People of Mexico and Central America final exam review sheet. Sample Questions
Explain three ways in which design of the home influences culture, as discussed in Pader’s article Spatiality and “Social Change”.
Describe individual, family, community, and cultural, and international policy reasons why gangs in Central America have become increasingly important.
Where do the names of gangs in Central America come from? Is there a relationship between the names of the gangs and the names that people in gangs adopt?
What issues of gender and gang life were illustrated by the film, “Mi Vida Loca?”
What are “creditos” in Argentina? What do the history of “creditos” tell us about the informal economy?
What are remittances? What does the study of remittances tell us about changes in communities and cultures in Mexico and Central America?
How do informal economic activities “burn” social relations?
Are young people in Indiantown facing a “crisis of identity?” Why or why not?
Is Costa Rica an exception to the patterns of culture, politics, and nation found in other parts of Central America? Use information from the presentations on El Salvador and Guatemala to answer this question.
What did Professor Paul Doughty talk about? How did it relate to your group’s project?
What is “essentialism” among Maya people who migrate? How is it different than what I call in my article the “labels” that people adopt in the Maya Diaspora?
What is a Maquiladora? Contrast what has been described for effects of Maquiladoras along the US/Mexican border with Goldin’s article on Maquladoras in Guatemala.
What does Victor Montejo mean by the “Porisal” as a migration strategy? How does it affect ideas about other labels of migration among Maya people?
What is transnationalism? What are the good things about transnational communities? What are the bad?
What does Nash mean by “radical mobilization” of communities in Chiapas? Has this been a successful movement? Does it include “indigenous” identity?
Nash talks about the way that women have entered “civil society” as a result of the EZLN uprising in Chiapas. What happened to civil society in the later period of her study?