Machismo In South America Essay

In the final analysis, ancient Greece stereotypes depicted masculinity as being strong, brave, powerful, athletic,

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicles of a Death Foretold shows how Machismo drives all male ambition. Machismo, in Latin American countries was derived from the word macho meaning an intense masculine pride. Machismo was first used in 1948, and was taken as a code of honour for men, rules that would make you considered macho. Respect and reputation are highly regarded as important traits in Machismo, and are the driving force of reason in the novel. (Add another sentence about the broadness of Machismo).

In Paul Theroux’s article “The Male Myth” Theroux makes a point that he does not like the stereotypes placed on men in today’s society. Theroux’s article is focused on exposing the stereotypes that men face and the reasons for their occurrence. He claims that writers and many others are directly affected by the expectations of masculinity that are thoroughly incorporated in America. The ideas of masculinity are deeply rooted in high school sports, in the view of the president, and in many other areas. Theroux attempts to prove that being a man in American is, “…pitiful, a little like having to wear an ill-fitting coat for one’s entire life.”

During 1500-1750, Latin America and the Caribbean developed independently It was isolated and its agricultural economies grew. They had a ritualistic polytheistic religion with “divine” kings and large urban centers. During the period of 1500-1750, interregional trade in Latin American and the Caribbean changed as it was now included in global trade, and had different views on religion, although it continued to have forced labor systems.

In Latin American culture, machismo is seen as a behavior through which the Latino males exhibit an overbearing attitude to anyone in a position he sees as inferior to theirs, thereby demanding total respect and subservience. Even though Machismo has been defined with an extremely negative connotation, a macho can also be seen as a caring and responsible person within the traditional Latino culture. The negative connotations that have been attributed to Machismo are aggressiveness, womanizing, emotional insensitivity and physical strength.

discusses the image of the ''Macho mans'' as an ideal for the American people. Throughout his

In society men are told they must be the toughest, strongest, and bravest. Whether it be in sports, work, or even to their own families they pressured to prove their manliness. Various cultures around the world have their very own set of expectations when it comes to men and women. In some Latino cultures masculinity is a very important. Since the day males are born they are raised to be masculine and masculine only. Traits that some believe to be feminine are frown upon and if a boy exhibits them they are disciplined, bullied, and in some cases even ostracized for not following the macho norms. In Latino cultures there is a culturally constructed concept that has to do with male dominance and hypermasculinity. This concept is machismo. Machismo is a strong sense of masculine pride (“Machismo”). Machismo is the term that many people in Latino cultures use to describes the actions and beliefs, that hypermasculine men exhibit. Although this concept is used to described the sense of masculine pride, it is not really considered to be a positive term. When the term is used, it is used to point out the negative actions and effects that it causes or can cause. Machismo is not only exclusive to Latino cultures, machismo attitudes and behaviors are present in many cultures of Asia, Europe, and Africa, as well as the Americas (Perilla, 116). Many other cultures do have their own terms to describe men who are hyper masculine and believe in male dominance, but machismo is the term that

Upon “crashing” each of these waves paved the way for the next. As one reviewer notes: The still abstract recovery of the humanity of Jesus opened the way to a consideration of the concrete history and story of Jesus of Nazareth. Attentiveness to the specific ministry of Jesus led to a new appreciation of the contemporary context and challenge of discipleship. Sensitivity to the actual experience of following Jesus today raised new questions about the meaning of salvation in Christ for the poor, for women, for people of color. The everexpanding encounter of world religions posed anew the issue of Christ as universal savior.10 The third wave, with the view of Jesus as liberator, would give rise to liberation theology. Johnson outlines six basic characteristics of liberation theology: recognition of an oppressed group; action on behalf of justice; our relatedness to one another; use of social analysis; changing the unjust situation and the vision that the reign of God is already arriving.11 Johnson then highlights the three-part method of liberation theology: the oppressive situation is recognized; then the Christian tradition is analyzed for what may have contributed to the tradition and finally the Christian tradition is searched for elements that would yield a new understanding and a new practice that would be liberating.12

Throughout the world, women are treated differently than men due to solely to their gender. This is heightened in certain countries due to the culture believes that have shaped every aspect of the culture. This is clearly displayed through the machismo culture which is in most latin American countries. This culture has dictated the way which the societies have been built which means it affects every aspect of The machismo culture negatively affects society for both men and women. Women are forced to be submissive while men are pushed to assert their musicality to dangerous levels. This can be seen through the domestic abuse epidemic, homosexual repression, and other aspects of the Latino community; this type of culture needs to change to progress

Characters are made to present certain ideas that the author believes in. In Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold there are many characters included that range from bold, boisterous characters to minuscule, quiet characters but one thing they all have in common is that they all represent ideas. Characters in the novel convey aspects of Marquez’s Colombian culture.

