In the field of psychology, nativism
is the view that certain skills or abilities are "native" or hard-wired
into the brain at birth. This is in contrast to the "blank slate" or tabula rasa
view, which states that the brain has inborn capabilities for learning
from the environment but does not contain content such as innate
beliefs. This factor contributes to the ongoing nature versus nurture dispute, one borne from the current difficulty of reverse engineering the subconscious operations of the brain, especially the human brain.
Some nativists believe that specific beliefs or preferences are
"hard-wired". For example, one might argue that some moral intuitions
are innate or that color preferences
are innate. A less established argument is that nature supplies the
human mind with specialized learning devices. This latter view differs
from empiricism
only to the extent that the algorithms that translate experience into
information may be more complex and specialized in nativist theories
than in empiricist theories. However, empiricists largely remain open to
the nature of learning algorithms and are by no means restricted to the historical associationist mechanisms of behaviorism.
In philosophy
Nativism has a history in philosophy, particularly as a reaction to the straightforward empiricist views of John Locke and David Hume. Hume had given persuasive logical arguments that people cannot infer causality
from perceptual input. The most one could hope to infer is that two
events happen in succession or simultaneously. One response to this
argument involves positing that concepts not supplied by experience,
such as causality, must exist prior to any experience and hence must be innate.
The philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) argued in his Critique of Pure Reason that the human mind knows objects in innate, a priori ways. Kant claimed that humans, from birth, must experience all objects as being successive (time) and juxtaposed (space). His list of inborn categories describes predicates that the mind can attribute to any object in general. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) agreed with Kant, but reduced the number of innate categories to one—causality—which presupposes the others.
Modularity
Modern nativism is most associated with the work of Jerry Fodor (1935–2017), Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), and Steven Pinker (b. 1954), who argue that humans from birth have certain cognitivemodules (specialised genetically inherited psychological abilities) that allow them to learn and acquire certain skills, such as language. For example, children demonstrate a facility for acquiring spoken language but require intensive training to learn to read and write. This poverty of the stimulus observation became a principal component of Chomsky's argument for a "language organ"—a genetically inherited neurological module
that confers a somewhat universal understanding of syntax that all
neurologically healthy humans are born with, which is fine-tuned by an
individual's experience with their native language. In The Blank Slate
(2002), Pinker similarly cites the linguistic capabilities of children,
relative to the amount of direct instruction they receive, as evidence
that humans have an inborn facility for speech acquisition (but not for literacy acquisition).
A number of other theorists have disagreed with these claims. Instead, they have outlined
alternative theories of how modularization might emerge over the course
of development, as a result of a system gradually refining and
fine-tuning its responses to environmental stimuli.
Language
Research
on the human capacity for language aims to provide support for a
nativist view. Language is a species characteristic of humans: No human
society has ever been discovered that does not employ a language, and
all medically able children acquire at least one language in early
childhood. The typical five-year-old can already use most, if not all, of the
grammatical structures that are found in the language of the surrounding
community. Yet, the knowledge of grammar is tacit: Neither the
five-year-old nor the adults in the community can easily articulate the
principles of the grammar they are following. Experimental evidence
shows that infants come equipped with presuppositions that allow them to
acquire the rules of their language.
The term universal grammar
(or UG) is used for the purported innate biological properties of the
human brain, whatever exactly they turn out to be, that are responsible
for children's successful acquisition of a native language during the
first few years of life. The person most strongly associated with the
hypothesising of UG is Noam Chomsky,
although the idea of Universal Grammar has clear historical antecedents
at least as far back as the 1300s, in the form of the Speculative
Grammar of Thomas of Erfurt.
In generative grammar the principles and parameters (P&P) framework was the dominant formulation of UG before Chomsky's current Minimalist Program. In the P&P framework, a principle is a grammatical requirement that is meant to apply to all languages, and a parameter
is a tightly constrained point of variation. In the early 1980s
parameters were often conceptualized as switches in a switchbox (an idea
attributed to James Higginbotham). In more recent research on syntax, parameters are often conceptualized as options for the formal features of functional heads.
The hypothesis that UG plays an essential role in normal child
language acquisition arises from species differences: for example,
children and household pets may be exposed to quite similar linguistic
input, but by the age of three years, the child's ability to comprehend
multi-word utterances vastly outstrips that of the dog or cat. This
evidence is all the more impressive when one considers that most
children do not receive reliable corrections for grammatical errors. Indeed, even children who for medical reasons cannot produce speech,
and therefore have no possibility of producing an error in the first
place, have been found to master both the lexicon and the grammar of
their community's language perfectly. The fact that children succeed at language acquisition even when their
linguistic input is severely impoverished, as it is when no corrective
feedback is available, is related to the argument from the poverty of the stimulus, and is another claim for a central role of UG in child language acquisition.
Relation to neuroscience
Neuroscientists working on the Blue Brain Project discovered that neurons transmit signals despite an individual's experience. It had been previously assumed that neuronal circuits
are made when the experience of an individual is imprinted in the
brain, making memories. Researchers at Blue Brain discovered a network
of about fifty neurons which they believed were building blocks of more
complex knowledge but contained basic innate knowledge that could be
combined in different more complex ways to give way to acquired
knowledge, like memory.
Scientists ran tests on the neuronal circuits of several rats and
ascertained that if the neuronal circuits had only been formed based on
an individual's experience, the tests would bring about very different
characteristics for each rat. However, the rats all displayed similar
characteristics which suggest that their neuronal circuits must have
been established previously to their experiences. The Blue Brain
Project research suggests that some of the "building blocks" of
knowledge are genetic and present at birth.
Criticism
Nativism is sometimes perceived as being too vague to be falsifiable, as there is no fixed definition of when an ability is supposed to be judged "innate". (As Jeffrey Elman and colleagues pointed out in Rethinking Innateness, it is unclear exactly how the supposedly innate information might actually be coded for in the genes.) Further, modern nativist theory makes little in the way of specific falsifiable and testable
predictions, and has been compared by some empiricists to a
pseudoscience or nefarious brand of "psychological creationism". As
influential psychologist Henry L. Roediger III
remarked that "Chomsky was and is a rationalist; he had no uses for
experimental analyses or data of any sort that pertained to language,
and even experimental psycholinguistics was and is of little interest to
him".
Some researchers argue that the premises of linguistic nativism
were motivated by outdated considerations and need reconsidering. For
example, nativism was at least partially motivated by the perception
that statistical inferences made from experience were insufficient to
account for the complex languages humans develop. In part, this was a
reaction to the failure of behaviorism
and behaviorist models of the era to easily account for how something
as complex and sophisticated as a full-blown language could ever be
learned. Indeed, several nativist arguments were inspired by Chomsky's
assertion that children could not learn complicated grammar based on the
linguistic input they typically receive, and must therefore have an
innate language-learning module, or language acquisition device. However, Chomsky's poverty of the stimulus argument is controversial within linguistics.
Many empiricists are now also trying to apply modern learning models and techniques to the question of language acquisition, with marked success. Similarity-based generalization
marks another avenue of recent research, which suggests that children
may be able to rapidly learn how to use new words by generalizing about
the usage of similar words that they already know (see also the distributional hypothesis).
Paul Griffiths, in "What is Innateness?", argues that innateness
is too confusing a concept to be fruitfully employed as it confuses
"empirically dissociated" concepts. In a previous paper, Griffiths
argued that innateness specifically confuses these three distinct
biological concepts: developmental fixity, species nature, and intended
outcome. Developmental fixity refers to how insensitive a trait is to
environmental input, species nature reflects what it is to be an
organism of a certain kind, and the intended outcome is how an organism
is meant to develop.
"The Will to Believe" is a lecture by William James, first published in 1896, which defends, in certain cases, the adoption of a belief without prior
evidence of its truth. In particular, James is concerned in this
lecture about defending the rationality of religious faith
even lacking sufficient evidence of religious truth. James states in
his introduction: "I have brought with me tonight ... an essay in justification of faith,
a defense of our right to adopt a believing attitude in religious
matters, in spite of the fact that our merely logical intellect may not
have been coerced. 'The Will to Believe,' accordingly, is the title of
my paper."
