This book explores the transformation of political culture in northwest
Spanish America during the age of the Atlantic revolutions and the
subsequent period of nation building. It examines these transformations
by focusing on the meaning and intellectual importance of social
difference, both as a resource and as an obstacle, for diverse political
and intellectual actors.
Francisco A. Ortega follows key political debates in several spheres of
cultural and political negotiation, including constitutional theory,
social anthropology and ethnography, political economy and education.
These spheres constituted intense venues of debate and creativity, as
the new republics made strenuous efforts to build the material and
intellectual basis of new states. The book discusses the powerful
independent projects and ambitious institutional efforts within these
spheres and shows how they draw from a shared Euro-American history in
order to respond to the post-colonial challenge of constructing
representative republics with heterogeneous populations.