What
a very strange thing to do. No one studies Latin America. Generations
and generations of Norte Americanos pass through 12, 16 or more
years of schooling and never learn more about it than Columbus jumping
off his boat, on his way up north, one might imagine, so he could
get his name on towns, roads and schools everywhere. Well, we're
going to go a little further than that, never mind the intellectual
violence of cramming the whole deal into 4 short months. We'll make
the best of it.
Latin America is called Latin America because the Portuguese would be miffed if we called it Spanish America. Since they are both languages derived from Latin, the language of ancient Rome, we ought to call the region Romantic America, which would certainly please the tourist boards in Buenos Aires, but might give the wrong impression to students.
There are a few other matters of academic jargon to remember. We'll speak of Meso-America, which means "Middle America," but which does not mean Kansas, but means the part of Latin America south of Texas and north of Colombia. In other words, Central America, but Meso sounds so suave, and is usually used to describe the Pre-Columbian period before there were any Latins in Latin America. By the way, "Pre-Columbian"---there's another crowd-pleaser just right for swank parties, and for dropping liberally into your essays. It means, "before Columbus," but sounds more zingy. Claro?