The author mentions several major incidents that served as catalyst to the uprising of activist who speak out against the aforementioned and the he challenges the church to step up and be the salt and light to the world. He highlights four biblical traits we as a church should display in the face of such circumstances.

“The difficulties of creating and maintaining maroon societies in the colonial slave systems of the Americas required the full range of the collective experiences of Africans from a variety of cultures who had to adapt themselves not only to a challenging environment but also to a new social community that could range from newly arrived Africans to highly acculturated Creoles” “In Cuban slave society people from all the African ethnic groups were divided into naciones (nations) upon their arrival”. These divisions were unreliable and inexact as they often referred to the ports of embarkation rather than the place of origin. Religious indoctrination in Cuba was sporadic. Religious instruction in the countryside was lax, this was where the majority of the slaves were. The Catholic Church was weaker in Cuba, there was less religiosity primarily because of the “secular, cosmopolitan, port city of Havana”. Spain was indifferent to the colony, matched by the Church’s disinterest in organization. Conflict with plantation owners unwilling to grant slaves time for religious activities. Majority of the Spanish settlers to the “New world” adapted a folk practice incorporating Catholicism. “Two types of Catholicism resulted: the Catholicism of the priests and that of the people”. As well, “The Cuban Catholic Church sponsored religious cabildos for the purpose of evangelization through a policy of ‘guided change,’ tolerating those African values that could be reinterpreted within Catholicism and radically opposing those that could not”. These were mutual aid societies – Church sponsored cabildos were built around the cofradias – “groups gathered to assist one another in times of need and to worship their patron saint”. These were initially developed with the idea of controlling the slaves and enforcing conversion through “guided change”.

When people think of the word machismo, they automatically associated with Hispanic men or of Hispanic origin. This could be because of the word it self-wich is of Latin origin, and macho means male in Spanish, but because of this all Hispanic men are wrongfully characterized with machismo. Most people think all Hispanics behave in this way, which is not true. This behavior is often seen in many Hispanic males, and like in most societies other men praise it, the main difference is that in Hispanic society this type of behavior has higher acceptance than in other societies. Even though this is true it is still wrong to

One important indicator on the Catholic Church’s stance on Liberation Theology and general social activism in Latin America will be to see if Archbishop Oscar Romero is accepted into sainthood. The iconic and controversial religious leader worked tirelessly to help the lower-class in El Salvador. His teachings and beliefs that the marginalized peasants should be treated justly made him a living legend among his countrymen and isolated him from the nation’s corrupt elites. Although he never specifically condoned violence, his sermons played no small part in fomenting a bloody peasant uprising and civil war that raged for over a decade. In the last few years, a strong effort has been made to canonize Romero. Although he is revered not only in his own country but throughout the world, there exist a few issues that could possibly preclude him for becoming a saint. He is still strongly disliked by the vast majority of the wealthy and powerful ruling class of El Salvador, he, indirectly and inadvertently, helped bring about a violent conflict that ravaged his nation and, perhaps most importantly, his canonization may appear to be a carte blanche validation of Liberation Theology and the Marxist uprisings that were often associated with the movement. The canonization of Oscar Romero will redefine the seminal ideal of a modern-day saint and could quite

As opposed to most countries such as Asian countries, the wealth in South America has been growing as extremes for a sizeable amount of time. This means that the gap between rich and poor is ever growing and is creating a deletion of the middle class. There are many poor people in South America and very few rich people, meaning that the majority of the population are people with little money. Over years of this epidemic spreading, the Catholic Church, has taken the role of the voice of the poor people, because most people in South America are Catholic. The church speaks about the struggles of the poor and how the country can help them, however the delivery of these ideas was not taken well by many of the upper class in South America.