite Almodóvar film, maybe it’s because Antonio Banderas is very young and gay in it, but in terms of the cinematography it’s also got some quite pretty shots. 

La Zona (2007). dir. Plá. This is about violent crime and…basically about class differences in Mexico and the family issues that can cause. 

Little Ashes (2008). dir. Morrison. This film is mostly NOT in Spanish, but I thought I’d include it because it is about Lorca and deals with very Spanish themes, and hilariously also has Robert Pattinson playing Salvador Dalí. Really.  

Los olvidados (1950). dir. Buñuel. This is about juvenile delinquents in Mexico City, basically, and deals with issues of class and is known for its surrealism (kind of an interesting thing for a film of that era). 

Machuca (2004). dir. Wood. This is a film about class tensions during the 1973 coup in Chile, as seen from the perspective of two young boys. A very watchable movie on the topic. 

Mar Adentro (2004). dir. Amenábar. This is about the legal question surrounding euthanasia, very touching, interesting film. Javier Bardem is in it and is great as usual.    

Maria Llena de Gracia (2004). dir. Marshton. This is about drug smuggling and shows the grim reality of that life and why some women might chose to become ‘mulas.’ Hard to watch but very good. 

Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968). dir. Alea. I hated the attitude protagonist of this movie but the actual film was so interesting, it’s about Cuba during the era where Soviet/US conflict was high and visually is a very gorgeous movie. 

Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988) dir. Almodóvar. This is probably one of Almodóvar’s most famous films and deals with the relationships between women, and was pretty interesting because when we watched this in class half the class thought this was a very feminist movie and half the class thought it was very sexist, so… decide for yourself, I guess.  

Nostalgia de la luz (2010.) dir. Guzmán. This is a gorgeous movie about astronomy and the “disappeared” in Chile (and yes, they are related, sort of), it’s sort of a documentary but doesn’t feel like a documentary. Highly recommended for anyone interested in history.    

Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980). dir. Almodóvar. This Almodóvar film is probably the one that most explicitly explores the sexual revolution during la movida madrileña. 

Sin dejar huella (2000). dir. Novaro. This is a roadtrip movie, featuring two women who explore Mexico. Definitely explores the variety of cultural and geographical landscape in Mexico.  

También la Lluvia (2010). dir. Bollaín. Watch this. Gael is great in this movie (as always) and it’s very compelling plotwise. Essentially, this movie uses a Spanish film company making a movie about Columbus/Bartolome de las Casas/etc. during the Cochabamba protests in Bolivia to make a statement about neoimperalism/neocolonialism.  

¡Qué viva México! (1979). dir. Eisentein. This was a film project began in the ‘30s and then later abandoned because of funding issues, but watching the surviving footage is super neat for anyone interested in the history of Mexico.  

Soldados de Salamina (2003). dir. Trueba. This film is about a frustrated writer (ahhh, #relatable) investigating the Spanish Civil War. I liked this movie for having an (ambiguously) bisexual main character, and for how it weaved storylines from two different time periods together.   

Todo sobre mi madre (1999). dir. Almodóvar. This is about a grieving mother and her attempt to come to terms with some tough issues, mainly what happens when a parent is transsexual. 

Un Mundo Maravilloso (2006). dir. Estrada. I actually hated this film because it felt like it was beating me over the head with a hammer (having the leader of what was essentially the World Bank cackle and say “let’s kill poor people” is not v. subtle) but I wanted to mention Estrada because he’s made a number of films dealing with Mexico that I haven’t seen, and if Mexico interests you especially I would check out some of his other films or even give this one a try (the ending is kind of interesting).  

Violeta se fue a los cielos (2011). dir. Wood. Watch this. I loved this film, it’s about one of the leaders of the “nueva canción” movement in Chile, which is like folk song revival, but it’s a dramatization of her life (not a documentary). It features some great music and the heroine is just… a fascinating human being. 

