Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

chapter 10
Identity Construct #5: Latin America
This chapter is one of the most important parts of this introductory section
on theory. It broadly describes the debates over what it means to be Latin
American and offers a specifi c example of the difference between essentialistic
and semiotic interpretations of identity. It includes excerpts from
Gerald Martin, Leslie Bary, and Walter Mignolo, who describe themselves
as scholars of cultural studies, though one is obviously a modernist and the
other two are cultural theorists. Martin interprets Latin America from a
more essentialist foundation and appeals to literary genres that he believes
reveal its true identity. Bary adopts a more semiotic approach by citing authors
who maintain a consistently critical stance and whose works expose
discursive constructs. Mignolo’s approach advances Bary’s.
Martin, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, specializes in
twentieth-century Latin American narrative with an emphasis on the
works of Miguel Angel Asturias and Gabriel García Márquez. Journeys
Through the Labyrinth, the book from which the next selection is drawn,
was published in 1989. It helped establish Martin as an authority on Latin
American narrative and identity. Martin was also selected to write essays
on Latin American narrative for the distinguished Cambridge History of
Latin America. Our selection is drawn from Martin’s opening chapter, in
which he outlines his understanding of Latin American identity and then
provides a summary of literary works that support his claim.
Martin begins by pointing out Latin America’s unique position in the
world. It has a legitimate claim to being Western because of its strong, historic
ties to Europe. But it is also very non-Western in that a signifi cant part
of its demographic and cultural heritage comes from indigenous America