Historiographical Paper on Latin America Specificly on Educational Essay

Historiographical Paper on Latin America Specificly on Educational Policies under Populist leaders in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina - Essay Example Following the Great Depression many Latin American countries were seeking new ideas and policies to ward off economic losses. Notably, populist leaders made effective use of the media to gain the attention and patronage of a large voting pool within the community. Importantly, populist leaders considered the large indigenous populations that were part of their nations heritage, initiating discourse of inter-culturality and multi-cultural education. This incorporated concepts of democracy, equality and a civil society. Further, populism looked to debate and respect the cultural and linguistic plurality of indigenous peoples, and to rectify their day-to-day struggles with oppressive and unequal social relations (Aikman, 2004). This paper will review the populist education policies of the presidents; Lazaro Crdenas (Mexico); Juan Pern (Argentina); and Getlio Vargas (Brazil). President Crdenas's term was noteworthy for its extension of education resources and opportunities to the rural areas of Mexico, along with changes to land distribution and the formation of labor unions (Encyclopedia of the Nations, 2006). The dramatic reformation programs initiated by Crdenas promoted domestic industrialization by introducing import barriers the strong economic growth of Mexico in the following years provided the foundation for his inclusive education policies. The market forces of capitalism had until Crdenas's time maintained the status quo of the oppression of the indigenous people of Mexico. His administration brought in agrarian reform however, Crdenas was not fully focused on social transformation, although his term did manage to stabilize the existing capitalist economy (Dawson, 2004). Overall, Crdenas set out to decrease social inequality while at the same time increasing confience in the Mexican social system. Previous to the Crdenas government, a series o f scientific and educational institutions had tried to understand and up-date the social position of indigenous people, and to integrate them into the wider Mexican community. Indigenism or indigenismo was maintained throughout Crdenas's term, contributing to the revolutionary formation and ethnohistory of Mexico.The assimilationist ideas of Mexico's bureaucrats and scholars between 1917-1934 sought to integrate the indigenous people by having them cast aside their culture (Dawson, 2004). With Crdenas, a more pluralist period of indigenism arose, extending on the belief that indigenous people were 'educatable'. Indian boarding schools were established to educate and modernize the students, however, by to teach in language and to have bureaucrats work within the indigenous communities. The Department of Indigenous Affairs was soon formed, that was oriented toward the education of indigenous people and the maintenance and respect of their culture and religious practices. As part of his goal to encourage the uplifting of Mexico's indigenous peoples, Crdenas put together a series of conferences (i.e., the 'Cardenista indigenous congresses') that included community leaders who would be able to communicate their expectations of the revolutionary state (Dawson, 2004). However, Crdenas did steer away from an extreme pluralist ideal of indigenism, and so maintained the older model of Indian assimilation into Mexican society. Also, the indigenous population did not always choose cultural autonomy, although there were