Role of graffiti in Colombia, Argentina, Honduras, and Brazil

Graffiti is a form of art used in many Latin countries as form of expression, but in many different ways. What graffiti express variate depending of the country and the artists. The intention of the artist change according to the needs of the country where he is painting and the attitude he is taking in front of the problematic.
In Colombia, many graffiti express complaints and disagreement with social and political problematic, but there are also graffiti that show the richness of Colombian culture and its origins. Graffiti in Colombia is the voice of the people in the walls.
In Honduras, the country's problematic with violence is a main topic of graffiti and more than criticize as Colombian graffiti, it is used to create awareness of the issue and capture the reality there. But in Honduras, in contrast to Colombia, graffiti is also use by political parties to plaster propaganda and slogans so there could be a silent conversation between political parties and people reactions just captured in the walls. Lets imagine you are in a bus in Honduras and you see the different political parties messages in a wall, then you see graffiti expressing the opinions of agreement and disagreement with that and graffiti of the reality of the country and some transcendent historical issues. It will have a strong influence on people's minds, won't it? So in Honduras graffiti has a huge social and political impact.
In Brazil, as similar to Colombia, graffiti is used to show disagreement with political climate and corruption but also to protest about the destruction of the natural resources, which are the treasure of Brazilians, in benefit of the big cities.
In the other hand, in Argentina graffiti is used mostly as street art, creating a outdoor gallery in the streets. The graffiti in Argentina express feelings and meanings more than specific ideas about social or political events.
In conclusion, graffiti has a really important role in social and political development in many Latin country and serve as a strong form of expression and as a media of which none can hide. Graffiti is also a great way to show the cultural identity and the works of street artists.

Bangkok’s ‘Mexican’ Gangsters: The evident undercurrent of cultural appropriation

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/03/21/photo-essay-bangkoks-mexican-gangsters

When we talk about cultural appropriation, it covers the appropriation of the lot of things that culture involves and I think it is not possible, but it is possible to appropriate of some characteristics of other culture. Bangkok’s ‘Mexican’ Gangsters are a clear example of the appropriation of cultural characteristics. From Bangkok’s ‘Mexican’ Gangsters case, we can infer that people sometimes just look for what they need in other cultures. Sometimes those needs refer to physical needs, but many times it refers to emotional needs. Moreover, the creation of little groups that appropriate of other cultures' characteristics, could make people feel more confident because, for some people, it is important to feel part of something and to receive the support of the other members of the group. In other words, people use interests as an excuse to form social groups with a emotional purpose that they do not even notice in some cases like Bangkok’s ‘Mexican’ Gangsters, who do not know what being gangster mean and they are not interest on it, but each one of them has an emotional reason to join the group as a remedy to some emotional vacuum.

Racism

Nowadays, racism exist in Colombia but is not as strong as it was. Racism consist of prejudice and discrimination. I think in Colombia discrimination was controlled on time so now discrimination is a really softer phenomenon. In the other hand, prejudice persist but it has declined just a little bit. 
 
If you analyze the situation, you will discover that what Afro-Colombians are living in the present is just the result of the strong racism that predominated in the past. After slavery times, in which whites had all the economical resources and  the political power, Afro-Colombians had to started again as the base of the social pyramid so they had to took jobs as workmanship and cleaners and it remains for a long time. Nowadays, Afro-Colombians has to climb that pyramid to have a better life style, as some of them has done in the last decades. In other words, when the fight for social positions and resources between black people and white people started, whites had a lot of advantage so for black people is still difficult to catch them up. In that way, much of Afro-Colombians stayed in the poverty because of the lack of opportunities they had, they couldn't give to their kids a good education and as a result of that, new Afro-Colombians' generations are not prepared enough to get a good job and improve their life style. now they have the opportunities they could but they are not prepare to take them because of the opportunities they hadn't. 
 
In conclusion, what we have to fight with is the prejudice and we can do that if we stop stereotyping Afro-Colombians and teach the new generations to treat them as an equal. To improve the Afro-Colombians' situation what is needed is a better inversion on education from the government especially for Afro-Colombians' education, it will help them to get better jobs and improve their life styles and if they have a better lifestyle the mortality of kids in this communities will be much lower.

Who I am

I'm Sonia Gamez but I prefer people to call me So or by my 2nd name Vanessa or Vane. I'm studying Civil Engineering at Universidad del Norte. I have always lived in Barranquilla but I've always thought that I was born in the wrong place and time because I see myself more like a typical Parisian. I have not much to tell you about me...I like Coca Cola, fast food, music, candies and TV. I like to sing, dance, practice yoga, smile, laugh and spend time with people who I love. What I like the most to do in my spare time is watch Warner's series or listen to Ed Sheeran's music. In fact, I think there's nothing better than do nothing. It's awesome when you just relax and enjoy the little things of life and the perfection of the imperfect. I'm extremely curious, reflexive, sensible and proactive, but in contrast to that, I'm more sensitive and profound person than I look like. I really like to learn something different everyday and teach others not what I want but what I think they need and many times it's what I need to understand about me too. 

I've wrote a lot of what I like but not much about what I hate or dislike, so here it comes. I hate consumerism, ethnocentrism, what money means to much of people, mediocrity, among other anti-values ​​that, nowadays, are rather values. I think the world is perfect because of the natural balance of the nature but the imperfection born on human been because society is just rotten. However, the imperfection of the society make it perfect because it's necessary to maintain the course of destiny. 

I feel passion for all forms of art, justice, the unknown, honesty, friendship, loyalty and my career, of course. Finally, I have to confess that I neither understand how relationships between people nor feelings work but I think it is important to be nice with everyone because a smile is enough, because a word is enough. You might wonder, enough for what? Enough to make or destroy. It's your decision to help build or destroy.