James' central argument in "The Will to Believe" hinges on the
idea that access to the evidence for whether certain beliefs are true
depends crucially upon first adopting those beliefs without evidence. As
an example, James argues that it can be rational to have unsupported
faith in one's own ability to accomplish tasks that require confidence.
Importantly, James points out that this is the case even for pursuing
scientific inquiry. James then argues that like belief in one's own
ability to accomplish a difficult task, religious faith can also be
rational even if one at the time lacks evidence for the truth of one's
religious belief.
The lecture
James' "The Will to Believe" and William K. Clifford's essay "The Ethics of Belief" are touchstones for many contemporary debates over evidentialism, faith, and overbelief.
James' "The Will to Believe" consists of introductory remarks followed
by ten numbered but not titled sections. In his introductory remarks,
James characterizes his lecture by stating that he had "brought with me
tonight ... an essay in justification of faith, a defence of our
right to adopt a believing attitude in religious matters, in spite of
the fact that our merely logical intellect may not have been coerced.
"The Will to Believe", accordingly, is the title of my paper." At the
end of his introductory remarks, James leads into his first section by
stating that he "must begin by setting up some technical distinctions."
Sections I–III: Preliminaries
In
section I, James embarks upon the task of defining a number of
important terms he will be relying upon throughout the lecture:
Live and dead hypotheses – "deadness and liveness ... are
measured by [a thinker's] willingness to act. The maximum of liveness in
a hypothesis means willingness to act irrevocably"
Option – "the decision between two hypotheses"
Living and dead option – "a living option is one in which both hypotheses are live ones"
Forced and avoidable option – an option for which there is "no possibility of not choosing"
Momentous and trivial option – an "option is trivial when the
opportunity is not unique, when the stake is insignificant, or when the
decision is reversible if it later proves unwise"
Genuine option – "we may call an option a genuine option when it is of the forced, living, and momentous kind"
Belief – "A chemist finds a hypothesis live enough to spend a year in its verification: he believes in it to that extent."
In section II, James begins by saying he will then consider "the
actual psychology of human opinion." Here James considers and largely
agrees with the criticism of Pascal's Wager that we either should not or are unable to believe or disbelieve at will. That is, James here seems to reject doxastic voluntarism, "the philosophical doctrine according to which people have voluntary control over their beliefs." In section III, however, James qualifies his endorsement of this
criticism of Pascal's Wager by arguing that "it is only our already dead
hypotheses that our willing nature is unable to bring to life again."
By which James means that it is only things we already disbelieve that
we are unable to believe at will.
Section IV: Thesis
In his very brief section IV, James introduces the main thesis of the work:
Our passional nature not only
lawfully may, but must, decide an option between propositions, whenever
it is a genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on
intellectual grounds; for to say under such circumstances, "Do not
decide, but leave the question open," is itself a passional
decision—just like deciding yes or not—and is attended with the same
risk of losing truth.
Before providing an argument for this thesis, James ends this section
by stating that he must still "indulge in a bit more of preliminary
work."
Sections V–VII: More preliminaries
In section V, James makes a distinction between a skepticism about truth and its attainment and what he calls "dogmatism":
"that truth exists, and that our minds can find it." Concerning
dogmatism, James states that it has two forms; that there is an "absolutist way" and an "empiricist way"
of believing in truth. James states: "The absolutists in this matter
say that we not only can attain to knowing truth, but we can know when
we have attained to knowing it, while the empiricists think that
although we may attain it, we cannot infallibly know when." James then
goes on to state that "the empiricist tendency has largely prevailed in
science, while in philosophy the absolutist tendency has had everything
its own way."
James ends section V by arguing that empiricists are really no
more tentative about their beliefs and conclusions than the absolutists:
"The greatest empiricists among us are only empiricists on reflection:
when left to their instincts, they dogmatize like infallible popes. When
the Cliffords tell us how sinful it is to be Christians
on such "insufficient evidence", insufficiency is really the last thing
they have in mind. For them the evidence is absolutely sufficient, only
it makes the other way. They believe so completely in an anti-Christian
order of the universe that there is no living option: Christianity is a
dead hypothesis from the start."
James begins section VI with the following question: "But now,
since we are all such absolutists by instinct, what in our quality of
students of philosophy ought we to do about the fact? Shall we espouse
and endorse it?" He then answers: "I sincerely believe that the latter
course is the only one we can follow as reflective men. ... I am,
therefore, myself a complete empiricist so far as my theory of human
knowledge goes."
James ends section VI by stressing what he finds to be the "great
difference" merit of the empiricist way over the absolutist way: "The
strength of his system lies in the principles, the origin, the terminus a quo [the beginning point] of his thought; for us the strength is in the outcome, the upshot, the terminus ad quem
[the end result]. Not where it comes from but what it leads to is to
decide. It matters not to an empiricist from what quarter a hypothesis
may come to him: he may have acquired it by fair means or by foul;
passion may have whispered or accident suggested it; but if the total
drift of thinking continues to confirm it, that is what he means by its
being true."
James begins section VII by stating that there is "one more
point, small but important, and our preliminaries are done." However,
James in fact gives in this section a crucial bit of argumentation:
There are two ways of looking at
our duty in the matter of opinion—ways entirely different, and yet ways
about whose difference the theory of knowledge
seems hitherto to have shown very little concern. We must know the
truth; and we must avoid error—these are our first and great
commandments as would-be knowers; but they are not two ways of stating
an identical commandment, they are two separable laws. Although it may
indeed happen that when we believe the truth A, we escape as an
incidental consequence from believing the falsehood B, it hardly ever
happens that by merely disbelieving B we necessarily believe A. We may
in escaping B fall into believing other falsehoods, C or D, just as bad
as B; or we may escape B by not believing anything at all, not even A.
Believe truth! Shun error!—these, we see, are two materially
different laws; and by choosing between them we may end by coloring
differently our whole intellectual life. We may regard the chase for
truth as paramount, and the avoidance of error as secondary; or we may,
on the other hand, treat the avoidance of error as more imperative, and
let truth take its chance. Clifford, in the instructive passage which I
have quoted, exhorts us to the latter course. Believe nothing, he tells
us, keep your mind in suspense forever, rather than by closing it on
insufficient evidence incur the awful risk of believing lies. You, on
the other hand, may think that the risk of being in error is a very
small matter when compared with the blessings of real knowledge, and be
ready to be duped many times in your investigation rather than postpone
indefinitely the chance of guessing true. I myself find it impossible to
go with Clifford. We must remember that these feelings of our duty
about either truth or error are in any case only expressions of our
passional life. Biologically considered, our minds are as ready to grind
out falsehood as veracity, and he who says, "Better go without belief
forever than believe a lie!" merely shows his own preponderant private
horror of becoming a dupe. He may be critical of many of his desires and
fears, but this fear he slavishly obeys. He cannot imagine any one
questioning its binding force. For my own part, I have also a horror of
being duped; but I can believe that worse things than being duped may
happen to a man in this world: so Clifford's exhortation has to my ears a
thoroughly fantastic sound. It is like a general informing his soldiers
that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single
wound. Not so are victories either over enemies or over nature gained.
Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where
we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain
lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on
their behalf. At any rate, it seems the fittest thing for the empiricist
philosopher.
Sections VIII–X: Main argument
In
section VIII, James finally moves beyond what he considers mere
preliminaries. Here James first identifies areas of belief where he
holds that to believe without evidence would be unjustified: "Wherever
the option between losing truth and gaining it is not momentous, we can
throw the chance of gaining truth away, and at any rate save ourselves
from any chance of believing falsehood, by not making up our minds at
all till objective evidence has come. In scientific questions, this is
almost always the case ... The questions here are always trivial
options, the hypotheses are hardly living (at any rate not living for us
spectators), the choice between believing truth or falsehood is seldom
forced." James concludes this section by asking us to agree "that
wherever there is no forced option, the dispassionately judicial
intellect with no pet hypothesis, saving us, as it does from dupery at
any rate, ought to be our ideal."
