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Essential Histories, Contingent Outcomes: Latin Americanists in Search of a Discourse

To speak of personal histories on “Latin Americanism” might appear as a contradiction in terms for at least two reasons. First, it presupposes an individual perspective and at the same time demands a certain degree of ubiquity: Latin Americanism as a sentiment or a subjectivity that spans from Tijuana to Ushuaia or from Octavio Paz to Martínez Estrada. Second, it takes us from a contingent perspective (personal history) to an essentialist aspiration, given that Latin Americanism suggests an ethos or a telos that underlies this periphery’s harsh map. However, and despite the apparent contradiction, intellectuals aspire to some degree of universality, and Latin Americans have long held on to their essentialist aspirations in referring to this periphery. Among essayists, statespeople, educators, and enlightened travelers, “Latin Americanness” has been a recurring question, a driving force, and a search: a shared regional identity, truncated by encounters and misunderstandings from without and within, in part originary, in part syncretic, and in part an unfulfilled project. The tension resulting from the difficulty of generalizing from a personal perspective and the latent aspiration to speak from an inclusive Latin American perspective leads in some way to the itinerary of a personal history of Latin Americanism. A personal history that does not rely so much on one particular case (whether mine or anyone else’s), but rather on how social reflection historically crystallizes vis-