Jacob Huston

Week 2: Discussion 2 Reading Response Analysis of Guillens work on Modernist Architecture of Mexico, Brazil, & Argentina alongside Wilsons work on the link between Identity and Urban Popular Culture, an idea can be constructed on how Latin Americans used new mediums to reclaim and re-envision their identities within the progressive society created by white elites. By mapping the rise of modern architecture is Latin America, it is evident that the progression was complex and not easily definable. In Mexico and Brazil, the onset of modern principles appeared relatively early in comparison to Argentina; with the progression of architecture consequences of industrialization, political change, but mostly affiliated to the state and education. Each country was able to define its identity as a nation within this new architectural landscape: Mexico integrating local and cultural specificity, Brazil adopting free-form modernism, and Argentina maintaining its neoclassical roots. The incorporation of Modernism, or lack thereof, within the powerhouses of Latin America shows how each county was able to either incorporate elements of culture within modernism or cling onto architectural styles of the past (case of Argentina) to display their cultural and national identities to the world. Similarly, dissecting the way Peruvian identity conformed and opposed (white) European colonization, particularly within urban popular culture, emulates how Latin Americans were able redefine themselves within the post-colonial world. Oppressed indigenous Peruvians used dance/theatre to recreate their cultural history of the conquest of the Andes, ultimately facilitating rebellion. Later Inca dances also expressed tensions and different identities on a transcendent platform (as with Carnaval). Urban popular culture provided an outlet for cultural dialogue, where cultural identities could be expressed. In both works, Latin American nations and groups were able to reconstruct their identities within a White dominated society, making way for new definitions of class and modernism.