In section IX, James moves to investigate whether there are areas
of belief where belief without evidence would be justified. James gives
self-fulfilling beliefs as one example of such beliefs:
Do you like me or not?—for example.
Whether you do or not depends, in countless instances, on whether I
meet you half-way, am willing to assume that you must like me, and show
you trust and expectation. The previous faith on my part in your
liking's existence is in such cases what makes your liking come. But if I
stand aloof, and refuse to budge an inch until I have objective
evidence, until you shall have done something apt ... ten to one your
liking never comes. ... The desire for a certain kind of truth here
brings about that special truth's existence; and so it is in innumerable
cases of other sorts. Who gains promotions, boons, appointments, but
the man in whose life they are seen to play the part of live hypotheses,
who discounts them, sacrifices other things for their sake before they
have come, and takes risks for them in advance? His faith acts on the
powers above him as a claim, and creates its own verification.
From examples like these, James concludes: "There are, then, cases
where a fact cannot come at all unless a preliminary faith exists in its
coming. And where faith in a fact can help create the fact, that would
be an insane logic which should say that faith running ahead of
scientific evidence is the "lowest kind of immorality" into which a
thinking being can fall."
James says that "Science can tell us what exists; but to compare
the worths, both of what exists and of what does not exist, we must
consult not science, but what Pascal calls our heart". Science does this when it "lays it down that the infinite ascertainment
of fact and correction of false belief are the supreme goods for man.
Challenge the statement, and science can only repeat it oracularly, or
else prove it by showing that such ascertainment and correction bring
man all sorts of other goods which man's heart in turn declares." James rejects this latter idea in the case of religion as it is a
"forced option", meaning that "we cannot escape the issue by remaining
sceptical and waiting for more light, because, although we do avoid
error in that way if religion be untrue, we lose the good, if it be
true".
James begins section X with the thesis that he takes himself to
have already proven: "In truths dependent on our personal action, then,
faith based on desire is certainly a lawful and possibly an
indispensable thing." James then goes on to argue that, like the
examples he gave in section IX, religious belief is also the sort of
belief that depends on our personal action and therefore can also
justifiably be believed through a faith based on desire:
We feel, too, as if the appeal of
religion to us were made to our own active good-will, as if evidence
might be forever withheld from us unless we met the hypothesis half-way.
To take a trivial illustration: just as a man who in a company of
gentlemen made no advances, asked a warrant for every concession, and
believed no one's word without proof, would cut himself off by such
churlishness from all the social rewards that a more trusting spirit
would earn—so here, one who should shut himself up in snarling
logicality and try to make the gods extort his recognition willy-nilly,
or not get it at all, might cut himself off forever from his only
opportunity of making the gods' acquaintance. This feeling, forced on us
we know not whence, that by obstinately believing that there are gods
(although not to do so would be so easy both for our logic and our life)
we are doing the universe the deepest service we can, seems part of the
living essence of the religious hypothesis. If the hypothesis were true
in all its parts, including this one, then pure intellectualism, with
its veto on our making willing advances, would be an absurdity; and some
participation of our sympathetic nature would be logically required. I,
therefore, for one, cannot see my way to accepting the agnostic rules
for truth-seeking, or wilfully agree to keep my willing nature out of
the game. I cannot do so for this plain reason, that a rule of thinking
which would absolutely prevent me from acknowledging certain kinds of
truth if those kinds of truth were really there, would be an irrational
rule. That for me is the long and short of the formal logic of the
situation, no matter what the kinds of truth might materially be.
Although James does not here explain the way in which the truth or
evidence regarding religious belief depends upon our first having
religious belief, he does argue that it is a part of the religious
belief itself that its own truth or the evidence of its own truth
depends upon our first believing it. In the preface to the published
version of "The Will to Believe" James offers a different argument for
the way in which the evidence for religion depends upon our belief.
There he contends that it is through the failure or thriving of
communities of religious believers that we come to have evidence of the
truth of their religious beliefs. In this way, to acquire evidence for
religious belief, we must first have believers who adopt such belief
without sufficient evidence. Much later in life, in his "Pragmatism: A
New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking" lectures, James also mentions
the possibility that God's existence may actually depend upon our belief
in his existence.
The doctrine
The
doctrine James argues for in "The Will to Believe" appears often in
both his earlier and later work. James himself changed the name of the
doctrine several times. First appearing as "the duty to believe", then
"the subjective method", then "the will to believe", it was finally
recast by James as "the right to believe." Whatever the name, the
doctrine always concerned the rationality of believing without evidence
in certain instances. Specifically, James is defending the violation of evidentialism in two instances:
Hypothesis venturing (see hypothetico-deductivism) – beliefs whose evidence becomes available only after they are believed
After arguing that for hypothesis venturing and with self-fulfilling
beliefs a person is rational to believe without evidence, James argues
that a belief in a number of philosophical topics qualifies as one or
other of his two allowed violations of evidentialism (e.g. free will, God, and immortality). The reason James takes himself as able to rationally justify positions often not believed to be verifiable
under any method, is how important he thinks believing something can be
for the verifying of that belief. That is to say, in these cases James
is arguing that the reason evidence for a belief seems to be unavailable
to us is because the evidence for its truth or falsity comes only after
it is believed rather than before. For example, in the following
passage James utilizes his doctrine to justify a belief that "this is a
moral world":
It cannot then be said that the question, "Is this a
moral world?" is a meaningless and unverifiable question because it
deals with something non-phenomenal. Any question is full of meaning to which, as here, contrary answers lead to contrary behavior.
And it seems as if in answering such a question as this we might
proceed exactly as does the physical philosopher in testing an
hypothesis. ... So here: the verification of the theory which you may
hold as to the objectively moral character of the world can consist only
in this—that if you proceed to act upon your theory it will be reversed
by nothing that later turns up as your action's fruits; it will harmonize so well with the entire drift of experience that the latter will, as it were, adopt it. ... If this be an objectively
moral universe, all acts that I make on that assumption, all
expectations that I ground on it, will tend more and more completely to
interdigitate with the phenomena already existing. ... While if it be
not such a moral universe, and I mistakenly assume that it is, the
course of experience will throw ever new impediments in the way of my
belief, and become more and more difficult to express in its language. Epicycle
upon epicycle of subsidiary hypothesis will have to be invoked to give
to the discrepant terms a temporary appearance of squaring with each
other; but at last even this resource will fail. (—William James, "The
Sentiment of Rationality")
The doctrine James developed in his "The Will to Believe" lecture was later extended by his protégé F. C. S. Schiller
in his lengthy essay "Axioms as Postulates". In this work, Schiller
downplays the connection between James' doctrine and religious positions
like God and immortality. Instead, Schiller stresses the doctrine's
ability to justify our beliefs in the uniformity of nature, causality, space, time, and other philosophic doctrines that have generally been considered to be empirically unverifiable.
Criticism
In 1907 University of Michigan Professor Alfred Henry Lloyd published "The Will to Doubt" in response, claiming that doubt was essential to true belief.
It seems to me a pity they [pragmatists like James,
Schiller] should allow a philosophy so instinct with life to become
infected with seeds of death in such notions as that of the unreality of
all ideas of infinity and that of the mutability of truth, and in such
confusions of thought as that of active willing (willing to control
thought, to doubt, and to weigh reasons) with willing not to exert the
will (willing to believe).
Bertrand Russell in "Free Thought and Official Propaganda" argued that one must always adhere to fallibilism,
recognizing of all human knowledge that "None of our beliefs are quite
true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error", and that the
only means of progressing ever-closer to the truth is never to assume
certainty, but always examine all sides and try to reach a conclusion
objectively.
Instead of admitting that some traditional beliefs are
comforting, James argued that "the risk of being in error is a very
small matter when compared with the blessing of real knowledge", and
implied that those who did not accept religious beliefs were cowards,
afraid of risking anything: "It is like a general informing soldiers
that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single
wound" (Section VII).
James' appeal depends entirely on blurring the distinction between those
who hold out for 100 percent proof in a matter in which any reasonable
person rests content with, let us say, 90 percent, and those who refuse
to indulge in a belief which is supported only by the argument that
after all it could conceivably be true.
