Where Cultures Meet

Frontiers in Latin American History

Edited by David J. Weber, Jane M. Rausch

Publication date:

01 August 1997

Length of book:

222 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780842024778

In Where Cultures Meet, editors Weber and Rausch have collected twenty essays that explore how the frontier experience has helped create Latin American national identities and institutions. Using 'frontier' to mean more than 'border,' Weber and Rausch regard frontiers as the geographic zones of interaction between distinct cultures. Each essay in the volume illuminates the recipro-cal influences of the 'pioneer' culture and the 'frontier' culture, as they contend with each other and their physical environment.

The transformative power of frontiers gives them special interest for historians and anthropologists. Delving into the frontier experience below the Rio Grande, Where Cultures Meet is an important collection for anyone seeking to understand fully Latin American history and culture.

Part 1 I the Significance of the Frontier
Chapter 2 The Significance of the Frontier in American History
Chapter 3 Latin-American Frontiers
Chapter 4 Frontier Barbarism
Chapter 5 The Frontier in Hispanic America
Chapter 6 The Frontiers of Hispanic America
Part 7 II Latin America as a Frontier of Europe
Chapter 8 The Great Frontier
Chapter 9 The Great Frontier: Freedom and Hierarchy
Chapter 10 New World Frontiers: Comparisons and Agendas
Part 11 III Frontier Peoples and Institutions
Chapter 12 Reflections on the Ibero-American Frontier Mission as an Institution in Native American History
Chapter 13 The Encomienda in Paraguay
Chapter 14 Frontier Warfare in Colonial Chile
Chapter 15 "Black Transfrontiersmen:" The Caribbean Maroons
Chapter 16 Family, Frontiers, and a Brazilian Community
Part 17 IV Frontier Peoples and National Identity
Chapter 18 National Identity and the Frontier
Chapter 19 The Gaucho in Argentina's Quest for National Identity
Chapter 20 Bandeirantes and Pioneers
Part 21 Contemporary Frontiers
Chapter 22 "Two-Step" Migration and Upward Mobility on the Frontier: The Safety Valve Effect in Pejibaye
Chapter 23 Violence on the Frontier
Chapter 24 Frontier Expansion and Indian Peoples in the Brazilian Amazon
Chapter 25 Social Change on the Latin American Frontier

By focusing theoretical attention on perhaps the most significant force during the past 500 years of Latin American history—cultures in contact and conflict with each other—Where Cultures Meet offers readers an illuminating handle for comprehending global processes and historical developments. Students of Latin American history and anthropology will find this anthology an important addition to their libraries.