Considering Cultural Perspectives in Mexico and Peru in the Teaching of Spanish

2010 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 49-74
Author(s):  
Jeffery D. Stokes ◽  
Piet Desmet

In an effort to better understand Latin American cultural perspectives that should be communicated to students as part of their learning to function in Spanish, a survey articulating 26 hypothesized cultural perspectives of modern Latin Americans was administered to 58 individuals from Mexico and Peru. Survey items were based mainly on the Kluckhohn Model’s five areas: human nature, man-nature, time, activity and relations. Results revealed some statistically significant differences between Mexicans and Peruvians, as well as among participants based on sex, age and rural vs. urban background, but only on a very limited number of the 26 items for each of these four variables. The overall results suggested general, and sometimes very strong, agreement with most of the survey items. Only four of the items produced an average low enough to be indicative of more disagreement than agreement. Participant comments provided further insight into individual cultural perspectives. Results provide important implications regarding the cultural component in the teaching of Spanish.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Priolo Marin ◽  
Nieva Srayko

A recent influx of Latin Americans into Edmonton, Alberta, has been met with a significant rise in interest in Latin music and dance. Many Latin dance studios in Edmonton are continuing to gain popularity with people of Latin American descent and many other Canadian cultural groups. This paper focuses on one Latin dance studio in Edmonton called ETOWN SALSA. Through a narrative interview with the owner, coupled with supplementary research about cultural identity tied to Latin music, this paper provides insight into how Latin dance studios’ presence helps develop and maintain diasporic Latin American identities. For many Latin Americans, music and dance are an essential way in which they can connect to their home countries. Not only can Latin dance help new immigrants find a sense of familiarity, but dancing can also help second or third-generation immigrants reconnect with their heritage. Our findings also suggest that non-Latin Americans who regularly participate in Latin dancing can identify and connect more with Latin American communities in Edmonton.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Yousef M. Aljamal ◽  
Philipp O. Amour

There are some 700,000 Latin Americans of Palestinian origin, living in fourteen countries of South America. In particular, Palestinian diaspora communities have a considerable presence in Chile, Honduras, and El Salvador. Many members of these communities belong to the professional middle classes, a situation which enables them to play a prominent role in the political and economic life of their countries. The article explores the evolving attitudes of Latin American Palestinians towards the issue of Palestinian statehood. It shows the growing involvement of these communities in Palestinian affairs and their contribution in recent years towards the wide recognition of Palestinian rights — including the right to self-determination and statehood — in Latin America. But the political views of members of these communities also differ considerably about the form and substance of a Palestinian statehood and on the issue of a two-states versus one-state solution.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Regina Mara Fisberg ◽  
Ana Carolina Barco Leme ◽  
Ágatha Nogueira Previdelli ◽  
Aline Veroneze de Mello ◽  
Angela Martinez Arroyo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: To quantify the energy, nutrients-to-limit and total gram amount consumed, and identify their top food sources consumed by Latin Americans. Design: Data from The Latin American Study of Nutrition and Health (ELANS). Setting: ELANS is a cross-sectional study representative of eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Participants: Two 24h dietary recalls on non-consecutive days were used to estimate usual dietary intake of 9218 participants with ages between 15-65years. “What We Eat in America” food classification system developed by USDA was adapted and used to classify all food items consumed by the ELANS population. Food sources of energy, added sugars, saturated fatty acids (SFA), sodium and total gram amount consumed were identified and ranked based on percentage contribution to intake of total amount. Results: Three-highest ranked food categories of total energy consumed were: rice (10.3%), yeast breads (6.9%), and turnovers and other grain-based items (6.8%). Highest ranked food sources of total gram amount consumed were: fruit drinks (9.6%), other 100% juice (9.3%), and rice (8.3%). Three highest ranked sources for added sugars were: other 100% juice (24.1%), fruit drinks (16.5%), and sugar and honey (12.4%). SFA ranked foods were: turnovers and other grain-based (12.6%), cheese (11.9%), and pizza (10.3%). Three top sources of sodium were: rice (13.9%), soups (9.1%), and rice mixed dishes (7.3%). Conclusion: Identification of top sources of energy and nutrients-to-limit among Latin Americans is critical for designing strategies to help them meet nutrient recommendations within energy needs.


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-362
Author(s):  
Pablo A. J. Brescia ◽  
Scott M. Bennett

This interview with Mexican writer David Toscana ponders the current state of both Mexican and Latin American narrative and serves as an insight into his own works. Toscana's statements about the recurring themes in his narrative (failure, loneliness, characters put to the test, and a tendency to play with different time frames, especially in his novels) help illustrate some of the characteristics of his fiction, which, according to various critics, is one of the most promising today in Mexico. Also noteworthy are his comments about the tendency of writers from his generation (born in the 1960s and later) to reject the legacy of the "boom" writers. Toscana's own interest is to revisit history and tradition by constructing a different voice and a different vision, a new way of seeing and hearing both the past and the present. Esta entrevista con el escritor mexicano David Toscana trata de explorar el estado actual de la narrativa mexicana y latinoamericana, améén de servir como una aproximacióón a la incipiente obra de este autor. Las respuestas de Toscana sobre los temas recurrentes en su literatura (el fracaso, la soledad, los personajes sometidos a pruebas y una tendencia a proponer diferentes marcos temporales, especialmente en sus novelas) subrayan algunos rasgos de su ficcióón, la cual, segúún la críítica especializada, es una de las máás prometedoras en el panorama mexicano de hoy. De especial interéés son los comentarios de Toscana sobre la tendencia de los escritores de su generacióón a rechazar el legado del "boom" latinoamericano. Toscana reacciona contra ese rechazo y propone una voz personal que vuelva a la historia y a la tradicióón y plantee una nueva manera de ver el pasado y el presente de Mééxico.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-49
Author(s):  
Paul Kucharski

