Wed 14 Sep 2011
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder and Unearthing Heritage
Posted by Bert Kreitlow under Uncategorized[22] Comments
Jo Ellen Burkholder is an archaeologist at UW–Whitewater specializing in Andean cultures. Her position is within the Women’s Studies Department. In between her semesters in the classroom on campus she is often in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America, either participating in the excavations that archaeologists conduct to uncover relics of the time before the arrival of Europeans, or leading students to begin their own discovery of the richness of the region’s heritage.
Dr. Burkholder uses a short film made by the Peruvian government to explore the idea of cultural heritage and how it is packaged and presented. Here is a link to that film, which was cleverly shot in the town of Peru, Nebraska.
At the present she is preparing another travel study experience that will depart next spring.
September 20th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Testing the comment feature
September 20th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Reflection on Cultural Heritage in Latin America Presentation
The main theme of the lecture focused on the challenges of “making one out of many” in regards to uniting the diverse cultures of Mexico and Peru. Both Mexico and Peru have strong ethnic identities; each with dozens of indigenous languages. The video about Peruvian heritage demonstrated that cuisine, surfing, traditional dance, songs, clothing, etc. all help to unify and make people proud of the country they live in. Use of the trademark “P” logo in Peru is unique because they were one of the first countries in the world to market their country in that way and it encourages people to become ambassadors of their country. Miguel Gamio came up with the idea of “cosas tipicas” where citizens created artisanal crafts in hopes of boosting the economy and creating interaction with tourists. The idea of “cosas tipicas” has changed a lot over the years and in recent years tourism has shifted to focusing more on theatrics, showiness and what tourists want to see. Peru has had more trouble promoting tourism than Mexico because some of the areas like Machu Picchu are very remote and sometimes hard to travel to.
Lots of money has been spent to revive and restore monuments of the past. For example, many chapels need constant maintenance to ensure that stucco work on the walls of the building don’t fall apart. Especially in Peru, many sites are being reconstructed based on what they probably would have looked like when finished, because the majority of tourists want to see beautiful and sophisticated sites. Compared to Mexico, Peru has struggled to show people that they are a modern, sophisticated country and that their sites are worth seeing.
The content of this presentation connects with what we have learned in class about the diversity of Latin America. Just from looking at Mexico versus Peru it is clear how much countries within Latin America differ. In Peru there is more of a united, common heritage because the Incas enforced a certain degree of uniformity among villages. There are also elaborate and unique examples of engineering in the terraces of Peru. Artistic narratives were created using local themes that people from the area could identify with, so artwork was depicted using an Aztec, Incan, or Mayan style depending on the area.
A question that occurred to me during the presentation is how Dr. Burkholder first became interested in archaeology?
September 21st, 2011 at 2:49 pm
In this presentation, Jo Ellen Burkholder emphasized the “challenge of making one out of many” countries. She first addressed the diverseness of Mexican culture, the many indigenous groups that created the many different cultures present in Mexico today. Then explained how Miguel Gamio turned the idea of heritage into a marketable idea. Since then, México, as well as Perú have done such, and made many historical landmarks into tourist attractions. They have, in some ways, even made up aspects of their culture that seem to appeal more to tourists than to the truth of their culture. Burkholder gave the example of how Cancún resorts have actually made up performances of “real Mayan rituals” when there is no actual evidence to go off of. They are looking for money, and don’t mind if they are creating a falsified culture in the process.
When we watched the video on Peru, Nebraska, Burkholder made clear that Perú is trying to market their heritage and make it look appealing to other countries. They are trying to appear sophisticated by constructing “replicas” of ancient structures that never existed. They want modern day sophisticated people to be attracted to their country, when in reality, the poverty peasant way of life are what define their heritage.
In our class we have been learning about the colonization of the Americas, and how Latin America was settled and grouped together as one entity, when in fact there were many different cultures and groups of people that had almost nothing in common. Instead of grouping together and trying to unify heritage, this lecture emphasized that maybe in the process of making their heritage more marketable, México, Perú, and other Latin American countries might lose sight of what is really important in the pursuit of money.
