Book Reviews

Fowler, Will and Lambert, Peter (eds.) (2006) Political Violence and the Constructionof National Identity in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan (Basingstoke), xi + 256 pp.£40.00 hbk.

In his thoughtful introduction, Will Fowler articulates but does not answer one of thekey questions around political violence and the construction of national identity inLatin America: ‘the political violence of 200 years is difficult to ignore’, yet no-onewishes to attribute political violence to the ‘psychology of a particular national identity’(p. 13). The book sets out to avoid such cultural reductionism, and gives us a fascinatingset of essays exploring multiple facets of violence in the region, from its embeddingin national myths, narratives and literature, to its representation in film and the roleof violent masculinities in post-war El Salvador. It ranges through history, past andrecent, giving us interesting insights, for instance, into the loss of continuity in Chileannational identity caused by the violence of Pinochet’s regime and its impact on itsdemocratic successor. If it was an aberration, the post-Pinochet regime could only denyits significance; if it was not, the dominant narrative would have to be rethought,something which has failed to happen.

The thread that links the diverse cases is that of national identity construction. Theimportance of the book is the way it draws attention to the significance of violence tothat process in so many countries of the region. The significance varies of course; it can

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Book Reviews

justify ongoing violence, or be an outcome of violent events. The role of the ‘foundingmyths’ therefore figure strongly in some chapters as well as an ongoing fear that theregion cannot ever escape the violence of its birth. Marco Antonio Landavazo recountsevidence of persistent Mexican Hispanophobia, reflecting not only a rejection of theviolent conquest, but precisely that sense of doom derived from it. This is a dual legacyin Octavio Paz’s interpretation, as Fowler reminds us, imperial and unifying; bothAztec and Spanish bequeathed violent, authoritarian legacies to the Mexican people, heargues.

There are ample examples from literature to suggest that a fatalistic sense of doomaround their violent origins, conjoined with feelings of shame and helplessness, maybe deeply rooted in the Latin American psyche. Fictional narratives avoid ontologicalattributions of violence through a range of literary devices for which Latin Americais famous. However, arguably, these fill the void still left unfilled by historians andsocial scientists. This collection suggests ways of redressing this, which go beyondthe roles of myth and fear. A recurring theme in many of the chapters is that ofmestizaje and the fate of the non-European in the sociology of the region. Hardlya chapter fails to mention, in some form, the violence that accompanied and stillaccompanies the formation of Latin American societies and the dominance of Europeandescent within them. There is a mythological dimension to this story, but there isalso a bloody and real one. Even in Chile, looked upon as one of the most socially‘homogenous’ of Latin American countries, there was, as Francisco Dominguez remindsus, a racist sub-text to the discourses of its upper class towards the poor, illustratedin derogatory epithets that derived from their assumed indigenous ancestry. In 2009,the Mapuche indigenous of Southern Chile were still denouncing the seizure of theirlands by forestry companies and the violence of the state police against them when theyprotested.

Latin America’s struggle for national identity is also about the discomfort of itsrulers with its socio-cultural hybridity, the recourse to violence in its efforts to suppressthis ‘inferior Other’ and its ongoing failure to do so. The present-day stand off inEvo Morales’s Bolivia (not one of the case studies) with the wealthy and white elitesof Santa Cruz is emblematic of this ever-present theme in Latin America’s politics.The indigenous question is not, however, by any means the only factor to makeone query the very enterprise of national identity construction in Latin America andwhether an inclusive, legitimate sense of belonging exists anywhere with any depth. Inthe Colombian case, Marisol Dennis comes out firmly with the view that there is nohegemonic national identity; in fact the very crisis in such a project is linked to what shecalls a ‘self-perpetuating system of violence’, which is a product of the crisis but alsoprecludes its resolution.

Explaining the high levels of past and present violence in Latin America is an urgenttask; Central and South American came second and third to South Africa in a 2008global UN survey on rates of homicide. The book’s focus is on political violence, butone is led to ask whether there is or not a connection with historical forms of suchviolence and the eruption over the last two decades of multiple manifestations of socialviolence. This book gives an excellent entry point to exploring one facet of this, theviolence in nation-state and national identity construction.

Jenny PearceUniversity of Bradford

© 2010 The Authors. Bulletin of Latin American Research © 2010 Society for Latin American Studies524 Bulletin of Latin American Research Vol. 29, No. 4