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Spanish American Customs, Culture and Personality. PDF

359 Pages·2007·5.25 MB·English
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ri DOCUMENT RESUME FL 003 704 ED 069 196 AUTHOR Reindorp, Reginald C. TITLE Spanish American Customs, Culture and Personality. PUB DATE 68 NOTE 358p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$13.16 DESCRIPTORS American Culture; *Area Studies; Comparative Analysis; *Cross Cultural Studies; Cultural Background; Cultural Differences; Cultural Interrelationships; International Education; *Latin American Culture; *Sociocultural Patterns; Spanish Culture; *Spanish Speaking ABSTRACT This textbook develops a cross-cultural portrait of Latin America. Four major sections are concerned with the cultural blueprint, historical and social foundations, the social structure, and intellectual and economic life. Subchapters include: (1) the rise of the Spanish people, (2) administration and jurisprudence, (3) the church, (4) the personality heritage, (5) early New World civilizations, (6) Spanish America to independence, (7) independence and its problems, (8) social background, (9) attitudes and beliefs, (10) customs and practices, (11) education and intellectualism, (12) art and tradition, (13) ethics and linguistic usage, and (14) economics and business administration. A bibliography is provided. (RL) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION 8 WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. SPANISH AMERICAN CUSTOMS. CULTURE AND PERSONALITY Reginald C. Reindorp Department of Foreign Languages Wesleyan College Macon, Georgia 1968 O rib (46 0 FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY Copyright 1968 Reginald C. Reindorp "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY 9.,..i&*tru.\ K.Q.,04:9 TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE U.S. OFFICE Oi EDUCATION. FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM REOUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER." Available through College Book Store Wesleyan College Macon, Georgia 31201 ii The above quotation, beside the library at the Institute Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores in the city of Monterrey, State of 1uevo Leon, United States of Mexico, could be but is not necessarily, the motto for "Tec." It is, however, the philosophy of the Spanish Ameri- can in epigrammatic form. 0 PREFACE Most people are interested in travel, are quite curious about the behavior of other peoples or nationalities and are eager to hear about it. The meat of any good traveller's tale is not the strange places it tells about but the "queer people." Stories of alien customs are the gossip of our species and they and travelogues are listened to with the same. mixture of smug self-satisfaction and acknowledged envy which makes the smaller gossip of one's own society so delectable. The greatest of all international gossips, Herodotus, devotes much of his history to what we would call today descriptions of culture. He even goes so far as to point out some of the more outstanding dif- ferences between Greek and Egyptian customs, with genuine surprise that these barbarians retired to the house to perform their private functions instead of taking to the street in civilized Greek fashion. In other words, what "we" do is the only "civilized" way. The modern term is ethnocentrism. The unabashed egotism required to undertake such a study as is presented here can be excused only on the basis of man's lack of knowledge concerning himself and the need to fill the void. In this light, any small and humble contributions, where so few are avail- able, may be acceptable for they may add to the small store of know- ledge available in this field. A proper scientific study would require that one be at least a specialist in each of the disciplines of sociology, psychology, anthropology and philosophy, to name a few, and be bi- lingually fluent in two languages with all that this implies with refer- ence to a thorough understanding of the two cultures involved in the study. Since all this seems not to fall within the realm of the probable at present, perhaps a study based on first-hand observation and re- search over many years will not be unacceptable. The experience of teaching the Spanish language to English- speaking students and vice versa, on both sides of the Rio Grande, in- variably left a sense of dissatisfaction. There was the feeling that something was lacking, that more was needed to make the language come alive and to facilitate learning. After all, they are living langu- ages and should not be studied as dead ones. While meditating upon the problems, which the students struggled with, in the light of my own use of the language over the years, a possible solution for the problem began to take form. It soon became clear that while I had learned the language in context, in the common, everyday situations of life, my students had not the slightest conception of the situation in which the language is used. Furthermore, textbooks furnished no ii genuine aLi or comfort. This situation soon resolved itself into a realization that what the Anglo student needs is an image of the Spanish-speaking person functioning