Is Latin America part of "The West"?

[Sikeliot]

Not speaking of geography but in general.. do you view it as being Western like the US, Canada, and Western Europe?

[Sigur Rós]

Yes it is entirely , as its european ancestry, culture, religions, thinking and languages derive mostly from Western Europe.

But there are some Latin American countries like Chile, Argentina and Brazil who have immigrants from Eastern europe like Hungary , but just a few.

[Sikeliot]

I don't consider all of Latin America part of the West. Dominican and Cuban (especially since the white population has largely immigrated to the US) culture has a lot of African influence, too much to view it as Western IMO and Amerindian influence in Central America is too strong to consider them Western either, lest we consider the Philippines to be Western and India too, since the Spanish and British, respectively, took over there too.

[Padre Organtino]

There's really little Western about India IMO.

[Joe McCarthy]

The Southern Cone, perhaps. Much of the rest is a hybrid, and has been so from the beginning. Mexican identity, for example, is based on a merging of cultures in the form of Cortes mating with the Indian Dona Marina.

[Sigur Rós]

I don't consider all of Latin America part of the West. Dominican and Cuban (especially since the white population has largely immigrated to the US) culture has a lot of African influence, too much to view it as Western IMO and Amerindian influence in Central America is too strong to consider them Western either, lest we consider the Philippines to be Western and India too, since the Spanish and British, respectively, took over there too.

My country of origin is far from being close to its native or african ancestry (yes there's a few cultural influences but it's European and American in most parts). Mostly in terms of culture, it's heavily influenced by the west and it's a western country itself you should do a tour. I would say it's more like a combination of three origins, amerind, african and European.

We speak a western language, Spanish (western lenguage), our main religion in christianity (western), and many of our traditions and food are heavily influenced by Spain (western country)

What LA countries do you consider western?

[Belenus]

Predominantly African nations are not Western, especially states like Haiti which violently sought to release themselves from white authority.

I consider Argentina and Chile to be very western in culture and ancestry. Brazil is racially questionable, so... no, I wouldn't really call it Western. Or even if it is, it needs to be 'quarantined' from the rest of the West due to the racial nightmare it is.

Mexico is similar to Brazil in this respect.

One way of looking at it is this: the relatively pure European minority in Latin America belongs to the West. The mulatto and mestizo masses do not.

[Sikeliot]

There's really little Western about India IMO.

This is my point. Some Latin American countries are truly European in character, i.e. Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica and maybe even Chile despite racial mixture to some extent. Others, like the Dominican Republic and today's Cuba, are basically Creole cultures (except surprisingly their languages are not Creole languages).

[Sikeliot]

My country of origin is far from being close to its native or african ancestry (yes there's a few cultural influences but it's European and American in most parts).

Hardly true. It's essentially a Creole culture that miraculously did not end up with a Creole language like Cape Verde did.

[Sikeliot]

Mexican identity, for example, is based on a merging of cultures in the form of Cortes mating with the Indian Dona Marina.

True. Even Mexicans of pred. European ancestry sometimes call themselves mestizo, a reflection of their culture being a complex and unique mixture and merging of Western and Native cultures.