The Idea of Latin America

by Walter D. Mignolo

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Latin American History, Sociology

Paperback

First published January 16, 1991

About the author

Walter D. Mignolo is an Argentine semiotician (École des Hautes Études) and professor at Duke University, who has published extensively on semiotics and literary theory, and worked on different aspects of the modern and colonial world, exploring concepts such as global coloniality, the geopolitics of knowledge, transmodernity, border thinking, and pluriversality.

Reviews

[Romina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The focus of Mignolo’s work is to demonstrate how the “idea” of Latin America was produced through discourse and the impact it had on various identities. He pinpoints three historical eras: entry of America into the European consciousness (Renaissance); entry of Latinidad and the double identity of imperial and colonial (Enlightenment); and the questioning of the Latin/Anglo divide (post Cold War). He uses various non-European theorists to contend that a decolonization shift is occurring. He states, "[I]f we...stop seeing 'modernity' as a goal rather than seeing it as a European construction of history in Europe’s own interests" than the essence of a decolonial shift could occur. (xix) For example, if "Latin" America is "the political project of Creole-Mextizo/a elites", then undoing the Latin is an important part of the process. (59)

In reengaging with this book after having read it several years ago, there are elements that I find problematic with Mignolo's argument.

How is it possible to de-colonize? Is fighting oppression and unequal power dynamics based on undoing what has been done? To undo is to mend a past mistake or revert to a priori moment. Is that possible, could the mark of damage will always remain? Many scholars whose work has become the never ending deconstruction of x,y and z, they argue that the process of deconstruction allows one to identifying silences and new questions. But I ask, what good does a four hundred year deconstruction of how Latin America came to being will help the current subaltern actor? Is the starting point removing all those words and modes of thinking that is rooted in the European colonization of the continent? If we look at the faces of our neighbors, we will see that we are all products of the colonial/modern product. Is it really about undoing oneself? We cannot undo what has been done and what marks our daily lives. We can recognize the impact of colonization, as well as the racialist, classist, patriarchal, and capitalistic order we live under today and attempt to offer something less oppressive, more horizontal.

Lastly, in order to root ourselves in lasting change, we need to move from discourse to the material. The idea of Latin America was not just created by maps, letters, and stories. It was constructed on the ground through blood and conquest. We need to challenge how capitalism has constructed sociability and the algorithm of daily life and survival. If we have something worth offering besides words then maybe, just maybe, can we speak tangentially of countering the historical impact of colonialism.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mignolo es uno de los grandes pensadores de los últimos años. Las ideas que presenta en esta pequeñísima obra son un interesante punto de partida para empezar a explorar que significa América Latina en el siglo XX y XXI o si una etiqueta como esa sigue siendo relevante. El único problema es que aunque sus ideas son bastante poderosas, su estilo es bastante repetitivo y acaba creando la sensación de estar dándole vueltas continuamente al mismo concepto.

[José Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book. Far too fond of Hugo Chavez for my taste, though.

[Rodrigo Quinan · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro aponta que a ideia de América Latina que temos consolidada no senso comum é uma criação do ocidental - somos o outro, somos cidadãos de segunda escala, somos menos humanos. Sob densas retrospectivas históricas (que me perdi bastante) e articulação politizada calorosa, o Mignolo propõe uma desconstrução diferente do multiculturalismo ocidental - o interculturalismo. O argumento é espetacular e necessário, o livro sofre um pouco pela linguagem críptica (posso ser burro ou ter encontrado uma versão com uma tradução estranha) pois saiu 15 anos atrás e algumas passagens dos seus capítulos finais sentem

[Bruno Najjar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Te muita coisa interessante aqui dentro, principalmente nos resgates históricos. O que me deixou meio cabreiro foi o claro desconhecimento do autor sobre história e cultura do Brasil. Ao mesmo tempo que ele tentava sempre inserir o Brasil, essa tentativa era sempre feita depois que o argumento tava pronto.

Super imagino ele depois de escrever o livro todo pensando "ih carajo, esqueci de falar do Brasil" e adicionando uns "o brasil também" e "na américa portuguesa também, claro" pra não pegar mal.

[Diego Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mignolo é esquerdo-macho.

O livro oferece um panorama bastante didático nos dois primeiros capítulos sobre a sua tese principal. Contudo, no terceiro capítulo, Mignolo apresenta uma abordagem "nova política", "nem esquerda nem direita" que 1) não só não enxerga que a sua decolonialidade de fato não quebra o paradigma que supõe e perpetua uma epistemologia "moderna" como 2) em momento nenhum o autor cis branco que escreve em inglês para interlocutores ocidentais faz algum tipo de auto crítica ou percebe a hipocrisia das suas colocações.

[Julian Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of interesting ideas in this. Most of the book is about how "the idea" of Latin America was created by European or U.S. scholars, and needs to be defined by Latin Americans, particularly women and Indigenous groups. It is a short book, some parts of it are repetitive. Heavily influenced by Said, Fanon, and Anzaldúa.

[Jose Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. “Is anti-american” people said. But deconiality is a different way to construct the Latin American reality.
“El giro decolonial” is something that everyone must consider.

[Vanessa_Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decolonial theory.

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main thesis of this text seems true enough, if seemingly obvious, and the engagement with figures such as Anzaldúa helps expand the scope to gender issues in a helpful way.

[Bryanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro estupendo para decolonizar la mente

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was hard to read very boring and a bit anti -American did not like it one bit