in the norma! situations of life. The result was a first and sOniewhai crude attempt at a course in Spanish American Customs and Culture. The experience of teaching the course repeatedly prompted additions, revisions and reorganiza- tions that eventually resulted in the necessity of re-writing the entire course once more. This in turn made it necessary to re-think and re- organize with the result that the course has also become a study in personality. The fruit of it all is presented in this limited, experimental edi- tion with the hope that more teaching and study of the living organism will produce a revised edition, worthy of the people whom it purports to interpret in some small degree, and more useful to the student of Spanish and the overseas worker. Comments and criticism will be welcomed with joy as long as their hiiention is to produce a better understanding of the Spanish American personality and the Spanish language. Reginald C. Reindorp ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Credit has been given the respective substantiating authors at the appropriate points in the body of the context. The references at the end of each chapter include these and a few additional readings that may be useful to the interested reader. Others, however. had no place in the context yet should receive their just due. Among these are the many Spanish American friends to whom a deep debt of gratitude is owed for their hospitality, their friendship and their cooperation in our numerous undertakings and relationships over the span of a life time, especially for what they have so graciously given of themselves. Only the smallest portion of this debt of gratitude could possibly be discharged in this offering on the altar of inter- American friendship. Credit is also due to the numerous students who "suffered" through and made pertinent contributions to the development of this course. The Organization of American States is entitled to important recognition and deep appreciation for the research Grant through the Pan American Union which made it possible to spend the entire summer of 1966 in Mexico in research on recent trends and develop- ments in Spanish America. Finally, this page would be ungratefully incomplete without a recognition of the great debt due to my wife, Trudy, for her patience, tact and typing assistance and for her moral support, inspiration and encouragement when the going was rough. Reginald C. Reindorp INTRODUCTION In Perspective Americans (U.S.A. variety) are frequently given to wondering why other peoples act so "strange," why they do things so differently. They often ask, "What makes other peoples act the way they do?" Then, when they go abroad they fail to realize that it is they who are the foreigners and not the people whose country they are visiting. Taking a global look, Anglos are probably the strangest people of all with the most difficult language, the most unusual ideas, man- ners and customs and the queerest way of thinking about things. Through it all they seldom realize that they have very few differences with the English in spite of the oft quoted statement by H. L. Menc- ken that Great Britain and the United States are two great countries separated by a common language. The differences are so few because they have a common origin and had lived together for so many cen- turies before they separated. As time goes on the diversity sharpens, but in the meantime the common origins hold both countries together or at least furnish many common interests. It is the lack of these common origins and the possession of dif- ferent languages that give rise to the differences in customs, culture and manners. Isolated groups of people in prehistoric times looked at the world and life with different eyes. At the same time and for un- known reasons they selected different groups of sounds to form their separate languages. The viewpoint imposed the structure; later the structure imposed the viewpoint and the ideas. Or, as has been so aptly said, we began by speaking as we thought and ended by thinking as we speak. In other words, language has become the mold of thought. After language began to appear it became instrumental in the development of culture and culture in turn influenced language. The result is that each cultural group is quite divergent from the others. Hence, to understand a people we must study their language, their origins no matter how far back they go, and their development. As we undertake this study of Spanish American culture and personality it will be well to put the contrasting Anglos in their pro- per relationship to the other peoples of this world; let us put them in proper perspective. For this purpose, suppose for a few minutes that the total population of the world is represented by 1,000 persons. What, then, would be the relative position of the Anglos in this group? According to the American Bible Society, in this population of 1,000 there would be 60 Americans (U.S.A. variety); the remainder of the world would be represented by 940 persons. This is the propor- ix tion of the American people to the population of the world . . . 