Wrapping Things Up!

 

Wrapping Things Up!

     My Humanities Story:    

         Book Reviews        

Let's take a look at the books I read this year, especially the ones for the Latin American Humanities course.

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

Popol Vuh book cover


• As we learned in a previous blog, The Popol Vuh is a compilation of various legends from some of the ethnic groups that inhabited the Quiché land in Central America, it is also known as the sacred book of the Mayans. The Popol Vuh tells us about the creation of the universe and humans. This book tells the story of the Hero Twins too, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, and their journey to defeat the Lords of Xibalba.
  

Holmes, Seth, and Philippe Bourgois. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. 1st ed., Netherlands, University California Press, 2013. 

• 

  Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
  book cover

  This is another book I have mentioned in past blogs, cultural analysis about migration, social hierarchy, racism, and health; exposing the suffering of agricultural migrants that bring fresh fruit to the tables of American homes. In this book, Holmes wants to discover and expose a dynamic that arises because of the naturalization of racialized hierarchies from his own experiences crossing the border, living and working with indigenous Mexican migrants. 

Kiyosaki, Robert. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Second, Plata Publishing, 2017. 

Rich Dad Poor Dad
book cover

• The central theme of this text is to teach how to use money as a tool to develop and generate wealth. The author states that the rich are not born rich, they are made, and explains from his perspective, how this process occurs based on his experience, referring to two very different scenarios and ideologies, for part of his two parents: the biological, whom he calls "poor dad", and the father of his best childhood friend and financial mentor who he recognizes as "rich dad".
  

Mandino, Og. The Greatest Salesman in the World. 1st ed., Bantam, 1988.

• 

  The Greatest Salesman
  in the World book cover

  This book was a best-seller that stood out because its philosophy offers an instructive guide to be someone effective and successful in the art of selling, in which it shares secrets to achieve wealth and fulfillment, both important to have a good and happy life. . His teachings sow a seed of positivity and perseverance within us so that, day after day, we grow and achieve fulfillment and success in personal life.

         About My Theme Project        

The final project consisted of interrelating the topics seen in class with the chosen topic, which in my case was Religion. I really liked being able to find connections with religious issues between art, ideas, skills, and institutions in the different contexts of the humanities course, and being able to observe the influence, impact, and evolution that the concept that I chose had directly in the human events. 

Cover of my Final Project for the
Latin American Humanities course.

        Despite the great effort I put into finishing the project, I could not complete one of the chapters due to lack of time and, you know... all the final projects from other classes. But I think that, on average it took me about 15-20 hours to get to this result. (Click the link and let me know what you think of my work in the comments!)

        About My Theme Project        

For most of my life I studied in Mexico and, to be honest, at first I thought this class would be like a review or reinforcement of the information I had learned through the years in school. Well, to my surprise I discovered many new and interesting things in this class that I did not know before about the study of Latin American cultures, especially Mexico. I think the class exceeded my expectations, professor Moore was always patient, enthusiastic and willing to transmit her knowledge to us and, although the class seemed challenging at the beginning, those things made it easy to carry over the weeks.

        I really enjoyed the Popol Vuh, I never thought it was an interesting and fun story, and so important for Latin American culture. I also learned very significant things that I did not know about the Olmec and Mayan cultures. I knew very little about the history of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, despite always seeing it printed on the 200 Mexican peso bills. Some of the things that I could say I was more informed about are the contemporary issues of migration and farmworkers but, I had not gotten to analyze the problem as thoroughly as I did in this class.

Finally, thank you for joining me on this journey through time!

- Maria Villanueva

          Works Cited         

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

Holmes, Seth, and Philippe Bourgois. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. 1st ed., Netherlands, University California Press, 2013. 

 

Kiyosaki, Robert. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Second, Plata Publishing, 2017. 

 

Mandino, Og. The Greatest Salesman in the World. 1st ed., Bantam, 1988.