Assignment 2a

a. Definiton 1: "Interdisciplinary studies" is an academic program or process seeking to synthesize broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, interconnections, and epistemology in an educational setting. Interdisciplinary programs may be founded in order to facilitate the study of subjects which have some coherence, but which cannot be adequately understood from a single disciplinary perspective (for example, women's studies or medieval studies). More rarely, and at a more advanced level, interdisciplinarity may itself become the focus of study, in a critique of institutionalized disciplines' ways of segmenting knowledge." - http://en.wikipedia.org

    Definiton 2: Courses, programs....linked together and integrated information and methodologies from two or more separate traditional and/or certified disciplines...creating a multi-faceted picture of the topic through exploration and sythesization of various approaches and views.- www.colleges.org/newmodels/interdisciplinary/definition.html 

b. Definiton 1: "Latin America is the region of the Americaswhere Romance languages (i.e., those derived from Latin), particularly Spanish and Portuguese, are primarily spoken."- http://en.wikipedia.org

    Definition 2: "the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies."- http://bartleby.com/65/

c. Countries of Latin America: 

•  Argentina
•  Bolivia
•  Brazil
•  Chile
•  Colombia
•  Costa Rica
  •  Cuba
  •  Dominican Rep.
  •  Ecuador
  •  El Salvador
    •  Guatemala
    •  Honduras
    •  Mexico
    •  Nicaragua
    •  Panam
      •  Paraguay
      •  Peru
      •  Puerto Rico
      •  Uruguay
      •  Venezuela
      
      
      d. The countries of the Caribbean include Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands.
      
      
      
      e. The Caribbean region takes it's name from the ethnic group, Carib.  The Carib resided in the Lesser Antilles and part of South America when Europeans fist made contact.  In the English-speaking language the Caribbean locals are called, "West Indians."
      
      
      f. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org, www.colleges.org, and http://bartleby.com/65/.  These are reputable sources because I have checked the information with other sites and they have proven valid.  Wikipedia is feared by some, but I find it to be much more informative than other sites with good facts.  Despite being able to edit information, it will be removed if it is false.  The other two sites I have used before.  Thier definitions are clear and consise and use actual information from paper-back encyclopedias.
      
      
      g. In general, my classmates all seem to have been very interested in Paulo Freire.  Quite a few people cited his book, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.”  Many people are taking this course to meet their GE requirements and have a need to learn about Latin America and the Caribbean.  There are some great points made about Paulo Freire's ideals and techniques of teaching.  The first student I share comminalities with is Emily Little.  We have both been to Costa Rica.  She lived there for awhile, I was there for fourteen days.  We also both live over thirty minutes from campus and know little about the Caribbean and more about Latin America.  The second student I chose is Blaire Esposti.  She is also taking this class to satisfy her GE requirements and gain a better understanding of Latin America and the Caribbean.  We also have only used Myspace to blog and are faily new to the blogging experience.