Nation and Desire in Latin America

3 units

The purpose of this course is to analyze the process of nation formation in Latin America, since the imaginaries of the Creole nation to the first half of the 20th century. Class discussion will encompass the study of theories on nation formation and nationalism as well as textual representations of national projects, such as Simon Bolivar' letters and discourses, selections from Facundo, Civilization and Barbarism by Domingo F. Sarmiento, selected texts by Andres Bello, Alfonso Reyes, et al, Ariel, by J. E. Rodo, Pedro Henriquez Urena's Seis ensayos en busca de nuestra expresion, Jose Vasconcelos' La raza cosmica, Jose Carlos Mariategui, Siete ensayos de interpretacion de la realidad peruana, Jose Marti's Nuestra America and other essays. Some of the main topics to be discussed are the leading role of Creole elites in the consolidation of national cultures, the marginalization of women as well as indigenous and Afro-Hispanic populations, and the role of nationalism in the shaping of modern societies. Colonialism, Occidentalism, liberalism, positivism, nationalism and modernity are some of the concepts that will be explored both theoretically and in their particular discursive usages. Finally, the concept of nation(alism) will be studied as a political/rhetorical device and as the resulting expression of agency, interest, and desire, in peripheral societies.