...Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” is about the racist stereotypes that she has encountered in her life. Cofer is known for the publishing of three collections of poetry, four essay collections, four novels, and short story collections. Cofer is currently “Regents’ and Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia” (230). In this essay Cofer often experiences being stereotyped based off her beauty and ethnic background. Cofer is a beautiful Hispanic woman “who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool” (231), as she stated in the beginning of the essay. Cofer begins the essay by relating an experience where a drunk man started singing "Maria”, from "Westside Story” (231) to her, while she is on a bus trip to London from Oxford. Cofer tries to keep her cool even though everyone around her finds it entertaining. Cofer states “I managed my version of an English smile: no show of teeth, no extreme contortions of facial muscles. . .” (231). At this moment, Cofer is aggravated by the actions of the drunk man but tries to keep her composure. Cofer feels that just because she is beautiful that does not...
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...a variety of Latin American music. Out of this music came the dances we know today as: Son, Danzon, the rhythms of Carnival, Cha, cha, cha, Mambo, Tango, and Salsa. Salsa is based on Cuban styles that had developed in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. In the ‘60s and ‘70s the salsa spread to other parts of Latin America like Colombia and Venezuela. Throughout the ‘70s, in an area in south-west Colombia called “Metropolis”, emerged as an important new center for salsa dance and music. This area was known as “the world salsa capital”. Types of Salsa Dance Salsa has been made into different forms of dance. I will briefly discuss the various types of dancing that available. Now, most of us have seen or maybe even experienced some form of Latin dance. The most popular and flashy of the salsa dancing is the L.A. Style. This form of Salsa is very flashy that uses dips and flips. L.A. Style is definitely great to watch, with the women being very sensual and the men tend do to a lot of jumps, flips and spins. Cuban Style is based of the rhythms of the music. It is also a non-partnered dance, which is optional. This style of dancing is also very male dominated because the men do more of the flashy dances than the women. The last dance that is awesome is the Colombian Salsa. The Colombian Salsa is danced differently throughout Colombia. This style of Salsa is calmer, closer, where both dancer’s bodies are almost touching one another. Conclusion In this essay, I provided a...
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...Lourdes Perez Professor Falknor English 1301 “Latin Women Pray” Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Puerto Rican author whose work includes a range of literary categories such as poetry, short stories, autobiography, essays and young-adult fiction. She was born on February 24, 1952, moved to Paterson, New Jersey with her family in 1956. There she attended Butler High School. Cofer then attended Augusta College where she received a B.A. in English and later an M.A. in English from Florida, Atlantic University. In the poem, “Latin Women Pray” the author, Judith Ortiz Cofer makes it seem that the women’s prayers are pointless. The women realize that prayer could be pointless, but keeping hope alive (being bilingual) they can find a reason to keep their faith. It signifies the faithfulness and devotion of Latin women in church. In line three, Cofer mentions “They pray in Spanish to an Anglo God with a Jewish heritage.” Meaning that these women have to pray to a God that is not like them. She characterizes the women’s God as a “Great White Father” and not as a Spanish one. It may be a representation of the American culture. They don’t speak the same language, they don’t share the same culture, indicating that the women are worshipping a being unlike themselves. They pray to a God that doesn’t understand what they are saying. Despite those differences the women keep praying to him with hope that someday they might understand each other. “Imperturbable in his marble pedestal looks down...
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...United States. Integrating these two unique cultures has been a wonderful experience. For immigrants in the United States culture differences can be difficult and complicate. Assimilating two separate cultures is an ongoing challenge. In this essay, I will describe the issues many immigrants face in regards to diversity, stereotyping, preserving self identity and personal values. America is nation that is populated with a culturally diverse group of people. The United States has welcomed more immigrants than any other country. The steady stream of people coming to America has had a profound effect on the evolution of American society. America is known as the land of the free and people from all over the world are attracted by promise of opportunity and success. It is not easy for those who move to the United States from other countries. It takes a lot of courage and sacrifice to leave your homeland and come to a new country, but the prospect of a better life makes the risk worth taking. Immigrants who come to America enrich the country by bringing aspects of their native cultures with them. For example, Hispanic Americans celebrate their culture with street fairs and other festivities on Cinco de Mayo. Other cultures, such as African Americans celebrate both Kwanzaa, a festival drawn from African rituals. As the population of the United States becomes more diverse its people are being exposed to holidays and traditions they would never have been experienced. One of the hurdles...
