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Introduction 1
1 Modernity and Identity 12
Dimensions of modernity 12
Crises of modernity 17
Historical trajectories to modernity 19
The Latin American trajectory to modernity 22
The three component parts of identity 24
Personal and collective identities 30
National identity and the two poles of culture 34
Different theoretical conceptions of national identity 37
Globalization and identity 39
2 The Colonial Stage, Modernity Denied: 1492-1810 43
Cultural reasons for a defeat 43
The socioeconomic consequences of the conquest 45
The Spanish and Portuguese construction of the other 48
The judgement of European philosophy and science 53
The construction of a colonial identity 60
The case against the idea of a 'baroque' modernity 66
3 Oligarchic Modernity: 1810-1900 70
Beginnings and limits of modernization (1810-1850) 70
The search for a new identity 74
Consolidation of the exporting economy (1850-1900) 78
The new cultural synthesis: positivism and racism 81
The romantic novel and modernism 86
Modernity against old identity 89
4 The End of Oligarchic Modernity: 1900-1950 92
The crisis of oligarchic modernity and populist
modernization 92
The transition 93
Anti-imperialism and the realist novel 94
Indigenismo 98
The national populist stage 100
The 1930s essayists and the Latin American character 104
Hispanism 108
5 Postwar Expansion: 1950-1970 114
Economic development and modernization 114
The new theories of development and modernization 117
The thought of the Economic Commission for Latin
America 121
Theories of dependency 123
The problem of national culture and identity 125
The Latin American novel 'boom' 129
6 Dictatorships and the Lost Decade: 1970-1990 133
The crisis of the 1970s and 1980s 133
The ambivalence of Latin American modernity 136
Identity crisis 141
The search for a 'true' identity 142
Neo-Indigenismo 144
Cultural mestizaje 148
Identity and popular religiosity 150
Towards a critique of essentialism 157
7 The Neoliberal Stage: 1990 onwards 166
General mechanisms and tendencies of late
modernity 166
Modernization, identity and neoliberalism
in the 1990s 171
The identity of Archilocus' hedgehog 176
The ambiguities of postmodernism 181
The power of media and new trends in literature 188
8 Key Elements of Latin American Modernity
and Identity 191
Clientelism, traditionalism and weak civil society 191
Politics, democracy and human rights 194
Authoritarianism, legalistic lack of principle and
masked racism 195
Exclusion and solidarity 198
The religious factor 201
Conclusion 206
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Latin America Civilization Philosophy, Civilization, Modern Philosophy, Postmodernism, Identity (Psychology) Latin America, Ethnicity Latin America, Social change Latin America History, Economic development Social aspects Latin America