One question I have about the presentation is, “how do the indigenous citizens feel about the way tourism has commercialized their culture?”
September 21st, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder talked about brining Mexican and Peru together. She said how Mexico is very diverse and that they have 76 different languages. She told us that they have no national language, little national culture, and no national narrative. The one thing that Mexico has been doing is restoring their past. Miguel Gamio came up with this idea of restoring Mayan sites, and making them tourist attractions. This has helped and hurt them. It has helped them by bringing millions of tourists every year. The biggest thing that hurts them is that they are making up parts of their past to keep the tourists happy.
For Peru, they are trying to make themselves more attracting to tourists. Burkholder showed us a video of people who were from Peru, but showing their culture and heritage to people from Peru, Nebraska. They showed them traditional foods, music, and clothes. Burkholder said that she doesn’t know any other country that is trying to brand their countries name. Just like Mexico, Peru is trying to bring back historical sites for tourists. The only thing that they are doing wrong with this is that they are rebuilding parts of the sites that are destroyed to what they think it looked like. What Mexico and Peru should be worried about is doing all this heritage stuff for themselves and not for what is going to bring in the most tourists.
The one question that occurred to me was “what is your favorite place to visit in Latin America, since you sound like you love it so much.”
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:09 pm
The idea of Jo Ellen Burkholder’s lecture was to show how different two Latin American countries can be. Throughout her presentation, she compared and contrasted the two different cultures of Mexico and Peru. She addressed a few similarities and differences between the cultures. They both define their own heritage on places and things, as opposed to music or food in their country. Both countries have diverse people living within their boundaries and they are very different when it comes down to their heritage.
Although Spanish was the dominant language, after the Mexican Revolution Mexico had no national language. Mexico had little national culture and no national narrative. It was not until Miguel Gamio came up with different ideas to develop the Mexican heritage that some national narrative started to emerge. Gamio started promoting sales of “cosas típicas” or “artesanías”, coming up with ideas of murals that defined Mexico’s national heritage, and renewing colonial churches. Today, Mexico is a country that brings in many tourists.
The video on Peruvian heritage demonstrates how Peru is unique. Peru bases most of its national heritage on the Incas. The Inca civilization had its capital in Cuzco, which is located in Peru. The Incas had a big impact on Peru’s heritage and because of them, they have a civilization to base their national narrative on. Peru’s tourist attraction is not nearly as thriving as Mexico’s. Tourist attractions in Peru are not as appealing, and they are now facing the problem of urban expansion. This is why Peru has been spending a lot of money during these past years to make its ancient structures more interesting to tourists from all over the world and market their tourist attractions. Peru has a goal to make their culture more sophisticated.
In class we have been learning about how Latin American countries are similar and different. Burkholder’s presentation demonstrated this with examples of Mexico and Peru. A major example being how different two Latin American countries can be. Peru and Mexico have many different aspects that create their separate cultures. The geography, both physical and human, is completely different. For their physical geography, they both have diverse land forms, climate, and rivers. As for their human geography, their ethnic groups and cultures are completely different as we observed in the video. These different aspects shape each country uniquely.
One question I have about the presentation is: Is Dr. Burkholder a fluent Spanish speaker?
September 24th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Jo Ellen Burkholder Reflection
The name of the presentation was The Challenge of making one out of many. Just from the title I assumed it was talking about combining similar, yet different ethnical backgrounds to try and make a single people. Jo Ellen first spoke of her adventures to Belize and Peru. She was promoting the student trip at the end of the year to Peru, and showed us a video about it. She brought up many points about how people classify themselves in South America as “different”, yet the name Latin America is still used to describe all of the heritages as one. The question Jo Ellen was asking is what defines a heritage, a country or a “people?”
Jo Ellen talked about how after the post revolutionary war in Mexico, there was no national narrative for the country. Miguel Gamio set out to find Mexico’s National heritage. He cleaned up many temples, saying they were the key to Mexico’s “Glorious Past.” A lot of money was put into glorifying and redoing grand churches for the Catholic community. To try and generate more income for the country, in the 1970’s Mexico made Cancun an intensive tourism spot. It has since been popular for travelers across the world.
