Spanish Language and Latin America

1 International Baccalaureate History of the Americas HL Required Summer Reading Study Guide Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America By John Charles Chasteen Foreign Affairs November/December 2000 states: Born in Blood and Fire is a briskly written yet sophisticated introduction to Latin America that will be greatly welcomed by non-specialists and experts alike. Chasteen paints on a very broad canvas, but he succeeds in capturing with enviable conciseness the major ingredients of Latin America’s uniqueness and complexity.

Especially welcome is his graceful integration of Brazil into the overall picture, which general histories of Latin America often lack. He first takes the reader from the European conquest through the colonial consolidation by Spain and Portugal before looking at the role of indigenous communities in the new order imposed by the Europeans and African slavery’s social and cultural consequences. He then follows with the independence movements and the uneven attempts at nation-building in the nineteenth century; race, ethnicity, religious and liberal ideologies, and the roles of key individuals are also covered.

Chasteen concludes with the recent return to economic liberalism, this time in the context of open elections, continuing poverty, and social exclusion of large segments of the population. A stellar performance! Summer Reading Directions: The answers to these questions should be well thought out, typed, 12 point font, single spaced, New Times Roman. The completed review sheet is a summer long process that is not designed and should not be attempted at the last minute. This assignment will be due on the first full school day of the 2011 – 2012 academic school year.

These questions will prepare you for the first 2 day examination made up of 96 multiple choice questions and 57 matching terms. This is the first grade of the course and will set the study tempo for the remainder of the school year. 2 Study Guide/ Discussion Questions John Charles Chasteen’s Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Chapter 1 – First Stop, the Present 1. 2. 3. 4. According to Chasteen, what is the unifying theme or unifying conflict that characterizes Latin American history? Is this a good choice? What might be some strengths or weaknesses of this focus?

Why do Cuba and Brazil have such high populations of African Americans? Define “liberalism” as Chasteen uses the term: What are the different attitudes toward Latin Americans that have been common in the U. S. during the twentieth century? Chapter 2 – Encounter (1492-1600) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What were some of the ways the historical and cultural context of the Iberian peninsula shaped the attitudes and practices of Europeans who first sailed to the Americas? Compare the Portuguese colonization of Brazil with the Spanish Colonization of what would become Mexico and Peru.

Important similarities and differences? What larger significance does Chasteen see in the name change from “Island of the True Cross” to “Brazil”? What three areas of Africa provided the majority of Black slaves for the Americas? Members of which European country became the most active slave traders? From Chasteen’s perspective, what were the key factors that enabled vastly outnumbered Spanish forces to conquer the Aztec and Inca empires? In what specific ways do Las Casas’s life and values stand in contrast to those of the majority of Spaniards who came to the Americas?

Briefly define or identify the following terms: Encomienda Tupi Pedro Alvarez Cabral Moors Francisco Pizarro Malinche (Marina) Salvador (Bahia) Chapter 3 – Colonial Crucible (1600-1810) 1. 2. 3. 4. In what ways did economic realities contribute to the prosperity and influence of colonial Spanish America in comparison to colonial Brazil? Name the four viceroyalties and their capitals that came to exist in Spanish America: What does Chasteen mean on p. 77 when he says that “transculturation and hegemony often went together” in Latin America?

Do you think he’s right? Name four areas that Chasteen considers peripheral areas or “backwaters” of colonial Latin America: 3 5. Compare attitudes toward race in Latin America as described in this chapter with attitudes in the U. S. as you understand them. What significant similarities or differences do you see? Briefly define or identify the following terms: Sor Juana de la Cruz “honor” in Latin America Gracias al sacar Quilombos and Palenques Potosi Zumbi Rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro Tupac Amaru II Engenho Aleijadinho

Chapter 4 – Independence (1810-1825) 1. 2. 3. 4. In what ways did events in Europe affect the movements for independence in Latin America? According to Chasteen, which independence movements in Spanish America were actually popular revolutions? Which were primarily “revolutions from above”? How did the Brazilian independence movement compare with those in Spanish America? What impact did the independence movements have on patterns of colonialism in Spanish America?

Briefly define or identify the following terms: Creoles Jose Maria Morelos Llaneros Simon Bolivar Jose Antonio Paez Peninsulars Vicente Guerrero and Augustin de Iturbide Nativism Battle of Ayacucho Miguel Hidalgo Pedro I Chapter 5 – Postcolonial Blues (1825-1850) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Why did liberalism in Latin America seem to collapse in the years following the wars of independence? What were some of the main characteristics of a caudillo? What factors helped Brazil maintain its territorial unity during the years when many regions of Spanish America were splintering into numerous new nations?

In what ways does Chasteen suggest the social structure in Latin America remained the same after independence? How did it change? Who were the main “outsiders” involved in Latin America during this period? This outside involvement was particularly notable in the two former centers of colonial power, Mexico and Peru. What shape did it take in each place? Briefly define or identify the following terms: Juan Manuel de Rosas “El Supremo” Caste War of Yucatan Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna The regency years “el pueblo” Rafael Carrera “La Nina” Central American Republic 4

Chapter 6 – Progress (1850-1880) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What were some of the significant aspects of liberalism emphasized by the key Latin American liberals mentioned in this section (be as specific as possible)? Why did Maximilian fail to reinstate conservative rule in Mexico? Based on Chasteen’s examples, what seems to have been the most common way for women to become public figures during the nineteenth century (the few, that is, who did become public figures)? Give two examples. Liberals in Argentina agreed on the traditional tenets of Latin American liberalism. What issue divided them?