The culture of Latin America is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America and includes both high culture (literature and high art) and popular culture (music, folk art, and dance), as well as religion and other customary practices. These are generally of Western origin, but have various degrees of Native American, African and Asian influence.
Definitions of Latin America vary. From a cultural perspective, Latin America generally refers to those parts of the Americas whose
cultural, religious and linguistic heritage can be traced to the Latin
culture of the late Roman Empire. This would include areas where Spanish, Portuguese, and various other Romance languages, which can trace their origin to the Vulgar Latin spoken in the late Roman Empire, are natively spoken. Such territories include almost all of Mexico, Central America and South America, with the exception of English or Dutch speaking territories. Culturally, it could also encompass the French derived culture in the Caribbean and North America, as it ultimately derives from Latin Roman influence as well. There is also an important Latin American cultural presence in the United States since the 16th century in areas such as California, Texas, and Florida, which were part of the Spanish Empire. More recently, in cities such as New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami.
The richness of Latin American culture is the product of many influences, including:
Spanish and Portuguese
culture, owing to the region's history of colonization, settlement and
continued immigration from Spain and Portugal. All the core elements of
Latin American culture are of Iberian origin, which is ultimately related to Western culture.
Pre-Columbian cultures,
whose importance is today particularly notable in countries such as
Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. These cultures
are central to Indigenous communities such as the Quechua, Maya, and Aymara.
19th- and 20th-century European immigration from Spain, Portugal,
Italy, Germany, France, and Eastern Europe; which transformed the region
and had an impact in countries such as Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil (particular the southeast and southern regions), Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador (particularly in the southwest coast), Paraguay, Dominican Republic (specifically the northern region), and Mexico (particularly the northern and western regions).
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Lebanese and other Arab, Armenian and various other Asian groups. Mostly immigrants and indentured laborers who arrived from the coolie trade
and influenced the culture of Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Panama,
Nicaragua, Ecuador and Peru in areas such as food, art, and cultural
trade.
The culture of Africa
brought by Africans in the Trans-Atlantic former slave trade has
influenced various parts of Latin America. Influences are particularly
strong in dance, music, cuisine, and some syncretic religions of Cuba, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Northwest Ecuador, coastal Colombia, and Honduras.
The population of Latin America is very diverse with many ethnic groups and different ancestries. Most of the Amerindian descendants are of mixed race ancestry.
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries there was a flow of Spanish
and Portuguese emigrants who left for Latin America. It was never a
large movement of people, but over the long period of time it had a
major impact on Latin American populations: the Portuguese left for
Brazil and the Spaniards left for Central and South America. Of the
European immigrants, men greatly outnumbered women and many married
Natives. This resulted in a mixing of the Amerindians and Europeans and
today their descendants are known as mestizos. Even Latin American criollos,
of mainly European ancestry, usually have some Native ancestry. Today,
mestizos make up the majority of Latin America's population.
Starting in the late 16th century, a large number of former African slaves were brought to Latin America, especially to Brazil and the Caribbean. Nowadays, blacks
make up the majority of the population in most Caribbean countries.
Many of the former African slaves in Latin America mixed with the
Europeans and their descendants (known as mulattoes) make up the majority of the population in some countries, such as the Dominican Republic, and large percentages in Brazil, Colombia, and Honduras. Mixes between the blacks and Amerindians also occurred, and their descendants are known as zambos. Many Latin American countries also have a substantial tri-racial population known as pardos, whose ancestry is a mix of Amerindians, Europeans and Africans.
In this same period, immigrants came from the Middle East and Asia, including Indians, Lebanese, Syrians, Armenians, and, more recently, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese,
mainly to Brazil. These people only make up a small percentage of Latin
America's population but they have communities in the major cities.
This diversity has profoundly influenced religion, music and politics. This cultural heritage is called Latino in American English.
Language
Romance languages in Latin America: Green-Spanish; Orange-Portuguese; Blue-French
Spanish is spoken in Puerto Rico and eighteen sovereign nations (See Spanish language in the Americas). Portuguese is spoken primarily in Brazil (See Brazilian Portuguese). Amerindian languages are spoken in many Latin American nations, mainly Chile, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Mexico. Nahuatl
has more than a million speakers in Mexico. Although Mexico has almost
80 native languages across the country, the government nor the
constitution specify an official language (not even Spanish), also, some
regions of the nation do not speak any modern way of language and still
preserve their ancient dialect without knowing any other language. Guaraní
is, along with Spanish, the official language of Paraguay, and is
spoken by a majority of the population. Furthermore, there are about 10
million Quechua speakers in South America and Spain, but more than half of them live in Bolivia and Peru (approximately 6,700,800 individuals).
Other European languages spoken include Italian in Brazil and Uruguay, German in southern Brazil and southern Chile, and Welsh in southern Argentina.
In long-term perspective, Britain's influence in Latin America was
enormous after independence came in the 1820s. Britain deliberately
sought to replace the Spanish and Portuguese in economic and cultural
affairs. Military issues and colonization were minor factors. The
influence was exerted through diplomacy, trade, banking, and investment
in railways and mines. The English language and British cultural norms
were transmitted by energetic young British business agents on temporary
assignment in the major commercial centers, where they invited locals
into the British leisure activities, such as organized sports, and into
their transplanted cultural institutions such as schools and clubs. The
British role never disappeared, but it faded rapidly after 1914 as the
British cashed in their investments to pay for the Great War, and the
United States, another Anglophone power, moved into the region with
overwhelming force and similar cultural norms.
The British impact on sports was overwhelming, as Latin America took
up football (called fútbol in Spanish and futebol in Portuguese). In
Argentina, rugby, polo, tennis and golf became important middle-class
leisure pastimes.
Plaquita,
a Dominican street version of cricket. The Dominican Republic was first
introduced to cricket through mid-18th century British contact, but switched to baseball after the 1916 American occupation.
In some parts of the Caribbean and Central America baseball outshined
soccer in terms of popularity. The sport started in the late 19th
century when sugar companies imported cane cutters from the British
Caribbean. During their free time, the workers would play cricket, but
later, during the long period of US military occupation, cricket gave
way to baseball, which rapidly assumed widespread popularity, although
cricket remains the favorite in the British Caribbean. Baseball had the
greatest following in those nations occupied at length by the US
military, especially the Dominican Republic and Cuba, as well as
Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico. Even Venezuela, which wasn't
occupied by the US military during this time period, still became a
popular baseball destination. All of these countries have emerged as
sources of baseball talent, since many players hone their skills on
local teams, or in “academies” managed by the US Major Leagues to
cultivate the most promising young men for their own teams. Baseball5, an official variation of baseball, was inspired in 2017 by Latin American street variations of baseball as well.
Pre-Columbian cultures were primarily oral, though the Aztecs and Mayans, for instance, produced elaborate codices.
Oral accounts of mythological and religious beliefs were also sometimes
recorded after the arrival of European colonizers, as was the case with
the Popol Vuh. Moreover, a tradition of oral narrative survives to this day, for instance among the Quechua-speaking population of Peru and the Quiché of Guatemala.
From the very moment of Europe's "discovery" of the continent, early explorers and conquistadores produced written accounts and crónicas of their experience—such as Columbus's letters or Bernal Díaz del Castillo's
description of the conquest of New Spain. During the colonial period,
written culture was often in the hands of the church, within which
context Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
wrote memorable poetry and philosophical essays. Towards the end of the
18th century and the beginning of the 19th, a distinctive criollo literary tradition emerged, including the first novels such as Lizardi's El Periquillo Sarniento (1816).
The 19th century was a period of "foundational fictions" (in critic Doris Sommer's words), novels in the Romantic or Naturalist
traditions that attempted to establish a sense of national identity,
and which often focussed on the indigenous question or the dichotomy of
"civilization or barbarism" (for which see, say, Domingo Sarmiento's Facundo (1845), Juan León Mera's Cumandá (1879), or Euclides da Cunha's Os Sertões (1902)).