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...Malinche; the Latin American Strong Woman In the interpretations of the Nauhua figure, Malinalli through history, she has been cast in several roles. These include but are not limited to; * “Dona Marina,” the great lady of Hernan Cortes. * “Malintzin,” the noble prisoner/captive of Cortes. * “La Malinche,” the embodiment of treachery against the Latin people. While there are many portrayals of her, there is an underlying theme in all of them. That she is a compelling force in events despite the traditional roles of women of the time. For example when comparing Laura Esquival’s, “Malinche” Malinalli variant to the one found in Gary Jennings “Aztec,” readers will find two different portrayals her but with the same dominance. Due to this extraordinary puissance, it leads me believe that she is a strong woman. Due to the diversity of works that showcase her I will be focusing on the following two representations of her as seen in Esquival’s novel, “Malinche” and Jose Limon’s ballet, “La Malinche.” Let’s begin by examining Laura Esquival’s interpretation in “La Malinche.” Written in 2006, I believe this novel characterizes Malinalli as a strong woman. Furthermore, as an ambassador and a genius. She is a woman struggling between the remnants of her native Aztec civilization and the culture of the invading Spaniards. Through these trials and tribulations, her character grows from the naïve slave girl to the mother of a new civilization. She didn’t begin as a strong...
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...Why does Chasteen believe that Latin-Americans come to the United States? Chasteen believes that Latin Americans wanted to be able to live and work in conditions similar to the United States middle class, along with poverty and proximity. 2) Who was Hernán Cortez? Cortez was a Spanish explorer and conquistador that led an expedition to overthrow the Aztec empire of Tenochtitlan. 3) Who was Bartolomé de las Casas? What is he best known for? Bartolome de las Casas was a university-educated, fortune-seeking young man. By the age of 40, he preached against Spanish exploitation of encomiendas to protect indigenous Americans from the system. He is best known for protection of the Indians and the famous writing “A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies”. 4) What is the “encomienda”? A system that started in Spain where the conquerors were rewarded with people. Indigenous people were assigned to each conqueror, who had the responsibility of Christianizing them and using them for labor. 5) What does “mestizo” mean? “Mestizo” is a person of mixed race, such as indigenous and European heritage. ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Give three examples of things that all Latin-Americans have in common according to Chasteen. According to Chasteen, Latin Americans are interpreted as “Hot-blooded Latins” with too much “nonwhite blood”. He mentions that as...
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...Scholar Essay Who am I to judge ones race, class or gender? , from the way they to look to the sway in their, who am I to judge what they should be called or what they shouldn’t be called. Just because the individual is a lighter color than me or from a different ethnicity, aren’t we all consider to be as an equal? The binary stereotyping and mixed cultural signals of African American and Latino females are identified in Mammies, Matriarch and Other Controlling Images and The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria examines the race, class, gender, and sexuality and how these representations speak to the African American and Latino women .Race, Class, and Gender are constructed categories that causes controlling images such as Mammy, Hot Tamale, Bad Black Woman, and Jezebels to become a natural way of thinking leading women to act and believe that is who they are and eventually they who will become. Patricia Collins article (Chap 4), “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images” (2000), defines the oppression, objectification, and controlling images of African American women in the society, as well as the social acceptance of African American women. Collins supports her theories and hypothetical thinking with supporting statements from other black feminist that illustrate similar beliefs and theories that she asserts in her article. Collins purpose and objective is to point out the stereotypical condition of African American women in the society and...
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...Ethnographic Essay Rarely do we look our culture and how it affects the way we communicate and interact with each other. Culture is innate to us and we are usually unaware of it because it is an apart of us that we are unable to separate from and analyze. This is what I have learned from interacting and interviewing Luciana Cappuccino better known as “Lucky”. I was aware of her Spanish culture when I was first introduced to her just because of her first name. We sometimes forget how something as personal as our name is stamped by our cultural origin. I did further research into her name; I found out that Luciana is a typical Spanish name meaning light. The religious ties were very prevalent from the beginning even before I had started the interview. Argentina like most of Latin America and my own culture, the Caribbean has a deep history of colonialization; which is even more crucial part to the history of Luciana Cappuciano since she is of European ancestry. The Europeans arrived in Argentina 1502 this is most likely when Lucky’s ancestors first entered Latin America. One of the issues Lucky faced is being ethnically a Caucasian but identifying herself as a Latina. This is her avowal identity, meaning that is the identity “that [she] choose[s] to associate with and portray” (Willis-Rivera 28). However most American ascribes a Caucasian identity to her because of her blonde hair and fair skin; which is features attributes as white in America. This issue was something we discussed...
