Culture & Identity

The culture and identity of Latin Americans has been shaped by their diverse histories and a range of influences. They are expressed through various means – literature, art, film and music. And these cultural expressions often bear a connection to the region’s political events.

The following sources cover these mediums: (1) novels; (2) art & artifacts; (3) film; and (4) music.

Novels
Art & Artifacts
    • Bony, Oscar
      • On Oscar Bony, an Argentine artist whose works explore themes related to political conflict, violence and social inequality
    • Brodsky, Marcelo 
      • Brief overview on the artwork of Marcelo Brodsky, an Argentine artist whose pieces explore traumas and disappearances during the military regime of 1976-1983
    • Códices de México
      • Mexican codices are manuscripts created by Aztec and other Nuhuatl speaking groups during the colonial period. As artifacts and art these works provide critical insight into the political and social context of their period, as well as valuable insight into indigenous identities.
    • Colectivo Acciones de Arte
      • As an activist art group, the Colectivo Acciones de Arte (CADA) used performance to protest the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile
    • Florentine Codex 
      • Sixteenth century ethnography composed by Spanish priests and indigenous artists. It served as the first illustrated encyclopedia of the New World.
    • Indigenismo and Carlos Mérida
      • Brief description on mestizaje and indigenismo artwork of Carlos Mérida, a Guatemalan artist who fused European and Latin American stylistic elements in his work
    • Kahlo, Frida
      • Video on Frida Kahlo’s art and her contributions to the indigenismo movement in Mexican art, which drew from pre-hispanic styles and themes
    • Mendieta, Ana
      • On Ana Mendieta, a Cuban-American artist best known for her conceptual ‘Silueta’ series, which combine pre-Columbian, Catholic and Caribbean santería rituals, and explore connections between humans and the Earth
    • Mestizaje Movement 
      • Analysis on the mestizaje movement in visual and art history; it sought to blend indigenous and Spanish iconography and styles.
    • Mexican Casta Paintings 
      • Museum notes on casta paintings, which were used to specify racial hierarchy during the colonial period
    • Mexican Modernism 
      • On Mexican modernist art, which was born after the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920. Following the political changes in the country, the modernist style represented a new desire to better reflect Mexican culture, history and heritage.
    • Mexican Muralism and Los Tres Grandes
      • Essay on the historical background surrounding Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco; it also addresses their contributions to art in the United States.
Film
   Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean
      • Che
        • Long two-part biopic about Ernesto Che Guevara, focusing on his role in Cuba and Bolivia in the 1960s (in Spanish with English subtitles). Part I can be viewed here; Part II here.
      • La dictadura perfecta (The Perfect Dictatorship)
        • A political satire film (in Spanish), on the role of the media, drugs and money in Mexico, during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018)
      • Hernán
        • Series that follows Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortes through his arrival to the Americas and the conquest of Tenochtitlan. Available for rent here.
      • José Martí: El ojo del canario (Martí: the Eye of the Canary)
        • On the childhood and adolescence of Cuban national hero José Martí (in Spanish with English subtitles)
      • La ley de Herodes
        • Political satire on corruption in twentieth century Mexico and the PRI party (in Spanish)
      • Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment)
        • A renowned work in the history of Cuban cinema, published in 1968, on the life of a bourgeois intellectual (in Spanish with English subtitles)
      • La Negrada (Black Mexicans)
        • About the Afro-Mexican community, filmed entirely with people from different towns around the Costa Chica in Oaxaca, Mexico (in Spanish with English subtitles). Available for rent here.
      • ¡Que viva México! (Long Live Mexico!)
        • Classic unfinished movie (in Russian with English subtitles) by Sergei Eisenstein, made between 1931 and 1932, on Mexican culture and politics from the pre-conquest civilization to the Mexican Revolution
      • Roma
        • Follows a domestic worker who works for a family amidst the politically tumultuous period in Mexico in the 1970s (in Spanish with English subtitles). Available for rent here.
      • Romero
        • On the life and work of Archbishop Oscar Romero, in El Salvador in the 1970s (in Spanish)
   south America
      • La boca del lobo
        • On the Peruvian army and the “Sendero Luminoso” (Shining Path) guerrilla organization, during the dirty war in Peru in the 1980s (in Spanish)
      • Cidade de Deus (City of God)
        • Loosely based on real events following the growth of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro from the late 1960s to the 1980s (in Portuguese)
