GEOGRAPHY / LAS 321: GEOGRAPHY OF LATIN AMERICAN

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

SECTION I: 60 points: Map Locations

SECTION II: 60 points: Locations, definitions, and terms

SECTION III:80points: Essay (2 questions: 40 points each)

200 TOTAL POINTS

SECTION I: Map Locations

Know locations, cultural groups, issues, themes, and concepts mentioned in and / or discussed in the videos and PowerPoints from class as well as the most recent articles we read, including:“Local Caribbean Economies Say They’ve Been Fooled by Cruise Industries’ Empty Promises,” “Women Paid Just Eight Cents for Each $25 NFL Shirt They Sew,”and “Can You Make Clothes Without Sweatshop Labor?”,andthe current events since the previous exam.

POPULATION / MIGRATION (cont’d)

Bracero Program:

  • Guestworkers
  • Why was it enacted?
  • Types of jobs
  • Issues with baby boomers
  • Impact on current Latino population in U.S.

OTMs

Reasons for Migration

Remittances: Impacts

  • Mexico
  • Smaller countries (Haiti, Honduras, etc.)

Migrant Laborers:

  • Demographics
  • Sending and Receiving Countries
  • Countries that are both sending and receiving
  • Immigration Policies: Who tends to have these—and why?Cuba: “Wet Foot, Dry Foot”
  • Mona Passage
  • Yolas
  • Sponsorship
  • 1965 Family Reunification System:
  • What is it?
  • What was its purpose and why was it deemed necessary?
  • Impacts
  • “Dream Act”

The (U.S.) Immigration Debate

  • Immigrants: Good or Bad?
  • What to do with current illegals (pros and cons of each solution):
  • Jail
  • Deportation
  • Legalization
  • Maintain Status Quo
  • Impacts of jail and deportation as they relate to US agriculture and food production / food prices / food security
  • Why maintain the status quo?
  • Solutions to stop illegals from entering (pros / cons of solutions)
  • Guest Workers?
  • Role / Impact of “The Wall”
  • Security Issues?
  • Effectiveness?
  • Need?
  • Cost?
  • Need for an immigration policy?
  • Why or why not?
  • Average desired length of stays for migrants
  • Current migration trends:
  • Who is now crossing the border more than in the past—and why?
  • Locations of Entry:
  • Where is busiest—and why?
  • Risks of entering here
  • Future: What changes might we see under Donald Trump?
  • The Wall?
  • End of Chain Migration?
  • Revoking of Obama’s Executive Order / DACA?

ECONOMICS

Monroe Doctrine

Imperialism vs. Colonialism vs. Neocolonialism

The rise, impact, and role of Multinational Corporations (MNCs)

Roosevelt Corollary

Interventionism:

  • What is it?
  • Who created it and for what purpose(s)?
  • Has it occurred often?
  • How does it connect to:
  • The Monroe Doctrine
  • MNCs
  • Examples
  • Panama Canal
  • How was the Panama Canal an “intervention” / reflective of the Monroe Doctrine?
  • Was part Colombia
  • U.S. created independent Panamanian state to gain control of future canal
  • Rise of Populism in Latin America:
  • How does this connect to the Monroe Doctrine?
  • How does this connect to the rise of MNCs?
  • How does this connect to land reform and workers’ rights?
  • Land Reform: Who prefers which system?
  • Latifundia / Haciendas
  • Minifundia
  • Ejidos
  • Differences between:
  • Privatization
  • Corporatism
  • Collectivism
  • Communism
  • Why the backlash of many people in Latin America against US-led interventionism?
  • Cuba: Interventionism and the Cuban Revolution
  • Why the Cuban Revolution?
  • How does the Cuban Revolution connect to land reform and workers’ rights?
  • Role of the sugar industry and MNC’s
  • Platt Amendment
  • Why was it created?
  • How does it connect to the Monroe Doctrine?
  • How does it explain why the U.S. still possesses the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba?
  • Pre-Castro Cuba
  • What was the impact of the U.S.?
  • Why did many Cubans, like Fidel Castro, want change?
  • How do the Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary help explain the U.S. influence in pre-Castro Cuba?
  • Cuban Revolution: 1959
  • US Response / Intervention: Bay of Pigs Invasion
  • Cuban Missile Crisis:
  • What happened?
  • Why did Cuba allow the Soviet Union to place missiles in Cuba?
  • 13-Day Standoff: “Khrushchev Blinked”
  • Embargo
  • How does it work and what is its purpose?
  • Why is the U.S. Treasury Department involved as opposed to the State Department that usually deals with foreign affairs?
  • Impacts and Examples:

-Old U.S. cars in Cuba: why?

