Colección: Revista Interamericana de Bibliografía (RIB)
Número: 1-4
Título: 1997
Sección: Artículos / Articles
Introducción
In 1893 Frederick Jackson Turner “created” a new field of historical
inquiry with his frontier thesis. The study of the frontier attracted legions
of scholars in the United States. This essay, however, focuses on areas to
the north and south of the U.S. It traces the impact of Turner’s frontier
thesis in twentieth-century Canadian and Latin American historiographical
debate. I argue that despite the shortcomings in Turner’s formulation,
the concept of the frontier remains a viable, important analytical tool.
During the past century, scholars have relished, then revised, and finally
reviled Turner’s frontier thesis.1
Some of the most recent reviling came in Patricia Limerick’s The Legacy
of Conquest. She called for dumping Turner and his frontier. “Frontier,
then,” she wrote, “is an unsubtle concept in a subtle world.”2
In this paper, I seek neither to praise Turner nor to bury him. Instead I
will show the wide-ranging impact of Turnerian thought on historians throughout
the Western Hemisphere. Thinkers in many nations of the Americas tested Turner’s
thesis. Many came up with their own variations. From the Canadian prairies
to the pampas of Argentina, the frontier has played a vital historical role.
The concept of the frontier has also generated useful, important historiographical
debate.3