Transnational South America, reviewed by Nicola Miller, Journal of Latin American Studies (original) (raw)
Related papers
Bridging the Island, reviewed by Gerald Greenfield, Journal of Latin American Studies
Ori Preuss has written a provocative intellectual history focused on redefinitions of Brazil's national self-image in the context of its changing views of the Spanish American republics. The phrase 'Bridging the Island' metaphorically expresses the book's thesis. Independent Brazil regarded itself as radically different from its South American neighbours. Unlike them, it had long been ruled by an emperor whose royal court was in Rio de Janeiro, rather than in Europe. It made a largely peaceful transition to independence, and then maintained a stable political system, free from the bloody uprisings, coups and dictatorships that characterised political life in the Spanish American republics during the age of the caudillos. And, Brazil abolished slavery far later than its Spanish neighbours.
In 2010 Leslie Bethell wrote a provocative essay in the Journal of Latin America Studies entitled ''Brazil and Latin America''. In raising the question ''Is Brazil part of Latin America?” the essay generated, and continues to generate, considerable debate. Following the publication of Leslie’s new book, Brazil: Essays in History and Politics (ILAS, 2017), the conference aims to explore further the theme of Brazil’s relationship with the rest of Latin America, past and present, and explore comparisons between the two regions.
Este artigo investiga a identifi cação nacional da elite brasileira dentro do contexto intra-latinoamericano até hoje pouco explorado. Durante o último terço do século dezenove, fi guras-chave do estado tanto como das letras no Brasil começaram a se interessar seriamente - de fato mais do que se tem normalmente admitido - pelos seus vizinhos. O crescente reconhecimento dos avanços hispanoamericanos permitiu o aparecimento de novos juízos de valor positivos junto aos velhos juízos negativos, o qual teve como efeito por sua vez tanto uma identifi cação otimista como uma identifi cação pessimista. Estas tendências interligadas e a largo prazo atingiram o seu momento crítico com a abolição da escravatura em 1888 e a queda da monarquia em 1889, os dois pilares da singularidade brasileira no subcontinente. A partir destes eventos importantes interpretes do Brasil começaram a se perceber como formando parte de uma Latino-América bifacial, ligada tanto à ordem e progresso no modelo da Europa e dos Estados Unidos quanto ao caudillismo autóctono.
Modernities are not considered anymore as exclusive from the West. Modernities are everywhere, and this becomes as one of the paradox in the globalized world. Some theorist propose the non -existence of modernity in nowadays contexts as Lyotard does (and most of post-modern authors declare). However, talking about the end of modernity, even as an epoch, means to fall into the fallacy that modernity has remained basically a Western phenomenon. Ideas that sustain that modernity is at its turning point comes not from its imminent death either through the “End of history” (Fukuyama) or the “ Clash of civilizations” (Huntington), but from its global, transcultural, and variegated character. In that sense, globalization may now be characterized by the multiplicity of its modernities, and in this context postcolonialism provides a broader theory that complements and deepest this understanding. Within this framework, the paper aims to reflect about the theory of multiple modernities, bringing also de conceptualization of alternative modernities, pointing out its main features. In addition, it argues the necessity of a broader theory that complements and deepest multiple modernities theory for the analysis of Latin American realities. In that sense, it is explained the importance of postmodern theory for this region, and the main areas covered by postcolonial scholars in to this regard. Finally, the paper explains Brazilian process of construction of its nation based on the ideas of one of the most relevant postcolonial thinkers of this country: Sousa Santos. Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) Sede Académica Argentina. Global Studies Programme Department: Culture & identity in Latin America "Projects, imaginaries and critiques of Modernity"