-Bacardi

-Irony of U.S. dollar in Cuba

-Is it a “travel ban?” If not, then what it is?

  • UN Vote on embargo:

-Who supports it and why?

-Why does the embargo continue if 99% of the world votes against it?

  • Should the U.S. continue the embargo?

-Why or why not?

-Pros and Cons

SECTION III: Essay (80 Points—2 questions)

  • Essay will include most of or all of the components of the following questions:
  1. The trade embargo has had a lasting effect on Cuba for over 50 years. And, we know that only the U.S. and Israel are the only countries who constantly vote to support the embargo while 191 countries are against it. Give three (3) reasons why we shouldn’t end the embargo and three (3) reasons why we should. Also, with 99% of the world being opposed to the embargo, why doesn’t it end? Related, is it legal to travel to Cuba? If not, why not? And if so, what are the restrictions and which country made these restrictions?Finally, in your opinion, should we end the embargo with Cuba—why or why not? Support your opinion.
  1. We’ve discussed the role of “intervention” as part of the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America.Some of the interventions we discussed were led by or involved the U.S. government. However, we, as citizens of the U.S. also engage in “interventions” in Latin America—even if we don’t often recognize our actions as such. Including the PowerPoints, the readings, the research you have performed on your own country or cultural group, videos, current events, and any other sources of information that you may have accessed, identify and describe three (3) interventions into Latin America that U.S. citizens and / or private industries (not the U.S. government) have been engaging in. Then, for each of these interventions, identify the ways in which Latin America AND the United States both benefit from such interventions as well as the negative impacts of these interventions in the U.S. and in Latin America. Then, select one (1) of the interventions you identified above and support your opinion as to why you feel this intervention is overall positive or negative.
  1. Cuba was often considered a “Land of Paradise” for many U.S. residents. First, why were so many U.S. citizens drawn to Cuba prior to 1959? However, Cuba can now easily be described as a “land of paradox”—largely tied into the long-term impacts of the embargo. Provide three (3) examples of these “paradoxes” found in Cuba and what is so paradoxical about each of these examples. Related, regarding the history, present situation, and potential future of Bacardi, give and explain three (3) examples as to how and why the Bacardi story serves a solid microcosm of the U.S.’s relationship with Cuba over the past 100 years, today, and into the future, as well.
  1. We’ve looked at many examples over the course of the semester that illustrated how “business is done” in Latin America. First, explain what you believe is “the norm” for industries in Latin America in terms of the opportunities they provide locals, if they provide fair wages, equal access to resources, and why?For example, do you feel most MNCs in Latin America follow the rules of law and order? Do they treat the environment well? What about respect for women or indigenous people? Related, what about the roles that the various federal governments of these countries play? Including the PowerPoints, the readings, the research you have performed on your own country or cultural group, videos, current events, and any other sources of information that you may have found,providethree (3) examples that reveal what you feel are the most frequently engaged types of business practices one finds in Latin America and support your opinion if you feel these business practices reflect the ideas behind the Monroe Doctrine.
  1. Related to tourism, interventionism, fair trade, and many other themes and concepts we have covered through the semester, we have spent a considerable amount of time analyzing the impacts that the U.S. and its citizen have had—and continue to have—on Latin America. First, identify three (3) U.S. government or U.S. MNC interventions that have helped you PERSONALLY and explain how you have benefitted from these interventions. Second, do you think these interventions were justified since many U.S. citizens—including you—have benefitted from them? Support your opinion. Finally, aside from making donations,identify three (3) personal “interventions” into Latin America (NOTE: you can still “intervene” without having to travel to Latin America!) that YOU could make to help improve the lives of people in Latin America—while improving your own life, as well. In your opinion, do you believe most U.S. citizens would make similar personal interventions to help improve lives of people in Latin America? Why or not? Support your opinion?
