Deseos de la disciplina: viaje etnológico al latinoamericanismo estadounidense

Abstract

The traditional model in literary history -characterized by its desire to nullify the differences, locate a triumphant centre over the peripheral and naturalize the notion of unity-, seems to have been replaced by a more modern paradigm, defined by the integration of the multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural in its proposal. Reading from the field of English literary studies, Stephen Greenblatt has observed that this change came as a result of both the critical-ideological examination of the matter and the effect of global capitalism on symbolic production. Nevertheless, says Greenblatt, the traditional-national model seems to have migrated "from the centre to what was once called the periphery". To examine this matter from the perspective of the Latin-American studies that take place in the United States, responsible for one of the largest academic productions in the field, may help understand the real range of the material conditions of the cultural paradigm present in diverse "Latin-American literary histories". This article examines the presence and meaning of these conditions within the recent cycles that renew Latin-American literary criticism produced in the United States, paying particular attention to the pragmatic influence posed by their specific curricular demands, as well as to how the market pressures shape the investigator's place and even the theorical course of his investigations.