In the Caribbean, Cuba is the largest island ranking as the seventeen largest in the world. It has low hills and fertile valleys that cover half of the country. Its mountains divide the country in western, central, and eastern regions with Pico Turquino as the highest mountain peak (1,974m). The humid and tropical climate of Cuba facilitates the production of agriculture; sugar cane is the most vital crop in the country, which happens to be its largest export. Other crops in production on the island are Tobacco as the second largest export, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, rice, plantains, bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes and others. As of June 1959, by an agrarian reform law, the Cuban government becomes the owner of all land in the country and establishes the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) as the general administrator. Due to
Cubans have a mixed heritage composing of 27 Percent of the population with 64 percent white Spanish and a 9 percent of African ancestry. The Cuban society is unique with the use of expressions and words that other Spanish-speaking countries do not use. Cubans are very friendly in nature; it is uncommon to meet any outgoing citizen without their communicative, enthusiastic and hospitable values despites their troubled country. In addition, they have a very strong patriotic value and they respect their national dignity. Even though Cuba is a relatively poor country, but thanks to the government’s strong emphasis on education, the literacy remains high. The English language is a mandatory course in schools and it has been very popular among people in the tourism industry. With the installment of the Socialist Government after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, most of the middle class population left the island migrating to the United States settling largely in Miami, Florida and other U.S
The exodus of the majority of skilled workers brought about a rapid change in the methods employed in educating Cuba’s population. If the revolution was to be successful, Cuba needed to replace the skilled workers that left with other skilled workers in the shortest amount of time possible. In 1961, the revolutionary government developed a nationwide campaign to rid Cuba of illiteracy. The program was given slogans like “ The people should teach the people and If you don’t know learn; if you know teach”. This program consisted of volunteer teachers who would help illiterate Cubans increase their education by teaching them the fundamentals. According to Fitzgerald, “(The literacy campaign) helped to integrate town and county and to galvanize support for revolutionary goals by bringing urban and rural populations into direct contact. ( p. 41)” Also, according to Fitzgerald, “ Enrollment in adult education rose dramatically from 66,577 students in the 1960-1961 school year to a peak of 842,024 students in the 1964-1965 school year, but plummeted to 309,717 students in 1969-1970. (P. 42)” This program benefited the poorer citizens of Cuba who remained in Cuba. They w...
Music comes in many shapes and forms, and has been a magical element of inspiration and encouragement throughout time. The art of music derives from many different things, such as culture and traditions. One such type of music is mariachi music, deriving from Mexican culture and traditions. Mariachi music is often an upbeat rhythm, consisting of a band of up to six to eight violins, two trumpets and a guitar. Unlike modern music and other music bands alike, mariachi bands lack in numbers when it comes to band size. Though they are small, their music brings great significance and life to the places they perform and the people that they touch with their joyous music. In this paper, I will be comparing the culture and style of mariachi music to twentieth century modern music.
The Cuban style of cooking is simple in concept but complex in flavor. Much Cuban food owes its heritage and tradition from Africa and neighboring, Caribbean cultures. However, there are two distinctive styles of cooking: "the classic" whose techniques and ingredients have been in use for a long time across the island, and "the new," labeled nuevo Cubano, which adds a variety of herbs and spices from other cuisine and emphasizes presentation. For example, the province of Oriente, in eastern Cuba, is well known for its contribution of spicier and more robust dishes to the cuisine of the island due to the influx of Haitian and Jamaican immigrants to the island beginning in the 1790's. In the states, Cubans, too, have opted to choose hot peppers, like blazing scotchbonnets and serranos, to prepare recipes such as black bean salsa.
For hundreds of years, Cuba experienced ongoing severe inequality and slavery on the basis of race. Historically, the Spanish who brought slaves from Africa colonized Cuba from which the Cuban race was socially and economically constructed. The Spanish rulers were of the elite while the African servants were of the lowest social class (Marcus, 2013). Ever since these early days, Afro-Cubans—Cubans with African ancestry, are labeled solely upon their skin color, which defines their position on the social hierarchy. Blackness is associated with slavery (Roland, 2011). Thus, the lighter one’s skin, the further away from slavery. Afro-Cubans who are dark skinned realize that despite being Cuban, their skin color differentiates them from lighter skinned Euro-Cubans (Marcus, 2013). However, hope starts to emerge for the Afro-Cubans when Fidel Castro becomes the government’s leader in 1959. Castro embarks on a revolution (Marcus, 2013) that dramatically alters the lives of the black citizens socially and economically. Through time, globalization, and the revolution, meanings and perceptions of race and race relations in Cuba changes, specifically in education, job opportunities, and social status.
African music has had a major influence on Cuban culture beginning in the early 1550’s through slave trade. Thousands of slaves were brought to Spain in the 1400’s and eventually migrated to Cuba. Since these “Ladinos” were accustomed to Spanish culture and language, they easily were able to get by in Cuba and even escape slavery. As a result, Slave owners in Cuba brought more slaves directly from Africa. In 1526, a Royal Decree allowed slaves to buy their freedom, resulting in increased interaction and ethnic mixing among Cubans and Africans. All aspects of both cultures began to blend, especially among working class Cubans and Africans. Music became a common bond between the two groups
Dominicans’ ethnicity consists of Taino, Spanish and African. The native people on the island were the Taino. The Taino were hunter and gatherers who lived off the land. Led by Christopher Columbus, the Spanish conquered the island in 1492. The Spanish overtook the Taino forcing them to be their slaves while killing many in the process. The Africans were then later brought to the island as slaves. Certain traits of these ethnic groups are still present in the Dominican culture, such as the food, language, religion and personality of the people (Goodwin, 116).
