Cultural Imperialism And The United States

The author of this book is Juan Jose Arevalo and he was a professor of philosophy who became Guatemala’s first democratically elected president in 1944. He was elected after a popular uprising against the United States, backed by Dictator Jorge Ubico, which began the Guatemalan Revolution. He stayed in office until 1951 and had survived 15 coup attempts. During his presidency he had passed several social reform policies that included an increase in minimum wage and a series of literacy programs. He also directed and ministered the drafting of a new constitution in 1945. Arevalo focused much on the need of advancement with individuals and communities. After he was exiled as being a university professor he went back to Guatemala to help the new post-Ubico government, focusing on the areas of social security and drafting of a new constitution. He developed the term “spiritual socialism”, in which he defined his political philosophy as. The philosophy was pointed towards the moral development of Guatemalans with the intent to liberate man psychologically. Arevalo strongly believed that this theoretical doctrine was vital to the making of a progressive and peaceful Guatemalan society. He felt in order to create an ideal society it was necessary to allow the citizens the freedom to pursue their own opinions, property, and way of life. He proclaimed that protecting the freewill of the citizens creates more support for governmental institutions, which in turn ensures the security of

Imperialism is a recurring theme in the history of the world. Stronger countries see themselves as superior to other societies and believe their ways are right. They force religion, government, and practices on countless foreign lands. At the very end of the nineteenth

In 1964, Guatemala was being run by a military junta, violence was a part of every day life, the economy was in shambles, and jobs were scare (Cuevas, 2011). It was in this setting that a young man, my future father-in-law, took a chance at a better life for he and his family. Enticed by rumors of prosperity in the United States, Alex and his brother Rene saved their money to journey to Chicago, leaving their families behind in a search for hope that was borne of desperation. Alex left his wife Ruth with 20 Guatemalan Quetzal, the equivalent of $20 dollars, and their three children, Vivien, 5, Ingrid, 3, and Marvin, a newborn baby. What experience lay in store for he and his family? How would they fare in an unknown country, without

During the 1970’s more and more protests and uprisings in the capital and the southwest part of the nation became very frequent, and overtime, very violent. The Peace Pledge Union expressed a dramatic and detailed example of the violent acts that the military of Guatemala practiced on Indian natives in search of subversives,

Guatemala is a beautiful country that is known for its many Mayan cites, rich culture and its wide rainforest. The country has volcanos, delicious foods and a wonderful atmosphere that make for a rich tourist attraction. But the country has a history that isn’t as wonderful as I have made it sound. This country has endured a very tragic Civil War that started in 1960 and ended in 1996. This 36 year war was devastating to this country because of the many deaths that had happened and because of all of the tragic moments that happened within the span of the war. The Guatemalan Civil War was one of the many acts of genocide that have happened all around the world but even though there were many tragedies this country has developed past it and become the beautiful

The United States is shaped by its cultural myths. Cultural myths are widespread views or notions that are held and propagated by a nation to enforce its values. Among the great American cultural myths is the cultural myth of “educational empowerment” (Mann 110). It is the idea that the quantity of schooling is the yardstick of intelligence and the singular predictor of success. The notion that children fed into the machinery of education at an early age will be extruded further along the process equally and efficiently educated. However, like all cultural myths it is misleading, if not outright false. Problems in education throughout American history have made access to a good education difficult, if not

In the book The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War, author Greg Grandin traces Guatemala’s evolutionary period from the late 19th century to the early 1980s. What he dubs as ‘the last colonial massacre,’ the Panzós Massacre of 1978 was the mass murder by the Guatamalan army of 35 Q’echi-Mayan men, women and children who had gathered in the town square demanding democractic representation, land reform and higher wages. Outrage over this massacre led many Guatemalan peasants to join the communist Guerilla Army of the Poor (EGP) which prompted violence and repression by the US backed right-wing government. Grandin’s thesis is that Cold War terror unleashed or excused by the United States, weakened the advancement of democracy

Living in a nation rocked to its core by dictatorial repression and civil war has taught the Guatemalan the importance of silence. It is an unspoken rule to detach oneself from certain memories, to forget the horrifying tragedies and the pain. Silence on the Mountain author Daniel Wilkinson, however, is an outsider, a stranger to the Guatemalan people both in his appearance and his tendency to ask questions about sensitive topics. Yet, his status as an outsider frees him from certain societal expectations, such as the maintenance of the Guatemalan culture of silence. For this reason, Wilkinson is able to investigate a crucial, yet mostly unaddressed, part of Guatemalan history—the Agrarian Reform of 1952. Through the course of his research,

