Independence and Nation-Building in Latin America

Race and Identity in the Crucible of War

Scott Eastman author Natalia Sobrevilla Perea author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:29th Jul '22

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Independence and Nation-Building in Latin America cover

Independence and Nation-Building in Latin America: Race and Identity in the Crucible of War reconceptualizes the history of the break-up of colonial empires in Spanish and Portuguese America. In doing so, the authors critically examine competing interpretations and bring to light the most recent scholarship on social, cultural, and political aspects of the period.

Did American rebels clearly push for independence, or did others truly advocate autonomy within weakened monarchical systems? Rather than glorify rebellions and "patriots," the authors begin by emphasizing patterns of popular loyalism in the midst of a fracturing Spanish state. In contrast, a slave-based economy and a relocated imperial court provided for relative stability in Portuguese Brazil. Chapters pay attention to the competing claims of a variety of social and political figures at the time across the variegated regions of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, while elections and the rise of a new political culture are explored in some depth, questions are raised over whether or not a new liberal consensus had taken hold. Through translated primary sources and cogent analysis, the text provides an update to conventional accounts that focus on politics, the military, and an older paradigm of Creole-peninsular friction and division. Previously marginalized actors, from Indigenous peoples to free people of color, often take center-stage.

This concise and accessible text will appeal to scholars, students, and all those interested in Latin American History and Revolutionary History.

Eastman and Sobrevilla Perea broaden our understanding of Latin American independence by exposing the multifaceted and multilayered nature of this transformative period. This nuanced history gives voice not only to familiar names but also to heretofore-underrepresented participants and explores the complex motivations that inspired both the defenders of empire and their opponents. Ambitious and creative in its approach, Independence and Nation-Building in Latin America will inform the debate around this subject for a new generation of students and scholars.

Dr. Timothy Hawkins, Indiana State University, USA

ISBN: 9780367820725

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

158 pages