Latin American Culture: More Than a Siesta

“Very friendly and open,” “dancing,” “lively,” and “warm,” are just a few of the words Margo Mindnich, a Communication Arts major at Marymount Manhattan College, used when asked to describe her first thoughts on Latin American culture.

Truthfully, these qualities are what most Americans think in response to a Latino reference: fast music, swinging hips, wife beater tank-tops, and baggy jeans. These are just a few of the stereotypes brought to mind as people think of Latin American culture, when there is much more than meets the eye….

One such organization is the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. They take great pride in promoting Latin American culture, specifically the organization’s literature department.

“AS is the premier forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas,” stated José Negroni, Assistant to the Director of Literature at the Department of Literature at the Americas Society. “Its mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.”

They truly are the front line for the spread of Latin American culture. In the past month, the AS-COA has held several events promoting Latin American literature, awareness of the culture’s history and politics, and art and music. They have featured Eugenio Chang-Rodríguez, a top figure when it comes to Latin American and Spanish political history, at a discussion panel of his book Pensamiento y acción en González Prada, Mariátegui y Haya de la Torre, an analytical piece on three of Latin America’s most prominent historical political essayists….

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