My aim in this essay is to advance the state of scholarly discussion on the harms of genocide. The most obvious harms inflicted by every genocide are readily evident: the physical harm inflicted upon the victims of genocide and the moral harm that the perpetrators of genocide inflict upon themselves. Instead, I will focus on a kind of harm inflicted upon those who are neither victims nor perpetrators, on those who are outside observers, so to speak. My thesis will be that when a whole community or culture is eliminated, or even deeply wounded, the world loses an avenue for insight into the human condition. My argument is as follows. In order to understand human nature, and that which promotes its flourishing, we must certainly study individual human beings. But since human beings as rational and linguistic animals are in part constituted by the communities in which they live, the study of human nature should also involve the study of communities and cultures—both those that are well ordered and those that are not. No one community or culture has expressed all that can be said about the human way of existing and flourishing. And given that the unity and wholeness of human nature can only be glimpsed in a variety of communities and cultures, then part of the harm of genocide consists in the removal of a valuable avenue for human beings to better understand themselves.


Author(s):  
Tony Tian-Ren Lin

In this immersive ethnography, Tony Tian-Ren Lin explores the reasons that Latin American immigrants across the United States are increasingly drawn to Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism, a strand of Protestantism gaining popularity around the world. Lin contends that Latinos embrace Prosperity Gospel, which teaches that believers may achieve both divine salvation and worldly success, because it helps them account for the contradictions of their lives as immigrants. Weaving together his informants’ firsthand accounts of their religious experiences and everyday lives, Lin offers poignant insight into how they see their faith transforming them both as individuals and as communities. The theology fuses salvation with material goods so that as these immigrants pursue spiritual rewards they are also, perhaps paradoxically, striving for the American dream. But after all, Lin observes, prosperity is the gospel of the American dream. In this way, while becoming better Prosperity Gospel Pentecostals they are also adopting traditional white American norms. Yet this is not a story of smooth assimilation as most of these immigrants must deal with the immensity of the broader cultural and political resistance to their actually becoming Americans. Rather, Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism gives Latinos the logic and understanding of themselves as those who belong in this country yet remain perpetual outsiders.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Bülent Aybar ◽  
Wendy M. Jeffus ◽  
John C. Edmunds

This article examines the shareholder wealth effects for foreign companies that announce acquisitions of financial institutions in Latin America. We examine data for 636 transactions for the period 1985–2009. We employ event study methodology coupled with a cross-sectional regression to determine if shareholders of the acquiring firm receive positive returns. The results indicate that acquirers receive positive returns when the acquisition involves a target bank in a market with low market access, high market risk, and greater control post acquisition. These findings offer improvements on previously examined variables and provide insight into a market not sufficiently examined in prior research.


1973 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Williams

For the past couple of decades the Latin Americans, like their brethren in Africa and Asia, have been hell-bent in search of ‘development’ or ‘modernization’. While the Latin Americans were on the firing line, scholars and policy-makers in both the rich nations and the poor nations were involved in setting out an intellectual framework for analyzing the developmental process. New concepts to explain the meaning of development were devised; innovative measurements to gauge the level of development were proposed; a new vocabulary to capture the nuances of development was put forth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunja Sharbat Dar

White wings, long hair, 'pure' faces: the appearance of angels frequently follows similar aesthetics connected to Christian imagery. Angels and Christian religion also are popular themes in manga, Japanese comics, often intermingled with Buddhist or Shinto notions. Since imagery in popular culture resonates and shapes vernacular and cultural perspectives, manga like Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne (KKJ) provide an important insight into the conceptualization of angels in Japan. This article therefore analyzes the contrary role of angels in KKJ as the Other, the mysterious, serene one, while simultaneously angels are depicted as part of the circle of life every creature undergoes in Buddhist cosmology. Based on a visual hermeneutic approach, this article demonstrates how the intermix of both visual and religious traditions in Japan shape the depiction of angels in Japanese popcultural media.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-192
Author(s):  
Roberto Rodolfo Georg Uebel ◽  
Caroline Adorne Da Silva

From the field surveys performed in the South, Centre-West, Southeast and North regions of Brazil between 2014 and 2018, new migration routes, transbordering relationships of human mobility and the impacts of the desired South and Latin American regional integration were identified in the immigration profile of Brazil. In this sense, this article aims to review the cartographies, policies, routes and the state of the art of international immigration in Brazil for the last five years, which saw profound changes in the domestic and foreign scenarios. From the country of the “Brazilian dream” of Latin Americans and Caribbeans, the country changed to the country of remigrations and forced emigrations, including refugees who settled here during the short period of the migratory Eldorado. Using the instruments of thematic mapping, which is now revisited and revised in relation to our previous productions, we will discuss what remained of the “new immigration country” from the ruptures that occurred with the 2016 impeachment and with the approval and effectiveness of the new Immigration Law from 2017. The article also broaches the recent discussions on the migration of Venezuelan refugees to the Brazilian territory and its repercussions on the Latin American integration project, apparently discontinued with the rise of such disorganized governments in the region. Finally, we bring in topics the immigration perspectives for Brazil in the coming years and linked to issues of defence, geopolitics and geoeconomics, including also the discussion on environmental migration.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document