At the turn of the 20th century, modernismo emerged, a poetic movement whose founding text was Rubén Darío's Azul
(1888). This was the first Latin American literary movement to
influence literary culture outside of the region, and was also the first
truly Latin American literature, in that national differences were no
longer so much at issue. José Martí,
for instance, though a Cuban patriot, also lived in Mexico and the
United States and wrote for journals in Argentina and elsewhere.
However, what really put Latin American literature on the global map was no doubt the literary boom of the 1960s and 1970s, distinguished by daring and experimental novels (such as Julio Cortázar's Rayuela (1963)) that were frequently published in Spain and quickly translated into English. The Boom's defining novel was Gabriel García Márquez's Cien años de soledad (1967), which led to the association of Latin American literature with magic realism, though other important writers of the period such as Mario Vargas Llosa and Carlos Fuentes do not fit so easily within this framework. Arguably, the Boom's culmination was Augusto Roa Bastos's monumental Yo, el supremo (1974). In the wake of the Boom, influential precursors such as Juan Rulfo, Alejo Carpentier, and above all Jorge Luis Borges were also rediscovered.
The history of Latin American philosophy is usefully divided into five periods: Pre-Columbian, Colonial, Independentist, Nationalist, and Contemporary (that is, the twentieth century to the present).
Among the major Latin American philosophers is Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Mexico, 1651–1695), a philosopher, composer, poet of the Baroque period, and Hieronymitenun of New Spain (Mexico). Sor Juana was the first philosopher to question the status of the woman in Latin American society. When Catholic Church official instructed Sor Juana to abandon
intellectual pursuits that were improper for a woman, Sor Juana's
extensive answer defends rational equality between men and women, makes a
powerful case for women's right to education, and develops an
understanding of wisdom as a form of self-realization.
Among the most prominent political philosophers in Latin America was José Martí's (Cuba 1854–1895), who pioneered Cuban liberal thought that lead to the Cuban War of Independence. Elsewhere in Latin America, during the 1870-1930 period, the philosophy of positivism or "cientificismo" associated with Auguste Comte in France and Herbert Spencer in England exerted an influence on intellectuals, experts and writers in the region. Francisco Romero
(Argentina 1891–1962) coined the phrase 'philosophical normality' in
1940, in reference to philosophical thinking as 'an ordinary function of
culture in Hispanic America.' Other Latin American philosophers of his
era include Alejandro Korn (Argentina, 1860–1936) who authored 'The
Creative Freedom' and José Vasconcelos (Mexico, 1882–1959) whose work spans metaphysics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of 'the Mexican'. Poet and essayist Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was a Mexican diplomat, and poet, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990. Paz who is one of the most influential writers on Latin American and Spanish culture from Sor Juana to Remedios Varos. More recent Latin American philosophers who practice Latina/o or Latino philosophy include: Walter Mignolo (1941-), Maria Lugones (1948-), and Susana Nuccetelli (1954) from Argentina; Jorge J. E. Gracia (1942), Gustavo Pérez Firmat (1949) and Ofelia Schutte (1944) from Cuba; Linda Martín Alcoff (1955) from Panama; Giannina Braschi (1953) from Puerto Rico; and Eduardo Mendieta (1963) from Colombia. Their formats and styles of Latino philosophical writing differ greatly as the subject matters. Walter Mignolo's
book "The Idea of Latin America" expounds on how the idea of Latin
America and Latin American philosopher, as a precursor to Latino
philosophy, was formed and propagated. Giannina Braschi's writings on Puerto Rican independence focus on financial terrorism, debt, and “feardom”.
Latina/o philosophy is a tradition of thought referring both to
the work of many Latina/o philosophers in the United States and to a
specific set of philosophical problems and method of questioning that
relate to Latina/o identity as a hyphenated experience, borders, immigration, gender, race and ethnicity, feminism, and decoloniality. “Latina/o philosophy” is used by some to refer also to Latin American
philosophy practiced within Latin America and the United States, while
others argue that to maintain specificity Latina/o philosophy should
only refer to a subset of Latin American philosophy.
Latin American music comes in many varieties, from the simple, rural conjunto music of northern Mexico to the sophisticated habanera of Cuba, from the symphonies of Heitor Villa-Lobos to the simple and moving Andean flute. Music has played an important part in Latin America's turbulent recent history, for example the nueva canción
movement. Latin music is very diverse, with the only truly unifying
thread being the use of the Spanish language or, in Brazil, the similar
Portuguese language.
One of the main characteristics of Latin American music is its
diversity, from the lively rhythms of Central America and the Caribbean
to the more austere sounds of southern South America. Another feature of
Latin American music is its original blending of the variety of styles
that arrived in the Americas and became influential, from the early
Spanish and European Baroque to the different beats of the African
rhythms.
Latino-Caribbean music, such as salsa, merengue, bachata, etc., are styles of music that have been strongly influenced by African rhythms and melodies.
The classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobos
(1887–1959) worked on the recording of native musical traditions within
his homeland of Brazil. The traditions of his homeland heavily
influenced his classical works. Also notable is the much recent work of the Cuban Leo Brouwer and guitar work of the Venezuelan Antonio Lauro and the Paraguayan Agustín Barrios.
Arguably, the main contribution to music entered through
folklore, where the true soul of the Latin American and Caribbean
countries is expressed. Musicians such as Atahualpa Yupanqui, Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara, Mercedes Sosa, Jorge Negrete, Caetano Veloso, Yma Sumac
and others gave magnificent examples of the heights that this soul can
reach, for example:the Uruguayan born and first Latin American musician
to win an OSCAR prize, Jorge Drexler.
Latin American cinema flourished after the introduction of sound,
which added a linguistic barrier to the export of Hollywood film south
of the border. The 1950s and 1960s saw a movement towards Third Cinema, led by the Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino. More recently, a new style of directing and stories filmed has been tagged as "New Latin American Cinema."
Mexican movies from the Golden Era in the 1940s are significant examples of Latin American cinema, with a huge industry comparable to the Hollywood of those years. More recently movies such as Amores Perros (2000) and Y tu mamá también
(2001) have been successful in creating universal stories about
contemporary subjects, and were internationally recognised. Nonetheless,
the country has also witnessed the rise of experimental filmmakers such
as Carlos Reygadas and Fernando Eimbicke who focus on more universal themes and characters. Other important Mexican directors are Arturo Ripstein and Guillermo del Toro.
In Brazilian cinema, the Cinema Novo
movement created a particular way of making movies with critical and
intellectual screenplays, a clearer photography related to the light of
the outdoors in a tropical landscape, and a political message. The
modern Brazilian film industry has become more profitable inside the
country, and some of its productions have received prizes and
recognition in Europe and the United States. Movies like Central do Brasil (1999) and Cidade de Deus (2003) have fans around the world, and its directors have taken part in American and European film projects.
Cuban cinema has enjoyed much official support since the Cuban revolution, and important filmmakers include Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.
Intermediate
level international-style Latin dancing at the 2006 MIT ballroom dance
competition. A judge stands in the foreground.
Latin America has a strong tradition of evolving dance styles. Some
of its dance and music is considered to emphasize sexuality, and have
become popular outside of their countries of origin. Salsa
and the more popular Latin dances were created and embraced into the
culture in the early and middle 1900s and have since been able to retain
their significance both in and outside the Americas. The mariachi
bands of Mexico stirred up quick paced rhythms and playful movements at
the same time that Cuba embraced similar musical and dance styles.
Traditional dances were blended with new, modern ways of moving,
evolving into a blended, more contemporary forms.
Ballroom studios teach lessons on many Latin American dances. One can even find the cha-cha being done in honky-tonk country bars. Miami has been a large contributor of the United States' involvement in Latin dancing. With such a huge Puerto Rican and Cuban population one can find Latin dancing and music in the streets at any time of day or night.
Some of the dances of Latin America are derived from and named for the type of music they are danced to. For example, mambo, salsa, cha-cha-cha, rumba, merengue, samba, flamenco, bachata, and, probably most recognizable, the tango
are among the most popular. Each of the types of music has specific
steps that go with the music, the counts, the rhythms, and the style.