Next, Jo Ellen spoke of how the Inca tribe in Peru, used to distinguish itself as different from other tribes by wearing different colored hats. The Inca was all about dividing and conquering other people. If people lived in similar situations and in similar places, then why would the Inca care so much about being different? I believe it was to show that one was better than the other, and that there was a difference between the two that needed to be justified by wearing different clothing.
The question that came to mind during the presentation was, does this heavy desire to be different from other people in Latin America continue today? I would assume that since time has gone on, people have become more accepting of other cultures, but still feel a strong sense of being different from one another. The presentation was very informative on current situations within Latin America. I walk away from the presentation realizing that a heritage can be many things to define a people, but all comes back to common beliefs and traditions of a people.
September 24th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Dr. Burkholder outlined for us where and how the cultural heritage of Mexico and Peru came about. She described post-revolutionary Mexico and how they were a mix of people with no national language or narrative and little national culture. Miguel Gamio was instrumental in developing Mexico’s heritage. He pushed for education and promoted local economies through the sale of “cosas típicas”. Mexican archaeology is driven by revealing the “glorious past” of pre-columbian indigenous sites. In the 70s Mexico invested in intensive tourism to draw outsiders in to places like Cancún in the Yucatan peninsula. Unfortunately, the few remaining indigenous peoples of Mexico are treated poorly, even ignored in modern society. For Peru, constructing a national narrative was a bit easier since the capital of the Incan empire, Cuzco, is located in Peru. Unfortunately for the archaeological sites urban expansionism, especially in Lima, has made them part of modern cities. This makes them less accessible in terms of uncovering buried indigenous sites. Peru struggles with identity in that they want to impress people with their ancient sites. So, they have reconstructed some sites to look they never did or would have in that time period. The sub-title of Dr. Burkholder’s presentation, “the challenge of making one out of many”, is indicative of the concept of diversity we have talked about in class. Dr. Burkholder mentioned that there is so much diversity between the indigenous cultures of Mexico alone that adding those of the Spaniards when they came to colonize makes for one huge mess when it comes to identifying the culture of just one place. Latin America is a diverse place, not just after the Spanish conquest but also before it. Dr. Burkholder mentioned the treatment of indigenous people in Mexico today. My question is how it compares to the treatment of indigenous groups in South America today.
September 24th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
On Monday September 19th Professor Jo Ellen Burkholder talked about the complexity in Latin America cultures. She explained that although many people think that Spanish is the national language in Latin American countries, with the exception of Brazil, the truth is there are many countries such as Mexico and Perú in which many dialects are still spoken. Besides the language, she also emphasized many other great things that make Latin American countries very special and distinct at the same time. To show this, she presented a fun video created to promote tourism in Perú and to promote the “P” as Peru new trade mark.
The video was about how a group of people from Perú visited the remote city of Peru, Nebraska. The main idea was to highlight the great things that people can enjoy in the South American country, such as authentic food and drinks, regional music, typical games, folkloric dance, clothes and toys. According to Pr. Burkholder, the group of South Americans in the video showed that if they were capable of making people from Peru, Nebraska enjoy the good things about Perú, then anybody could enjoy them.
Additionally, Pr. Burkholder explained the idea of promoting “cosas típicas” emerged, and how nowadays many are not really “típicas.” The overall presentation was very interesting. After watching the video I am considering visiting Peru, it sounds like it is a nice place to visit.
Furthermore, Pr. Burkholder talked about how rapidly cities in Perú are growing and the impact that this creates in its society and tourism. I wonder if the Peruvian government is doing something to protect their historical places such as the Machu Picchu from overpopulation?
