Week 9: North American presence in Latin America, and vice versa.

 This weeks readings focused on the North American influence in Latin America. As discussed in earlier lectures, Latin Americans perceived North America as a progressive, modern and wealthy nation, filled with exciting opportunities. On the other hand, Latin Americans were perceived as backward and childlike nations. Through commerce, however, Latin America began to gain more visibility in the United States when culture and products were exchanged.

As discussed both in lecture and by Dawson, Carmen Miranda was one of the first ones to introduce Latin American culture and gain fame in the United States. She came to represent a beautiful, exotic and sexual Latin American woman. Dawson notes in his text: "One of the most obvious costs came in the ways that particular cultures and individuals were flattened into a single image of Latin American sensuality for a global audience." (p. 195) I think this is an issue that translates into the context of today's presentation of both Latin American women but also their culture. Latin American music has gained significant attention in North America and Europe, and the representation of women is always sexually inviting. Of course, this music (and dance styles that come along) is primarily being consumed in Latin America by Latin Americans, but as it gains larger audience globally, the Latin American woman remains primarily represented as a sexual object.

Furthermore, I think the spread of Latin American music is interesting. For a long time Spanish music was quite a small scene but in the past few years it has become increasingly popular. I live in Finland and "Fiesta Latina", that was initially organized every Wednesday evening on a relatively small terrace, has suddenly become a massive event that is now unable to fit all its customers to the space it has been taken place for years. People come to dance salsa, bachata and reggaeton, even if they have no connection to these dance styles or cultures whatsoever. Moreover, a radio station here played for the entire summer exclusively Latin music. Why do you think this development has taken place? Why has Latin American culture become such an appealing product in the North? Do you think it increases the representation of Latin American culture and people in positive terms or not? 

Finally, I would like to discuss the video Journey to Banana Land. I watched the video before reading the chapter by Dawson and I was quite confused as to why bananas were significant. However, after reading the context of the video it seemed quite obvious that it was a piece of propaganda. The entire process of producing the good, from labour to the supermarket was all portrayed as relatively easy and convenient. There was no mention about the conflicts and abuse by the UFCO, which would have been quite relevant part of the entire process. Furthermore, as Dawson notes about the representation of ethnicity and class, the producers were all dark skinned while the consumers in the US were wealthy, white and happy middle class. Moreover, I was confused about the term "Banana Land", since it sounded quite derogative to me. In Argentina people who were somehow dumb would sometimes be referred to as "bananas", which gave me the negative connotation of the term. However, I am not sure if this is a real thing :D 

So my questions were: 

Why do you think this development has taken place?

Why has Latin American culture become such an appealing product in the North? Do you think it increases the representation of Latin American culture and people in positive terms or not? 

Is the term "Banana Land" a real thing or does it bear a negative connotation?