Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto
In this article, we will analyze the role of the frontier in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto, and how it interacts with Bartolomé Mitre’s historiography and its projection of the Argentinian nation. Through a socio-historical analysis, we will investigate how the novel interrogates the Argentinian nat...
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| Formato: | Artículo revista |
| Lenguaje: | Español |
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Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
2023
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| Acceso en línea: | https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/recial/article/view/43446 |
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I10-R377-article-434462025-11-20T06:14:48Z Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto Entre la reforma y la reinvención: la frontera, el ser nacional y el surgimiento de la identidad americana en Zama de Antonio Di Benedetto* Lopez, Alfonsina Zama frontier argentinian identity national subject transculturation Zama frontera identidad argentina sujeto nacional transculturación In this article, we will analyze the role of the frontier in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto, and how it interacts with Bartolomé Mitre’s historiography and its projection of the Argentinian nation. Through a socio-historical analysis, we will investigate how the novel interrogates the Argentinian national subject –a construction established with the foundation of the national state, through restrictive and discriminatory concepts such as the dicotomy of civilization/barbarism– to underpin our reading hypothesis: through the history of a protagonist who can’t achieve progress or interpret the frontier world that surrounds him, Zama dismantles Occidental rationalism and showcases a complex vision of the Latin American frontier, in which the European paradigm is replaced by native knowledge. Our conclusion is that Di Benedetto’s novel revalues Latin American knowledge, exhibits a “transculturated” Argentinian Identity (using the concept of Angel Rama) and becomes a precedent for “new historical novels”: an emergent wave of literature after the second half of the twentieth century, that revisits the restrictive foundations of the “Argentinian subject” and proposes pluralist methods to comprehend the Argentinian nation, its environments and inhabitants. En este artículo, abordaremos el planteamiento de la frontera en Zama de Antonio Di Benedetto y la forma en que interactúa con los conceptos proyectivos de la nación argentina ideados por la historiografía mitrista. A través de un análisis sociohistórico, veremos cómo la novela dialoga con la construcción del sujeto argentino –establecida a partir de la fundación del Estado nacional, mediante semas dicotómicos y marginalizadores como el binomio civilización/barbarie– para fundamentar nuestra hipótesis de lectura: al contar la historia de un protagonista imposibilitado de alcanzar el progreso y de interpretar el mundo fronterizo que lo rodea, Zama desarticula el paradigma inspirado por el racionalismo occidental y exhibe, en su lugar, una visión compleja del espacio americano en donde la perspectiva europeizante cede el paso a matrices nativas de conocimiento. De este modo, estableceremos que la obra de Di Benedetto revaloriza los saberes americanos, muestra una identidad argentina “transculturada” por la otredad (desde la perspectiva de Ángel Rama) y se constituye como precedente para la corriente de novelas históricas que, a partir de la segunda mitad del siglo XX, buscó replantear las bases restrictivas del “ser argentino” y proponer formas más plurales de comprender la nación, sus espacios y sujetos. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades 2023-12-07 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf text/html https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/recial/article/view/43446 10.53971/2718.658x.v15.n24.43446 Recial; Vol. 14 Núm. 24 (2023): Dossier: Figuras de la crítica: gestos, esferas e imágenes; 295-321 2718-658X 1853-4112 10.53971/2718.658x.v14.n24 spa https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/recial/article/view/43446/43501 https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/recial/article/view/43446/43527 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 |
| institution |
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba |
| institution_str |
I-10 |
| repository_str |
R-377 |
| container_title_str |
Recial |
| language |
Español |
| format |
Artículo revista |
| topic |
Zama frontier argentinian identity national subject transculturation Zama frontera identidad argentina sujeto nacional transculturación |
| spellingShingle |
Zama frontier argentinian identity national subject transculturation Zama frontera identidad argentina sujeto nacional transculturación Lopez, Alfonsina Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto |
| topic_facet |
Zama frontier argentinian identity national subject transculturation Zama frontera identidad argentina sujeto nacional transculturación |
| author |
Lopez, Alfonsina |
| author_facet |
Lopez, Alfonsina |
| author_sort |
Lopez, Alfonsina |
| title |
Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto |
| title_short |
Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto |
| title_full |
Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto |
| title_fullStr |
Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of Latin American identity in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto |
| title_sort |
between reformation and reinvention: the frontier, the national subject and the emergence of latin american identity in zama, by antonio di benedetto |
| description |
In this article, we will analyze the role of the frontier in Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto, and how it interacts with Bartolomé Mitre’s historiography and its projection of the Argentinian nation. Through a socio-historical analysis, we will investigate how the novel interrogates the Argentinian national subject –a construction established with the foundation of the national state, through restrictive and discriminatory concepts such as the dicotomy of civilization/barbarism– to underpin our reading hypothesis: through the history of a protagonist who can’t achieve progress or interpret the frontier world that surrounds him, Zama dismantles Occidental rationalism and showcases a complex vision of the Latin American frontier, in which the European paradigm is replaced by native knowledge. Our conclusion is that Di Benedetto’s novel revalues Latin American knowledge, exhibits a “transculturated” Argentinian Identity (using the concept of Angel Rama) and becomes a precedent for “new historical novels”: an emergent wave of literature after the second half of the twentieth century, that revisits the restrictive foundations of the “Argentinian subject” and proposes pluralist methods to comprehend the Argentinian nation, its environments and inhabitants. |
| publisher |
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades |
| publishDate |
2023 |
| url |
https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/recial/article/view/43446 |
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2024-09-03T23:09:12Z |
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2025-11-27T05:26:29Z |
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