Compare the way Argentine and Brazilian liberals confronted what they considered the “national tragedy” of racially mixed societies. Do leaders in one of these countries seem to be less racist in their thinking than leaders of the other? Briefly explain the issues and significance of the following wars (and note the dates when each took place): The Triple Alliance War The War of the Pacific The Chaco War Briefly define or identify the following terms: Benito Juarez Birds Without a Nest (1889) “Golden Law” William Walker Ten Years War Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 6.

Chapter 7 – Neocolonialism (1880-1930) 1. Describe the “great export boom” that marked Progress for Latin America between 1870-1930. What were its most important characteristics? Which crops or exports seemed most beneficial to Latin Americans and why? Which one seemed most harmful? Compare the governments of Mexico and Brazil during the neocolonial period: Based on this chapter how do the ideas of neocolonialism and “importing Progress” relate to one another? Early in the chapter, Chasteen suggests that the concept of neocolonialism is both an internal and an external phenomenon.

What does he mean, and, after reading the chapter, would you agree with that analysis? Describe the rise of U. S. influence in Latin America: Why did the South Cone region of Latin America attract the majority of the new immigrants? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Briefly define or identify the following terms: “banana republics” Ruben Dario Porfiriato Cientificos Rebellion in the Backlands Paulina Luisi Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine Cesar Augusto Sandino Positivism Pan o palo Jose Marti Jose Enrique Rodo 5 Chapter 8 – Nationalism (1910-1945) 1. 2. 3. . 5. Based on the chapter, what were the most important aspects of nationalism in Latin America? Why did nationalism emerge in the early decades of the twentieth century? Compare and contrast nationalism in Mexico with that in Argentina and Uruguay and also with Brazil. Did nationalism in any one of these countries seem more thoroughgoing than in the others? Why? Why did import-substitution industrialization (ISI) provide greater benefits for countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina than for places like the Dominican Republic or Honduras?

Why did the wave of nationalism seem to have very little impact on Central America? Briefly define or identify the following terms: Constitution of 1917 Pancho Villa Constitutionalists Diego Rivera and Batllismo Hipolito Yrigoyen Victor Raul Haya de la Torre Indigenismo ISI Getulio Vargas Estado Novo Heitor Villa Lobos Lazaro Cardenas “Good Neighbor Policy” Mexico’s “declaration of economic independence” Populists Juan and Evita Peron Emiliano Zapata Chapter 9 – Revolution (1945-1960) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Why would Brasilia represent the “perfect symbol of the ost-Vargas moment in Brazil” and the PRI the perfect symbol for Mexico at the same time (252)? Chapter 8 talked about the popularity of Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy. Why did relations between the U. S. and major Latin American countries begin to sour in the post-WWII years? Why did the U. S. tolerate the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) in Bolivia while it actively supported a proxy force to oust Arbenz in Guatemala? Based on this textbook, would you say the Cuban revolution was more an expression of Marxism or of nationalism? Why? What were the goals of liberation theology?

Briefly define or identify the following terms: Raul Prebish Jacobo Arbenz Che Guevara Bay of Pigs (1961) Declaration of Caracas (1954) Pablo Naruda Fulgencio Batista Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) Juan Jose Arevalo Jorge Luis Borges Granma Paulo Freire 6 Chapter 10 – Reaction (1960-1990) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. On what basis does Chasteen argue that the Soviet Union was not involved in Latin American Marxist movements outside of Cuba during the 1960s and 1970s? Why did rule by military juntas become widespread in Latin America by the mid-1970s?

What did the Brazilian generals mean when they said that the cake had to rise before it could be sliced? Why didn’t the poor ever get their slice? How did the Argentine experience of military rule differ from that of Brazil? What were the most important factors that contributed to the overthrow of the Popular Unity government in Chile? In which countries of Latin America were “dirty wars” most intense and devastating? What were the main factors that fueled guerilla wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador? Why does Chasteen place Colombia in the “countercurrents” section at the end of the chapter?

What was different about Colombia? Briefly define or identify the following terms: “national security doctrine” Alliance for Progress Gabriel Garcia Marquez Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo Tupamaros Salvador Allende Augusto Pinochet Tlatelolco massacre “dirty war” Somoza family Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) Contras Daniel Ortega Violeta Chamorro “fourteen families” Oscar Romero Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) La Violencia Pablo Escobar and the Medillin Cartel M-19 U. S. School of the Americas Chapter 11 – Neoliberalism (1990- ? ) 1. 2. 3. 4.

Why did neoliberalism become the popular political/economic ideology for Latin America during the 1990s? Compare neoliberalism with the liberalism with the liberal reforms that swept the region from 1870-1930—in what important ways are they similar? How do they differ? What insights does the Chilean success story provide into the strengths and weaknesses of neoliberalism? What are the primary environmental issues surrounding the Amazonian rain forest? Briefly define or identify the following terms: Neoliberalism MERCOSUR Zapatistas NAFTA Maquiladora Candomble, Umbanda, Santeria