Volver (2006). dir. Almodóvar. Another Almodóvar film, not my favorite by him but if you like his style I’d recommend it. Basically about a mother-daughter team building a much more awesome life after…an incident. 

Y tu mamá también (2001). dir. Cuarón. This is…a very sexy roadtrip/coming-of-age movie that takes place in Mexico. Fair warning, this film is pretty explicit, and I think became well-known just for that. It has some interesting themes though, particularly regarding male sexuality and where the line is (culturally) for what is/isn’t appropriate between male friends or what is/isn’t considered “homosexual.” 

Alright! I’ve probably forgotten something but that should get you guys started. Feel free to ask me any questions or let me know what you think of these! Enjoy~

[polyglotinprogress]

41. Yo, la peor de todas (1990). dir. Bemberg.This movie is about the famous Meixcan polymath Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and how crazy ahead of her time she was. The poetry is amazing, and this is a person worth knowing about. 

42. Mala Educación (2004). dir. Almodóvar. This is an Almodóvar film that features Gael García Bernal in drag. The main topic is sexual abuse under Franco-era religious schooling.  

43. Fresa y Chocolate (1993). dir. Alea. Okay, so I thought this was going to be essentially the same movie as El Beso de la Mujer Araña, but it’s so delightfully Cuban. Similar premise – young Communist develops a strange relationship with an older gay man – but it’s lovely if you are interested in Cuba, and it doesn’t end quite like I expected.     

44. Esteros (2016). dir. Curotto. This is about two childhood friends who encounter each other and re-connect in adulthood. It’s not a masterpiece, but if you like Argentina and want something gay (with no death) or have a thing for your platonic friend, it hits the spot.  

45. El Beso de la Mujer Araña (1985). dir. Babenco. Okay, the movie is inferior to Puig’s novel. But this is still a culturally important an layered story that is a lot more complex than most gay romances. If you like politics and unusual love stories, watch (or better, read) this.   

46.  El Espíritu de la Colmena (1973). dir. Erice. How could I forget this charming Spanish film about a little girl and her relationship to Frankenstein? This is a beautiful film if you love Spain–elegant, subtle, it feels like watching a memory. 

47. Tristana (1970). dir. Buñuel. I would really only recommend this film if you like Buñuel or have an interest in 1960s/70s Spain. Basically a young woman gets taken advantage of by her guardian. It’s melancholic and surrealist.  

48. Blancanieves (2013). dir. Berger. This is such a strange a beautiful movie. It’s made to look like an old silent film, and it’s basically the story of Snow White–except she is a Spanish bullfighter. 

49. Cría Cuervos (1976). dir. Saura. The music and the strange young protagonist in this movie are unforgettable. A young girl must navigate the death of her father and life with extended family. Its very much a reflection of Spain at that time, and one of very layered those movies you could easily write pages about. 

50. Peppermint Frappé (1967). dir. Saura. I found this movie very disturbing; everything is so idyllic and beautiful on the surface but it really reveals some messed up beauty standards of the time period, and, uh, Catholic repression.  

51. Azul y no tan rosa (2012). dir. Ferrari. This Venezuelan gem is wonderful and interesting because it’s perhaps the only gay movie I have ever seen that focuses on the relationship between a gay parent and a straight child. My only critique is that it is certainly a movie that is trying to do many (perhaps too many) things at once, and the “message” is very much spelled out haha. There are also some very hard to watch (violent) scenes in this movie, just FYI. Still, I quite liked it - and we get to see a lot of topics covered in one film.  

52. Desde Allá (2015). dir. Vigas. This is the previous film’s sadder cousin. It explores issues of fatherlessness, age gaps in gay relationships, and poverty in Caracas. If you are interested in Venezuela, though, it’s not bad. 

53. El Libertador (2013). dir. Arvelo. This is a historical drama about Venezuela’s national hero, Simón Bolívar. It’s a very beautiful and moving movie about freedom, and fighting for justice.    

