Resumen

LOPEZ SANCHEZ, Roberto. Vicissitudes of national identity and development. Opcion [online]. 2008, vol.24, n.56, pp.145-173. ISSN 1012-1587.

This study analyzes the historical development of identity in Venezuela from 1830 to the present and its influence on the independent development of the nation. Identity is assumed to be a process in permanent construction and change. Limitations existing on the emergence and strengthening of national identity during the beginnings of the republican period are considered. The absence of a national bourgeois development project is emphasized as the main obstacle to forming a strong national Venezuelan identity that would bring this same growth to power. Historical subordination to the foreign capital of elite rulers from 1830 to 1998 acted as a limiting element on national identity. The embryonic existence of a Latin American identity, specific and differentiated from our cultural indigenous, European and African roots, is valued. The globalized world context and the threats implicit in the attempts of a world power center to homogenize peoples’ cultures based on the American way of life, is considered. Finally, the need for social change in Latin America is mentioned, to foster in turn an identity that strengthens the road to the independent and sovereign development of our peoples.

Palabras clave : identity; independent development; Latin America; Venezuela.