Black In Latin America Video Response

After watching segments from Black in Latin America during class, I realized that a major theme of the film revolved around uncovering the truth behind the culture of Latin America that was born out of colonization and the slave trade. The film shows the perspectives that many Latin American's have about their own heritage and it deals with the complicated issue of race and its relevance in their lives today. The film presents more than one point of view from a large group of people about these issues, and it tries to give an extensive background to lead to an understanding of people's attitudes towards their countries' culture and their own personal family tree.

Before watching this video, I thought of Latin America and its people as Latinos and Hispanics, not as blacks. I am beginning to realize now, how prominent black heritage and culture is in places like Brazil and other countries that had a great intake of Africans during the slave trade. With this integrated ancestry, race becomes a more trivial question. That is probably what struck me the most about this video, the way people categorize themselves and what exactly it means to embrace or disgrace the meaning of your own black heritage in Latin America. Many places around the world, including countries like Brazil, prize themselves on the fact that they are free of any racial issues, but this film challenges that idea. A segment of the film that we just watched today explained how many Brazilian women did not like their hair because it was "too black". I was shocked by this, and was curious about whether or not this was the case in other Latin American countries. I found a website that talks about the very same issue of Dominican's having difficulties with embracing their black culture. It also goes into detail about the history behind this issue and it talks about Brazil's 136 or so, different names that they have to describe themselves and their skin color. In other words, this article deals with the issues of Latin American women and the complicated yet ancient issue of race. It is: http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part2/index.html

I think that being a part of the history of the slave trade and the blending of cultures would be something that I would be proud of, not something that I would want to hide and lock away in a closet. I hope that as time passes the unease that some of these people feel about being "too black" will begin to disappear and that more and more people will embrace themselves as they are. This is not to say at all that there are not many people in Latin America that celebrate their african heritage with others through dance, food, and the media (e.i. movies), all of which are portrayed and talked about in the film. One thing is clear though, despite all of this, black culture is everywhere in Latin America and you can't fully understand the history or the present day issues of Latin America without addressing the prominence of being "black in Latin America".

Is Obama a post-racial president?

Nytimes.com's "Room for Debate" section has an interesting feature on President Obama's administration and its impact on policies associated with race.  So many people were hopeful that his administration would lead to some significant changes for the poor and marginalized in this country.  Now that his first term passed the halfway point, some of these same groups are feeling a little disillusioned with the results.  Do you think we live in a post-racial society in the United States, or does race still play a significant role in determining one's social and economic status?

After watching parts of Professor Gate's Black on Latin America, how do you think our country compares to Mexico and Brazil when it comes to the issue of race relations?  Do our histories share any common characteristics or, in your opinion, do the differences far outweigh any similarities?

Unicef's Poll

http://www.unicef.org/polls/tacro/participation/index.html

Unicef did a poll where they asked children in Latin America and the Caribbean about if they were in any organized peer groups. Not many were in groups but the 31% of the kids who do participate in a sports group, the majority come from high and middle socio-economic families from rural ares and are males and black.

When asked, "which person or character do you admire most?," many do no mention any leaders as the figure they admire. Those who did acknowledge a leader said a friend, classmate, sports player or singer.

Trust in adults and social institutions:

The figure most trusted by young children are the mothers (94%) than the father (90%) followed by the Church (85%). Teachers come next (79%) but adolescents do not trust in the teachers as much (64%). Low socio-economic children (68%)

Social Media Usage A Threat to Your Livelihood?

Mexican users of social media such as twitter might want to think twice before denouncing the actions of drug cartels in Mexico. An article on CNN.com has revealed that two mangled, severely damaged bodies were found hanging from a bridge in Mexico. Signs near the bodies identified the two bodies as those belonging to people who had denounced the actions of the drug cartels on social media, and threatened anyone else who dared speak out against these drug cartels. For more information read the article on CNN.com.

Latin America Economic News

Here's an interesting article about the IMF's forecast of Latin America, and its GDP.

The International Monetary Fund cut its 2011 economic growth forecast for Latin America as domestic demand slows on tighter macroeconomic policies and weaker global growth.

Driven by commodity producers, Latin America and Caribbean economies should expand 4.5 percent this year, below the forecast of 4.6 percent made in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook Update in July, the fund said in a report today. Argentina and Chile will lead the region, growing 8 percent and 6.5 percent respectively, while the region’s biggest and second-biggest economies -- Brazil and Mexico -- will both climb 3.8 percent.

“The risks to the near-term regional outlook point down,” according to the report. “A sharper slowdown in advanced economies, notably the United States, would dampen growth, particularly in economies dependent on trade, tourism spending and remittances,” such as the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico.

In 2012, the two largest regional economies will grow 3.6 percent, said the IMF, unchanged for Brazil and below the previous forecast of 4 percent for Mexico, as Latin American economies move toward more sustainable growth.

The region’s annual inflation rate should end 2011 at 6.75 percent, and fall to 6 percent in 2012, the IMF said.

Venezuela will continue to have the region’s highest inflation this year at 26 percent, while prices will rise 11.5 percent in Argentina and 6.6 percent in Brazil, the IMF said.

Though the banking systems in Latin America and the Caribbean are strong, “it is important to continue to monitor potential financial sector vulnerabilities and strengthen financial sector supervision, including for nonbank financial intermediaries, to contain the buildup of excessive leverage and avoid boom-bust credit cycles,” said the IMF.

The report noted that capital controls can provide temporary relief to strong portfolio investment inflows into commodity-exporting countries. Still, governments should avoid pro-cyclical spending and consider adopting structural fiscal targets and binding medium-term plans, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fabiola Moura in New York at fdemoura@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman@bloomberg.net.

Weird things that may or may not be related to latin america

the moodle is pretty awesome, but i think that Mr. Vrotny's blog is even cooler. A fun fact is that i will be making the photo to your left for the teachers at one point :).

Thing to know about latin america can be found here and many other places, but is is this site reliable? According to some the answer would be no.

something that happened in in mexico is that drug violence victims went unidentified. Check out the video and see what you think!

One other thing to note is that it is Hispanic Heritage Month. Did you know that?

Last point, check out some awesome videos at the Miraculous Uniclops!!

THE ABSOLUTE BEST

- Colan Biemer

p.s. everyone reading this is my hero