Revista de Estudios Sociales

rev. estud. soc. | eISSN 1900-5180 | ISSN 0123-885X

The Fourth- and Fifth-Centenary Commemorations of “October 12, 1492”: Debating American Identity

No. 38 (2011-01-01)
  • Sandra Patricia Rodríguez

Abstract

This article compares the centenary commemorations of October 12th carried out in 1892 and 1992. It shows how the continentalwide celebrations arose in the context of debates about American identity in which diverse actors struggled to promote their own interpretations of the past. They strategically employed celebrations, duels, objects, and memory-jarring symbolic inscriptions to symbolically control the past.

Keywords: Commemorations, Centenaries, Identity, Memory

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