September 25th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
This presentation coincided very well with the discussion we had a few weeks ago in class, about all of the countries in Latin America being under one name. Similar to our class discussion, Dr. Burkholder made it clear that these Latin American countries have such great differences (diversity) that make them unique in their own ways which raises the fair question: Is it right for us to call Latin America by this one title? Perhaps it’s not, but there are similarities such as language, religion, and that fact that many of the countries that fall under the Latin America name were colonized during their history. Another subject that Dr. Burkholder addressed was being proud and possessive of your heritage. In the Peru video we watched, the Peruvians had such great pride in their food, dancing, music, and many other things and they wanted other people to learn to love the things that make their country so important to them. Another interesting point that was brought up in the presentation was the fact that when tourists visit Latin American countries, they are interested in seeing things that are beautiful and sophisticated whereas an archeologist or a historian is interested in the dirty and old artifacts. I would personally prefer to see the original artifacts rather than new replicas that are more sophisticated because the originals are hundreds to thousands of years old and your really amazed when you see some of the things that people were able to create so long ago. A very interesting and informative presentation from Dr. Burkholder that was extremely relevant to what we’re studying as a class.
One question I had for Dr. Burkholder: You’ve been to a wide range of countries / areas in Latin America, which place was your favorite and why?
September 25th, 2011 at 7:26 pm
During last class Professor Jo Ellen Burkholder talked about how each of the Latin America was trying to establish there own culture there own identity. The main ones she pointed one where Mexico and Peru but mainly Peru. She showed us a video on where Peruvians went to Peru Nebraska to show them what it means to be Peruvians. They showed them the heritage of Peru like the food they eat the dances they do the culture that make Peru there own and not just a part of Latin America She also talked about how they are similar and talked about people that try to make them into one Nation. Like Miguel Gamio developed Mexico Heritage as well as they established a investment on tourism so others could enjoy and see how it was built. The question I would have is what other things are Mexico and Peru doing to preserve there heritage or to become one.
September 25th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
During last class Professor Jo Ellen Burkholder talked about how each of the Latin America was trying to establish there own culture there own identity. The main ones she pointed one where Mexico and Peru but mainly Peru. She showed us a video on where Peruvians went to Peru Nebraska to show them what it means to be Peruvians. They showed them the heritage of Peru like the food they eat the dances they do the culture that make Peru there own and not just a part of Latin America She also talked about how they are similar and talked about people that try to make them into one Nation. Like Miguel Gamio developed Mexico Heritage as well as they established a investment on tourism so others could enjoy and see how it was built. The question I would have is what other things are Mexico and Peru doing to preserve there heritage or to become one? The stuff that she talked about in class is similar to the things that we learned in class by how they want to become one Latin America. It talked about how do you define Heritage what culture did they have the same as it goes with language religion Background. It was a very interesting talk and I am glad that she came in it was very informative as I learned a lot about it and am glad I understand there culture more.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder gave a very interesting speech about her journey to Peru and other Latin America cultures. She explained how both Peru and Mexico have many indiguous languages. In the beginning she played this video that is shown on the Peru charter buses. I found it quite amuzing and creative. It shows how Peru is encouraging their people to become ambassadors of their country. This movie is expressing how the people of Peru should be proud to be a Peruvian. It also shows the type of culture of this wonderful country. The different foods, dances, clothing and traditions that Peru has are all so intriguing and the people of Peru try to give the citizens of Peru, Nebraska a feel for what it is like to be a true Peruvian, to be proud of where they are from. Their signature logo with the P going into a circle maze is also one of the many things that makes Peru their own.
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder than gets to talking about the Mexican culture and how many of their historical landmarks have turned into tourist areas. Many of these sites give tourists an idea of what it was like during a ritual, when in reality what happens at the tourists area, most likely did not happen during real rituals.
All of this goes along with what we are learning in our Latin America class. How countries are different from one another and what makes them differ. From different traditions to different landmarks, and ofcourse how Latin America was colonized.
The question I had for Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder is “ What made you so interested in finding all of this information? What made you want to study this?”
September 25th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Reflection to Dr. Burkholders presentation September 19th.