  1. Knowing what you know about the Monroe Doctrine and the tremendous influence it has had on Latin America and the U.S.in many, many different ways, think about how the Monroe Doctrine has influenced life in the U.S. and in Latin America through many of the themes we have studied this semester, including myths about Latin America; deforestation of the Amazon and Cerrado; oil drilling in Ecuador; colonialism; ethnicity and racism; migration; DACA, the Wall, the Embargo with Cuba, free trade zones; tourism; the drug war; FTZs, etc. Given the tremendous benefits the Monroe Doctrine has created for the U.S.—including for you and me—in your opinion, should the Monroe Doctrine continue to be followed or is it time to end or significantly change it? Support your opinion by discussing three (3) reasons why the Monroe Doctrine should or should not be supported as is—paying particular consideration to the fact that you and I (living in the U.S.) have benefitted TREMENDOUSLY from it.
  1. Over the semester we have discussed many topics that have helped to define what “Latin America” is in each of our minds.Including the PowerPoints, the readings, the research you have performed on your own country or cultural group, videos, current events, and any other sources of information that you may have found, identifythree (3) ways in which your understandings of “Latin America” have been challenged or reinforced. Then, based on all the PowerPoints, the readings, the research you have performed on your own country or cultural group, videos, current events, and any other sources of information that you may have foundyou have heard, identify and discuss the Latin American country that you would MOST want to live in as well as the country you would LEAST want to live in. Be sure to explain why you chose these two countries and provide three (3)specific and significant reasons (environmental, political, economic, etc.) for each of the two countries. However, your discussion must NOT include include anything related to tourism(i.e. climate, beaches, mountains, tourist-related activities, etc.) or“CLOSENESS” to the U.S.(physically, politically, culturally, economically, etc.). In addition, for the country you would MOST want to live in, identify a factor inherent to that country that may be considered as a negative to living there and vice-versa for the country you would LEAST want to live in.
  1. Discuss the well-publicized immigration issues that the U.S. faces today—particularly regarding Latinx populations.Discuss thethree (3)primary solutions (as well as the option of “doing nothing”) to the current problem of 11 million illegals in the U.S. and identify one drawback to each solution.What about the pros and cons of turning many of these illegals into guest workers—how might this help resolve some of these issues?Then explain the connection between undocumented workers, food prices, food imports, and food security. In other words, how does the phrase “import workers or import food” relate to this discussion? Finally, what would YOUR solution be regarding the immigration issues in the United States today that adequately addresses issues of law, economics, food production, and food security? Support your opinion.
  1. The most recent election here in the U.S. notably reflected the changing demographics in the United States—particularly the growth of Latinx populations. First, describe the Bracero Program and how it connects to the 1965 Family Reunification System. Be sure to state what the 1965 Family Reunification System was and what it did. How does the 1965 Family Reunification System connect with growing Latinx populations in the U.S. today? Also, as we know, President Trump has threatened to end DACA if he doesn’t get support for two other significant agenda items related to immigration control in the U.S. What are these two agenda items and how do they connect to DACA? Finally, what solution would you propose regarding not only the 11 million illegals in the U.S. today, but the constant stream of new arrivals every day? And assuming that the U.S. is HIGHLY divided over immigration reform, what concessions would you make in order to achieve the goals of your proposal while and at least satisfy some of issues that your political opponents would support? Support your opinion.
  1. As we saw, the Bacardi Rum company embodies much of the entire saga of the U.S.-Cuba relationship since the U.S. “liberated” Cuba from Spain, including the impacts of the Cuban Revolution, the Embargo, and the many facets of the complicated relationship between the U.S. and Cuba over the past century. First, explain how Bacardi’s history reflects much of the U.S.’s historical interests in Cuba, the reasons behind the Cuban Revolution, the impacts of the Cuban Revolution, and the various changing perceptions of the Cuban Revolution—moving out of the Cold War and into the 21st century. For example, why did Bacardi recently change their labels on their bottles to reflect a different history and meaning? Finally, given everything you know about Cuba—such as its quality of life indicators compared to other Caribbean countries—as well as its current “state of disrepair” and its openness to trading with rich, Western countries like Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and others, do you believe Cuba successfully rejected the Monroe Doctrine? Discuss and defend your opinion through providing three (3) examples to support your point of view.