Latin American ModuleMs. Fletcher - Ms. Brownstein

December 8, 2017

Latin American ModuleMs. Fletcher - Ms. Brownstein

December 8, 2017 -- Day 5

Essential Question: What are the positive and negative outcomes of cultural convergence in Latin America?

Do Now Do-Now:

1. What foods, clothes, music, art, or ideas are part of our society as a result of Latin American cultural convergence? (list your answers)

2. Write your definition of what culture is.

Latin American ModuleMs. Fletcher - Ms. Brownstein

December 8, 2017 -- Day 5

Essential Question: What are the positive and negative outcomes of cultural convergence in Latin America?

➢ the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.

➢ the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group.

A Basic Definition of Culture

CultureNotebook writing:❧ What is part of your culture, as a teenager in

New York City? Give 3 specific examples of music, dance, food, and art.

❧ How is your cultural behavior different in different settings (i.e. outside and inside of the classroom)?

Latin American Culture TodayA mixture of three heritages

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Even today, many cultural products from Latin America can be traced back

to their three cultural heritages.

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The Columbian Exchange

Native to Asia, Africa, or Europe

(Old World)

Native to the Americas(New World)

Animals Horses, Cattle, Pigs, Sheep, Goats, Chickens

Turkeys, Llamas, Guinea Pigs

Plants Rice, Wheat, Barley, Oats, Coffee, Sugarcane, Bananas, Melons, Olives, Grapes

Corn, Potatoes, Beans, Tobacco, Peanuts, Squash, Peppers, Tomatoes, Pumpkins, Pineapples, Papayas, Avocados, Cacao (Source of Chocolate), Chicle (Source of Chewing Gum)

The exchange of animals, plants, technology, diseases, and culture between the New World and the Old World

What foods could you not eat today if there hadn’t been cultural convergence?

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Puerto Rican cuisine

• Arawaks and Tainos: • corn, sweet potatoes, cassava,

tropical fruit, and seafood

• Spanish explorers • beef, pork, rice, wheat, and

olive oil

• African slaves• cooking techniques• plantains

Food

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Example: creole religions• Adaptation of African religions

• Slaves continued worshipping their gods from Africa, changing the names to figures in Christianity to hide from their Spanish masters

• Many creole Christian sects still exist in Latin America• the vodun in Haiti (Voodoo); • Shango in Trinidad and

Tobago, Venezuela, and Brazil• Santería in Cuba and Puerto

Rico

Religion

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La Virgen de Guadalupe• Mix of Christianity and existing

indigenous religions• Early Christian missionaries

often taught new religion as "same as" indigenous religion, just with different names

• Confusion (on purpose?) of deities/saints

Religion

• Story of the Virgin of Guadalupe• vision of Mary (mother of Jesus), appeared to an indigenous

man in Mexico• a famous figure in many Mexican households.• In her earliest depictions, has a strong resemblance to

Tonantzin, a mother-goddess figure in Aztec mythology.

Carnival• Carnival - originally a Christian holiday

celebrating the last day to eat meat ("carne") before a 40 day period of fasting and solemn reflection (Lent)

• Now celebrated with a mixture of African and indigenous dance and costumes.

• Today Carnival celebrations are found throughout the Caribbean and South America.

Festivals

Dominican Republic

TrinidadBrazil

Puerto Rico

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• Example: Salsa

• African cultures:

• rhythms and instruments like the conga drums

• Indigenous cultures (Taino):

• the instrument el güiro, a gourd with ridges down the side, creates a distinctive sound in salsa

• Spanish cultures:

• Trumpets, guitar, piano, and other European instruments

Music

Art❧ European techniques (portrait, Christian religious art)❧ Taught at art schools (i.e. The Cuzco School)

❧ Indigenous techniques (ceramics, metalworking)❧ Indigenous artists often “retrained” in European

methods

❧ During revolutions, many countries focused on discovering non-European heritage, and African/Indigenous cultures became fashionable in art

❧ New types of art - casta paintings, murals

Predictions❧ What influences our concept of identity?

❧ Although over 90% of Dominicans are afrodescendant, very few people use the term “black” to describe their identity. On the other hand, Haitians have a similar genetic profile, and most acknowledge the importance of their African heritage.

❧ Make 3 predictions about how or why this difference happened, based on the history of these countries (Timeline: Haiti and the Dominican Republic, p 51)

❧ As we watch the movie, find evidence for or against your predictions.