Latin American Culture Essay examples

In America today, we are faced with several different minority groups arriving to the United States. The most common of all minority groups are the Hispanics. America is known for their language being English, but as the year's approach, that language has faded and a new face in English language has taken over, it's called Spanish. We as the people of America have become controversial over this major change, and due to that major bilingualism and political movements that have occurred from the government to the education departments. In this paper, I am going to talk about the four most common Hispanic groups in our country today and the political, social, linguistic, economic, religious, and familial conventions and/or statuses that they

Frequently, we do not put too much attention to our own cultural values and traditions until we are exposed to a different culture, and start comparing. In order to have a more productive and fruitful life I believe we need to become more self-aware and more sensitive to the culturally and ethnically diverse community we live in. Two cultures that have been sharing the same living space for centuries are the Hispanic and American culture. In this paper I would be analyzing each culture giving a brief background and pointing out some aspects in how they differ, like the perception of time, family, orientation, and others. American culture has a couple of aspects in which it differs from the Hispanic culture, which for the

Latino Americans are facing issues with their identity because of their ethnic and racial backgrounds due to our education institutions in America. These issues result in a separation of their American and Latino culture creating two different identities but not enough of American or Latino identity to fully feel part of either culture.

The Hispanic population has experienced an incredible growth in the past decade in the United States of America. In 2006 it was estimated that the Hispanic cover 11 % of the population in North America. Their Origin is in Mexico and the few Spanish speaking countries in the Caribbean. American culture is derived from people who originated from the European nations like Italy and the Great Britain. Cultural identity is very important for every ethnic group as it shapes the culture of that particular faction and therefore, a certain culture cannot realize its own values until it is exposed to another one.

The Hispanic culture has different values, beliefs, and traditions. Family is highly value. Family is a close-knit group and the most important social group to gather in any events or special days. The Hispanic “family unit” includes not only parents and children but also grandparents and extended family. Individuals within the family have moral responsibilities to help other members of the family experiencing financial problems, unemployment, health conditions and any other life issues. They show the importance placed upon relationship within their family extending a hand in good times and bad. Respeto y dignidad (respect and dignity) are other important values of the Hispanic culture. Children’s are taught to avoid confrontations with parents and older persons, and to be obedient and respectful. The Hispanics believe that the father is head of the family and the mother is to take care of home. Naming children after grandparents and parents is fairly common. A well-known tradition is the celebration of a fifteen year old girl called Quincenera. Hispanics culture and traditions are based around celebrating and spending time with love ones.

Culture makes up who we are, what we believe and how we behave. About four years ago, I had the opportunity to live in Ecuador. I found the relationships and communication perspective to be very interesting and after spending two years there, I was able to notice several distinct intercultural differences between the American and Ecuadorian cultures. Since my analysis of Ecuador is only based off of my personal experience, I’ve also invited my friend Luis Salas from Quito, Ecuador who is currently attending Brigham Young University to give his own insights. By gaining his perspective of what it’s like to live in America as an

During the Spanish conquest and colonization of Mexico, Roman Catholicism was founded as the main religion of Mexico, and today, about 89% of Mexicans identify themselves with Catholicism. Evangelical religions have grown in

captures of the ideas they were fighting for: liberty, equality, and rights.1 News of this overthrowing of the government reached many places, one of those being Latin America. During the colonial period, a great social gap developed between the peninsulares (Spanish people born in

Even though most of Latin America became independent of European colonial rule in the 19c, what were some of the cultural influences and other ties that still existed between the two continents? Between 1810 and 1825, all the Spanish territories on the American mainland gain their sovereignty from Spain. Simultaneously, the power of the Catholic Church diminishes, including its patronage of the visual arts. During these war-torn years, cultural production declines. These years witness political reform and the beginnings of self-fashioned societies. Caudillos or military dictators initially fill the vacuum left by the break-up of colonial rule, including Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793–1877) in Argentina,

Although each classical civilization developed its own unique style of politics, culture and economies, the economic and social patterns in Latin America distinctly detached this civilization from any Western society, which accounted for obvious distinctions in both culture and politics. In politics, the most apparent feature of the Western Society was the creation of new political ideologies, resulting in neither an absolute or dictatorial structure. The instability of Latin American politics created a weakened structure, therefore creating limitations to regulate criminals, and landlords. Culturally, the Western Societies role of religion lost popularity, as nationalism and socialism provided competition for the church. But the

Latin American main religion is the Roman Catholics along with other minority religions. They have many traditional holidays but a few of them are listed as Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May), Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and Mother’s Day. Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrate the winning of the Mexican war, but most mistake it for the Mexican Independence Day. Dia de los Muertos is where their culture celebrates and show respect to the dead. They also celebrate Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is a day they honor the mothers for all what they have done and still doing. Sports is a big deal in Latin America. Their popular sports are fútbol, baseball, and boxing. Fútbol in English means soccer and it is their main sport in Latin American. The food tells a lot about their cultural. Since families are so big they have to make food that can be spread to feed everyone, so some of their traditional dishes are tamales, tacos, and pupusas.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States was the most dominant power in the Western Hemisphere. European nations conceded to the United States their right of any intervention in the Western Hemisphere and allowed the United States to do whatever they wanted. The United States took this newly bestowed power and abused it. The United States intervened in many Latin American countries and imposed their policies on to these countries against their will. A perfect example of this aggression is what occurred in the Dominican Republic in 1904. The United States intervened in this sovereign nation and took control of their economy and custom houses. A memorandum from Francis B. Loomis, the United States Assistant

The idea that a woman’s job is to be a wife and mother is old-fashioned, but not completely out of style. Though these roles require a great deal of talent, resilience, patience, love, and strength, to name a few, they are often underestimated or depicted as simple. Especially in modern times, many women in the United States who stay home to raise a family are viewed as anti-feminists, whereas women in Latin America are not criticized for similar actions. In recent decades, more Latin American women have started to break the mold, daring to be both sexy, and successful in the workforce, while remaining pillars of domestic life.

Latin Americas desire to emulate European culture and race caused many hardships for people of color. Even before Latin America gained its independence, Natives and Africans were treated as inferior. During the neo-colonial period, the elites made it a point to imitate European culture and any

History of the region from the pre-Columbian period and including colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese beginning in the 15th century, the 19th-century wars of independence, and developments to the end of World War II.Latin America is generally understood to consist of the entire continent of South America in addition to Mexico, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean whose inhabitants speak a Romance language. The peoples of this large area shared the experience of conquest and colonization by the Spaniards and Portuguese from the late 15th through the 18th centuries as well as movements of independence from Spain and Portugal in the early 19th century. Even since independence, many of the various