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Latin American perspectives a program of comment and analysis about current Latin American problems and their historical setting. The commentator for these programs is Dr. C. Harvey Gardner research professor of history at Southern Illinois University. Here now is Dr. Gardner spelled e l i t the word elite is not an uncommon one. Indeed elite has come to enjoy whitening use and deepening significance on the total world scene. And so it is not unreasonable for me today to relate it to contemporary Latin America. But elites are not new to the Latin American scene. They have been there throughout all time and I would speak first of the roles and nature of the elites in colonial days because even then the elites stemmed from factors that are present to Latin American life today. In other
words present day Latin America is closely akin in many respects to Colonial circumstances. Across the Centuries of Spanish domination of Spanish America the place of one's birth had an important relationship to one's aspirations and activities. The person who was born in Spain was known as a peninsula. While the individual born in the new world of equally Spanish parents was a Creole and a line that became a chasm of antagonism was drawn between them. If one looks for example to the lists of the Viceroy's of New Spain present day Mexico one finds that 49 of 50 were Peninsula race. Furthermore if one looks to the generals and the archbishops you again confront a long list of Peninsula born Spaniards. There were levels to which the Creoles could attain but they did not
occupy the top most posts in like fashion beneath the Creoles those colonial born Spaniards where the mestizos individuals born of mixed Spanish and Indian parentage as well as other mixtures to which the Africans contributed. Within the Colonial society were great day sions in terms of political and military hierarchies that deserve the name elites in the Army for example any pure blooded Indian entered and remained at the very bottom mestizos at the levels of corporal and Sergeant exercised a farty over their Indian underlings but were themselves subordinate to the Creoles above them. The Creoles commonly attained the lower and middle ranks as commissioned officers but the top most authority that exercised by full colonels and generals remained a pariah good eve of the peninsula days. The church another hierarchical
institution presented a similar picture so strong was the stratification in religious life that Indians were generally excluded from any clerical role whatsoever. Clear it is then in political military and religious areas of colonial life that elites arose became firmly entrenched and persistently reflected the importance of place of birth. In more modern times in Latin America like other world areas elites have become identified with achievement. Now it is more a matter of working one's self into an elite than it is a matter of being born to it. All of this derives in large measure from the more fluid social economic and political conditions that permit an aspiring man to be and achieving that. There are contemporary elites in the arts in business in politics in society and sports in everything.
Take baseball for example. The distinctions among the minor leagues and those between the top minor league and the Major Leagues represent fixed categories that are but a recognition of elites each year in a given league. The schedule of games is intended to identify the elite among presumed equals. The same is true of the all star selections the batting and fielding championships. Indeed it culminates in that appellation and the P which insists that one man among all of them is clearly the most valuable player. During the coming autumn at the Olympic Games in Mexico City we shall see athletic elites from the rest of the world join those of Latin America to battle for our ultimate distinction. But to speak of the Latin American elites related to one recently published book
we shift our thinking from the obvious elites of the athletic world to ones which in other areas of life are often more subtle but much more significant. The new and provocative book affording this view is entitled elites in Latin America. It has been edited by S. M. lips it of Harvard University and Aldo Solari of Montevideo Uruguay. The book is a product of Oxford University Press. This volume points up the fact that most governments of Latin America today are controlled by small elites or oligarchy s and much of the opposition to these governments comes from other elites. Thus to understand political social and economic processes in contemporary Latin America one must be aware of. Indeed understand the
elites to analyze those factors that condition the special character of these elites lips it and so Larry have presented the conclusions of 15 social scientists from the United States and Latin America. The problems of development and modernization in Latin America are emphasized throughout the essays. The authors by examining intensively the elite groups are able to isolate those factors that have been inhibited Latin-American growth as well as those that may contribute to development in the future. In the aggregate then this becomes a comprehensive sociological approach to two hundred twenty five million Americans to the south of us. While the essays focus mainly on the significant types of elite groups the political working class cultural religious peasant military and the like much of the study is
