Social Diversity, Research Paper Example

What are some of the philosophies that influenced Latin America? There were Aztec, Inca, Tupi-Guarani and Maya in Latin America. They all had their own philosophical outlook on reality. They believed in the super natural. They focused on how they could appease and worship the spirits. The Europeans who ruled introduced positivism. This was in the form of both Comtean and Spencerian positivism. There was also the philosophy of liberalism and conservatism. These were imported from Europe. (Mignolo, 2005)

In what way did they impact the cultures of Latin America? The Eurocentric nature of these philosophies passed on to society in a structural manner. Medieval philosophies of land impacted on the people. The Spanish and the Portuguese brought feudalism from the west. There were the distinct master slave components to the relationship. The aboriginal population was treated a little better than slave and sometimes a little worse. The liberal, conservative divide pitted the white creole population against the rest who were pro freedom and equality who were landless in slave like conditions. The conservatives won creating the caudillos, who were of the elitist creole descent. The society remained defined by race in a white through down to black hierarchy. (Mignolo, 2005)

What contributions to society did folk and elite caudillos bring to Latin American society? They usurped Catholicism to serve as a way of controlling the masses of the believers who believed in Christ’s salvation not only in this world but also in the hereafter. The power of the caudillo’s landholdings, his local militia and lower classes that depended on them for work. They held the country together for it was hopelessly fractured. Support depended on the patron-client relationship. They introduced nationalism to the people. The common thread that helped binds them together. The appeal of charisma would explain individuals like General Antonio López de Santa Anna who held almost every political ideology from conservatism to liberalism as long as he was in power.

What impact did the encroachment of Europeans have upon the New World? European’s destroyed a delicate balance that had existed for thousands of years. They brought with them their diseases that killed large swaths of the population. The rape and subjugation of Taino’s for instant created a new race called the Latino’s. (McKnight,2009)

What similarities or differences exist? Liberals wanted democracy, individual rights and equality. Conservatives wanted thing to remain the same and to preserve the status quo and prevent a race war. The only similarity I find is that they both knew things needed to change.

What specific examples can you give for the impacts to Latin American society by the Europeans in the New World, based on the observations of your peer? They created a racial hierarchy that is still in place today even though it is not legal it is now psychologically and institutionally entrenched where the white creole population rule over the rest as second class citizens. (Hamill, 1992)

References

Hamill, Hugh M.,ed. Caudillos: “Dictators in Spanish America Norman”: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.

Mignolo, Walter “The Idea of Latin America.” Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, Press. 2005.

McKnight. Kathryn, Afro-Latino Voices: “Narratives from the Early Modern Ibero-Atlantic World, 1550-1812.” Hackett Publishing Company Print: 2009.