The Twists and Turns of Memory in the Discourse of Spanish American Independence

• Elise Bartosik Vélez ^[1]
  1. [1] Dickinson College

     Dickinson College

     Borough of Carlisle, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Rubrica contemporanea, ISSN-e 2014-5748, Vol. 13, Nº. 27, 2024 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Memorias de las revoluciones liberales en España e Hispanoamérica)
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Los vericuetos de la memoria en el discurso independentista en Hispanoamérica
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • Many Spanish American writers praised the wealth and virtues of the viceregal capitals, Mexico City and Lima, creating a vivid record of the relative autonomy and economic success of the urban elites who benefitted from early globalization. Some of these panegyrics employed the trope of the translatio imperii, suggesting the possibility that these cities might rival Madrid or Rome. Here, I consider the curious contrast to these representations presented by the memory of the viceregal period constructed in the discourse of independence. This discourse typically remembered the colonial period not as a time of autonomy and success, but as a period of enslavement to the Spanish. Many revolutionaries proposed a version of translatio imperii that was consistent with this discourse, claiming that they were to inherit one of the pre-Columbian indigenous empires. Simón Bolívar, however, sustained that Spanish America would inherit the spirit of empire directly from Rome. Both Bolívar and his compatriots creatively rewrote the traditional translatio imperii narrative into a redemption narrative capable of envisioning a glorious post-independence future.