Without the influence of the black diaspora, most Latin music would not be what we know and love today. In fact, a lot of music, food, clothing, and hairstyles we enjoy would be non existent without the influence of African culture and people of African decent. Unfortunately, instead of homage being paid to their African roots, Latin music genres such as reggaeton and Latin trap, have been hijacked and white washed by white Latin musicians as the face of Latin music.

Many genres of Latin music have deep roots originating from Africa. According to Jesca of See Africa Today, popular forms of Latin music such as bachata from Dominican Republic, batucada from Brazil, funk Carioca from Brazil, mambo in Cuba, tango from Argentina, and of course, reggaeton from Panama all have strong ties originating from Africa. Bachata music was often associated with low class poor people In the Dominican Republic, people with dark skin are considered low class. It wasn’t until the 1980s and ‘90s that the genre crossed over to mainstream when it was brought to New York by Dominican immigrants. Coupled with R&B and hip hop, urban bachata was born as a way for for second generation Dominican immigrants to remain connected to their motherland. (Hernandez) The need to not be recognized as black in the Dominican community is of high importance, although they lived with and looked like people of African decent in the Dominican Republic and the United States and enjoyed the influence black people have in all sectors of their culture.

I find it strange that people go to extreme lengths to erase the blackness from history instead of acknowledging it’s originality. File flavor that the black diaspora sprinkles of everything they touch is consumed by all people yet no one wants to showcase Irs pioneers. One must acknowledge the relation to the black diaspora in order to fully enjoy their choice of Latin genre.

References
1.) Jesca, See Africa Today, https://seeafricatoday.com/culture/what-influence-did-africa-have-on-afro-latin-culture/#3_Music

2.) Deborah Pacino Hernandez, Urban Bachata and Dominican Racial Identity in New York, https://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/17927?lang=en#:~:text=Bachata's fans and practitioners were,a form of black music.

Swearing is influenced by (1) pragmatics, such as the conversational topic; (2) the physical setting, such as a relaxed versus a formal environment; and (3) the speaker-listener relationship, including variables such as gender, status, and occupation.

1. A conversational topic where it would be ok to swear:
talking about the boy next door with your friends

2. A conversational topic where it would NOT be ok to swear:
a conversation with the judge in court

3. A physical setting where it would be ok to swear:
at a pool party for adults

4. A physical setting where it would NOT be ok to swear:
at church

5. A person with whom I could definitely swear:
your friends

6. A person with whom I would never swear:
your grandparents or elders.

A. You accidentally hit your thumb with a hammer:
¡Ay! ¡Joder! _______________________________________________________
B. You see a good friend and it’s been a long while since ya’ll have seen each other.
¿Qué pasa, puta? __________________________________________________________ C. You get out of a class and it was really difficult and tomorrow you have a test. You didn’t understand the new content and feel really stressed out.
¿Cómo diablos voy a aprobar este examen mañana? _________________________________________________________
D. You drop your eye contact or an earring down the drain. ¡Mierda! ¡Mi contacto!
__________________________________________________________ E. A person who is being inappropriate keeps bothering you. It’s time to set a clear boundary.
¡Me estoy cansando de tu mierda! Tu madre levantó una cabeza de polla
________________________________________________________
F. Your or your friend’s dog comes by and his tail accidentally knocks over all of ya’ll’s drinks on the table.
¡Maldita sea! Maldito perro _________________________________________________________

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