Hispanic American Historical Review

764 HAHR / November

Transnational South America: Experiences, Ideas, and Identities, 1860s–1900s.

By ori preuss. Routledge Studies in Cultural History. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Map. Figures. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xvii, 176 pp. Cloth, $145.00.

Ori Preuss’s book is a cultural history of international relations focused on the con-
nections, shared spaces, and flows of Brazilian and Argentine intellectuals from the mid-
nineteenth century to the beginnings of the twentieth. Preuss studies the complex
dynamic of competitiveness and cooperation between these countries’ elites through
“diverse transnational activities such as translation, travel, public visits and conferences,
the print press, cultural diplomacy, and intertextuality” (p. 7).
Transnational South America emerged from Preuss’s previous work Bridging the
Island: Brazilians’ Views ofSpanish America and Themselves, 1865–1912, which claimed that
Brazilians’ constructions of national self-identity and of Spanish America were inter-
woven (p. 156). In his recent book, however, Preuss attempts to go beyond analyzing the
construction of the self against the Other in order to argue that national and regional elite
identities form through what he denominates “transnational practices.” Preuss traces
how Argentinean and Brazilian elites shaped each other and constructed shared identities
during the second half of the nineteenth century. He studies the trajectories (both
physical and intellectual) of figures such as Joaquim Nabuco, Rui Barbosa, José Maria da
Silva Paranhos, Eduardo Prado, Quintino Bocaiuva, José Mármol, Francisco Otaviano,
Vicente Quesada, Carlos Guido y Spano, and Estanislao Zeballos.
The book’s main contribution is its invitation to move beyond the nation-state
as a main unit of analysis and the limited focus on relationships with Europe and the
United States as the main axis of cultural exchange in the historiography of identities in
nineteenth-century Latin America. Preuss convincingly argues that Southern Cone
regional powers (mostly Argentina and Brazil) constantly oscillated between cooperation
and competition amid a general increase in transnational interaction. Through a very
impressive use of primary sources, Preuss reminds us of the need to explore and rec-
ognize Brazil’s role in the construction of international dynamics during the second half
of the nineteenth century. Yet he falls short in the use and application of critical concepts
for studies of nineteenth-century Latin America in his own analysis. For instance, some
readers might be uncomfortable with his use of the terms “center” and “periphery” to
describe the region’s political and intellectual dynamics (e.g., “peripheral elites,”
“peripheral version of the age of high imperialism” [p. 3]). The use of these terms, at least
when it comes to intellectual history, has been criticized since they disavow the fact that
knowledge is woven from connections between diverse centers and actors against a
backdrop of complex political and economic realities. Indeed, since the 1980s narratives
that recognize Latin Americans’ active role in shaping knowledge have become more
notable within the history of science, and something similar could be expected of the
cultural history of international relations. This should not be taken to mean, however,
that Transnational South America disregards the importance of connections. The point is
that Preuss’s work, inspired by histoire croisée, should be more critical in using this and
other concepts, such as “creole consciousness” and “transnationalism.”

Published by Duke University Press

 Hispanic American Historical Review

Book Reviews / International and Comparative 765

Although it is true that Liliana Obregón (cited by the author on page 5) uses the
term “creole consciousness” for Latin American regionalism in the history of interna-
tional law, this concept—which has also been criticized—has been mostly employed by
scholars interested in the formation of national or regional identities during the age of
revolutions (from the 1770s to the 1830s). Preuss’s work would have benefited from
engaging with this literature and from offering the reader a deeper understanding of this
concept, which is still essential for the study of late nineteenth-century elites. The book
would have also profited from an in-depth exploration of the recent literature on the
complex process of state formation and nation building, which has argued against the
idea that “the Latin American state preceded the nation” (pp. 1–2).
Undoubtedly, the most challenging concept in Preuss’s work is transnationalism.
Practices, spaces, interactions, crossings, activities, intellectual exchanges, and visions—
to name just a few—are often characterized as transnational. Preuss provides the reader
with clear examples of “transnational” processes, such as his analysis of Joaquim
Nabuco’s Um estadista do império. Preuss shows us that Nabuco was aware of Argentina’s
crucial role in the region’s future and intentionally pointed out “the entangled nature
of Argentine and Brazilian history” (p. 59). Although Nabuco’s approach was state-
centered, according to Preuss, the process that the statesman described was transna-
tional, “a process that did not only transform one or two of the national sides involved,
but also resulted in the emergence of something new beyond the level of the state” (p. 60).
Evidently, this is the core of the book’s argument. It grants historians of Latin America’s
international relations a different vantage point, beyond the nation and the state. But it
also leaves the reader wondering how the transnational as a concept adds to our
understandings of historical phenomena.
The book certainly sheds new light on the history of international relations in the
region. It will be useful for students interested in the intellectual history of the Southern
Cone but also for those concerned with the role of translation practices and international
relations in the construction ofcollective identities in the region and in cultural diplomacy.

ana marı́a otero-cleves, Universidad de los Andes

doi 10.1215/00182168-4214585

At the Border of Empires: The Tohono O’odham, Gender, and Assimilation, 1880–1934.
By andrae m. marak and laura tuennerman. Tucson: University of Arizona
Press, 2013. Photographs. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xiii, 290 pp. Cloth,
$55.00.

This excellent study of gender, indigeneity, and empire in the southwest borderlands of
the early twentieth century has resulted from a collaboration between two scholars
trained in different subfields: Progressive Era public health and transnational smuggling.
Like the borderlands, collaborative scholarship (particularly within the humanities) can
result in a muddled effort with dissonant voices. At the Border of Empires, in contrast,
largely succeeds in precisely identifying the power of the local to shape the national and

Published by Duke University Press