Cultural transactions between Europe and Spanish America : fin-Â­de-Â­siĂšcle debates on the concept of degeneration
This thesis addresses the self-Â­perception and self-representation of Spanish America as being modern through an analysis of the 'discourse of degeneration' between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. My case studies are Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. I analyze the ways in which different groups of intellectuals, often from within the political elites, contributed to the creation of social and cultural representations of the concept of degeneration in order to forge a new paradigm of Spanish America as being modern. The overarching theme that I engage with is the relationship between civilization and degeneration against the backdrop of the more general theory of modernity. Even in the European context, from which most theories are drawn, the highly ambiguous relationship between progress and decadence, whereby the former was often perceived as engendering the latter, forces one to reframe any dichotomic approaches. This ambiguity, I argue, becomes all the more evident in the context of Latin America, where cultural modernism foreshadowed economic modernization. Each of the four chapters deals with a specific theme. The notion of the decadence of the 'Latin race' is addressed in chapter
Coletta, M.
Cultural transactions between Europe and Spanish America : fin-Â­de-Â­siĂšcle debates on the concept of degeneration. This thesis addresses the self-Â­perception and self-representation of Spanish America as being modern through an analysis of the 'discourse of degeneration' between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. My case studies are Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. I analyze the ways in which different groups of intellectuals, often from within the political elites, contributed to the creation of social and cultural representations of the concept of degeneration in order to forge a new paradigm of Spanish America as being modern. The overarching theme that I engage with is the relationship between civilization and degeneration against the backdrop of the more general theory of modernity. Even in the European context, from which most theories are drawn, the highly ambiguous relationship between progress and decadence, whereby the former was often perceived as engendering the latter, forces one to reframe any dichotomic approaches. This ambiguity, I argue, becomes all the more evident in the context of Latin America, where cultural modernism foreshadowed economic modernization. Each of the four chapters deals with a specific theme. The notion of the decadence of the 'Latin race' is addressed in chapter
cultural transaction europe spanish_america fin debate concept degeneration address self self_representation spanish_america modern analysis discourse degeneration late_nineteenth century early twentieth_century case_study argentina chile analyze_way different_group intellectual often within political_elite contribute_creation social_cultural representation concept degeneration order forge new_paradigm spanish_america modern overarch_theme engage relationship civilization degeneration backdrop general_theory modernity even european_context theory draw highly ambiguous relationship progress whereby former often perceive engender latter force approach ambiguity argue become_evident context latin_america cultural modernism economic modernization four_deal specific theme notion latin race address