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...approach. He was founder and principal of Tuskegee Institute, a normal and industrial school in Alabama. Students would receive instruction in thirty-three trades and industries, including carpentry, blacksmithing, printing, and machinery to name a few. His school aimed to train African-Americans in the skills that would help them the most in everyday practical things of life. “…the policy of industrial schools- fitting students for occupations which would be open to them in their home communities (Washington, 4).” For example, in the South there was a demand for men to operate dairies in a skillful, modern manner. This resulted in Washington adding a dairy department in connection with the school that instructed a number of young men in the latest and scientific methods of dairy work. He does not agree with the notion that many think industrial education is meant to make Negroes work as they did in the days of slavery. In fact, his school consists of teaching them how not to work, but how to make forces of nature work for them. Du Bois was different, he thought teaching them liberal arts and sciences would be the best way to address black education. Du Bois wanted African Americans encouraged to succeed in liberal arts and...
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...African American's Journey Essay Below is a free essay on "African American's Journey" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples. “African American’s Journey to Freedom” Charity Johnson HIS204: American History since 1865 Instructor: Leslie Ruff February 11, 2013 “African American’s Journey to Freedom” To some African Americans it may seem ironic that The United States of America is known as “the land of the free” considering that majority of their ancestors entered the US as slaves. African Americans were brought to North America via the middle passage which originated during the fifteenth century. They were enslaved for approximately 400 hundred years until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Although African Americans were enslaved in America, they were determine to survive and one day be freed in this great country. During The African American’s journey to freedom several significant events took place which was inclusive of but not limited to: The Civil Rights Movement of 1865-1877, Separate but Equal Legislation (Plessy vs. Ferguson court case) in 1896, The Harlem Renaissance of 1920, Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, The March on Washington Movement of 1963, and The Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970. I will discuss the significance of these events in relation to the African American journey to freedom and how they have help shape American society today. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF 1865-1877 Frequently when...
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...AP World History Survival Guide Name ________________________________ Teacher __________________________ Block _________________ Table of Contents | Pages | AP World History Overview | 3 – 7 | The AP Exam | 3 | World Regions | 4 – 5 | Five Course Themes | 6 | Four Historical Thinking Skills | 7 | Essays Overview | 8 - 15 | Document-based Question (DBQ) | 8 – 12 | Change and Continuity over Time (CCOT) | 13 – 15 | Comparative Essay | 16 – 18 | Released Free Response Questions | 19 – 20 | AP Curriculum Framework | 21 – 38 | Period 1 (Up to 600 B.C.E.)—5% | 21 – 22 | Period 2 (600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.)—15% | 23 – 25 | Period 3 (600 to 1450)—20% | 26 – 28 | Period 4 (1450 to 1750)—20% | 29 – 31 | Period 5 (1750 to 1900)—20% | 32 – 35 | Period 6 (1900 to the present)—20% | 36 – 38 | Help with Some Confusing Subjects | 39 – 43 | Chinese Dynasties | 39 | Political, Economic, and Social Systems | 40 | Religions | 41 | Primary Sources | 42 | “Must Know” Years | 43 | * Many of the guidelines in this study packet are adapted from the AP World History Course Description, developed by College Board. The AP Exam Purchasing and taking the AP World History exam are requirements of the course. This year, the AP World History exam will be administered on: ___________________________________________ Format I. Multiple...
