Resumen

ARTEAGA MORA, Carmen  y  ALEMAN GUILLEN, Pedro. Representation of Latin American identity in Venezuelan fifth grade textbooks.. Núcleo [online]. 2007, vol.19, n.24, pp.9-35. ISSN 0798-9784.

This article presents partial results of an interdisciplinary research aboutsocial representations in Venezuelan textbooks. We analyzed the socio discursive mechanisms and resources used to build the representation of the Latin American identity. To do so, we extracted five macro topics which contain the elements that construe ideologically the Latin American identity. We offer a critical analysis perspective and we assume that the representations transmitted are not neutral and correspond to ideological schemes of some social sectors which influence the state educative system. The corpus is made of the Social Sciences section of five fifth grade Venezuelan textbooks used in the current official curriculum. The results show that the Latin American identity is defined through the continental project of integration presented by Simón Bolívar. In addition, this identity is opposed to the Hispanic element and the colonial period, which is presented as a foreign invasion period. A rejection of the Iberian cultural and historical factors is realized by means of the discursive resources of omission and backgrounding. Paradoxically, Spanish as a common language constructs the tie among the Latin American communities. The link between the Latin American nations is presented as being shaped by the big pre-Hispanic civilizations.

Palabras clave : Latin American identity; ideology; textbooks; discourse analysis; social representations.

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