54. La Casa del fin de los Tiempos (2013). dir. Hidalgo. This is a scary Venezuelan movie about a haunted house and time traveling. I didn’t even finish it, I was so scared. If you like horror, you’ll like it.   

55. Sexo, Pudor, y Lágrimas (1999). dir. Serrano. This is, for some reason, a very high grossing and famous Mexican movie. To me, it was basically a lot of boring, heterosexual drama. Still, it had its funny moments. 

56. XXY (2007). dir. Puenzo. This is an amazing and very forward-thinking Argentinian movie about an intersex child, and how the best way to treat them (socially and medically) might be. I loved… how this movie is one of the few movies that incorporate a more trans-masculine perspective. 

57. Wakolda (2013). dir. Puenzo. This is an amazing true story of an Argentinian family and their relationship with a German doctor who was part of the “final solution” during the Holocaust. This film is so unsettling–the doctor is someone who saves lives and yet also kills others–and also a needed exposé of the strange Nazi community in Argentina post WW-II. 

58. Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (2013). dir. Trueba. This is such a cute story of an English teacher in 1960s Spain who takes a road trip in the hopes of meeting John Lennon. Some unlikely companions join him. It’s a rare feel-good movie (in this list, anyway).  

ugh, that’s all I can think of for now, though I’m sure there’s more. 

[polyglotinprogress]

59. ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium (2019). This is a documentary that tries to answer the decades long question: Who killed Victor Jara? For those of you who don’t know about the nueva canción movement in Chile, or are curious about Cold War era politics, this is a very accessible (and moving) first look into what, for me, is one of those most fascinating eras in history. 

60. Muerte en Buenos Aires (2014). dir. Meta.  This movie is a fun mix of Argentinian slang, great ‘80s music, detective/mystery vibes, and surprise ending. Honestly, I enjoyed this movie a lot, particularly the striking visual choices–like having a bunch of white horses running through Buenos Aires at night. 

61. Una mujer fantástica (2017). dir. Lelio.  Really proud of this movie - a Chilean film about a transgender woman - winning an Oscar in 2017. This film was an interesting break in the stereotypical “transgender” genre - the focus is not on physical transition, but on institutional and social barriers that pop up after the death of her partner (due to lack of civil protections).

62. No (2012). dir.  Larraín. While I have a hard time accepting the casting choice of Gael Garcia Bernal as a Chilean advertising guru, this is truly a fantastic movie. No explores the 1988 plebiscite as to whether or not to continue under Pinochet, but it also explores a very interesting (and relevant) political trend: the idea that political campaigns should be sold on icons and slogans, and not ideas. Instead of addressing the horrors that occurred under dictatorship, the No campaign decides to take notes from the advertising strategies of Coca-Cola, to immense success. 

63. 43 (2019). This short Netflix series explores the likely murder/coverup by the Mexican government of 43 students who disappeared on their way to commemorate the 1968 Tlatelolco killings. 

64. 1994 (2019). This Netflix documentary series explores the turbulent year of 1994 in Mexican history, with the signing of NAFTA, the beginning of the Zapatista movement, and the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio. 

65. Roma (2018). dir. Cuarón. This is a stunningly gorgeous film that absolutely deserved its Oscars. What I loved about Roma was its focus on the live-in housekeeper, the mixteco language, the fact that women drive this entire film. A must-see for anyone interested in Mexico. 

66. La dictadura perfecta (2014). dir. Estrada. While to me, this movie felt a bit like a metaphor that is a little too obvious and hard-hitting, it does represent a reality about Mexican politics. Essentially, it takes media monopoly, corruption, and presidential politics in Mexico with a healthy dose of very dark humor. 