The country was foreign, a first for me. Dilapidation and ruin scattered the horizon as far as one could see. Guatemala is a place where poverty has a strong grasp on its people. We traveled tirelessly for hours to reach the poorest of the poor. Upon arrival old, young, and natives of all shapes and sizes formed receiving lines, eager to welcome us with gifts of smiles and gratitude. It was an experience that forever changed me. This was the first time I had stepped outside the boundaries of the American culture into a world where nothing is taken for granted. Each day spent on my mission trip brought a fresh awareness of gratefulness. Any pre-trip reluctance quickly became a vague memory as my emotions welled within bring a fresh change to

U.S. vs Guatemala You might believe that the United States is the best country there is, because it is the only country you got to know. But what about all of the other countries that you don’t ever think about? One of the countries that probably never crosses your mind is Guatemala. After doing so much research on this beautiful country, I have found that there are a lot of differences between the United States and Guatemala.

The Kiowa are a Native American people who have been greatly impacted by cultural imperialism. They were forced to adapt to western culture, and in this many of the Kiowa people were converted to Christianity. Christianity is said to be a very important aspect of many Native American cultures still today, but the way in which Christianity is portrayed and practiced in such societies, including that of the Kiowa, stays true to both the religion itself and their Native practices. The Kiowa are said to have "kiowanized" Christianity. The Kiowa version of Christianity is said to differ from "' the white man's way.'" This means that they believe in God, integrate their culture and lifestyles into Christianity, and they also relay the importance of their religion in a different manner. They use their native language in their hymns, and these hymns are comprised primarily of those elements that pertain directly to Kiowa culture. In the text Lassiter states, "Kiowa hymns 'give life to a unique Kiowa experience, preserve the language, and affirm and ongoing (and continually unfolding) Kiowa spirituality.'" This reveals the effectiveness and importance of the integration of Christianity and native Kiowa practices.

In Guatemala, whose population is 60% indigenous, schools teach that the Spanish colonialists, when they arrived in Mayan territory, found the native peoples ‘naked and soulless.’ And it was only thanks to the civilizing force of these white men that led to the current way of dress of the Mayan people. Yet, the Mayan textiles reproduced and worn today date back to around 1000 B.C.E., and as before, the textiles continue being the fabric of Mayan cosmology. This rhetoric embodies Guatemala’s colonial past and present, where racism, discrimination, and systematic erasure abound. As indigenous women are the rightful creators and artists, the state in particular oppresses and hinders their knowledge and livelihoods. These women, to counteract this

The imperialist spirit of the United States was inherited from England after the U.S. broke away from its mother country in 1775. The young country wanted to spread its ways of living across its landscape, creating defined boarders on both sides that separated it from its English predecessors. Thus America’s New Frontier was born. America built up its imperialistic nature throughout the 19th century and on into the 20th century, flexing its muscles and establishing itself as a new world superpower. The modern United States no longer finds land to claim, but instead is involved with a Cultural Imperialism, which has affected how other countries around the world feel about the United States.

Some Americans supported imperialism from a moral rather than an economic opinion. They saw much of the world as living in darkness. It was the duty of the United States, in their view, to bring the light of freedom and Christianity to those dark places. Josiah Strong, a Christian missionary leader, was a leader of this group (Anglo- saxon civilization). Josiah Strong was a prominent leader in the movement to apply Darwinist principles to society (Social Darwinism). He, along with others like Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was superior and was destined to rule the world or a large portion of it. In his influential book Our Country, Strong wrote that the United States had a “divine mission” to

Globalisation is the process of interconnectedness and the integration of national and regional culture, economies, and society through the global network of communication, immigration, transportation and trade (Financial Times Lexicon, 2017). According to Reiche (2014), globalisation did not mean much in the past fifty years. It could be primarily focused on the trade and also foreign direct investment which are the economic side of the world but it has been expanded to a broader range which including media, culture, technology, trades and political factors nowadays. Although globalisation is considered as a wide range nowadays, it still can be classified as four main characteristics which are stretched social relations, intensification of flows, increasing interpenetration, and global infrastructure (Held, 2004). However, cultural imperialism has the most typical impacts on globalisation. This essay will define and explain cultural imperialism and its impact from the pessimistic globalist and transformationalist perspective.