...Race: The Cultural and Political Power of an Illusion in Latin America Race has been the most arguable and controversial subject in Latin American history. Since 16th century it has created a great deal of prejudice among Latin American people, it has been referred, as biological characteristics later modified to a social statue such are education, wealth and language. It has been under a heavy influence of cultural and political power where people were classified from their biological characteristics to their wealth. Through the time race has become the main tool for state creation and regulation. Race has become a status, which has structured and organized the nation but the term “race” has never itself been stable. In today’s Latin America modern theory of “race” has meaning of a political power, status and regulation, it’s a states way of monitoring and controlling of the heterogeneous nation. Race gradually has become a political cultural and economic power for Latin American state. In this paper I will argue about the idea that race in Latin America gradually has became just an illusion, a tool by which people were controlled structured and manipulated. Various articles will be presented to support and illustrate the transformation of the word “race “ and its cultural and political influence on Latin America. I will talk about the colonial to republic period idea of “race “ In Latin America and how the meaning of the word was manipulated. I will discuss the colonial...
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...Spanish / Latin America is a great and wonderful area that has been impacted and influenced by different people. An important group that helped contribute to the Spanish America were African slaves. These people brought literature, religion, culture, food, dancing and even family traditions to this wonderful country. They also helped to influence many famous dances and the food we eat today. It is amazing how African traditions and cultures are still alive and today used by people worldwide. In this article, I will talk about the wonderful influences and contributions of African Americans to make Latin America what it is today. It is clear that Latin America would not be what it is today without the contributions of Africans. Literature is heavily influenced by African American and can be seen in my famous writtings.Relatos Africanamericanos is a great book that gives extensive information about the contributions of Africans. The Boy King was forced to go to Brazil, but helped freedmen and creates unity and respect among other Africans. Assistant and also worked at the same veneration of Our Sonora del Rosario. (93) cases in Cuba many blacks were forced to become communist to even publish their books and had to spend a lot to get publicity. These stories written by African Americans represent many cultures tradition. They also talk about an important issue in the world, racism. One of my favorite stories is 'The African Granny' this story exposes how racism played a role...
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...Latino/Hispanic Ethnic Group White and Black are races that are outlined throughout the world. People generally feel you either fit in these racial categories or you don’t. The Latino/Hispanic group is defined more by ethnicity, relatively more complex than just race. The U.S. Census Bureau outlines this ethnic group as a separate entity than White or Black people. There is even White and Black Latinos or Hispanics depending on how they choose to identify. There is a broad range of variability in this ethnic group as well as some cultural, language and religious differences as well as a few different subgroups. Identity The United States Census Bureau is the sole provider of all of the statistical data about our nations’ population and economy. Census information is gathered and reported every 10 years. Census reports first implemented that Latino/Hispanic could be identifying factors on our census report around the 1990 census data collection, which held the most comprehensive data. In previous years, Latin Americans were able to identify with by listing any of the subgroup they belonged to. In previous years, beginning in 1930, the census attempted to identify “Mexicans”, then later in 1970, where there was a nationwide category and then 1980 added the more effective category that really won over society in 1990. Most Latinos and Hispanics have no easy task in explaining their identity. Whether you are a Latino or a Hispanic is largely in part based upon where your...
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...Research on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean Read the following articles in GGR: pp.151-230 These readings review the status of research in women's and gender studies in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean After I read the articles, I see women from Latin America and the Caribbean are facing similar issue with women from Asia and Africa. Sure that women’s right has come a long way and women role have change from only working in the houses or farms to working outside of the house support their families’ financial, but still they are suffer from gender inequality, poverty, and violence. Women are often treated as subordination to men in many ways like in economic or social life and when they want to work they are disadvantaged by childcare and housework responsibilities. To me, it seems like Latin America and the Caribbean special in Puerto Rico and Cuba have made more progress in women’s right than in Africa or Asia. Violence against women is still a serious problem in Latin America and the Caribbean. High rate of women have been a victim of sexual, physical, or psychological violence by partners just because they are women and seen as the weaker sex, even though there is law to protect women but usually get overlook especially in cases of domestic violence. I am also agree with Marta Nunez Sarmiento that there are more studies on women than men and in gender studies we should look on men perspective too. Cuban women have gained women equal in economic...
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...This paper will discuss the poverty in Latin America. Latin America has always been in poverty and although there have been some ups and downs, the poverty level remains great. First, we will discuss the region that is known as Latin America, the determining factors of poverty, the statistics and history of the poverty in Latin America and the future of the poverty in Latin America. Latin America refers to the areas of America in which the Spanish or Portuguese languages prevail. These areas include Mexico, most of Central and South America, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Brazil. Latin America can be subdivided into different regions, such as North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. (Wikipedia, Retrieved 2010). Latin America consists of many different ethnic backgrounds and races. It is one of the most diverse regions in the world. Some of the predominant races/backgrounds include European-Amerindians (Mestizo), Amerindians, European, Mulatto, Black, Asian and Zambo (mixed Black and Amerindian). Latin America continues to be challenged by inequality and poverty. Poverty is defined as, “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” (Merriam-Webster, Retrieved 2010). According to the World Bank, nearly 25% of the population of Latin America lives on less than $2.00 a day. At least 182 million people are living in poverty in Latin America and at least 68 million people are living in extreme...
