Deck 14: New Identities, New Politics, 1980-2016

Question 1

In general, Latin American civil society had more freedom and latitude for political debate in the 1990s than in the previous decades.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Which of the following statements about the "identity politics" movements in Latin America since the 1990s is FALSE?

A) These movements reflect the erosion of identities linked to class and occupation.
B) These movements have called for all legislation to be race-blind, in order to uphold the principle that all citizens are equal before the law.
C) These movements have shared characteristics with similar movements emerging in the North Atlantic world.
D) These movements have challenged the prevailing nationalist discourses that depict race relations as harmonious.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

By the late 20th century, Brazil's small indigenous population was found exclusively in remote areas of the interior, chiefly the Amazon.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Which of the following statements about African-descended populations in the Andean nations is FALSE?

A) They often live in remote areas away from the national centers of population and political power.
B) Their communities and local environments have been under frequent threat from the mining, logging, and/or energy industries.
C) They have been increasingly vocal in challenging the prevailing nationalist discourses of mestizaje.
D) They constitute roughly a third of the population in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Question 5

Advocates of "plurinationalism" argued that

A) Indigenous nations should secede to form their own independent nation-states.
B) Latin American nation-states should re-unite to form one two or three federal super-states.
C) Multiple autonomous indigenous nations could exist within each Latin American nation-state.
D) Indigenous peoples should assimilate into the dominant mestizo culture of most Latin American nation-states.

Question 6

Which of the following statements about President Evo Morales of Bolivia is FALSE?

A) He was able to increase funding for social programs without resorting to deficit spending.
B) He was the first self-identified indigenous person elected to the presidency of a South American country.
C) Bolivia's poverty rate declined by nearly half during his presidency between 2005 and 2015.
D) He began his career as a coca farmer before moving into politics.

Question 7

Which of the following statements about Rigoberta Menchú is TRUE?

A) She was elected president of Guatemala in 1999.
B) Her activism represented a break with her father's politics as a supporter of the right-wing governments during Guatemala's long period of political and ethnic violence.
C) The controversy over her book reflects differences among Maya, ladino, and Anglophone cultures' attitudes towards individual and collective experiences and representation.
D) She was forced to return her Nobel Prize after multiple investigations revealed falsehoods or inaccuracies in her writing.

Question 8

The "pink tide" refers to

A) The emergence of women's groups and female candidates as leading actors in Latin American politics.
B) The tendency of Latin American governments to resort to budget deficits ("red ink"), but only moderately so.
C) The rise of indigenous identity movements to political prominence in key Latin American countries.
D) The trend in the early 2000s toward Latin Americans electing left-wing, anti-neoliberal governments in places like Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

Question 9

The government's response to the Ayotzinapa incident exemplifies the ongoing problems with violence and the rule of law in contemporary Mexico.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about the most recent period in Venezuelan history is FALSE?

A) The country has suffered from shortages of food and consumer goods, a rampant black market, and the highest inflation rate in the world.
B) The chavista governing party led by Chávez's successor Nicolás Maduro managed to win a majority in the National Assembly elections of 2015.
C) State control of the economy has allowed for a new class of politically connected oligarchs to profit by their association with the state.
D) Spending on the government's flagship jobs, education, and healthcare programs has been eroded by falling oil revenues.

Question 11

The election of female presidents in Latin America has been limited to small and peripheral countries, namely Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Chile.

Question 12

In Latin America, unlike the United States, environmental activism has tended to be integral to, rather than separate from, broader movements for social and economic justice.

Question 13

Which of the following statements about the town of Otavalo, Ecuador is FALSE?

A) Its population is almost entirely indigenous.
B) Its population is almost entirely Mormon.
C) Peace Corps volunteers from the US introduced the practice of textile weaving to the village - formerly dedicated to subsistence farming - in the 1960s.
D) Its large diaspora markets the town's products in North America and Europe.

Question 14

Which of the following is the Latin American country with the highest percentage of Protestants in its population?

A) Paraguay (55%)
B) Guatemala (40%)
C) Ecuador (35%)
D) Brazil (20%)

Question 15

Which of the following statements about the "prosperity theology" of third-wave Pentecostal churches is FALSE?

A) It teaches that God will reward believers' faith with material benefits in this life.
B) It urges them to contribute financially to the work of the church, as proof of their commitment to the faith.
C) It has allowed denominations like the IURD to accumulate vast church-owned holdings in real estate, media, and other sectors.
D) It provides believers with a principled alternative to neoliberal society's glorification of wealth.