67. Doña bárbara (1943). dir. de Fuentes. The main actress in this movie, María Félix, was an icon in Mexican cinema. This movie, while much older than most on this list, is interesting for a lot of reasons: firstly, you could easily teach this film in a gender studies class, as the doña in this movie breaks a lot of gender norms, is fiercely independent, and takes revenge on men who have hurt her in the past. Secondly, you get a glimpse of Mexico from 80 years ago - which, in itself, is an interesting starting point for more sociological study.

68. Frida (2002). dir. Taymor. Disappointingly, this movie is originally in English, and does have a very Hollywood-take-on-Mexico kind of feel to me. However, I’m including it because there are some enjoyable moments in this film, and if you’re interested in surrealism and Mexican art (and who isn’t..!), it could be worthwhile. Frida Kahlo certainly has an amazing personal story. 

69. Papita, maní, tostón (2013). dir. Hueck. This is a cute, easy to watch Venezuelan rom-com that is from a simpler time. Basically, a man and a woman who are fans of rival baseball teams fall in love - and a lot of awkwardness ensues. 

70. Relatos salvajes (2014). dir. Szifron. This is an absolutely wild, hilarious, bizarre Argentinian film that explores six short stories of people in distress - it’s truly filled with a lot of unforgettable moments. If you like black humor, or watching people absolutely lose it at their wedding, you’ll like this movie. 

71. La historia oficial (1985). dir. Puenzo. This is one of my all-time favorite Latin American movies - it takes place in an Argentina trying to both deny and come to terms with the atrocities of the ‘70s and the desaparecidos. This story follows a young history teacher and her “adopted” daughter - who both struggles with how to portray history in her classes, and the reality that her daughter may have been stolen from her parents and “re-homed” by the government - something that really happened in Argentina at that time. As she realizes her young daughter’s family may be searching for her, she is faced with some very difficult (and dangerous) decisions about what to do. Aesthetically, this film is beautifully shot and incredibly memorable. 

72. Diarios de motocicleta (2004). dir. Salles. This is a fun road-trip movie that also hides some very interesting historical tidbits, as it follows the young Che Guevara on a journey through South America, where he begins to develop a political consciousness. This is a wonderful movie to learn about South America, and really addresses the idea of a pan-American consciousness, a mestizo identity that transcends artificial national boundaries.                 

73. Tango feroz (1993). dir. Piñeyro. If you like rock nacional, or are interested in the origins of Hispanic rock, this is a great movie. It follows the life of Tanguito, one of the pioneers of Argentinian rock, under a violent and repressive regime.

74. Contracorriente (2009). dir. Fuentes-León. This is a Peruvian ghost story that takes place in a small, conservative fishing town. Essentially, a married man must deal with the death of his (male) lover, and process those emotions in secret. Something about this film - the ocean setting, or perhaps the fact that this village seems lost in time - strikes a chord.

75. En la gama de los grises (2015). dir. Marcone. This is a Chilean movie that addresses bisexuality - the protagonist does not so much discover that he is gay, as much as that sexuality is a spectrum (hence, the title). 

76. Who is Dayani Cristal? (2013). dir. Silver. This is a great but tragic documentary about the epidemic of people going missing in the Arizona desert while trying to cross the border. I was thrilled to see Gael pushing for this story to be told, and I think this is mandatory viewing for anyone interested in U.S.-Mexico relations. 

Okay, that’s enough for now. I have a separate list of movies I haven’t seen yet and want to watch - maybe in the next two years we’ll make it to 100 Latin American films… !          

[lnguages]

langblr hunt!

I’ve been absent for a while, but I’m back now, and I plan to post a fair bit over the summer.

If you’re an active langblr and I don’t follow you yet (my main account is @schwrzenegger), please like or reblog this post so I can check you out!

I’m learning Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Italian (I have a separate Italian blr @italianoacasa). But I’m also interested in a bunch of other languages (particularly Slavic languages, since I’m a native speaker of Polish), as well as linguistics (particularly sociolinguistics and historical linguistics), as well as in English!

