"Otras voces: A Case for Multiple Perspectives on El Quinto
Centenario"
 
by A. Dolores Brown
 
in Hispania 75 (September 1992 pp. 732-733)
 
1492-1992. October 12 marks the 500th anniversary of Christopher
Columbus's landfall in the Western Hemisphere.  The importance of
this event for Spanish classes is obvious.  The crews spoke
principally Spanish on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
Funds for the voyage had come from the King and Queen of Spain.
The ships had set sail from the western coast of the Spanish
Peninsula.  Columbus made entries in his diary in Spanish.  All
territories were claimed in the name of Spain.  The year 1492
signals the beginning of Hispanic influence in the Western
Hemisphere.
     The custom of observing birthdays and anniversaries each
year sets the pattern for calling attention to 1992.  It is also
true that not every human being's life coincides with the ninth
decade of any given century; in all probability, this will be the
only '92 readers of this essay ever observe.  Furthermore, the
number 500 is noteworthy, more so than 400 or 600, for example,
because in the decimal system, it is one-half of 1,000.  The
roman numeral for a separate symbol, D, found in dates.
     The question facing teachers of Spanish today is how to give
students a balanced representation about events which took place
in 1492.  What voices best tell the story?
     Most teachers in Spanish probably learned about 1492 from an
Euro-centric perspective.  This point of view considers Columbus
the "discoverer" of a "New World" and interprets events according
to their effect on European explorers and settlers.
     Such a limited perspective is no longer adequate.  Teachers
and students are now called upon to view the encounter and its
consequences from multiple perspectives.  We need to listen to
many voices.
     Some of those voices belong to indigenous people in the
Western Hemisphere.  They tell a different story from that told
by Europeans.  As Native Americans look back on the events of
1492 and the years following, they see deception, exploitation,
subjugation, disease, dispossession, uprooting, and death--an
unending story of loss that continues to the present.  They find
little reason to commemorate el Quinto Centenario of Columbus's
arrival.  The Continental Gathering "500 Years of Indian
Resistance" with representatives of 120 Indian Nations,
international and fraternal organizations met in Quito, Ecuador
in 1990.  This group rejected the 1992 "celebration" and instead
called for structural change which recognized self-determination
and complete autonomy for Indian people.  Teachers and students
of Spanish need to know about Native Americans' views and to
listen to their voices.
     African Americans' voices need to be heard also.  While
Africans were not shipped as slaves to the Western Hemisphere
until after 1492, many blacks in the Americas view their
ancestors' enslavement as the tragic consequence of official
European policies.  Students and teachers need to be sensitive to
the perspectives African Americans have about colonization and
economic development.
     It is important to remember that no females accompanied
Columbus and his crew on that first voyage west.  Exploration was
a male prerogative.  Yet one intuitively knows that mothers,
wives, and female relatives of European crew members were
affected by the separation caused by that and subsequent voyages.
Teachers and students need to consider the impact of long periods
of separation on the lives of women who bore alone the day-to-day
responsibilities of caring for children and managing a household.
     Not only were European females affected by the events of
1492; the lives of many indigenous females were changed as well.
One significant consequence of the encounter of two worlds is the
creation of a mestizo population, the blending of European and
native races.  Today the majority of Spanish-speaking persons in
this hemisphere are mestizos.  A balanced observance of the
anniversary of Columbus's arrival needs to include their
perceptions and experiences too.
     All of these particular perspectives--that of Native
Americans, African Americans, females, and mestizos--can help
students and teachers of Spanish to understand more fully how the
encounter of two worlds affected lives at the time of Columbus
and in the years following his arrival in the Western Hemisphere.
role-playing can be an effective way to give students the
opportunity to explore feelings and perceptions from another's
perspective.  Interaction with Native American and African
American men and women is another way to widen horizons in the
Spanish classroom.  A focus on new beginnings in relationships
based on mutuality and respect can be a desired outcome of such
discussions.
     One cannot change the past, but one can change one's
attitude about past events.  It is to be hoped that through
observing the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage,
students and teachers of Spanish will develop a heightened
awareness of the multiple perspectives from which events
surrounding 1492 can be viewed.
 
BROWN-01