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...The economy in Colonial Latin America was complex and contained elements of similarity to the mother country system. Although many of the colonies’ economies in Latin America are influenced by the parent country, there different in nuance. Steve Stern does a great job of showing Colonial Latin America utilize attributes from both capitalism and feudalism to create its own sense of an economic system. The fusion of feudalism and capitalism helped to sustain slavery and provide European colonists with political and monetary power over indigenous people living in Latin America. Systematic forced labor proved Stern was correct about how European settlers established a feudalistic society in the Americas. The first establishment of forced labor came in the form of the Encomienda. The Encomienda allowed conquistadors to control Indigenous...
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...originated from South America in the early 1950s when Marxism was the most popular theory among the poor. It was a response to the ill-treatment and poverty facing the ordinary people. It dealt with the issue of distribution of wealth among people in order to upgrade the economic status in life. This movement had strong Romanian Catholic roots bolstered in Colombia in 1968 at a conference where, the bishops proposed a merger between the Karl Marx teachings with those of Jesus Christ. Liberation theology support was immense but various critiques across the religious framework (Novak, 1991). This movement arose in catholic and protestant churches and it has three main expressions as discussed herein. Black Liberation Theology Black liberation theology strongly focuses on the African American community. This theory got formulated in 1969 by the Nation Committee of Black Church men as a civil rights movement. The key goal is to make Christianity real for the black people. The offshoot of this movement was in South America during the liberation of African American people from all kinds of injustices and bondage especially in the social, political and economical focus. Coined by James Cone in 1970, the movement focused on promoting communism and Marxism by incorporating religious interpretation. This theory focused on issues relating to deliverance from injustices which was not the core principle of the Gospel. However, it is significant that African Americas needed freedom from unfair...
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...putting specific groups at the top of the food chain. Sadly, those of African descendance would bare the burden of being slaves, in every meaning of the words, to a vast majority of the world due the ignorance of the human race. The movie, The Last Supper, by Tomas Gutierrez Alea depicts the interaction and relationships of the denizens of a sugar plantation in Cuba during the eighteen hundreds. All from the Count to the overseer and slaves had ways of interacting with one another, which was mostly decided on their race and social status. The movie deals with various topics that defined that era in time and there are many reoccurring themes in the movie that can be seen in other periods of time and places. In this paper, many aspects of black culture will be discussed and how they relate compare and contrast to that of whites in the particular time frame in which the movie takes place, as well as discussing modern life implications that certain customs or believes back then have on our culture. The movie from the start makes it clear that it will heavily deal with religion. The beginning opens with the portrait of angels depicted in a church....
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...Although Latin America has faced many social, political, and economic issues within the last three centuries, inequality remains one of the most important, historical, and omnipresent aspects of the region’s culture. As Europeans took over Latin America during the time of colonization, they implemented many elitist social structures that have held strong and are evident today (Harris). Income inequality is the most visible and greatest disparity that the region faces; yet inequality between gender, ethnicities, and education remain strong and significant problems with a necessity for improvement. Inequality of wealth and disparity of power and influence are Latin American’s greatest curses and are at the root of many of the developmental, social, criminal, and political problems that continue to plague the region (De Ferranti). Since inequality has pervaded into every feature of Latin American society, it is important to measure inequality accurately in order to obstruct the causes of the discrimination and prevent new ones from beginning. The Gini Coefficient is an effective way that people indicate the inequality of a country by measuring a frequency distribution of income or wealth. Using the "Gini Index" of inequality in the distribution of income and consumption, the researchers found that Latin America and the Caribbean, from the 1970s through the 1990s, measured nearly 10 points more unequal than Asia, 17.5 points more unequal than the 30 countries in the Organization...
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...Terrin Chacko HIST 1013.09 10/28/2012 Chapter 9 Guided Reading Questions 1. What changes did the Republicans bring to the federal government? a. The Republicans started by making fiscal policies. They “eliminated all internal taxes” in order to help people with large debt (Goldfield 224). Republicans tried to take all the offices they could be appointed to. After Jefferson finished his presidency, Republicans too almost all the appointive offices (Goldfield 224). Jefferson decided to reverse foreign policies in order to stop Napoleon from making a treaty with Spain which posed as a threat. Jefferson had a deal with Napoleon, which helped expand the size of the United States. Furthermore, it opened up another frontier for slaveholders south of the Mississippi Valley (Goldfield 226). b. How did their policies differ from those of the Federalists who came before them? Federalists wanted people to be in large public debt. Federalists tried to have a grip on federal offices; however Republicans managed to take over. Then the Federalists passed the Judiciary Act of 1801 (Goldfield 224). John Marshall, who was a Federalist, created a precedent of judicial reviews in the Marbury v. Madison case. c. What factors accounted for the Federalists’ inability to regain national power after they lost the election of 1800? Hamilton and his fellow Federalists wanted people to be in a large debt. They failed to keep hold of federal offices when Republicans simply used...