Modern Latin American dancing is very energetic. These dances primarily are performed with a partner as a social dance,
but solo variations exist. The dances emphasize passionate hip
movements and the connection between partners. Many of the dances are
done in a close embrace while others are more traditional and similar to
ballroom dancing, holding a stronger frame between the partners.
Theatre
Theatre
in Latin America existed before the Europeans came to the continent.
The natives of Latin America had their own rituals, festivals, and
ceremonies. They involved dance, singing of poetry, song, theatrical
skits, mime, acrobatics, and magic shows. The performers were trained;
they wore costumes, masks, makeup, wigs. Platforms had been erected to
enhance visibility. The 'sets' were decorated with branches from trees
and other natural objects.
The Europeans used this to their advantage. For the first fifty
years after the Conquest the missionaries used theatre widely to spread
the Christian doctrine to a population accustomed to the visual and oral
quality of spectacle and thus maintaining a form of cultural hegemony.
It was more effective to use the indigenous forms of communication than
to put an end to the 'pagan' practices, the conquerors took out the
content of the spectacles, retained the trappings, and used them to
convey their own message.
Pre-Columbian rituals were how the indigenous came in contact
with the divine. Spaniards used plays to Christianize and colonize the
indigenous peoples of the Americas in the 16th century. Theatre was a potent tool in manipulating a population already
accustomed to spectacle. Theatre became a tool for political hold on
Latin America by colonialist theatre by using indigenous performance
practices to manipulate the population.
Theatre provided a way for the indigenous people were forced to
participate in the drama of their own defeat. In 1599, the Jesuits even
used cadavers of Native Americans to portray the dead in the staging of
the final judgment.
While the plays were promoting a new sacred order, their first
priority was to support the new secular, political order. Theatre under
the colonizers primarily at the service of the administration.
After the large decrease in the native population, the indigenous
consciousness and identity in theatre disappeared, though pieces did
have indigenous elements to them. The theatre that progressed in Latin America is argued to be theatre
that the conquerors brought to the Americas, not the theatre of the
Americas.
Progression in Postcolonial Latin American Theatre
Internal strife and external interference have been the drive behind Latin American history which applies the same to theatre.
1959–1968: dramaturgical structures and structures of social
projects leaned more toward constructing a more native Latin American
base called the "Nuestra America".
1968–1974: theatre tries to claim a more homogenous definition
which brings in more European models. At this point, Latin American
Theatre tried to connect to its historical roots.
1974–1984: the search for expression rooted in the history of Latin America became victims of exile and death.
Latin American cuisine refers to the typical foods, beverages, and
cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin
America. Latin America is a very diverse region with cuisines that vary
from nation to nation.
Some items typical of Latin American cuisine include maize-based dishes and drinks (tortillas, tamales, arepas, pupusas, chicha morada, chicha de jora) and various salsas and other condiments (guacamole, pico de gallo, mole). These spices are generally what give the Latin American cuisines a distinct flavor;
yet, each country of Latin America tends to use a different spice and
those that share spices tend to use them at different quantities. Thus,
this leads to a variety across the land. Meat is also widely consumed,
and constitutes one of the main ingredients in many Latin American
countries where they are considered specialties, referred to as Asado or Churrasco.
Latin American beverages are just as distinct as their foods.
Some of the beverages can even date back to the times of the Native
Americans. Some popular beverages include mate, Pisco Sour, horchata, chicha, atole, cacao and aguas frescas.
Historically, Mexicans have struggled with the creation of a united
identity. This particular issue is the main topic of Mexican Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz's 1950 book The Labyrinth of Solitude.
Mexico is a large country with a large population, therefore having
many cultural traits found only in some parts of the country. Northern
Mexico is the least culturally diverse region due to its very low Native American
population and high density of those of European descent. Northern
Mexicans are also more Americanized due to the common border with the
United States. Central and southern Mexico is where many well-known
traditions find their origin, therefore the people from this area are in
a way the most traditional, but their collective personality cannot be
generalized. People from Puebla, for instance, are thought to be conservative and reserved, and just in the neighboring state of Veracruz, people have the fame of being outgoing and liberal. Chilangos (Mexico City natives) are believed to be a bit aggressive and self-centered. The regiomontanos
(citizens from Monterrey) are thought to be rather proud and miserly,
regardless of their social status. Almost every Mexican state has its
own accent, making it fairly easy to distinguish the origin of someone
by their use of language.
The music of Mexico
is very diverse and features a wide range of musical genres and
performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures,
most notably the culture of the indigenous people of Mexico and Europe. Music was an expression of Mexican nationalism, beginning in the nineteenth century.
Prior to the foundation of Mexico as a nation-state, the original inhabitants of the land used drums (such as the teponaztli), flutes, rattles, conches as trumpets and their voices
to make music and dances. This ancient music is still played in some
parts of Mexico. However, much of the traditional contemporary music of
Mexico was written during and after the Spanish colonial period, using
many old world influenced instruments. Many traditional instruments, such as the Mexican vihuela used in Mariachi music, were adapted from their old world predecessors and are traditionally considered Mexican. Popular music genres include son huasteco, ranchera, Mexican bolero, mariachi, corrido, banda, and música norteña. Notable musicians and songwriters include José Mariano Elízaga, Juventino Rosas, Agustín Lara and José Alfredo Jiménez.
Mexicans in places like Guadalajara, Puebla, Monterrey, Mexico City,
and most middle-sized cities, enjoy a great variety of options for
leisure. Shopping centers are a favorite among families, since there has
been an increasing number of new malls
that cater to people of all ages and interests. A large number of them,
have multiplex cinemas, international and local restaurants, food
courts, cafes, bars, bookstores and most of the international renowned
clothing brands are found too. Mexicans are prone to travel within their
own country, making short weekend trips to a neighbouring city or town.
The standard of living in Mexico is higher than most of the other
countries in Latin America attracting migrants in search for better
opportunities. With the recent economic growth, many high-income
families live in single houses, commonly found within a gated community,
called "fraccionamiento". The reason these places are the most popular
among the middle and upper classes is that they offer a sense of
security and provide social status. Swimming pools or golf clubs, and/or
some other commodities are found in these fraccionamientos. Poorer
Mexicans, by contrast, live a harsh life, although they share the
importance they grant to family, friends and cultural habits.
Mexico's national sports are charreria and bullfighting. Pre-Columbian cultures played a ball game which still exists in Northwest Mexico (Sinaloa, the game is called Ulama),
though it is not a popular sport anymore. A considerable portion of the
Mexican population enjoys watching bullfights. Almost all large cities
have bullrings. Mexico City has the largest bullring in the world, which seats 55,000 people. But the favorite sport remains football (soccer) while baseball
is popular buts more specifically in the northern states (possibly
because of the American influence), and a number of Mexicans have become
stars in the US Major Leagues. Professional wrestling is shown on shows
like Lucha Libre. American football is practiced at the major universities like UNAM. Basketball has also been gaining popularity, with a number of Mexican players having been drafted to play in the National Basketball Association.
The culture of Guatemala reflects strong Mayan
and Spanish influences and continues to be defined as a contrast
between poor Mayan villagers in the rural highlands, and the urbanized
and wealthy mestizos population who occupy the cities and surrounding
agricultural plains.
Fiambre, Guatemalan traditional dish, eaten on November 1, the Day of the Dead
The cuisine of Guatemala
reflects the multicultural nature of Guatemala, in that it involves
food that differs in taste depending on the region. Guatemala has 22
departments (or divisions), each of which has very different food
varieties. For example, Antigua Guatemala
is well known for its candy which makes use of many local ingredients
fruits, seeds and nuts along with honey, condensed milk and other
traditional sweeteners. Antigua's candy is very popular when tourists
visit the country for the first time and is a great choice in the search
for new and interesting flavors.
Many traditional foods are based on Maya cuisine
and prominently feature corn, chiles and beans as key ingredients.
Various dishes may have the same name as a dish from a neighboring
country, but may in fact be quite different for example the enchilada or quesadilla, which are nothing like their Mexican counterparts.