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

The world is watching—and supporting—Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

Every year, thousands of Indigenous Peoples from all over Brazil gather in Brasília, the capital of the country, to share experiences, traditional knowledge, support each other and, most importantly, demand the government protect their rights. But this year, the Free Land Camp (Acampamento Terra Livre, in Portuguese), feels bittersweet. Since the new president Jair Bolsonaro took office on January 1st this year, the new administration has taken measures to weaken the tools to protect the environment, and has not taken any actions to protect Indigenous Peoples, who face violence and threats to their lives, and whose lands continue to be invaded by a greedy and powerful industry. Indigenous Peoples in Brazil have the constitutional right to their traditional lands and have bravely fought to protect them for hundreds of years.

To support the Indigenous communities in Brazil and show Bolsonaro’s government that the world is watching, last Wednesday, on the first day of this year’s Free Land Camp, hundreds of people all over the world demonstrated in front of Brazilian embassies. With banners, portraits of Indigenous leaders, music, art performances and powerful speeches from the Brazilian community, the message from the activists was clear: stand with the guardians of the forest to save the Amazon.

Continue reading.

[triptihosmrti]

Orthodox girls celebrating Easter in Pakistan, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, Syria, Russia.

Христос воскресе :)) 🕯️

[triptihosmrti]

btw the Syrian girls here are doing what is basically a tradition where you crack your egg on top of someone elses egg to see which one is stronger lmao. I won over my brother but my mother totally ruined every one of us today until my bf killed hers. A miracle tbh 😂

[luckychrm]

fresh news no apocalipse ao estilo de mad max que estamos a viver y'all!

(desculpem lá os prints estarem meio merdosos mas a notícia era pequena e não tinha link para partilhar idk why; a fonte é do expresso)

[luckychrm]

http://expresso.sapo.pt/economia/2019-04-17-Precisa-de-combustivel–Veja-177-postos-onde-pode-abastecer-ate-15-litros–porque-o-Governo-nao-deixa-que-seja-mais-?utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=notification&utm_campaign=arn%3Aaws%3Asns%3Aeu-west-1%3A201586858745%3Aexpresso_economia_PROD&utm_content=Precisa+de+combust%C3%ADvel%3F+Veja+177+postos+onde+pode+abastecer+at%C3%A9+15+litros+%28porque+o+Governo+n%C3%A3o+deixa+que+seja+mais%29

Já revelaram 177 postos dos 310!! Racionem os vossos 15L senão vamos ter de duelar até à morte para vez quem fica com eles ashjfkdshfdsjfkl

Precisa de combustível? Veja 177 postos onde pode abastecer até 15 litros (porque o Governo não deixa que seja mais)

Já se sabe onde ficam 177 dos 310 postos prioritários de abastecimento estabelecidos pelo Governo

[breathtakingdestinations]

Marseille - France (by Jeanne Menjoulet) 

[svensklangblr]

hottest language learning tip

write a diary

literally

just write a diary, it has helped me sooo much and i dare say it has been the most developing thing i’ve done while learning french, nothing else compares

1. you’re exposed to the language daily

2. you quickly see which words are missing from your vocabulary

3. you learn to write about the things you think about a lot

4. learning to actually think in your target language

5. having to look up words and when reading the entry back a couple of days later you can’t even remember which words you didn’t know

6. going back to the earlier entries and seeing all the mistakes and knowing how much better you’ve become

7. when you’ve been writing for a few months and your target language becomes a natural way for expressing yourself

8. when you’ve been writing for a few months and you start seeing the diary writing as a way of self-expression and stressrelief, and the language learning aspect becomes natural and secondary

9. filling out a whole book using only your target language and physically seeing how much you’ve accomplished

[strelka]

there’s a lot to be said about the deleterious effects on other languages of the universalization of english but also fucking lol at white europeans speaking non-endangered languages like german or italian acting like it’s a direct threat to “their culture.” especially when the forced spread of their own languages has contributed to the decline of countless others

[injerabae-deactivated20190818]

[injerabae-deactivated20190818]

Lingusitic Diversity Challenge | An Overview of Cushitic

What is Cushitic?