Dr. Burkholder stressed the vast amount of diversity between cultures of Latin American people, just like our class and Prefessor Kreitlow have already confirmed. She explains how Latin America doesn’t have a national language, but rather hundreds of languages that can be spoken within just one state. Latin America faces the challenge of creating one national identity as a whole. The question,” what actually defines heritage?” is the basis of the presentation. Mexico and Peru were two specific countries that Dr. Burkholder went into depth about. Starting with Mexico, she explains a little about their post-colonial history. Without a national narrative, national culture, and without a broad public educational system, Mexico struggled to create one national heritage. Miguel Gamio was the first to make an attempt at creating one identity. Gamio did so by pushing for public education and stimulating an economy with the sale of Cosas Tipiacs, or common goods. Mexico then used their “glorious past” as a motive to renovate ancient temples to further develop a national language and indentity. However, in the 1970’s, Mexico invested money into the development of tourist attractions along the beautiful beaches of Mexico. The tourist buzz did create a large market within Mexico’s economy, but also presented their cultural heritage differently in order to please tourists. For Peru, a video she played went to demonstrate Peruvians unique culture as they made a trip to Peru, Nebraska. It was obvious that Peruvians are extremely proud of their heritage. It was different to see a country promoting their culture as “brand” or product; they even had their own trademark. The video highlighted Peru’s ethnic foods, cloths, dances, and toys. She continued to explain Peru’s past of indigenous peoples, such as the Inca and their ancient establishments. In all, Dr. Burkholder gave an interesting, informative appearance. She was very energetic and made it entertaining. She successfully revealed how two different countries attempted to “make one out of many.” I personally feel like Mexico and Peru both tried to impress tourists, along with themselves, that they are a sophisticated culture. This has led to a fabricated interpretation of what their heritage really is. Having watched “Ancient Aliens” on the History Channel, I have found the establishments of ancient Mayans and Inca are quite impressive. I would like to ask you what is the most stunning one you have seen? Also, if the movie Indian Jones was an inspiration to your career?
September 25th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder presented to us the “challenge of making one out of many.” We are learning how unique and different each individual Latin American country truly is. But it’s not just the countries that may differ from one another, but the people within a single country that differ greatly amongst themselves, too. Dr. Burkholder talked about how in a certain Latin American country, for example, Peru, there are many diverse people with their own unique ideas of ethnic identity. However, the government of that particular country, Peru, is trying to bring everyone together and unified. The video we watched on Peruvians from Peru traveling to Peru, Nebraska was a unique film for me to ponder on. Was it the name, “Peru,” that defined all Peruvians, whether they were from South America or North America? Or was it the food, song, dance, clothing, etc. that defined them all as a unified whole? Besides my own side thoughts, I did know the film’s main theme was for Peruvians to be ambassadors of their country and heritage.
I did find it interesting that Dr. Burkholder stated that post-revolutionary Mexico had no native language as well as little national culture. Coming from a Hispanic family, I grew up assuming all Mexicans were solid in their roots of Spanish and other aspects of their culture. But even though a majority of Mexico’s heritage may be borrowed and learned from the Spanish, the culture Mexico has now is what defines Mexico as Mexico.
All in all, Dr. Burkholder was an amazing speaker and I enjoyed her thoughts and ideas on Latin America. Thanks!
September 25th, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder focused her presentation on Mexico and Peru’s diverse culture by “making one out of many.” She began her argument by describing the diverse culture of Mexico. Even though Mexico is Spanish dominant there is no national language. Mexico consists of multiple indigenous groups that have all created their own languages; this creates a conflict in unifying the country. Not only does Mexico lack a national language, but they also have no national narrative. Although these differences separate Mexico, they find a sense of harmony in their national religion, which is Catholic.
Burkholder then showed a video on Peruvian heritage. The video was filmed in Peru, Nebraska where they teach locals to be proud of where they come from. It encouraged the Peruvian people to embrace their culture. This was achieved through food, culture, games, drinks, music, clothes, etc. Peru also has their own trademark; the letter P with circles around it.