The music of Guatemala is diverse. Guatemala's national instrument is the marimba, an idiophone
from the family of the xylophones, which is played all over the
country, even in the remotest corners. Towns also have wind and
percussion bands -week processions, as well as on other occasions. The Garifuna people of Afro-Caribbean descent, who are spread thinly on the northeastern Caribbean coast, have their own distinct varieties of popular and folk music. Cumbia, from the Colombian variety, is also very popular especially among the lower classes. Dozens of Rock bands
have emerged in the last two decades, making rock music quite popular
among young people.
Guatemala also has an almost five-century-old tradition of art music,
spanning from the first liturgical chant and polyphony introduced in
1524 to contemporary art music. Much of the music composed in Guatemala
from the 16th century to the 19th century has only recently been
unearthed by scholars and is being revived by performers.
Guatemalan literature
is famous around the world whether in the indigenous languages present
in the country or in Spanish. Though there was likely literature in
Guatemala before the arrival of the Spanish, all the texts that exist
today were written after their arrival.
The Popol Vuh
is the most significant work of Guatemalan literature in the Quiché
language, and one of the most important of Pre-Columbian American
literature. It is a compendium of Mayan stories and legends, aimed to
preserve Mayan traditions. The first known version of this text dates
from the 16th century and is written in Quiché transcribed in Latin
characters. It was translated into Spanish by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez
in the beginning of the 18th century. Due to its combination of
historical, mythical, and religious elements, it has been called the Mayan Bible. It is a vital document for understanding the culture of pre-Columbian America.
The Rabinal Achí
is a dramatic work consisting of dance and text that is preserved as it
was originally represented. It is thought to date from the 15th century
and narrates the mythical and dynastic origins of the Kek'chi' people
and their relationships with neighboring peoples. The Rabinal Achí is
performed during the Rabinal festival of January 25, the day of Saint Paul. It was declared a masterpiece of oral tradition of humanity by UNESCO in 2005.
The 16th century saw the first native-born Guatemalan writers that wrote in Spanish. Major writers of this era include Sor Juana de Maldonado, considered the first poet-playwright of colonial Central America, and the historian Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán. The Jesuit Rafael Landívar (1731–1793) is considered as the first great Guatemalan poet. He was forced into exile by Carlos III.
He traveled to Mexico and later to Italy, where he did. He originally
wrote his Rusticatio Mexicana and his poems praising the bishop
Figueredo y Victoria in Latin.
Guatemalan girls in their traditional clothing from the town of Santa Catarina Palopó on Lake Atitlán
The Maya people are known for their brightly colored yarn-based textiles, which are woven into capes, shirts, blouses, huipiles
and dresses. Each village has its own distinctive pattern, making it
possible to distinguish a person's home town on sight. Women's clothing
consists of a shirt and a long skirt.
Roman Catholicism combined with the indigenous Maya religion is the unique syncretic
religion which prevailed throughout the country and still does in the
rural regions. Beginning from negligible roots prior to 1960, however, Protestant Pentecostalism has grown to become the predominant religion of Guatemala City and other urban centers and down to mid-sized towns.
The unique religion is reflected in the local saint, Maximón,
who is associated with the subterranean force of masculine fertility
and prostitution. Always depicted in black, he wears a black hat and
sits on a chair, often with a cigar placed in his mouth and a gun in his
hand, with offerings of tobacco, alcohol and Coca-Cola at his feet. The
locals know him as San Simon of Guatemala.
Celebrating the annual "Alegría por la vida"Carnaval in Managua, Nicaragua
Nicaraguan culture has several distinct strands. The Pacific coast has strong folklore, music and religious traditions, deeply influenced by European
culture but enriched with Amerindian sounds/flavors. The Pacific coast
of the country was colonized by Spain and has a similar culture to other
Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. The Caribbean coast of the
country, on the other hand, was once a British protectorate.
English is still predominant in this region and spoken domestically
along with Spanish and indigenous languages. Its culture is similar to
that of Caribbean nations that were or are British possessions, such as Jamaica, Belize, Cayman Islands, etc.
Nicaraguan music
is a mixture of indigenous and European, especially Spanish and to a
lesser extent German, influences. The latter was a result of the German
migration to the central-north regions of Las Segovias where Germans
settled and brought with them polka music which influenced and evolved
into Nicaraguan mazurka, polka and waltz. The Germans that migrated to
Nicaragua are speculated to have been from the regions of Germany which
were annexed to present-day Poland following the Second World War; hence
the genres of mazurka, polka in addition to the waltz. One of the more
famous composers of classical music and Nicaraguan waltz was José de la Cruz Mena who was actually not from the northern regions of Nicaragua but rather from the city of Leon in Nicaragua.
More nationally identified, however, are musical instruments such as the marimba
which is also common across Central America. The marimba of Nicaragua
is uniquely played by a sitting performer holding the instrument on his
knees. It is usually accompanied by a bass fiddle, guitar and guitarrilla (a small guitar like a mandolin).
This music is played at social functions as a sort of background music.
The marimba is made with hardwood plates, placed over bamboo or metal
tubes of varying lengths. It is played with two or four hammers. The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua is known for a lively, sensual form of dance music called Palo de Mayo. It is especially loud and celebrated during the Palo de Mayo festival in May The Garifuna community exists in Nicaragua and is known for its popular music called Punta.
Literature of Nicaragua can be traced to pre-Columbian times with the myths and oral literature
that formed the cosmogonic view of the world that indigenous people
had. Some of these stories are still known in Nicaragua. Like many Latin
American countries, the Spanish conquerors and African slaves have had
the most effect on both the culture and the literature. Nicaraguan
literature is among the most important in Spanish language, with
world-famous writers such as Rubén Darío who is regarded as the most important literary figure in Nicaragua, referred to as the "Father of Modernism" for leading the modernismo literary movement at the end of the 19th century.
El Güegüense
is a satirical drama and was the first literary work of post-Columbian
Nicaragua. It is regarded as one of Latin America's most distinctive
colonial-era expressions and as Nicaragua's signature folkloric
masterpiece combining music, dance and theater. The theatrical play was written by an anonymous author in the 16th
century, making it one of the oldest indigenous theatrical/dance works
of the Western Hemisphere. The story was published in a book in 1942 after many centuries.
The Andes Region comprises roughly much of what is now Venezuela,
Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia, and was the seat of the Inca Empire in the pre-Columbian era. As such, many of the traditions date back to Incan traditions.
During the independization of the Americas many countries
including Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador and Panama formed what was
known as Gran Colombia,
a federal republic that later dissolved, however, the people in these
countries believe each other to be their brothers and sisters and as
such share many traditions and festivals. Peru and Bolivia were also one
single country until Bolivia declared its independence, nevertheless,
both nations are close neighbors that have somewhat similar cultures.
Bolivia and Peru both still have significant Native American
populations (primarily Quechua and Aymara) which mixed Spanish cultural
elements with their ancestors' traditions. The Spanish-speaking
population mainly follows the Western customs. Important archaeological
ruins, gold and silver ornaments, stone monuments, ceramics, and
weavings remain from several important pre-Columbian cultures. Major
Bolivian ruins include Tiwanaku, Samaipata, Incallajta, and Iskanwaya.
The majority of the Ecuadorian population is mestizo, a mixture
of both European and Amerindian ancestry, and much like their ancestry,
the national culture is also a blend of these two sources, along with
influences from slaves from Africa in the coastal region. 95% of
Ecuadorians are Roman Catholic.
Peruvian culture is primarily rooted in Amerindian and Spanish traditions, though it has also been influenced by various African, Asian, and a European ethnic group.
Peruvian artistic traditions date back to the elaborate pottery, textiles, jewelry, and sculpture of Pre-Inca cultures. The Incas maintained these crafts and made architectural achievements including the construction of Machu Picchu. Baroque art dominated in colonial times, though it was modified by native traditions. During this period, most art focused on religious subjects; the numerous churches of the era and the paintings of the Cuzco School are representative. Arts stagnated after independence until the emergence of Indigenismo in the early 20th century. Since the 1950s, Peruvian art has been eclectic and shaped by both foreign and local art currents.
