A Brief Thought

After living in Nicaragua for just a short time my perspective of my field (Latin American/Environmental History) has changed dramatically. I am almost embarrassed to say that I have written about Latin America before I had the chance to live here and learn about the culture. For example, I reviewed a book that had a lot to say about Simon Bolivar and how he is viewed in Latin America today. The notion that one could lump Latin America in to one category and speak on their views as a whole is just silly. If you ask ten people in Nicaragua what they think about Bolivar you will get ten very different answers and that is just one country in the massive region we call Latin America. Throughout history there have been many people with very different experiences in Latin America. Does this mean we should dissolve all Latin American History departments? No, of course not but we should try to stop generalizing a very diverse region.

- James Nash