Modern Latin America

During these last view classes, we have continued our discussion on Latin American independence, specifically Mexico. As we have been discussing the hardships the newly independent countries went through, it was all the same for Mexico. Mexico had received their independence, and then they began to have problems that involved their economy, society, and government. The country tried to figure out the way they were going to increase their economy because they had debts they have to pay off and they need money to begin their modernization process. Although, this was much harder because of all the land that they did have and the disunity of the people living within the country. With this disunity throughout the country, the citizens had different political preferences that then made it harder to find a way to rule that will please everyone. However, everybody knows that no matter what decisions are made, there will always be people who dislike that outcomes of the decisions. Which is show...

I really enjoyed reading your post and found it to be an interesting perspective on things. You brought up the identity crisis in Latin America that I personally never really thought about in depth. I see all these new races being formed by the mixing of races, but I never related it to the way people could us this diversity as a way to show their ideas of nationhood. As you mentioned, you believed Andrew Bellow wanted Latin America to have a shared history because this diversity within the country. I do believe that many writers who wanted a country based on civic nationalism did have the same idea of unity in mind. This unity was a problem because of how diverse it was in Latin America, which is why race couldn't be something that unified everyone within the country. This shared history that is created through civic nationalism is, like you said, their way to finding unity within the diversity of Latin America.

As we concluded the last semester beginning to discuss the countries within Latin America fighting for their independence, we started this semester continuing this discussion. The way that the countries in Latin America fought and received their independence helps to understand how modern Latin America came to be. The countries in Latin America all were able to earn their independence in similar manners that included breaking away from the European countries that governed them. These European countries that governed them had a monarchical ruling upon these countries with little equality and high taxes, which is why they wanted to get away from their rule. The way they were ruled was often far worse for the lower class and non-white civilians within Latin America, which is why those were the people who were rebelling against the monarchies ruling over them. Equality was a big factor on these Latin American countries wanting their independence because of the inequality implied and shown ...