60 to 940. The 60 Americans would have half the income of the entire group, with the other 9.10 sharing the other half. About 330 people would be classified as Christians; the other 670 would not.. Fewer they 100 would be Protestant Christians. and some 230 would be Roman Catholics. At least 80 would be practicing Com- munists, and 370 others would be under Communist domination. White people would total 303, with 697 non-white. Half of the 1,000 people would never have heard of Jesus Christ or what he taught. On the other hand, more than half would be hear- ing about Karl Marx, Lenin and Stalin. The 60 Americans would have an average life expectancy of 70 years; the other 940, less than 40 years on the average. The 60 Ameri- cans would have an average of 15 times as many possessions per per- son as all the rest of the people and would produce 16% of the total food supply. Although they eat 72% above the maximum food require- ments, they would either eat most of what they grew, or store it for their own future use at enormous cost. Since most of the 940 non-Americans would be hungry most of the time, it could lead to some ill feeling toward the 60 Americans, who would appear to be enormously rich and fed to the point of sheer dis- belief by the great majority of the people. The Americans would also have a disproportionate share of electric power, coal, fuel, steel, and general equipment. The 60 Americans and about 200 others representing Western Europe and a few favored classes in other areas in South America, South Africa, Australia, and a few wealthy Japanese would be rela- tively well off. But the majority of the 1,000 people would be ignorant, poor, hungry, and sick. The American families would be spending at least $850 a year for military defense, but less than $4.00 a year to share their religious faiths with the other people in the community; many wouldn't even be grateful enough to be thankful for the privilege of being Americans. Quite a few would pass up an education, even though hundreds of others elsewhere would give anything to obtain it. Now that Anglos have been placed in proper perspective for all time, let us not forget some stark realities. Anglos are in the propor- tion of 60 to 940 of the world's population with the highest (and most desirable) standard of living in the world. If they do not share some :;f their well-being, others may decide to take it all. As few as they are against the many, what chance would the Anglos have when they are so vulnerable from all sides including the air, not to mention the tactics of infiltration. Suppose Latin America were to loin foz-:es with the Anglos, all together there would still be only 120 against 880. Because of their proximity being right on the United States' front doorstep the Anglos had better make friends with Latin American people or never have even a chance to put up a fight in self defense. But to make friends of them is not a simple matter of patronizing, good intentions coupled with handing out millions of dollars. In fact, this is the reason for failure in so much of Anglo foreign aid, not only in Latin America. but elsewhere. Friends are made only among equals whom one understands. To understand Spanish Americans. which is the purpose here, it. imme- diately becomes necessary to know not only the language, but also the customs, culture and manners. Just as one accepts, understands and perhaps makes allowances for friends at home, so must one learn to accept and understand the even more divergent ways of living, doing, thinking and behaving of other peoples who are not exactly the same, who do not have the same ambitions, hopes, standards, likes and dislikes that seem so important. Theirs are equally as important to them and they possess values which often are useful to others. They are neither inferior nor superior. They serve their purposes in an ex- cellent manner. Who do you Americans think you are? Anglo Americans are somewhat conceited as is demonstrated by the fact that they insist on calling themselves Americans. The fact is that they have no more right to this name than do another two hun- dred million people. As insulting to the intelligence as it may seem to make the state- ment, Columbus did not discover the United States . . neither did Amerigo or Americus Vespucci give his name to the United States. Columbus discoved the New World and Vespucci gave his first name to the same area. The New World embraces everything between Ber- ing Strait north of Canada and the Strait of Magellan south of Argen- tina, and this is what Vespucci's first name was applied to. Therefore, any one from Central. South or Middle America is as much an Ameri- can as any one else from the New World, including Canada. Since people from the United States are not the only Americans, how may they be specifically designated? What may they call their country? The United States is not a distinctive name since there are the United States of Mexico, of Brazil and of Venezuela. In the same way North America is not applicable for the purpose since Central America, Canada and Mexico are all in North America. Latin Americans have been kind to Anglos and allowed them to call themselves Americans or North Americans because they under- stood, went along and avoided embarrassment by themselves using the xi 9

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