Latin elements or themes made for the North American market have been used in American films, but at the same time these films have been playing in a Latin American market, making it useful to examine how Latin America has been portrayed in these films. The taste for exotic locales and themes is an element that has been present since the…

Contains an interview conducted in Spring 2000 via email with William Luis, an author, professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University, and leading authority on Latin American, Caribbean, Afro-Hispanic, and Latino literatures. Offers Luis' perspective on topics of literature and ethnic/cultural identity. (EV)

Describes the central concept of Mayan culture, the possession of the soul, or ch'ulel, in the process of forming a knowledgeable person. Soul acquisition is important to becoming the ideal person, and to the educational formation of future generations. Looks at the role language plays in culture as memory, thought formation, and learning process.…

Proposes an analysis of the representations produced by the first generations of the Brazilian Republic about 19th-century Brazil. Presents a new direction for reading about the same period. (PA)

Examines reasons for studying Latin, noting resistance to such study in Australia. A civilization component is considered essential in Latin study to make students understand cultural context. Studying Latin can benefit all students by opening the door to learning other languages and to language in general. (SM)

Three different theory of mind tasks were conducted with 4- to 8-year-old Quechua peasant children in the Peruvian Andes. The study investigated the ways in which children in preliterate cultures think and the possibility that they think differently than children in literate cultures. The tasks included: (1) a false-belief task, which tested the…

Both the American author, L. Frank Baum, and his Brazilian counterpart, Jose Monteiro Lobato, created children's books that featured alternative worlds, peopled by characters who fascinated many generations of young readers. The authors were both born in the second half of the nineteenth century into families of privilege, and both enjoyed idyllic…

An analysis of concepts of time in Latin American societies focuses on aspects that can be useful in teaching Spanish as a second language and Hispanic culture in anglophone North America, and includes specific suggestions for classroom activities and teaching techniques. Analysis looks at the following aspects and functions of time: polychronic…