Where Cultures Meet: Frontiers in Latin American History

(Paperback)

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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 reciprocal 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.

Reviews

By focusing theoretical attention on perhaps the most significant force during the past 500 years of Latin American historycultures in contact and conflict with each otherWhere 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. -- Jeffrey David Ehrenreich, Cornell College
In Where Cultures Meet, David Weber and Jane Rausch have assembled a remarkable set of insightful essays on the very different roles frontiers have played in shaping both North American and latin American development. By standing on 'the outside looking in,' the essayists not only provide a new perspective on our own frontier experience, they mount a compelling argument for the value of the comparative approach to frontier history. By treating both contemporary Latin American urban frontiers and the transformation in the Brazilian Amazon, this collection of essays brings dramatic relevance and urgency to the discussion. A truly significant contribution. -- Howard R. Lamar, Yale University

Author Bio

David J. Weber is the Robert and Nancy Dedman professor of history at the Southern Methodist University. Jane M. Rausch is professor of history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.