The creation of national cultures in twentieth-century Latin America was in many ways a departure from previous attempts in the nineteenth century to model their societies on Western Europe and the United States. In the cases of both Brazil and Cuba, why did these nations begin to look inward to develop their national character? Brazil developed an identity after fighting vehemently against European imperialism. Brazil wanted to create a cohesive national identity to establish a sense of unity and identity to its country and people. Brazil’s history of cultural reliance is traced back to the first century after independence when the nation struggled to construct a coherent national identity. Confused by their racial diversity and overcome …show more content…
Under Batista 's oppressive rule the people of Cuba could not expand culturally. “ “Memories of Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s vary widely; they represent a point of tension between those sympathetic to the socialist revolution and others ambivalent or opposed to it. From the vantage of the present, pre- revolutionary memories can be used to justify the actions of revolutionaries or to criticize them and thus retain discursive significance. Authors often discuss the period in essentialized terms. Supporters of socialist Cuba have tended to characterize the “pseudo-republic” as one of the darkest periods of the country’s history.” The fear of being overcome by Western ideals of consumerism and capitalism pushed the people of Cuba to search inward for what it meant to be Cuban. Instead of searching outward as capitalistic materialism of western culture urges it’s inhabitants to do. Post revolutionary Cuba was not a place where such economic and social injustice could exist.
The people of Cuban were looking for an escape from the
Brazil, in particular, was adamant about being different from its neighbors. What was happening in the larger world that made these nations reject modern manifestations of traditional western culture (capitalism, consumerism)? Pay specific attention to the rise of the United States as an international power and the post-WWII reality of the Cold