September 11, 2001, is a day most American high school students remember. They may not fully grasp the events that took place, the reasons behind the terrorist attacks on the United States, or their implications, but they remember. They were children when this national trauma occurred--and they saw those unforgettable television images of the…

This collective biography offers insight into the more famous and infamous women in Mexico's history and weaves the tale of how their ways and deeds have shaped both a culture and a nation. The book starts with the conquest and ends with the twentieth century, outlining the lives of Mexican women and their causes. The women described in the book…

Outlines a brief history of Mesoamerica, a region of Ancient North America which stretches from north central Mexico to the western half of El Salvador. Describes the languages of the region, common traits of the cultures which developed there, the periods, and the geography. (PRA)

The second in a three-part geographical education series, this article focuses on human-environmental relations in the geographical area including Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The article examines how the historical and cultural roots of the people of Middle America have influenced their interaction with and modification of…

Synthesizes empirical evidence on the participation of state and capital in the establishment of domestic telegraphic and telephonic communication in Latin America. Suggests that, in many ways, the contemporary period of telecommunication system organization in the region parallels the early years of telegraphy and telephony. Discusses these…

Describes the historical approaches to the decipherment of ancient Maya writing. Asserts that Mayan hieroglyphics are recognized as true writing because they represent the sounds and structure of spoken language. Discusses the history of Maya hieroglyphic writing and how it was used in that civilization. (PRA)

This paper presents a history of motion pictures that focuses on how motion pictures, from 1894 to the present, have portrayed Latins. The role that Hollywood has played in the perpetuation of stereotypes is illustrated. There is an explanation of how film has illuminated a world beyond everyday experiences and has introduced the movie-goer to new…

States that iconographic investigations of Olmec style art works have produced convincing evidence that rulership during the Early and Middle Formative Period of Mesoamerican prehistory was publicly legitimized by a visual charter. Shows that the charter's naturally derived symbols functioned within a system which stressed the human ruler's access…

Offers an overview of Later Formative period writing in Mesoamerica, and discusses recent findings. Asserts that analysis of the iconographic context of the script reveals considerable interdependence between text and context and provides a glimpse of the importance of cosmological considerations in the display of power. Discusses the importance…

Summarizes the nature of the pre-Hispanic pictorial communication system used by the Mixtec people of Mexico, who were creating manuscripts in which they recorded their histories, genealogies, and religious beliefs long before the Spanish reached the New World. Explains and illustrates the principal pictorial conventions. (PRA)

Son Jarocho (specifically from Veracruz) is a song-and-dance form originating in Spain and implanted in Mexico during 17th- and 18th-century colonization. The jarocho style of music today is one of Latin America's most unique forms, using one to four instruments and characterized by its distinctive rhythm. (LC)

Surveys the origin and development of the representational conventions of Mesoamerican writing systems. Asserts that writing probably grew out of the iconography of ceremonial celts, and seems to have taken shape during or just before the period in which state-level political organization was emerging. Discusses the representational features of…

Examines the work of the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus and other evidence for the existence of public libraries in fourth and fifth century A.D. Rome. It is concluded that a number of libraries were still in existence in the early fourth century, and at least one was open as late as A.D. 455. (MES)

Analyzes Latin American film histories, emphasizing the cinema in Argentina, Chile, Cuba, and Bolivia. (PD)

The American military administration that governed Cuba from 1898 to 1909 foisted its own system of values on the subordinate population. American culture was imposed, with the schools as the vehicle of "Americanization." This article describes that imposition and considers its long-term impact. (Author/BJV)