Decadent Modernity Civilization and 'Latinidad' in Spanish America, 1880-1920 / Coletta, Michela

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coletta, Michela, author.

Series:

Liverpool Latin American studies ; 17

Liverpool Latin American Studies 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cultural studies.

Society & Social Sciences.

Society & culture: general.

Material culture.

History of the Americas.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 pages)

Other Title:

Liverpool University Press Opening the Future.

Place of Publication:

4 Cambridge Street, Liverpool L69 7ZU Liverpool University Press 2018

Summary:

How did Latin Americans represent their own countries as modern? By treating modernity as a ubiquitous category in which ideas of progress and decadence are far from being mutually exclusive, this book explores how different groups of intellectuals, between the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, drew from European sociological and medical theories to produce a series of cultural representations based on notions of degeneration. Through a comparative analysis of three country case studies − Argentina, Uruguay and Chile − the book investigates four themes that were central to definitions of Latin American modernity at the turn of the century: race and the nation, the search for the autochthonous, education, and aesthetic values. Using a transnational approach, it shows how civilizational constructs were adopted and adapted in a post-colonial context where cultural modernism foreshadowed economic modernization. In doing this, this work sheds new light on the complex discu... Publisher description

Notes:

Description based on publisher's metadata

Other Format:

Print version

ISBN:

9781786948816

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access