Next Burkholder describes Miguel Gamio’s significance. Gamio educated people about their culture as he traveled around to different countries. He showed them how to sell products they make every day; this allows local people to increase their heritage while making a profit. Gamio also showed the beauty of Mexican heritage through archeology and artistic narrative. As in Mexico, Peru has also done restoration. The restoration projects have been costly to restore and upkeep. Peru has had more challenges than Mexico to show the beauty of the structures because they believe people want see an actual structure instead of “a heap of mud.” Although Gamio was attempting to solely expose the beauty of Mexico, others decided to exploit the structures. Some businesses would have laser shows while other companies sold masks and other materials to make a quick buck.
Her presentation described perfectly the idea of “making one out of many,” which was in agreement with Dr. Bert Kreitlow’s argument on why Latin American is pronounced through one name. In both presentations they showed how vastly different all the cultures are in language, landscape, and location; but both shared the common theme of describing their heritage and where the people gain a sense of identity from.
There were multiple questions that arose from the Burkholder Presentation. One is how many times have you traveled to Latin America and have you learned more from reading about the different cultures or actually traveling to the various sites?
September 25th, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Dr. Buckholders presentation on Latin American culture was very informative. She shared with us lots of useful knowledge about Latin American culture because of all of her trips and research there, which helped to give a better understanding of the culture. The youtube video about Peru Nebraska was good example to demonstrate some of the Peruvian lifestyle. The video showed the different types of foods they eat, how they have fun, and there style of clothing they wear. The Peruvian ambassadors that created the video did a great job of promoting on why to go tour Peru. Dr. Buckholder also talked about how there is no one national language but Spanish is the dominant language there. She also talked about the Colonial Succession which was when their governments poured lots of money for restorations and renovations for their churches because they thought it was important. She also mentioned that land marks were based on a tier ranking system which I thought was interesting. Between what we already learned in class and Dr. Buckholders presentation they both tie together the same idea on how countries are similar and are differ from each other in the Latin American culture.
My question for Dr. Buckholder is what inspired you to take such an interest in Latin American culture?
September 26th, 2011 at 1:27 am
The main argument discussed throughout Dr. Burkholder’s presentation was how the cultural heritages of both Mexico and Peru came about, despite the fact that neither of the countries had much of a shared national culture amongst themselves. In Mexico, for example, not only was there very little national narrative, there wasn’t even a national language that all of the people could communicate with. The indigenous tribes were so distinct and far apart that there was no real “Mexico” like we know it today. It wasn’t until Miguel Gamio began his campaign to develop the idea of a Mexican heritage that the country began to form its own national identity. He restored colonial structures in order to boost tourism, encouraged the indigenous people to make and sell “cosas típicas” to tourists, and set out to begin a long-term maintenance and revival movement of all of the historical monuments, temples and churches throughout the country.
In Peru, however, it was much less difficult to construct a national narrative for the people. This is because the main indigenous influence throughout the country was Incan, whereas in Mexico there were so many different tribes and languages that there were very few commonalities holding the country together culturally. Peru’s attempts to create an image of strong cultural heritage have become more of a marketing campaign than anything else. It’s really interesting how Peru has set out to create a “brand name” of sorts out of the word “Peru”.
This presentation was very timely in our recent class discussions. Having just talked about how diverse Latin America is and the common threads throughout the different countries, Dr. Burkholder’s lecture was extremely relevant. If there was one question I would have liked to have asked during the presentation, it would have been “How do the indigenous peoples of Peru react to having their culture and country being marketed like a product?”
September 26th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Reflection of Presentation on Cultural Heritage in Latin America
The primary points of the presentation dealt with how Mexico and Peru are so unique and diverse, along with how each country have promoted tourism with resources and products of their cultural heritage. The video on Peruvian heritage showed much about their culture, from the kinds of food they ate, to the forms of entertainment they enjoyed, and much more. Starting in the 1970s Mexico invested heavily in tourism at places like Cancun. Peru started promoting crafts of their heritage to boost economic development. Tourism in Mexico was doing very well as opposed to Peru who was struggling to prove they’re a sophisticated country. Tourism within Peru has shifted to more resemble the show business to draw more tourists. One way that Peru took the initiative in boosting tourism was to become the first country to trademark a logo. Peru has also focused on restoring the glories of the past such as: Restoring monuments to what they originally looked liked when finished, and constant upkeep on colonial chapels that have Stucco work. Peru has struggled to draw tourists because many of their landmarks are restored to their original state instead of being restored to a more modern style of show or are in difficult travel locations like Machu Picchu.
