Nuestra América, the frontier and the American union: reflections on José Martí and Frederick Jackson Turner

• In Event: Legacies of Martí

Abstract

The last decade of the 19th century saw the publication of two classical essays about America: Nuestra América (1891), by José Martí and The Significance of the Frontier in American History (1893), by Frederick Jackson Turner. The meaning of America, in the political and historical thought of these two authors, is quite different. Martí struggles to propose an American unity, in continental scale, especially in the Hispanic portion of the continent. Turner, with his well-know frontier thesis, debates the historical role of the United States and its formation process, proposing a national historiography. The paper intends to discuss the differences between the two approaches in this key-moment for the definition of national and continental identities in the Americas. Besides the ideas contained in the two essays, one central question will be explored: how the difference between a national and a continental perspective is developed in a historical period marked by the growing influence of the United States towards the other American countries? Therefore, the objective is to explore the importance of Martí’s essay in contrast with another fundamental writing, referring to the identitary propositions regarding the historical sense of the American continent in a moment when the concept of Latin America is being solidified in the political scenario.

Author

• Ricardo A Turatti