Peruvian cuisine is a blend of Amerindian and Spanish food with strong influences from African, Arab, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese cooking. Common dishes include anticuchos, ceviche, humitas, and pachamanca. Because of the variety of climates within Peru, a wide range of plants and animals are available for cooking. Peruvian cuisine has recently received acclaim due to its diversity of ingredients and techniques.
Peruvian music has Andean, Spanish and African roots. In pre-Columbian times, musical expressions varied widely from region to region; the quena and the tinya were two common instruments. Spanish conquest brought the introduction of new instruments such as
the guitar and the harp, as well as the development of crossbred
instruments like the charango. African contributions to Peruvian music include its rhythms and the cajón, a percussion instrument. Peruvian folk dances include the marinera, tondero and huayno.
The culture of Colombia lies at the crossroads of Latin America.
Thanks partly to geography, Colombian culture has been heavily
fragmented into five major cultural regions. Rural to urban migration
and globalization have changed how many Colombians live and express
themselves as large cities become melting pots of people (many of whom
are refugees) from the various provinces. According to a study in late 2004 by the Erasmus University in
Rotterdam, Colombians are one of the happiest people in the world; this
despite its four-decade long armed conflict involving the government,
paramilitaries, drug lords, corruption and guerrillas like the FARC and
ELN.
Many aspects of Colombian culture can be traced back to the culture of Spain of the 16th century and its collision with Colombia's native civilizations (see: Muisca, Tayrona). The Spanish brought Catholicism, African slaves, the feudal encomienda system, and a caste system that favored European-born whites. After independence from Spain, the criollos struggled to establish a pluralistic political system between conservative and liberal ideals.
Villa de Leyva, a historical and cultural landmark of Colombia
Ethno-racial groups maintained their ancestral heritage culture:
whites tried to keep themselves, despite the growing number of
illegitimate children of mixed African or indigenous ancestry. These
people were labeled with any number of descriptive names, derived from
the casta system, such as mulato and moreno. Blacks and indigenous people of Colombia also mixed to form zambos creating a new ethno-racial group in society. This mix also created a fusion of cultures. Carnivals
for example became an opportunity for all classes and colors to
congregate without prejudice. The introduction of the bill of rights of
men and the abolishment of slavery (1850) eased the segregationist
tensions between the races, but the dominance of the whites prevailed
and prevails to some extent to this day.
The industrial revolution arrived relatively late at the beginning of the 20th century with the establishment of the Republic of Colombia. Colombians had a period of almost 50 years of relative peace interrupted only by a short armed conflict with Peru over the town of Leticia in 1932.
Bogotá, the principal city, was the World Book Capital in 2007, in 2008 by the Iberoamerican Theatrum Festival Bogotá has been proclaimed as the world capital of theatre.
Venezuelan culture has been shaped by indigenous, African and especially European Spanish. Before this period, indigenous culture was expressed in art (petroglyphs), crafts, architecture (shabonos),
and social organization. Aboriginal culture was subsequently
assimilated by Spaniards; over the years, the hybrid culture had
diversified by region.
At present the Indian influence is limited to a few words of
vocabulary and gastronomy. The African influence in the same way, in
addition to musical instruments like the drum. The Spanish influence was
more important and in particular came from the regions of Andalusia and
Extremadura, places of origin of most settlers in the Caribbean during
the colonial era. As an example of this can include buildings, part of
the music, the Catholic religion and language. Spanish influences are
evident bullfights and certain features of the cuisine. Venezuela also
enriched by other streams of Indian and European origin in the 19th
century, especially France. In the last stage of the great cities and
regions entered the U.S. oil source and demonstrations of the new
immigration of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, increasing the already
complex cultural mosaic. For example: From the United States comes the
influence of the taste of baseball and modern architectural structures
Venezuelan art
is gaining prominence. Initially dominated by religious motifs, it
began emphasizing historical and heroic representations in the late 19th
century, a move led by Martín Tovar y Tovar. Modernism took over in the 20th century. Notable Venezuelan artists include Arturo Michelena, Cristóbal Rojas, Armando Reverón, Manuel Cabré, the kinetic artistsJesús-Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez. Since the middle of the 20th century, artists such as Jacobo Borges, Régulo Perez, Pedro León Zapata, Harry Abend,
Mario Abreu, Pancho Quilici, Carmelo Niño and Angel Peña emerged. They
created a new plastic language. The 80s produced artist as Carlos Zerpa,
Ernesto León, Miguel Von Dangel, Mateo Manaure, Patricia Van Dalen, Mercedes Elena Gonzalez,
Zacarías García and Manuel Quintana Castillo. In more recent times,
Venezuela produced a new diverse generation of innovating painters. Some
of them are: Alejandro Bello, Edgard Álvarez Estrada, Gloria Fiallo,
Felipe Herrera, Alberto Guacache and Morella Jurado.
In the 19th century, Brazilian theatre began with romanticism along with a fervour for political independence. During this time, racial issues were discussed in contradictory terms,
but even so, there were some significant plays, including a series of
popular comedies by Martins Penna, França Junior, and Arthur Azevedo.
In the 20th century, the two most important production centers
for professional theatre were São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They were
centers of industrial and economic development. Even with the development of these two theatres, World War I brought an
end to tours by European theatres so there were no productions in
Brazil during this time.
In November 1927, Alvaro Moreyra founded the Toy Theatre (Teatro
de Brinquedo). Like this company, it was in the late 1920s when the
first stable theatre companies formed around well-known actors. These
actors were able to practice authentic Brazilian gestures gradually
freed from Portuguese influence. Except for some political criticism in
the low comedies, the dramas of this period were not popular.
Occasionally the question of dependence on Europe or North America has
raised. Even with more Latin American influence of theatre starting to filter
in, its theatre still was under the heavy influence of Europe.
The Brazilian Comedy Theatre (Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia) was created in 1948
Oswald de Andrade wrote three plays; The King of the Candle (O Rei da Vela, 1933), The Man and the Horse (O Homem e o Cavalo, 1934). and The Dead Woman (A Morta,
1937). They were an attempt to deal with political themes, nationalism,
and anti-imperialism. His theatre was inspired by Meyerhold's and
Brecht's theories, with a political sarcasm like Mayakovsky.
1943 at The Comedians: Polish director and refugee from the
Nazis, Zbigniew Ziembinsky, staged in expressionist style Nelson
Rodrigues' A Bride's Gown (Vestido de Noiva). With this
production, Brazilian theatre moved into the modem period at Theatre
Brasileiro de Commedia (Brazilian Comedy Theater).
World War II saw Brazil gain several foreign directors,
especially from Italy, who wanted to make a theatre free from
nationalistic overtones. Paradoxically, this led to a second renewal
that engaged popular forms and sentiments; a renewal that was decidedly
nationalistic with social point of view.
During this time, the Stanislavsky system of acting was most
popular and widely used. Stanislavski himself came to Brazil via Eugenio
Kusnet, a Russian actor who had met him at the Moscow Art Theatre.
The next phase was from 1958 to the signing of the Institutional
Act Number Five in 1968. It marked the end of freedom and democracy.
These ten years were the most productive of the century. During these
years dramaturgy matured through the plays of Guarnieri, Vianinha, Boal,
Dias Gomes, and Chico de Assis, as did mise-en-scene in the work of
Boal, Jost Celso Martinez Correa, Flavio Rangel, and Antunes Filho.
During this decade a generation accepted theatre as an activity with
social responsibility.
At its height, this phase of Brazilian theatre was characterized
by an affirmation of national values. Actors and directors became
political activists who risked their jobs and lives daily.
Through this growth of Latin America politically and the
influence of European theatre, an identity of what is theatre in Latin
America stemmed out of it.
Holy week, Ouro Preto-MG, 2010. Chrome. Photo: Guy Veloso.
Brazilian contemporary photography is one of the most creative in
Latin America, growing in international prominence each year with
exhibitions and publications. Photographers like Miguel Rio Branco, Vik Muniz, Sebastião Salgado, and Guy Veloso have received recognition.