      • La ciudad y los perros (The City and The Dogs)
        • Based on the Mario Vargas Llosa novel, La ciudad y los perros. It tells the story of a group of young military cadets at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima, Peru (in Spanish).
      • Dawson Isla 10
        • Based on “Isla 10,” a book by Sergio Bitar about his experiences as a political prisoner during Pinochet’s military regime in Chile (in Spanish)
      • Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
        • Biopic about journey of Che Guevara as a young man traveling through Latin America by motorcycle in the early 1950s (in Spanish). Available for rent here.
      • Elite Squad
        • A semi-fictional account of the Special Police Operations Squad of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais – BOPE) and its actions in the 1990s (in Portuguese, with English subtitles)
      • Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
        • A sequel of the 2007 film “Elite Squad,” on the Special Police Operations Squad of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais – BOPE). It covers a bloody political dispute between government officials and paramilitary groups (in Portuguese with English subtitles). Available for rent here.
      • La historia oficial (The Official Story)
        • Set during the final months of Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship, the film follows a mother seeking to discover the parents of her adopted daughter (in Spanish)
      • Libertador (The Liberator)
        • On Simón Bolívar’s fight for the independence in Latin America from Spain and his vision of a united South American nation. Available for rent here.
      • Machuca
        • A film on the friendship between two boys from different social classes in Chile in 1973, and the changes they encounter amidst rising political tensions in the country (in Spanish with English subtitles). Available for rent here.
      • Missing
        • Follows the story of a disappeared writer during the Chilean coup d’état in 1973. Available for rent here.
      • No
        • On the 1988 plebiscite that led to the end of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) in Chile. Available for rent here.
      • San Martín: El cruce de Los Andes
        • On General José de San Martín’s crossing of the Andes to assist in the liberation of Chile from Spanish colonial rule (in Spanish)
      • Southern District (Zona Sur)
        • Explores socio-economic inequalities by following a family in the affluent Zona Sur neighborhood of Bolivia (in Spanish with English subtitles)
      • State of Siege
        • Based on an actual incident in 1970 when U.S. embassy official in Uruguay, Dan Mitrione, was kidnapped and killed by the Tupamaro guerrilla group (in Spanish, English and French)
      • También la lluvia (Even the Rain)
        • Follows the fictionalized story of filmmakers shooting a film on Christopher Columbus in Bolivia who runs into conflicts during the 2000 Cochabamba protests (in Spanish with English subtitles). Available for rent here.
Music
    • Break It All: The History of Rock in Latin America
      • Six-part documentary on the history of Latin American rock through dictatorships, disasters and dissent. Available for rent here.
   Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean
      • Corridos of the Mexican Revolution
        • A brief exploration into Mexican corridos and how the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) helped shape this popular folk music
      • La trova
        • Documentary (in Spanish) on the history of the trova in Cuba
      • Residente – This is Not America (Music video)
        • Music video by Puerto Rican artist Residente, challenging “America” as it is often defined and understood in the United States
      • Son Jarocho
        • Video exploring the folk music style, Son Jarocho, from Veracruz, Mexico
      • Tonada
        • Article describing the history of Tonado music, native to Afro-Cuban communities in Trinidad, Cuba
   south America
      • El acordeón del diablo (The Devil’s Accordion)
        • A film (in Spanish) that tells the story of Caribbean musician, Pacho Rada, and follows Pacho Rada on a journey along the Caribbean coast of Colombia voyaging into the world of musicians who have grown up with Salsa, Cumbia and Vallenato
      • Nueva canción in South America
        • Description on the Nueva Canción movement which arose in the late 1950s and 60s against the background of political dictatorship in Latin America
      • Rock nacional in Argentina
        • Classics of Argentine rock in the 1980s and 1990s
      • Tango: The Spirit of Argentina
        • Video that tells the story of Argentine tango, from its beginnings in the slums in the 1800s to its present global success
      • Tropicália 
        • A guide to Tropicália in 20 albums
      • Tropicália in Brazil
        • Documentary (in Portuguese with English subtitles) on the Brazilian artistic movement known as Tropicália; set against the turbulent atmosphere of the 1960s.
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