Blog One

Jacob Smithson

WH 130

Professor Pete Soland

17 October 2019

Latin America: Definition of the Region and Possible Distinctions

The terms Latin America and Latin American are used frequently within Latin American Civilization as a course as well as Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America but little explanation exists for what these terms mean specifically as the closest explanation that is given is, “The region of Latin America (that) includes Central American countries such as Guatemala, Panama, and Nicaragua, as well as South American states such as Brazil, Columbia, and Argentina” (Strada 151). In the modern day, Latin American countries and territories are considered to be places like Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and many others (Latin American Network Information Center) due to their geographic location as well as the commonalities in the spoken languages. In order to understand why these places are considered Latin American however, one must first look to make sense of the importance of the phrase “Latin American”.

Although “Latin America” is used as a cohesive term for nearly all countries that have mostly three common languages (Spanish, Portugese, and French), it is not accurate to categorize the region with a broad descriptor such as “Latin America” as the people enveloped in each region of the broad expanse of “Latin America” come from different histories, different nations, and many different cultures. The reason this is an inaccurate way to identify the people in the area however is because they are much more likely to claim to be “Ecuadorian”  (if they were from Ecuador) before they claim to be “Latin American”. Small differences such as these may begin to uncover why one should no longer use the catch all term “Latin American” when describing someone from the region or “Latin America” to describe the region itself. 

To further explain why the distinction should be made between the regions within “Latin America”, it is important to understand that although some might consider “Latin American” or “Latino” race, it is best explained by Patrick Wolfe when he states that, “There are no grounds for assuming that such striking disparities can be reconciled under a single master category called race” (Wolfe 867). This is important to distinguish because oftentimes when a group of people is seen as dramatically different by a separate group, they are often categorized together which is the case when it comes to “Latin Americans”.

If one were to stop clustering the populations of the region all together, there would need to be a better way to differentiate between them however. One such way to distinguish “Latin Americans” from each other may potentially be by making use of the differences in languages spoken. For example, one may categorize the populations based on whether the majority speaks Portugese, French, Spanish, or another language. What these new groups may be called however is something that would continue to be up for debate by those that live within the region that is to be renamed. 

In spite of the above, there are many shared characteristics between the countries and territories that enable the people within to identify themselves as “Latin American”. For example, in the modern day the people of the region may consider themselves to be part of a larger group that envelopes the entirety of what we call “Latin America” in the event of political distress, war, or natural disaster. This is seen specifically in the situation of Venezuela which is currently in a politically tense climate where, “Venezuela’s neighbor, Colombia, confronts the double challenge of being the country most impacted by the flow of Venezuelan refugees and arms,” (Ellis 30). In this situation, the populations of Venezuela and Columbia may view themselves as part of something larger than just their own countries but instead see themselves as “Latin Americans”.

In summary, although the region of Latin America is seen as one by those that don’t live within it, the area is much more complex than most believe it to be. The most effective way to categorize the region would be to allow those that populate it to distinguish themselves and from the past to the modern day it appears that if a change were to be made to the distinction the nation would receive, it would have already occurred and Latin America will be around for much longer. Additionally, because of the socio-political climate surrounding countries like Venezuela, other countries in the region may allow themselves to be led by example by the likes of Columbia in terms of uniting as one by assisting neighboring countries in order for progress to continue. 

Works Cited

Ellis, Evan R. “The Collapse of Venezuela and Its Impact on the Region.” Military Review, July 2017.

“Latin American Network Information Center.” Countries in Latin America & the Caribbean, The University of Texas at Austin, http://lanic.utexas.edu/subject/countries/.

Strada, Michael J. Through the Global Lens: an Introduction to the Social Sciences. Routledge, 2016.

Wolfe, Patrick. “Land, Labor, and Difference: Elementary Structures of Race.” American Historical Review, vol. 106, no. 3, June 2001, pp. 866–905., doi:10.2307/2692330.