Understanding Latin America: A Decoding Guide

Understanding Latin America: A Decoding Guide
Author: Alfredo Toro Hardy
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2017-10-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9813229969

From afar, Latin America looks like a blurry tableau: devoid of defining lines, particularities and nuances. Little is understood about the idiosyncrasies of Latin-Americans, their cultural identity and social values. Differences between Brazilians and Spanish Americans, or amid the diverse Spanish American countries, are not sufficiently understood. Even less is known about the amplitude of the Iberian heritage of such countries, or about the miscegenation and acculturation processes that took place among their different constitutive races. There is no clarity regarding the Western nature of Latin America or about its cultural affinities with Latin Europe. Nor is there sufficient understanding of the links between the Latin population of the United States and the inhabitants of Latin America.This book aims to fill the gap by focusing on Latin America's history, culture, identity and idiosyncrasies. It serves as a guide to understand regional attitudes, meanings and behavioural differences of the region. It also analyses the present economic situation of the region, while trying to predict the future of the region. Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will be of interest to readers keen on exploring the region for potential opportunities in trade, investment or any other kind of business and cultural endeavor.

Placing Latin America

Placing Latin America
Author: Edward L. Jackiewicz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020-01-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538126311

Placing Latin America offers a thematic approach to the study of the diverse geographies of a globalizing region. This comprehensive text focuses on the dynamic connections between people, places, and environments rather than on predefined notions about the region. The book’s well-rounded and accessible analysis includes discussions of borders and migration, transnationalism and globalization, urbanization and landscapes of cities, the connections between economic development and political change, the physical environment and human-environmental interactions, and natural resources in the context of a global economy. The authors also explore social and cultural themes such as the illegal drug trade, social movements, tourism, and children and young people. Providing a nuanced and clear perspective, this book will be an invaluable guide for all those interested in the politics, economy, and society of a rapidly changing continent.

The Study of Photography in Latin America

The Study of Photography in Latin America
Author: Nathanial Gardner
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2023-05-15
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 0826364489

In this book Nathanial Gardner provides an insider's perspective to the study of photography in Latin America. He begins with a carefully structured introduction that lays out his unique methodology for the book, which features over eighty photographs and the insights from sixteen prominent Latin American photography scholars and historians, including Boris Kossoy, John Mraz, and Ana Mauad. The work reflects the advances of the study of photography throughout Latin America with certain emphasis on Brazil and Mexico. The author further underlines the role of important institutions and builds context by discussing influential theories and key texts that currently guide the discipline. The Study of Photography in Latin America is critical to all who want to expand their current knowledge of the subject and engage with its experts.

Crossroads Of Globalization, The: A Latin American View

Crossroads Of Globalization, The: A Latin American View
Author: Alfredo Toro Hardy
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2018-12-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9813277327

Two powerful forces measure their strength by acting upon globalization. One of them pushes globalization forward, while the other hinders its advance and promotes its decline.In which of those directions should Latin America move? Uncertainty hinders the region's strategic vision. If the future entails re-launching of globalization, it seems obvious that Latin America should follow along its lines. However, if globalization were to embark on a declining phase and an endangered future, the region would need to look at other options. Latin America, therefore, faces not only a dramatic uncertainty as a result of forces beyond its control, but also needs to anticipate unforeseen events to the best of its abilities, and react to or act upon them. Strategic reflection becomes imperative to manage both uncertainty and the possibility of rapid change.This exercise in strategic reflection implies an immersion in fraught international surroundings, analyzing the forces that push for and against globalization, trying to measure their respective strength, convergence capacity, and potential impact. At the same time, it requires looking into the flaws, weaknesses and contradictions of such forces. With these elements in hand, it will be easier to envisage where the trends are leading to, and by extension, where Latin America may end up standing and which goals it should follow.

The Future Is Asian

The Future Is Asian
Author: Parag Khanna
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2019-02-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1501196278

In the 19th century, the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century, it was Americanized. Now, in the 21st century, the world is being Asianized. The “Asian Century” is even bigger than you think. Far greater than just China, the new Asian system taking shape is a multi-civilizational order spanning Saudi Arabia to Japan, Russia to Australia, Turkey to Indonesia—linking five billion people through trade, finance, infrastructure, and diplomatic networks that together represent 40 percent of global GDP. China has taken a lead in building the new Silk Roads across Asia, but it will not lead it alone. Rather, Asia is rapidly returning to the centuries-old patterns of commerce, conflict, and cultural exchange that thrived long before European colonialism and American dominance. Asians will determine their own future—and as they collectively assert their interests around the world, they will determine ours as well. There is no more important region of the world for us to better understand than Asia – and thus we cannot afford to keep getting Asia so wrong. Asia’s complexity has led to common misdiagnoses: Western thinking on Asia conflates the entire region with China, predicts imminent World War III around every corner, and regularly forecasts debt-driven collapse for the region’s major economies. But in reality, the region is experiencing a confident new wave of growth led by younger societies from India to the Philippines, nationalist leaders have put aside territorial disputes in favor of integration, and today’s infrastructure investments are the platform for the next generation of digital innovation. If the nineteenth century featured the Europeanization of the world, and the twentieth century its Americanization, then the twenty-first century is the time of Asianization. From investment portfolios and trade wars to Hollywood movies and university admissions, no aspect of life is immune from Asianization. With America’s tech sector dependent on Asian talent and politicians praising Asia’s glittering cities and efficient governments, Asia is permanently in our nation’s consciousness. We know this will be the Asian century. Now we finally have an accurate picture of what it will look like.

The World Turned Upside Down

The World Turned Upside Down
Author: Alfredo Toro Hardy
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9814452572

Acting as a Sorcerer's Apprentice, the West incorporated 1.3 billion Chinese and 1.2 billion Indians into the world's labour equation within a context of lower production costs. This resulted in erosion of its competitive capacity and social stability, while greatly benefiting developing economies, many of which were able to emerge with unprecedented speed. With China as the main engine, the developing economies have become increasingly integrated, sustaining in the process a fundamental part of the global trade growth. While this phenomenon took shape, excesses within Western economies generated a seismic crisis that dramatically accelerated a slow decline. As the ascendant and descendant curves of developing and developed economies are crossing each other, a decoupling tendency between both has become evident. The economic partnership between China and Latin America epitomizes well the growing integration between emerging economies. Even if mostly benefiting from it, Latin America is under the double sign of threat and opportunity due to this complex relation. For Latin America to succeed, it will need to reinvent itself.The analyses and information contained in this book will be of interest to researchers, academics and policy-makers alike.

America’s Two Cold Wars

America’s Two Cold Wars
Author: Alfredo Toro Hardy
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2022-03-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9811695032

This book focuses on ascertaining what distinguishes the Cold War that the U.S. sustained with the USSR from the one now emerging with China. By comparing their characteristics, it elaborates on how well prepared the US is to undertake this fresh challenge. In doing so, the book analyses six fundamental differences between both cold wars; ideology, alliances, strategic consistency, military, economics, and containment. While the configuration of factors benefited the US during its first Cold War, they now point in the opposite direction. While the first Cold War was instrumental in projecting the US to the pinnacle, the second can only accelerate its dwindling.

Symbols, Signs and Visual Codes

Symbols, Signs and Visual Codes
Author: Mark O'Connell
Publisher: Southwater Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Signs and symbols
ISBN: 9781844763573

Signs and symbols are integral to the world in which we live: from letters and words on a page to the constellations in the night sky; from the image of a god to the secret gargoyles on a cathedral roof; from the meaningful winking of an eye to an elabor