Cultural value orientations are the, “basic and core beliefs of a culture; that have to deal with one’s relationship with one another and the world” (McCarty & Hattwick, 1992). All cultures may encounter challenges with the media and society of how their beliefs and values are represented. There are several factors that resemble how cultural values influence a culture, more specifically the Hispanic culture in Yuma, AZ. Some of those factors are, the expression of their individual and collective identity through communication, cultures identity expressed though the mass media channels, examples of the value orientations that influence the groups communications behaviors, and one of the major events that challenged Hispanics identities.
African, French, Portuguese, Haitian, Jamaican and Chinese immigrants helped to shape a musical and culinary heritage that 's distinctly Cuban. Cuban music exhibits an insistent beat, complexity and intensity that make it immediately recognizable around the world. The ingredients in Cuban cuisine may lack drama, but ultimately, they work together in perfectly spiced dishes that bring out new flavor notes in common ingredients" (HowStuffWorks). In Cuba, the most popular cooking style is called criollo in which the main ingredients are chicken, beef, pork, eggs, beans, rice and vegetables. Cubans use many common spices in their dishes. Some other Cuban dishes are empanadas, pan con bistec, arroz con pollo, and moros y cristianos. In Cuba western clothing has been worn for many years, but casual clothing is popular also. Latin styles of clothing like bright colored shirts and blouses and ruffled skirts have been in Cuban fashion as well as Afro-Cuban styles. Some popular Cuban holidays and celebrations are Liberation Day, International Women 's Day, Labor Day, and Christmas. There are a couple of popular sports in Cuba like boxing and football, but baseball is the most popular. Baseball is considered the national sport of Cuba. "The national baseball team of Cuba is easily the best in Latin America and often dominates regional competitions in this sport. The
For my research paper I am examining, “how large of an influence did the Mafia have in Cuba and how did their presence affect Cuban-American relations and pre-existing Cuban Culture?” Ever since I was young I was highly interested in organized crime and the mysteries behind the way that society operated. Interestingly and also not so fortunately the organized crime network hits my family at a personal level. My father grew up in Brooklyn, and while his direct lineage including himself was straight and clean, some of his uncles took a more crooked path in life. More specifically, my extended family had some tight affiliations to Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. Before I digress, these real life and personal stories on top of my aforementioned interest
Located on the lower east coast of Florida the city of Miami is bordered by the Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Going east from the city the islands of Key Biscayne and Miami Beach help shelter the bay from the Atlantic Ocean, giving Miami a naturally protected harbor. The elevation of the city never rises above 40 feet and within most neighborhoods the elevation stays under 10 feet. The highest undulations are the Miami rock ridge which is found along the coast. A majority of the city lies on the shores of Biscayne Bay which contains hundreds of natural and artificially created islands, the largest being Miami Beach and South Beach.
Being raised in a Chinese family in the Dominican Republic, I had to go through some hardships. I was constantly being influenced by the Dominican culture, while also being taught Chinese culture at home. These two cultures had different beliefs and traditions, making them difficult to coexist with one another. The difference in culture has made me feel inferior to the people around me because there were so many Dominicans and very little Asians. Feeling inferior, I wanted to follow their tradition and culture so it would make me feel like one of them and not an outcast. Sometimes I would wish I was born Dominican, so I can fit in. I remember wearing traditional Chinese dresses with flower patterns to school, and all of my classmates made fun of me. By the time I grew older my parents did not spend much time at home and as the oldest I had to take over my parents' role and at school.
“The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people.” (unknown) The United States of America is a country that has been described as a “melting pot.” Miami has many international communities that lives within a few miles of each other. The culture that I chose to experience was the Caribbean culture. I chose the Caribbean culture to experience because there is an enormous population of Caribbean people in Miami. and since I moved to Miami, I want to be familiar with this culture. On October 9, 2016, I went to the Miami Broward Carnival at the Fair Expo Center in Miami, Florida. The focus of the carnival is on the Trinidad and Tobago culture and showcases different Caribbean talent like dancing and singing. My goal was to experience in-depth about a culture that I am around everyday and interact with at times that I know little about.
The culture of Brazil is mostly based on Portuguese culture due to Brazil being a part of the Portuguese Empire for over 300 years. Portuguese is also the official language and when written it uses the standard roman alphabet of 26 letters like the United States. Much like the U.S. Brazil also entails more than one culture from other European nations such as Italy, Spain, and Germany. Brazilian’s have a deep interest in their appearance and plastic surgery is very common. In fact, it has the most surgeons per capita in the world. Although Brazilians style of clothing are vibrant and show off their bodies the business wear of the culture is like the western world such as suits and ties for men and dresses and suits for women. Brazilians are naturally open and friendly. Physical contact, proximity, and good eye contact are a part of their culture as well. Family is also a significant part of the culture. If one were to invite you over for dinner it would be customary to bring a gift and send a gift the next day to show your appreciation.
According to the encyclopedia, culture is defined as “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought [www.wikipedia.com].” In Trinidad these particular aspects are very distinct to the people's daily lives on the island. The diversity of actual cultures and ethnicities on the island has melted together over the centuries to create a Trinidadian culture of its own. There are influences from almost every part of the world including, India, China, the United States, Lebanon, Spain, Britian, Africa, and cultures native the Caribbean.
As someone who isn’t from the Continental United States originally, I imagined the differentiation of context regarding cultural perspectives and values would be very existent in correlation to what I had known as a Virgin Islands native. The culture and lifestyle of the Caribbean influenced the set of values I maintain, as during my raising they were the only ones implemented by my parents and supported by my environment.