Week 1

This past week in Latin American Civilization we have been learning about the formation of post-independence Latin American countries and the debates on how the country should be ran regarding topics such as political, social, and economic policy. In both sections of the class we’ve been delving into the differences between liberalism and conservatism and their impacts in different areas of Latin America. It was interesting for me to see the impact that the United States had on a lot of Latin American countries as being in this class has given me a new perspective. All throughout grade school I was very interested in United States history but seeing it through the eyes of another country has been fascinating. In class, we have discussed the fact that the Latin American countries looked to Europe and North America as a model to base their countries off which creates a sort of magnifying effect for the United States as we consider what ideas were applied to their countries. I think what really struck me was the differences in the emphasis placed on individualism in North America and Europe and the sense of community in Latin America. While reading about the history of the United States it never occurred to me the degree in which our background is firmly planted in the idea of the individual. As we worked our way through the lecture and the discussion, the saying “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” kept occurring to me because it exemplifies the American ideal of fixing your problems without the assistance of others. As capitalism spread in Latin America, so did the importance of the individual and this idea was so different than the sense of community that these countries were used to. This infecting force of capitalism dramatically altered the ways of life in Latin America, as a sense of community was de-emphasized, this change can be accounted for as an attributing factor as to why capitalism and modernization lead to chaos in those areas.