Latin American Studies Resources

A bolivian man who hijacked a Mexican flight last month claimed to do so in order to deliver Gods message. He claimed that the date 9/9/09 was symbolic of the feared 666, and had to warn the Mexican people.

This article focuses on the political tension between Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and the US government. He remarked of his support for Obama but questioned whether there were 2 Obamas, since he believes that the US gov't knew about the situation in Honduras and supported it.

This article highlights the tension between government policies and indigenous populations in Ecuador. Due to the abundance of natural resources in the area, many indigenous communities are facing cultural and political instability.

This is an essay written by a Professor of Anthropology about masculinity in Christian Mexican music

This is an article about how Latin American drug smugglers are using GPS devices to outsmart the police

This article shows the spread of Evangelical Protestantism through the eyes of a devoted Catholic. His views, although different from what we have read so far in Smilde's ethnography, provide a new look into what could be causing the decreasing of Catholisism in Latin America.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Sao Paulo for a five-day visit to the world's most populous Roman Catholic nation. This article discusses what the Pope considers to be the main threat for the Roman Catholic church in the area: evangelical churches.

This article is a broad overview of Venezuela. It includes key facts about the media and government leaders.

This blog discusses how Evangelicalism works as a frame for civil society in Venezuela due to the restrictions that the church enforces. This particular blog post also happens to be written by David Smilde, the author of the current book we are reading.

This article explores the full range of religious changes in Latin America while it experienced a profound pluralization of faith. This article gives an overview of the religious economies theory and the subcultural identity theory to use them and reanalyze the process of pluralization in Latin America.

This site contains an article based on the contemporary perspectives of men and masculinity in Latin American Countries. Detailing numerous countries like Brazil and Mexico, you can see the similarities and differences of what masculine identity is to each individual country or culture. "The materials analyzed are organized around the principal themes within which studies of masculinity in Latin America have been framed, namely the construction of masculine identity, fatherhood, practices and representations, homosocial spaces of masculinity, reproductive health, and masculine sexuality."

This is a radio show discussing the violence against women as a result of the machismo culture. It also discusses a group of men from Nicaragua that are participating in a program to "unlearn" the aspects of being macho.

This article discusses the struggle to change women's roles in Latin American countries. The main portion of discussion addressing equality for women exist in a mainly academic atmosphere and there is a need to spread to a media more targeted in toward the general population. As long as the stereotypes of men and women remained unaddressed violence toward women and their expectations as only domestic beings will endure.

This article discusses the recent visit to Venezuela from the leader of Libya Moammar Gadhafi to meet with President Chavez. While there the two signed a declaration claiming no one will be punished for fighting for their freedom with "self-determination" as terrorists. The hope is that the document will limit influence of Western Nations such as the United States and Britain from interfering in global affairs.

This article is interesting because it discusses several different factors relating to Venezuela. Venezuela is known to have one of the highest murder rates in the world and gang violence is often one of the leading causes of the continuous mortalities which occur. Although police are investigating the crime, many people assume that violence within the country will unfortunately only continue over time...

This article is especially interesting because it discuses the notion of 'machismo' but it does so in a different way than 'machismo' is normally discussed. This article is an example of the initial steps towards a reform in the Latin American society because it describes the ways in which churches are beginning to educate about the dangers and threats of the machismo culture. Many people do not truly know who the 'machismo' are, what it means to be involved in their lifestyle, and the dangers that arise as a result.

This article evaluates the current violent, political situation in Honduras. In order to regain the strength of the country, the Latin America and the Caribbean program department of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has been working to design programs that aim to bring justice and hope back the people of Honduras. This article demonstrates ways in which people can help pray for Honduras and show their support.

This article is about the possibility of the Vatican getting involved in the Honduran government crisis as a third-party negotiator between ex-Presiden Manuel Zelaya and the current ruling group. The Church in Honduras is seen as a powerful political entity, with graasroots support and a powerful media outlet.

This article is about the Church in Bogotá, Colombia heading an interfaith dialogue on domestic violence with delegates from 16 countries and 13 religious denominations. The basic idea of the conference was that religious leaders should join together to fight domestic violence from their pulpits.

This blog describes a Pentecostal movement called Charismatic, headed by the bishops in Guatemala. The movement is about deepening the spirituality in the lives of the church members and the priests. The blog also describes the dangers of the movement going beyond the control of the Church, and into "peculiar kinds of prayers, exclusive attitudes... and overemphasis on emotions".