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... The Field Study America is a nation known by most as a nation of opportunity and freedom. America promised in the Declaration of Independence that all people should have equal rights and opportunities. A controversial issue exists in the American work field, about racial issues affecting workers’ pay, position and freedom. Whether people are paid based on race and not by performance is speculative. Nations of prominent stature like America should not let racism in jobs occur. America, one of the most happily diverse nations in the world must put an end to the existence of racism in the workplace. I would like to visit businesses and examine the activity of the workers, to conclude if there is truth to the allegations of racism. To prove these Allegations, I will visit two businesses in the area, one of which will be a privately owned company, and the other of which will be a state-funded business like a school, hospital, or prison. I plan to inquire employees’ pay if they agree to present that information, and compare similar positions’ pay based on racial differences. The reason two different types of businesses should be used, is to determine if different types of business are racist towards workers. Many cases have been recorded of minorities being discriminated against in the workplace. Statistics were found supporting the claim that racism does exist in the workplace. The fact that black, Latin and Asian workers are paid less than...
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...The health problem in lower SES groups is often discussed. Differential exposure hypothesis theorizes that the higher prevalence of health problem in lower SES groups is associated with a greater exposure to psychological stressors. Differential vulnerability hypothesis suggests that low SES individuals have less well equipped to cope with stressors because they have a fewer material and social sources. Relative Deprivation was significantly correlated to perceived stress, while Relative Gratification was not (Holland, 2011). The markers of hopelessness are evident in income, education, and employment data, in differences in mortality, marriage, and incarceration rates, and in other signs of societal fragmentation. However, trends in hope and...
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...It is a very common notion to define the group people based on their race and ethnicity but it often leads to completely wrong perception and assessment of the group of people. This is exactly what happens with the conventional definition of Hispanic identity. In order to fully understand how the concept of ethnicity has been constructed in Latin America it is important to start with some historic background. The formation of what will be known as “Hispanic Identity” started centuries ago when Portuguese and Spanish colonists arrived to the South America and started to oppress, enslave and exploit populations that had lived there for eons (Wade, 2003). In addition numerous African slaves have been brought in, especially in places like Caribbean and Brazil where today the significant part of the population is black (Ferreira da Silva, 1998). Because of the melting pot relationships a significant portion of populations got mixed and were called “mestizos”. This mixing occurred between ingenious populations, Europeans and of course African slaves (Wade, 2003). This mixing created a very interesting phenomenon when it comes to Latin America namely the fact that ethnic and racial composition of many countries is extremely diverse and not homogenous at all especially in places like Brazil, Chile, Mexico and others. However at some point even this has changed as the new approach was to define populations based on the culture rather than on ethnicity (De la Cadena, 2000). This was...
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...percent arrived in what is now the United States. Yet by 1860, approximately two thirds of all New World slaves lived in the American South. For a long time it was widely assumed that southern slavery was harsher and crueler than slavery in Latin America, where the Catholic church insisted that slaves had a right to marry, to seek relief from a cruel master, and to purchase their freedom. Spanish and Portuguese colonists were thought to be less tainted by racial prejudice than North Americans and Latin American slavery was believed to be less subject to the pressures of a competitive capitalist economy. In practice, neither the Church nor the courts offered much protection to Latin American slaves. Access to freedom was greater in Latin America, but in many cases masters freed sick, elderly, crippled, or simply unneeded slaves in order to relieve themselves of financial responsibilities. Death rates among slaves in the Caribbean were one-third higher than in the South, and suicide appears to have been much more common. Unlike slaves in the South, West Indian slaves were expected to produce their own food in their “free time,” and care for the elderly and the infirm. The largest difference between slavery in the South and in Latin America was demographic. The slave population in Brazil and the West Indies had a lower proportion of female slaves, a much lower birthrate, and a higher proportion of recent arrivals from Africa. In striking contrast, southern slaves had an equal...
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...Afro-Colombians view themselves as just Colombians, as it they should. Black Colombians usually don’t identify as African because they just rather use skin color to justify their races, via shades of white and black. That being said Colombian is the owner of the largest population outside of Africa and the second largest in latin america after brazil. There is a huge injustice to Afro-Colombians.Slavery may have been abolished in 1851, but Afro-Colombians are still feeling the hate as if a few years had gone by after abolition. Afro-Colombians are mainly located on the pacific coast, they are highly concentrated in areas that are mainly focus on farming, cattle herding, and mining. Because of the uses of the land that the Afro-Colombians the areas that they are often found living in terrible conditions due to the fact that the region that they live in as a whole is tragically underdeveloped. These conditions are product of the system that has shown them nothing but hatred, from past to present. Afro-Colombians originally were the majority in Colombia during slave...
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