Cushitic is a branch of Afroasiatic, a phylum covering most of Africa north of the Sahel and the Near East. Cushitic in specific is the branch most widely spoken in the Horn of Africa, with minority speech populations in Egypt’s Eastern Desert, Eastern Kenya, and in the Rift Valley of Tanzania. According to some views, Cushitic is in theory one of the oldest distinct branches of Afroasiatic, alongside Omotic.

Do we have a proto-language for Cushitic?

In theory, no, but Christopher Ehret has claimed to have had reconstructed the branch albeit his reconstructions are always questionable. But when it comes to Cushitic, issues of documentation alongside the natural effects of its time depth put a hamper on the reconstruction of Proto-Cushitic and thus we are left with more lower level reconstructions such as Proto-Aweer-Garre (Mous 1994), Proto-Central Cushitic, and so forth but other lower level reconstructions of necessity are also lacking like Proto-Oromoid and Proto-Omo-Tana. So to be safe, no, we don’t have a reconstructed proto-language for the branch.

How many languages is there and how is the family structured?

This is an interesting question because it depends on what you believe constitutes a distinct language. If you go by the sociolinguistics of some groupings, like Oromoid or Eastern Omo-Tana for instance, the speakers may consider various distinct languages as dialects of the same language regardless of issues of grammatical differences and basic intelligibility. For instance, you are likely to hear from Somali-speakers that Ashraaf is a “dialect” of Somali despite recently conclusions such as Green & Jones (2016) finding it to be a language distinct from Somali; in my own opinion if we’re talking solely morphophonology it is actually more distinct from Somali than Maay is, a language that is also believed by many Somali speakers to constitute a rather odd, “Southern” dialect of Somali. Outside of sociolinguistics, there’s also the realities of dialect continuums that exist in some cases such as the Konsoid languages and the Dullay languages. If you go solely by Glottolog, Dullay is comprised of 2 distinct languages: Gawwada and Ts’ammako, with Gawwada comprising of 6 distinct varieties. But if you go by Blench (2006), Dullay is comprised of 4 distinct languages: Gawwada, Ts’ammako, Dihina, and Dobase. So the lack of agreement on cases like this, or Konsoid which variates between 3-5 languages depending on classification, shifts Cushitic between having 40-50 distinct languages. For all intensive purposes, there is 40 or so distinct Cushitic languages that fall into 5 distinct branches: North (Beja), Central (Agaw), Highland East Cushitic, Lowland East Cushitic, and South Cushitic. The largest of these would be Lowland East Cushitic which breaks down into the branches Afar-Saho, Omo-Tana, Oromoid, and Dahalo (which might be South Cushitic anyways?). Dullay-Yaaku is debatably either Lowland East or an independent branch, and there has been discussion of South Cushitic simply being a divergent branch of Lowland East; which is covered in Kießling (2001). Lowland East also has various poorly attested languages such as Girirra and Boon; the latter is likely now extinct and primarily only known from a small wordlist in Lamberti (1983). If we are to take into mind the Cushitic languages formerly spoken in the Eastern Sahel (Beja’s assumed lost relatives) and those whom have been replaced in the Great Lake Regions of East Africa, it should be assumed that at one point perhaps it would be feasible to suggest the existence of 50 or more Cushitic languages. The most commonly accepted branching for the family is what is found in Mous (2012):

What is the phonology of Cushitic languages like?

