World Famous Comics: Understanding Contemporary Latin America (Understanding)
Understanding Contemporary Latin America (Understanding)
From: L. Rienner Publishers Publisher: L. Rienner Publishers Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: L. Rienner Publishers Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 449 Publication Date: July 30, 2005
It could be better I am using this text in a class on Contemporary Latin American societies. The book is easy to read and has great strenghts such as Price's Geographic Preface. Unfortunately, two key chapters such as the Economies of Latin America and Patterns of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Nationalism are superficial and weak to the point that I find myself making up these shorcomings with a bundle of extra readings. 1. It does not take a bleeding heart Liberal to agree with the importance of the Lost Decade and the decline of ISI. These themes are developed in three pages, filled with economic gargon and lacking a clear theoretical framework. In the end, the authors seem to suggest that governments' mismanagement of the economy is the main (if not the only) factor explaining the collapse of major Latin American economies. It took the wisdom of the IMF to get us in track and get our finances in order, thanks God! If the authors' viewpoint sounds logical is because they never develop a sound section on the debt crisis and its meaning in the context of the oil crisis, petrodollars and globalization. To be fair, the debt crisis is briefly discussed by Fraser but in the chapter on International Relations (!), which by the way failed to expand on the active role of the US government invading Central American countries and training military officers who later became authoritarian leaders--two themes which in my modest opinion have marked the destinies of Latin America. 2. Race and ethnicity is a tough topic when it comes to teaching American students about Latin America. In Yelvington's essay Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Bolivia become side comments. Because his essay explores race and ethnicity from a Black and White traditional American approach. The African presence in Latin America is very important but it is not the only one. A more even approach is needed to explain to young Americans the complexity of Latin America's multicultural/multiracial nature. 3. Finally, there is not a chapter or at least a solid section within a chapter addressing Revolutions in Latin America. Can a Latinamericanist underestimate the impact of revolutions to the extend of excluding it from a book on contemporary Latin America? Have you been in Latin America lately? Aren't government policies in countries with revolutionary tradition aiming at preventing the spread of revolutions? Isn't that in itself significant? There is a substantial body of research both in Spanish and English that could help American students understand Latin America. Unfortunately, this book does not take full advantage of these resources.
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