This final reading left me with both positive and negative feelings about the future of Latin America. It is great to see that in recent years real political change has occurred in much of the region, and that now issues like poverty are really being addressed. Also, many countries’ economies in general have greatly improved, and I hope that this is sustainable. The region as a whole has come a long way in the past few decades, and hopefully this trend will only continue. I also hope that as part of this upward trend Latin America may find more social stability, as despite all of the improvements in the region this still remains an issue. One thing that I was very happy to read about was the lessening influence of the United States on affairs in Latin America, and it is great to see that countries are becoming more independent and have been able to shake off much of the control of the US.

Of course, one thing that is definitely not looking too bright is the environmental state of Latin America; although this, too, seems to be improving. Resource extraction has had large and grave impacts on the region, and now increasingly more and more people are calling for an end to these practices. A huge part of that movement is the indigenous population of Latin America, who has found much more of a voice in recent years (by this I mean they are actually being listened to), and they have been able to shake up the status quo and really challenge some of these large companies, as well as the states themselves. Hopefully this, too, continues, for everyone’s sake, really.

I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Latin America through this course, and it has opened my eyes to a lot of new information, history, and cultures.