Interestingly enough Cushitic languages, while in their majority are very similar in terms of basic phonology, can vary quite a bit. And this goes for if you’re talking about the lack of emphatic consonants in much of Eastern Omo-Tana and Central Cushitic or the existence of lateral fricatives and affricates in Dahalo and South Cushitic due to contact influence. North Cushitic in terms of the consonant inventory looks a lot like Eastern Omo-Tana and Afar-Saho—but this is misleading. It lacks emphatics (ejectives, implosives) and has the voiced alveolar retroflex stop [ɖ] like Somali, Afar, and so forth but also has various phonemes lacking entirely from both branches such as a voiced palatal stop and labialized velar consonants; which would suggest that certain commonalities between North and Lowland East should be treated as independent innovations. Whilst independent innovations are abound in the family consonant wise, so are contact induced changes: Central Cushitic likely developed its uvular stops and fricatives under contact with the non-Afroasiatic Gumuz languages and South Cushitic likewise developed lateral fricatives and affricates due to contact with non-Afroasiatic languages presumably phonologically similar to languages such as Hadzabe or Sandawe. An extreme case of contact induced change would be that of Dahalo, whose consonant system also includes clicks. In terms of vowels, Cushitic languages are more varied. Whilst many of the languages spoken in the highlands of the Horn of Africa have the typical “Ethiopian” vocalic system—[ɐ u e i a ɨ o] or the five vowel system [a e u o i]—others such as those of Eastern Omo-Tana tend to distinguish between front and back vowels and deviate from the system common of the highlands, going as far as Somali, which has ATR vowel harmony. What is relatively near universal in the family with the exception of a handful of lesser documented Omo-Tana languages and the entirety of Central Cushitic is the distinction between short and long vowels. The lesser known Omo-Tana languages in question (Rendille, Bayso) likely do have this distinction but it simply has not been recorded in any detail yet. What is also near universal is the presence of accentual systems or very restricted tonal systems—of which can be found in every branch of Cushitic as summarized here by Marteen Mous. For instance, Somali has a pitch accent system whilst Iraqw, in Tanzania, is tonal. For some examples of the consonant inventories, here is Iraqw (South), Ts’ammako (Dullay), and Mossiya (Lowland East):

What are Cushitic languages like grammatically?

This will be highly summarized because unlike phonology, which is debatably less diverse in Cushitic languages, grammar varies heavily. The only well detailed overview of Cushitic, by Marteen Mous, is 87 pages long and over 60 of those pages are almost entirely devoted to just grammatical topics. This being said, grammar isn’t exactly my strong point—but let’s get on with it. Cushitic languages like most branches of Afroasiatic maintain a gender distinction between masculine and feminine, which all nouns are subject to and is based on agreement. Adjectives, unlike verbs and nouns which are clear cut, tend to be debatable on their existence as a separate lexical category and for all intensive purposes some languages like Ts’ammako use nouns as adjectives while Afar uses stative verbs. Derivation is typically from verb to noun, and while noun to verb can exist it does overlap with the aforementioned verb to noun derivational process. Nominalisation is through suffixes and many Cushitic languages can have a number of nominalisation suffixes—Sidamo in Southern Ethiopia has almost twenty while a close relative of it, Qabeena, has twenty eight. Number and gender are interrelated grammatically in Cushitic languages and because of this there is some languages that recognize plural almost as third category of agreement whilst mainting a two way grammatical gender distinction. Interesting as well, topologically, is that Cushitic’s most common case system is that of marked nominative—which in short means that nouns are case marked for subject function, and the base form of the noun is used when the noun is not the subject but instead the object, in isolation. This also applies to predictive nouns in nominal sentences—just read Mous’ overview. I promise it is lightyears past anything I can summarize from it.

And so, that’s the most basic overview I can give. If you really want to read up on Cushitic, get familiar or introduced better to it I suggest reading Mous (2012); in general Marteen Mous (Cushitic overall), Roland Kießling (South), Andreas Joswig (Central), Zelealem Leyew (Central), and so forth are reliable specialists who make their work available on open access. I also have a folder where I keep everything I have on Cushitic, for the most part, available for open access and for ease of finding papers. If you have further questions, within reason, go ahead and ask me! I’ll see what information I can provide.