Essay on U.S. Influence on Latin Culture

The influence of Latin culture is prominent in the American world today. Everything from the Latin language to the Roman law is visible in the culture that shapes the way we live our lives in the United States. You can see it by watching the Super Bowl game or even fulfilling your citizen duty of serving on a jury.

The pivotal second chapter of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, "Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division of Labour," opens with the oft-cited claim that the foundation of modern political economy is the human "propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another."1 This formulation plays both an analytical and normative role. It offers an anthropological microfoundation for Smith's understanding of how modern commercial societies function as social organizations, which, in turn, provide a venue for the expression and operation of these human proclivities. Together with the equally famous concept of the invisible hand, this sentence defines the central axis of a new science of political economy

Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New

The United States has influenced many nations in the world throughout history. Some of the ways the U.S. has been able to dominate poor countries are with military action and corporate activities that allowed the United States to influence their governments. Since the United States extends its power with the previously mentioned methods, it is recognized as an imperialist nation. The United States has specifically demonstrated imperialistic forces in Latin America. The effects that the United States’ imperialism had on Latin American economies and politics were negative since it brought violence and caused the poor to struggle even more. When the United Sates government did not like policies that Latin American presidents were creating, they would take military actions to force American ideologies into Latin American countries’ governments by installing puppets into their governments. Generally, these countries would have flourished economically without the United States, but since the U.S. became involved with the countries’ policies, their economies have weakened because the U.S. wants the benefits of controlling countries’ resources without being responsible for the people who reside there. This pattern of the United States’ imperialistic behavior has been demonstrated many times in Latin America.

However, non-American musicians could be successful in the local or regional markets, or what Mark Slobin has called a “transregional” market (Slobin, 1993) With regards to rap Slobin thinks of this as music invented as a struggle for African Americans against White America to what Stuart Hall describes as the “double movement of containment and resistance.” (Hall, 1981, p. 228) This struggle includes musics such as blues, jazz, rock and roll, soul, Motown, funk, and

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,

The United States has been an important part in the history of all of Latin America. Many times, the United States influenced Latin American countries with its economic, political, and military power. The United States looked down at Latin America as its backyard, constantly using its influence to benefit from the land and supporting dictators in the region. The United States used this power to effectively influence Latin America for decades, even when the U.S. faced communism as a new threat during the Cold War. The United States feared the communist influence of the Soviet Union in countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, because the “evil empire’s” plan for world domination included infiltrating Latin America. Even though these

The Latin American countries have been subject to many changes ever since the American continent was discovered. These changes have mainly affected the economy, culture and power changes these countries have suffered throughout the years. According to Jon Charles Chasteen on his book “Born in Blood & Fire” During the twentieth century, there were three main events that changed the course of Latin American countries and their economies. These three events were, the emergence of nationalism, the end of World War II, and the Cuban revolution. However, in my point of view, the event that created more impact in Latin America and the future of these countries has been Cuban Revolution. It is not a secret that the Cuban Revolution created a big impact to the country’s future, unfortunately this revolution not only changed Cuba, but also the entire region of Latin America.

There have been many negative comments about Latinos in the past and till this day. Even though Latinos are a growing community are still criticized for apparently: not doing anything productive for the states, coming from a different culture and not being able to succeed in life. Latinos are brought down for all the wrong reason and by those who have no knowledge of what and who Latinos really are.

American attitudes towards Latin America can be summed up as an extension of larger global directives, and the exclusion of foreign powers in the region. This was highlighted especially during the Cold War as US involvement was essentially in competition with the USSR. Latin America was therefore a mere pawn in the larger context of US-Soviet competition for global dominance. The actions and methods used are also characterized by the lack of an international authority, or an atmosphere of inter-state anarchy, which shaped their calculations in the endeavor to increase their influence over Latin America. When one analyzes the situation, it seems only rational that the United States treated its southern neighbors so, due to the geographical

When looking at the history between the United States and Latin America, you see many interactions between them, all that aided the relationship that they have today. Despite that the United States and Latin America are in the same part of the world, the beliefs in which they govern may differ. This difference has often been seen playing a major role in the disputes that have occurred in past. The United States and Latin America have faced many social, economical and governing barriers in forming a strong and positive relationship in the early twentieth century, this is due to the differences that the two had between cultures and the constant demand for power. However, the two countries have found ways to meet in the middle of their cultural differences, to form an equally fair relationship.

"Fueled by the Cold War and transnational corporate interests, the U.S. has covertly tinkered with the governments of Latin American countries since World War 2, producing an extremely violent and unstable political climate."

Galeano portrays this moment in Latin American history as the instant U.S investors took control over the industries. He details the dangers they went through when producing one item to export for the benefit of foreigners, and how they later imported the processed goods from those same foreign countries, injecting money only overseas. The fact that Latin America needed imports to survive initiated the imperial link the U.S has upon it. As stated by Galeano, “The growing dependence on foreign supplies produces the growing identification of the interest of U.S. capitalists operating in Latin America with U.S. national security”11, bluntly showing the relationship between the United States and Latin America. “With petroleum, as with coffee or meat, rich countries profit more from the work of consuming it than do poor countries from the work of producing it”12. Because profit was not being retained in the Latin American countries, nationalization of the industries became of importance. The United States offered intervention in order to protect everyone’s interests with the proposal of free trade, but this was no more than another manipulation to continue having power over Latin America and its resources: “Latin America’s big ports, through which the wealth of its soil and subsoil passed en route to distant centers of power, were being built as instruments of the conquest and domination of the countries to which they belonged, and as conduits

Since the beginning of its art form rap music has been subject to scrutiny throughout its existence. In a Theresa Martinez reading from the semester, the author describes rap music as a resistance. She builds on a theory of oppositional culture that was composed by Bonnie Mitchell and Joe Feagin (1995). In this article, “POPULAR CULTURE AS OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE: Rap as Resistance”, Martinez explains how African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans draw on their own cultural resources to resist oppression. She states that this very resistance to the dominate culture in

La tierra mas hermosa. The most beautiful land. Latin America and the Caribbean maintain the humble beauty of many indigenous regions. The rugged mountains of Bolivia are scattered across graded lands. The Quechua people can be seen wearing richly decorated ponchos as they plant seeds for forming. Weathered volcanic lavas are stretched over the lands of Guatemala, and the heavily wooded forest trees can also be seen in the eastern slopes of the Andes. The azure blue oceans of Havana sparkle as the golden sun illuminates the sky. These humble lands have always been here; streams of people have flowed through these lands for centuries. It is only the globalización that is relatively new, and along with that comes the life one lives in these lands--pobreza y viviendo en el infierno [poverty and living in hell]. The impact of globalization in Latin America has caused a ripple in the lives of many individuals living in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although globalization is not a new concept, the process of globalization has drastically expanded and involved into social, political, and economic changes that weakens the sovereignty and power that helps create policies and reform government institutions.