The Idea of Latin America

The Idea of Latin America is a geo-political manifesto which insists on the need to leave behind an idea which belonged to the nation-building mentality of nineteenth-century Europe. Charts the history of the concept of Latin America from its emergence in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century through various permutations to the present day. Asks what is at stake in the survival of an idea which subdivides the Americas. Reinstates the indigenous peoples and migrations excluded by the image of a homogenous Latin America with defined borders. Insists on the pressing need to leave behind an idea which belonged to the nation-building mentality of nineteenth-century Europe.

Acknowledgments. Preface: Uncoupling the Name and the Reference. 1 The Americas, Christian Expansion, and the Modern/Colonial Foundation of Racism. 2 “Latin” America and the First Reordering of the Modern/Colonial World. 3 After “Latin” America: The Colonial Wound and the Geo-Political/Body-Political Shift. Postface: After “America”. Notes. Index