Cultural and Indigenous Diversity of Latin America - Coursework Example

I. Introduction It is particularly difficult to take a broad view of the peoples and geography of Latin America. Diverse historical narratives alongwith evenly diverse biophysical environments have produced an amazing assortment of landscapes and indigenous cultures. No one representation can capture the sizeable diversity of peoples in Latin America. Latin America is as well characterized by grand diversities in material and human resources based on the frequently used measures of poverty, income, health and education. Given the difficulty of defining the enormity of cultural and indigenous diversity in Latin America, it is then important to answer the question, what are the historical and external forces as well as threats that transformed the cultural and indigenous composition of Latin America? In answering this question, the present cultural and indigenous diversity of Latin America will be clearly explained and understood. II. Latin America: A Mosaic of Indigenous Cultures The earliest episode of European invasion and colonization brought about disproportionate misery and death among the indigenous population of Latin America. It upset and often devastated the food production, political, social and economic systems of the indigenous people. Numerous indigenous peoples vanished completely and forever during this stage, as much from the disruption of their economic, political and social systems as from the impacts of the spread of European diseases. Despite of the obliterating effect of the initial episode of invasion, followed by five centuries of control through a chain of colonial and state administration, multitudes of the indigenous peoples and cultures of Latin America lived to tell the tale. The present stage of economic globalization, nevertheless, is frequently called as the Second Conquest due to its impending threat to obliterate forever indigenous peoples and cultures all over the region (Smith & Young, 1998). Nowadays, indigenous peoples comprise a minority of the overall population of Latin America, both statistically and politically. In a number of countries, nonetheless, such as southern Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala, indigenous peoples comprise a substantial portion of the total national population. At present, Latin America is a region of exceptionally diverse ethnicity and home to natives, mestizo, Caucasian, and African Latin American, and other ethnic groups including those with heritage from East India, East Asia and Middle East (Barloewen, 1995, 88). In majority of the countries of Latin America, indigenous peoples usually inhabit the more far-flung and secluded areas that have a tendency as well to be the areas with the most enormous biological diversity, counting the Amazon tropical rainforests and Mesoamerica. All over the region, the population of culturally different indigenous peoples has a tendency to be high in the majority of biologically abundant and ecologically important ecosystems. Simultaneously, nevertheless, indigenous peoples as well make up a growing population of urban dwellers as their native homelands are intimidated by external interests and they are forced to transfer to the urban areas. Whereas indigenous peoples normally are component of the most impoverished segment of Latin America, in no way are Latin America’s indigents and indigenous peoples one and the same thing (Barloewen, 1995). Nowadays, indigenous peoples of Latin America confront significant intimidations to their physical and cultural subsistence. Several indigenous peoples at present are opposing the Second Conquest and are wrestling to live on culturally and also materially in present-day Latin America. One of the main methods of struggle has been the political activities of an increasing population of indigenous organizations that are trying to bargain with nation-states and big companies for a variety of legal rights, particularly land rights and security. Several of these attempts as well serve to protect, and in a number of instances, revive indigenous cultures and traditions and also augment the incomes, education, health and general wellbeing of the indigenous peoples of the region (Ward, 1997). Furthermore, several of the present threats to, and the resistances of, natives are shared by the masses of the impoverished mestizos, African-Americans, and other minority and marginalized classes such as women and children in the region. For instance, based on the several measures of human wellbeing, comprising poverty, income, education and health, majority of poor ladino in Honduras more resembles the native Mayans in adjacent Guatemala than to affluent Hondurans (Ward, 1997, 61). Current threats to the indigenous and other marginalized groups of Latin America at the present phase of globalization should be explored. The historical narrative of the region adds considerable to contemporary conditions and exhibits the necessity to take into account the region’s history so as to advance its future. Provided its tremendous diversity, the most apparent common features in Latin America may be its collective predicaments; transformations in the global economy from the time when the 1970s have fulfilled an extensive role in configuring present economic, political and social conditions in Latin America and also contributed substantially to associated problems. The tempo of globalization, accompanied by its colleague, modernization, has been jagged, but no key sector of Latin American has been unaffected by it (Barloewen, 1995). The intimidations, if not the effects, of these transformations are being sensed economically, politically, socially, culturally and most recently, technologically. Long-established patterns of human settlement are being altered; there is a rising migration from rural to urban regions; latest technologies of utilizing the environmental resources are being initiated; and latest industries and other establishments are emerging on the landscape. Abrupt and frequently alarming changes have aggravated political bloodshed and revolution in several locations such as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Central America, Peru, and Mexico (Ward, 1997). III. Conclusions Far from demonstrating an unwelcoming image of the future of the endangered indigenous peoples, nevertheless, the instances show the resourceful, creative, and forceful responses to these dangers and intimidations at present being confronted by multitudes of peoples all over the region. These involve responses at both the personal and family level; agricultural development and food production for commercial markets, greater flexibility on compensated work, cyclic wage labour relocation, rural to urban resettlement in pursuit for a greener pasture, and relocation to border areas. They as well include group dynamics, particularly mobilization for political activities. Indigenous peoples of Latin America have boosted their attempts to manipulate the dominant forces that have exploited and oppressed them for the last five centuries. The strengthening of cultural and ethnic identities has been a central groundwork for these attempts, not merely for natives but as well for mestizos and African Americans. In majority of countries, the different natives, peasant, and metropolitan groups have established national associations and organizations to endorse the wellbeing of their communities and achieve their objectives and aspirations. Progressively more, local and indigenous peoples have united with their fellow citizens in other nations in global networks making the contemporary diversity of Latin American indigenous peoples more complicated. References Barloewen, C. V. (1995). Cultural History and Modernity in Latin America: Technology and Culture in the Andes Region. Providence, RI: Berghahn Books. Chasteen, J. C. (1993). The Contemporary History of Latin America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Nietschmann, B. (1987). The Third World War. Cultural Survival Quarterly , 1-15. Painter, M. & Durham, W.H. (1995). The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Smith, S. & Young, P.D. (1998). Cultural Anthropology: Understanding a World in Transition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Thump, L. A. (1995). Bitter Harvests for Global Supermarkets: Challenges in Latin Americas Agricultural Export Boom. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Ward, J. (1997). Latin America: Development and Conflicts since 1945. London: Routledge. Wolf, E. (1982). Europe and People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press. Read More