Bøker i Romance Languages and Literature-serien

The Triumph of Brazilian Modernism studies the first steps of the movement in Brazil and some of its texts. Its first part explains how modernists produced a meta-discourse that legitimized their own work, and how state cultural policies assured their canonization by disseminating overviews, anthologies, and histories of Brazilian Modernism throughout the educational system. The second part looks at aspects of Brazilian Modernism that were overlooked by this totalizing narrative.

Camacho traces the development of Jose Marti's ideas about progress, the market, and the educational reforms carried out by liberal governments in Central America, Argentina and the United States at the end of the 19th century. Unlike previous work in the area that tends to focus on Marti's famous essay "Our America," Camacho shows his support of laws and military acts that were very detrimental to the Indians during this time. The book also sheds light on Marti's ideas about social-evolution and race, discourses that were frequently used by the cultural elites to justify their acts.