Reading questions for Born in Blood & Fire

This is a list of questions to help you identify important concepts and themes from the reading. We will go through each of the questions in class together.

In order to help you organize your thoughts and contribute to our discussion, I strongly encourage you to take reading notes. Write down the ideas you think are important, as well as any interesting facts or observations. Write down words you are unfamiliar with, as well as their definition. In particular, pay attention to and make a note of anything that you react strongly to - are you surprised by something that you learned here? Does it change the way you think about Latin America and its past?

1. Who were the nationalist? What were they reacting to?
2. Which ethnicity did the Latin American nationalism celebrated?
3. Which were some of the accomplishments of the Mexican Constitution of 1917?
4. Who were the Cristeros? Why were they called that?
5. What role did Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo played in the development of Mexican nationalism?
6. Who was Hipólito Yrigoyen? How his nationalism was different from the Mexican case?
7. What was the Popular American Revolutionary Alliance (APRA)?
8. What was indigenismo? Which Latin American countries adopted this idea? Why?
9. What is import-substitution-industralization (ISI)? How did it change Latin American economy?
10. Who was Getulio Vargas? How he implemented the Estado Novo?
11. Who was Lázaro Cárdenas? Which were some of his nationalist policies?