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...Gabriel Garcia Marquez In my essay I want to talk about Gabriel Garcia Marquez two famous works “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”. Gabriel García Márquez was born in 1928, in the small town of Aracataca, Colombia. He started his career as a journalist. When One Hundred Years of Solitude was published in his native Spanish in 1967, as Cien años de soledad, García Márquez achieved true international fame; he went on to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. One Hundred Years of Solitude is perhaps the most important, and the most widely read, text to emerge from that period. It is also a central and pioneering work in the movement that has become known as magical realism, which was characterized by the dreamlike and fantastic elements woven into the fabric of its fiction. Even as it draws from García Márquez’s provincial experiences, One Hundred Years of Solitude also reflects political ideas that apply to Latin America as a whole. Latin America once had a thriving population of native Aztecs and Incas (of the many complex civilizations to arise in the ancient Americas, the Aztecs, the last ancient Mexican civilization, known for their huge city-on-a-lake of Tenochtitlan and for the practice of mass human sacrifice; and the Incas of Peru, whose rigid state structure and many golden treasures so amazed the Spanish invaders.) but, slowly, as European explorers arrived, the native population had to adjust to the technology and capitalism...
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...achievement in the education system. Include discussion on the causes/development and the consequences of the issues and make suggestions on how to solve these problems. Length of essay 2000 words (7 pages, line space of 1.5). References must be included and are not part of the word count. This is an individual effort. Date due: 20 November, 2012. (TOTAL: 25 MARKS) Discussion The feminization of the teaching profession For over a century, women and the ‘feminization’ of the teaching profession have been debated in most developed and newly-developing countries the world over. According to Bank (2007), an occupation that is predominantly made up of women is said to be ‘feminized’. However, when sociologists and educators refer to feminization they are referring to labour market tendencies where the participation of women in various occupations is increasing. (Drudy et al, 2005). The Working Group of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) has used similar terms to refer to feminization. In so doing, feminization is the expression to ‘describe the phenomenon of large-scale entry into the teaching profession by women…’ (in Wylie 2000 p.1). Furthermore, the ETUCE report indicated three distinct meanings, within this: 1a statistical meaning, used in calculating percentages of men and women in a...
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...History Essay – Fidel Castro Castro’s Social Policies After coming to power in 1959 with the aim of making radical change to the country. He promised to end inequality, corruption and the economic dependency on USA. With these aims, he implemented economic policies to generate economic growth. The ups and downs of Cuba’s economic performance had not affected the state’s considerable investment in social reform, foreign aid and military involvement. Underpinned by long term credit and trade agreements with USSR, the Cubans had achieved standards of health and literacy rivaling those of developed countries. After his coming to power, Castro had managed to reduce the infant mortality rate, a yardstick of development of development from 60 per thousand live children in 1958 to 13.2 in 1980. On the eve of the revolution there had been one doctor for 5,000 Cubans, whereas thirty years later there was one per 400. Average life expectancy had risen from 74 to 57 and only 2 percent of the population was illiterate compared to 24 percent in 1958. All children of primary school age now attended schools whereas only 56 percent had done so before the revolution. The bare figures conceal the extent of social and economic change in Cuba. Castro’s reform aimed to introduce social justice and allow all sectors of society to have equal oppurtunities. Reforms in health, education and the treatment of women and of minorities were implemented among other areas. Some of these reforms clashed...
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...AP World History Survival Guide Name ________________________________ Teacher __________________________ Block _________________ Table of Contents | Pages | AP World History Overview | 3 – 7 | The AP Exam | 3 | World Regions | 4 – 5 | Five Course Themes | 6 | Four Historical Thinking Skills | 7 | Essays Overview | 8 - 15 | Document-based Question (DBQ) | 8 – 12 | Change and Continuity over Time (CCOT) | 13 – 15 | Comparative Essay | 16 – 18 | Released Free Response Questions | 19 – 20 | AP Curriculum Framework | 21 – 38 | Period 1 (Up to 600 B.C.E.)—5% | 21 – 22 | Period 2 (600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.)—15% | 23 – 25 | Period 3 (600 to 1450)—20% | 26 – 28 | Period 4 (1450 to 1750)—20% | 29 – 31 | Period 5 (1750 to 1900)—20% | 32 – 35 | Period 6 (1900 to the present)—20% | 36 – 38 | Help with Some Confusing Subjects | 39 – 43 | Chinese Dynasties | 39 | Political, Economic, and Social Systems | 40 | Religions | 41 | Primary Sources | 42 | “Must Know” Years | 43 | * Many of the guidelines in this study packet are adapted from the AP World History Course Description, developed by College Board. The AP Exam Purchasing and taking the AP World History exam are requirements of the course. This year, the AP World History exam will be administered on: ___________________________________________ Format I. Multiple...
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