concerned with education. The ways in which the secondary and university systems affect the competence orientation and composition of future elites and the ways in which economic advancement and industrial activity are linked to literacy and education. I repeatedly receive attention in his introduction incidentally lips it offers a detailed discussion of Latin American values and the way they affect the behavior of elites. All in all the contributors to the subject matter and the approach combined to produce a focus on the future prospects of Latin America that is both fresh and provocative. One of the elites under consideration the military deserves our added attention. At first blush it may seem in Congress to emphasize the military in reference to a condition in which education is considered increasingly significant. But the truth
is that the military of Latin America are themselves a changing factor one that has become more and more to embrace educational processes. Once upon a time Latin American military officers were drawn rather narrowly from social elites but that day has passed now in many Latin American countries. The army represents a chance for advancement. Indeed an educational experience. Thanks to the technology related to military establishments and their operation many young men from the ranks of the hopelessly poor are moving after tours of duty in uniform into the ranks of the lower middle class as mechanics and technicians. Furthermore many from lower middle class origins rise higher and higher
as commissioned officers. This fluidity in the military is helpful as to who is the fact that the Army's more and more are promoters of political stability rather than agents of revolution. Obviously the armies that once bled society disrupted the economy and paralyze the political state through revolution have become as consolidators of civilian regimes and guarantors of the internal peace that unifies society and advances industry agencies of in estimable importance. All in all this means in part that the military often thought of only as a diehard haven of authoritarianism and conservatism has become an avenue of change and liberalism.
Consequently many modern Latin American military establishments are now Prime contributors to outlooks and courses of action that are evolutionary and progressive. Some of that which is evolutionary and changing is related within the university systems to the fields of study pursued by Latin American students out of cultures addicted to legalism. They frequently all too frequently focus on law. However more and more students are bringing business and engineering within the range of their career aspirations. When those who tend toward business or engineering and consequently are potential members of rising industrial elites cannot get at home the kinds of training they need and desire they still find it necessary to go
abroad. One of the great contributions the United States makes and can continue to make toward contemporary Latin American elites is in this area of professional education. Incidentally hundreds of Latin American military officers have had their horizons altered. Their goals achieved in part because of tours of training duty in this country. However our greatest contribution lies with the civilian students on our college campuses. It behooves us in our technologically advanced setting and in our democratic patterns of activity to so contribute to our education of tomorrow's leaders of Latin America that their outlooks and aspirations include tolerance including the idea that elites are not eternal
and exclusive. Indeed that elites should in reference to the rest of a nation open doors of opportunity rather than slamming doors of exclusion and monopoly. Later this year political activity in the United States will make each of us increasingly aware of certain elites among us. Meanwhile the lips it and Solari volume elites in Latin America published by Oxford University Press is a welcome introduction to elite south of the border. This was Latin American perspectives with Dr. C. Harvey Gardner research professor of history at Southern Illinois University. Join us for our next program when Dr. Gardner will examine another aspect of life in Latin America Latin American perspectives is produced and recorded by station WFIU FM at Southern Illinois University and is distributed by the national educational radio network.
Series
Latin American perspectives
Episode
In the Fist of the Revolution
Producing Organization
WSIU 8 (Television station : Carbondale, Ill.)
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-dv1cpt44
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Description
Episode Description
This program focuses on the book "In the Fist of the Revolution" by Jose Yglesias.
Series Description
A series of comment and analysis about current affairs in Latin American countries.
Date
1968-10-23
Topics
Global Affairs
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:13:48
Embed Code
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Credits
Host: Gardiner, C. Harvey (Clinton Harvey)
Producing Organization: WSIU 8 (Television station : Carbondale, Ill.)
Producing Organization: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 68-31-7 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:13:50
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Citations
Chicago: “Latin American perspectives; In the Fist of the Revolution,” 1968-10-23, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-dv1cpt44.
MLA: “Latin American perspectives; In the Fist of the Revolution.” 1968-10-23. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-dv1cpt44>.
APA: Latin American perspectives; In the Fist of the Revolution. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-dv1cpt44