A connection made with a lesson from class and this presentation is that even though Peru and Mexico are both countries of Latin America they both have diverse heritages and cultures. These differences have formed each countries market for tourism. My question is what Peru as a country and the tourist industry will look like 10 or 20 years from now?
September 26th, 2011 at 10:47 am
Jo Ellen discussed Latin Americas cultural heritage. She informed us of the diversity of people in each Latin America country. The main countries she used as examples were Peru and Mexico. Jo Ellen did explain a common misconception of people’s tendency to correlate culture or heritage with objects. To better understand what is involved in culture she displayed a video. The video was based on people from Peru who traveled to a city called Peru in Kentucky to show them their culture. The main concepts of culture in the video included: food, music, dance, and clothing. Next Jo Ellen discussed Mexico with the class. She explained due to the mix of people it is difficult for Mexico to institute a national heritage. Some of the difficulties between lacks of similarity are due to the fact that there is no national language however, Spanish is the dominant language. She also brought religious believes into light and informed us that although Catholics make up the majority of the religion it does not necessarily institute it as a national culture. Miguel Ganio is an anthropologist who is trying to institute a National Mexican Heritage. He believes by finding similarities in heritage that Mexico will become more united and the economy of the country will also flourish. Some of his efforts include tourism of the major Mexican landmarks and having locals sell artisan crafts such as hammocks. Lastly she began to touch on Peru. She explained that although Peru had more of a common culture when in comparison to Mexico, there are still difficulties defining the culture due to the people. Unlike Mexico that had a large number of different native tribes, Peru mainly consisted of the Incas who were widespread. The difficulty in finding the culture in Peru is due to its current population. People in Peru differentiate themselves according to the area they are from. Urban expansion from the 1960’s to 1970’s also interfered with the landmarks in Peru. Although some people in Peru wanted to preserve major landmarks of history others wanted the country to advance. Much of the current population that makes up Peru wants to advance Peru to be a country of sophistication and to impress the outside world.
Jo Ellen did a good job of explaining culture and the variables involved with a culture. However, a question that remained in my mind during the presentation was; why do feel a need to define a whole country as one culture? My question partially arises from both the information that Jo Ellen presented and information we have learned in class. In class we have been learning of the differences in Latin America and the reason such an extensive area is categorized into one name. The differences extend from climate, altitude, landforms, social, economic, population, ethnicity and various other variables. The only reason such an extensive area is called Latin America is due to an early writer. Latin America was differentiated from North America in the 1850’s due to the language. Although Spanish was not the only language and varied according to dialects due to the extensive period of time the area was colonialized, Spanish became one of the main languages. Religion was also centralized around Catholicism due to colonial rule of over 300 years. However, indigenous groups are still visible in these areas. The racial mixing of indigenous groups and colonials makes it difficult to define a whole area by one culture when heritage is not the same.
September 26th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Jo Ellen gave a very informative presentation where she discussed the extreme diversity in Latin America. The made it a point to explain how many people, specifically in the United States, are unaware of the lifestyles of people in this area. This was perfectly exemplified in her YouTube video that allowed us to view an experiment in which Americans were being opened up to this culture and ended up enjoying the experience. The experiment did an excellent job of showing all of the different food, customs, activities and clothing that is seen in Latin America. She also explained how this area became the way it is today by explaining how it has progressed from post-revolutionary. During this period there was no national language, little national culture, and no national narrative. Then luckily, Miguel Gamio came around and helped develop Mexico’s heritage. His contributions to the finding of their heritage is greatly due to aiding in uncovering the Temple of Inscriptions, and having the national institute of art and history. Gamio and several others all worked together to create the heritage of Latin America that now thrives. This thriving area is now known for its intense tourism because of all the rich culture that its bound by. From its obvious indigenous control to its unique architectures, mainly seen in the White City, Latin America is full of sights and fascinating past history that Jo Ellen was able to give us a snap shot of. This directly relates to discussions that we have had in class as we try to learn how Latin America can be summed under one label. We have talked about how having so much culture in one region makes it hard to classify it as only Latin America, and after hearing Jo Ellen experience this culture first hand only proves these discussions correct.
