Excess Baggage: A Modern Theory and the Conscious Amnesia of Latin Americanist Thought

Excess Baggage: A Modern Theory and the Conscious Amnesia of Latin Americanist Thought
ISBN-10
1433104407
ISBN-13
9781433104404
Series
Excess Baggage
Category
Electronic books
Pages
250
Language
English
Published
2009
Publisher
Peter Lang
Author
Jonathan Pitcher

Description

Excess Baggage investigates how we read modern theory, how we apprehend Latin American culture through that theory, why this approach is flawed, and how our reading could be different. It is a study of modernity's supersessive, paradoxical attempts to outthink thought. This methodology, never autochthonous to any context despite its claims, is traced through one of its more extreme moments, the Enlightenment, and then through the work of Freud, Nietzsche, and Marx (and their more recent postmodern acolytes) to the Reformation. Although these thinkers are self-differentiating, the divisions are artificial, for each, even in present formats, references a preternatural origin that is subsequently projected into the future, disavowing history's ability to perceive itself as anything other than revolutionary. This book traces post-1960 Latin Americanism through readings by its critics-cum-theorists, as dictatorially assigning a univocal reading to a continent's cultural production, regardless of how ethical the theory may itself seem. Though predominantly a metacritical work, a reading of philosophy and its Latin Americanist manifestations, there is also comparative reading of European, North American, and Latin American literature. Meaning has always existed in all such contexts, but is either eradicated or misread by the premises of our critical equipment. In fact or fiction, Excess Baggage appeals for an admission of contextualized mnemotechny, inevitable in thought regardless, and the real danger in the present milieu.

Other editions

Similar books

  • Police Street Powers and Criminal Justice: Regulation and Discretion in a Time of Change
    By Geoffrey Pearson, Michael Rowe

    When we started the fieldwork, Radio Control Room staff were dedicated to working with one geographical area. They knew the patch and they also knew the ...

  • Wolf Mountains: A History of Wolves Along the Great Divide
    By Karen R. Jones

    See letter from J. Smart to R. Gibson, 11 February 1948, RG109, vol. 409, file WLU.266-1, PAC. 168 Letter from Gibson to Callison, 25 March 1949, RG109, vol. 409, file VVLU.266-1, PAC.

  • Nursing Ethics
    By Janie B. Butts, Karen L. Rich

    The last ethical issue, the fifth group, is inheritable genetic modification (IGM), which is a procedure used to modify genes along the germ lines that are transmitted to offspring (Frankel, 2003). Stem-cell research could help prevent ...

  • The Facts on File Companion to the French Novel
    By Karen L. Taylor

    He is principally remembered today for his plays. FURTHER READING Becker, Lucille Frackman. Henry de Montherlant: A Critical Biography. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970. Gerrard, Charlotte Frankel.

  • National Security and Preparedness: Issues, Developments, and Analyses
    By Thomas A. Donahue

    This book examines the national security and preparedness issues, developments and analyses facing the U.S. today.

  • A Physiological Limits Database for Arctic and Subarctic Aquatic Species

    The primary objective in this study is to collate knowledge of species responses to single and multiple stressors into an Aquatic Species Physiological Limits (ASPL) database, which will be updated over time.

  • Islam: Questions and Answers: Islamic History and Biography
    By Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman

    ... the month of Ramadaan was enjoined in Sha'baan 2 AH, and that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) fasted nine Ramadaans, because he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) died in Rabee' al-Awwal 11 AH.

  • Kilmeny of the Orchard
    By Lucy Maud Montgomery

    A schoolteacher on Prince Edward Island falls in love with a beautiful reclusive girl who plays the violin exquisitely, but is mysteriously unable to speak.

  • Clive Barker's Hellraiser: The Road Below
    By Clive Barker

    This collected edition of the hit mini-series reveals Kirsty's first days in Hell, and how the road there is always paved with good intentions.

  • 市场营销学
    By 杨慧, 吴志军

    本书包括现代营销新观念,市场分析,市场营销环境,市场调查,市场预测,消费者行为研究,市场细分化战略,名牌战略等内容。