Space In-Between : Essays on Latin American Culture

Silviano Santiago has been a pioneer in the development of concepts crucial to the discourse of contemporary critical and cultural theory, especially postcolonial theory. The notions of “hybridity” and “the space in-between” have been so completely absorbed into current theory that few scholars even realize these terms began with Santiago. He was the first to introduce poststructuralist thought to Brazil—via his publication of the Glossario de Derrida and his role as a prominent teacher. The Space In-Between translates many of his seminal essays into English for the first time and, in the process, introduces the thought of one of Brazil’s foremost critics and theorists of the late twentieth century.
Santiago’s work creates a theoretical field that transcends both the study of a specific national literature and the traditional perspectives of comparative literature. He examines the pedagogical and modernizing mission of Western voyagers from the conquistadors to the present. He deconstructs the ideas of “original” and “copy,” unpacking their implications for the notions of so-called dominant and dominated cultures. Santiago also confronts questions of cultural dependency and analyzes the problems involved in the imposition of an alien European history, the cultural displacements experienced by the Indians through their religious conversion, and the hierarchical suppression of native and Afro-Brazilian values.
Elegantly written and translated, The Space In-Between will provide insights and perspectives that will interest cultural and literary theorists, postcolonial scholars, and other students of contemporary culture.

Silviano Santiago is Professor of Brazilian Literature at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niterói. He is a novelist, poet, translator, and theorist whose books include the novel Stella Manhattan, also published by Duke University Press.

Martín Hopenhayn is Social Development Researcher for the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. While he is the author of numerous books in Spanish, this is the first English language collection of his writing.

Ana Lúcia Gazzola is President and Professor of English, Romance, and Comparative Literature at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Cynthia Margarita Tompkins is Associate Professor of Spanish at Arizona State University.

Elizabeth Rosa Horan is Associate Professor of English at Arizona State University.