My one question is, out of all the rituals and customs of Latin America, which do you find most exciting?
September 26th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkholder brought us even deeper into the diverse world and lifestyle of Latin America with her presentation in class. The presentation by Joe Ellen started out with some backround information on Pre-Revolutionary Mexico, in which there was no national language, little national culture (although Catholicism is common), and no national narrative. We were put into deep thinking with the question, what defines the heritage of a country or a “people”?
To help assist part of this question, we were shown an entertaining video called “Peru, Nebraska”.
The video brought forth an exciting group of Peruvians who have traveled to a small town in Nebraska, named Peru. The group arrived to promote their culture and lifestyle, showing what it really means to be “Peruvian”. Throughout the small town, they promoted their unique cuisine, music, dance, humor, drinks, clothing, and games. Watching the vast differences between the two cultures (Peruvian group vs Peru, Nebraska) one would think that it’s ironic this small town was named “Peru.” The two different cultures came off as almost complete opposites. The people from Nebraska came off as simple and chilled at the start, while the Peruvian group entered the video with lots of energy, excitement, and all smiles. While the outer apperance may still differ after the promotion, the Nebraska Peruvians will still be able to take a lot out of this experience and so will the viewers of this video. Both cultures seemed to blend together at points. Both have their fair share of enjoyement in laughter, dancing, music, food, and games. While they may have different ideas of music, and differnt pitches in their laughs, both cultures DO share these similiar traits and enjoyments of life.
What I found most interesting from this video was the part where multple Nebraskans were given a drink, and each answered the same with, “Tastes like bubblegum.” I wondered how the Peruvians would react if they each were given the bubblegum the Nebraskans were referring to.
Watching such opposite groups of people interact like they did in the video was very intruiging and entertaining, and I would most likely not have seen such a thing done without this presentation by Dr. Joe Ellen Burkholder. It gave us a better understanding and insight on Peruvian culture, and the only way to really understand Peruvian culture better would be to go on the trip this next spring and experience the tastes and entertainment first hand.
September 28th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Dr. Jo Ellen Burkhlder presented many interesting and important topics relating to Latin America, specifically regarding the countries of Peru and Mexico. One of the main issues Latin America encounters is the “challenge of making one out of many”, meaning that with all the diversity in Latin America it is hard to correlate the uniqueness of all the countries together into one, unified identity.
Dr. Burkholder began by discussing the diversity of Mexico and how the people hold very strongly their ethnic identities, speaking many indigenous languages but no national language. One main aspect that Dr. Burkholder brought up was the restoration of Mayan sites and turning them into points of interest for tourists, headed by Miguel Gaimo. This idea attracted many tourists, helping the country by bringing in income as well as a chance to inform the tourists of Mexican tradition and heritage as well as provide a national narrative that was absent since the Mexican Revolution. The problem was, many aspects that the rituals portrayed were highly inaccurate and were put in place for entertainment purposes rather than informative ones.
We then saw a video regarding Peruvian culture in which a group of people from Peru came to visit the city of Peru, Nebraska. The video showed how proud Peruvians are of their culture and reasons as to why they should be. Traditions and heritage such as food, clothes, dance and music were shown to show how important they are to the people that live in Peru. The main aspect that the video portrayed was that it’s important to be proud of where you come from. Peruvians are so proud of their heritage they actually established Peru as a trademarked brand.
This presentation was very relatable to the information we learned in class, particularly that Latin America is full of diverse cultures but is still unified as one. One main aspect that unifies Latin America is the pride each country has in their culture. I could tell Dr. Burkholder could talk about her adventures all day and that she is truly passionate about her work. One question I would have for her is what is one of the most interesting artifacts she has discovered or seen?