© t. m. whitmore today social geography wealth race religion economic geography ...

© T. M. Whitmore

TODAY•Social Geography

Wealth Race Religion

•Economic geographyIndustrialization

© T. M. Whitmore

LAST TIME

•MigrationRemittances (a consequence of

international emigration from LA)•Rural to rural migration within LA•Rural to urban migration within LA•Characteristics of migrants and the

migration process

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Social Geography & Development: Wealth

•Average wealth in GDP in PPP/capita

•World ~ $9,100 Lesser developed ~ $4,400+

•USA ~ $41,900

© T. M. Whitmore

Social Geography & Development: Wealth II

•LA ~ $7,900

•Extremes of GDP/capita in LA (< $5,000)Low

Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala Jamaica, HaitiEcuador, Bolivia, Paraguay

Above world average GDP/capita (> $7,500)Costa Rica, MexicoArgentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay

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Percent population living on <$2/day

•World average > 50%

•Latin American average ~ 24%Countries with > 30%

Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador,

Jamaica, Haiti, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay

Countries with fewer than LA averageCosta Rica, MexicoArgentina, Brazil, Uruguay Chile

GDP/capita

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Wealth distribution I•USA

Richest 20% have 40% of all incomePoorest 20% have 5% 65% in middle class

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Wealth distribution II•Latin America

Richest 20% have 50-65% of all income

Poorest 20% have 2-5%30% in the middleCountries with top 20% with more

than 50% of all incomeBrazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela

•Varies within countries

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Social development indicators

•The Human Development Index

•Safe water access

•Population to hospital bed ratio

•Overall worst levels of human developmentBolivia; Ecuador; Paraguay; PeruEl Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras;

NicaraguaDominican Republic; Haiti

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Race & Ethnicity•Colonial legacy of population

holocaust, slavery, and miscegenation

•Post-colonial migrations — much in 19th CenturyAsianEuropean

•=> complex map

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Current ethnic distributions

•Afro-American (Latin Americans are “Americans,” too)BrazilCaribbean (Garifuna)

•AmerindianFormer high culture areas of

Mesoamerica and Andes

•Mestizo: Mexico & CA; Brazil

•Euro-American: Costa Rica; Southern Cone

Garifuna

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Race in Latin America•Racial mixing

•Racial “bleaching”

•Racism

•“Social” races

• Indigenismo & Négritude

http://www.univision.com/

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Catholic Heritage I•Spanish Catholic roots •Spiritual conquest — an integral part

of the conquest of the Americas•Legacy of Church’s history in Latin

AmericaIdentified with power/economic

eliteReform in form of liberation

theology => oppression of the poor is a sin

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Catholic Heritage II•Overwhelmingly people say “soy

Catholico” = “I am a Catholic” Church attendance is often lowBut presence is everywhere

•“Folk” Catholicism — merging of Roman Catholic ritual and beliefs with indigenous (Amerindian) beliefs (syncretism)

•Roman Catholic beliefs have merged with (or been used to mask) various African religious traditions in the Caribbean and Brazil especially

Obatala known as the parent of the Orishas and all human kind. The saint he represents is "Our lady of Mercy“

© 2005-2006 www.santeriareligion101.com

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion: Non-Catholic•Hindu and Islam — imported with

indentured labor to Suriname, Guiana, Trinidad & Tobago mostly (but minorities in all of the Caribbean)

• Judaism — accompanied 1st migrants from Spain (conversos)

•Evangelical Protestants — Protestants outlawed in Spanish/Portuguese colonial timesVery rapid growth in past few decades~40% of Guatemala~1/3 of Brazil

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Inter-Personal socio-cultural traits

•Machismo — men in control of their lives and the lives of others in their lives

•Marianismo — roughly the inverse of machismo (from the idea that the ideal woman resembles Mary in her virtue and purity)

•Role conflict (e.g., casas chicas)•“Personalismo” — much of social,

economic, indeed all life in LA depends on social/family ties & personal spheres of influence and obligation

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Industrialization in the late 19th Century — up through

WWII•Export Processing Industrialization (a

follow on from colonial patterns)

•Low technology manufacture of basic consumer goods

•Era of WW I; Great Depression; through WW II

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Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) (1940s

— 1970s)

•Legitimized by Argentine economist Raul Prebish in 1940 and adopted as official policy by the UN after WWII

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How ISI works• Imposed quotas or tariffs to increase

the price of imported manufactured goods

• Idea is to stimulate local industries

•NOT a new idea

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Consequences of previous rounds of industrialization

• A legacy of: Colonial; 19th C; and especially ISI industrialization

• Spatially uneven: largest states benefit most

• Smaller states forced to band together

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Economic & other assumptions of ISI

• Presumes that “under development” is partly the result of uneven terms of trade between LA and the more developed Atlantic world

• Isolating the country’s economy from the wider world’s economy will allow it to develop without the pressures from the Atlantic World

• Attempt to recreate a mini-model of the economy of more developed states

• Strongly involve the state in economic activities via state enterprises etc.

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Problems with ISI•Role of modern technology in ISI

•Role of changed imports in ISI

•Role of foreign control in ISI

•Role of role of governments in ISI

• Inefficient management due to lack of competition

•Loans to do all this not easily repaid => demands to “restructure” economy”

© t. m. whitmore today social geography wealth race religion economic geography ...

Documents

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latin americaidentified

human kind

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mexico ca brazileuroamerican

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lowbut presence

soy catholico