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THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE MATTERS. IT STRETCHED SOME THREE CENTURIES IN LATIN AMERICA, MORE THAN HALF THE PERIOD SINCE THE INITIAL CONFRONTATION OF AMERINDIAN PEOPLES AND EUROPEAN COLONIZERS IN 1492. IN SOMEWHAT TRANSMUTED FORM, THE LEGACIES OF COLONIAL RULE CONDITIONED THE CONTOURS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS, ECONOMIC LIFE, CULTURE, AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE IN THE NINETEENTH AND, IN SOME REGIONS, THE TWENTIETH CENTURIES. IT IS THIS RESILIENT GRIP ON THE PAST THAT HAS MADE TERMS SUCH AS "NEOCOLONIAL" SO APPEALING IN DISCUSSION OF POST COLONIAL HISTORY (SEE HALPERIN DONGHI, 1969; STEIN AND STEIN, 1970). THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE HAS ALSO PROVED CRITICAL IN POLITICAL AND THEORETICAL DEBATE ABOUT LATIN AMERICA'S CONTEMPORARY AND FUTURE CONDITION. CONTROVERSIAL THEORISTS OF DEPENDENCY AND WORLD SYSTEMS SUCH AS ANDRE GUNDER FRANK (1969) AND IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN (1976) HAVE USED THE COLONIAL PERIOD AS FUNDAMENTAL POINT OF DEPARTURE FOR THE ARGUMENT THAT LATIN AMERICA HAS LONG BEEN "CAPITALIST" RATHER THAN "FEUDAL." CRITICS OF THESE THEORISTS HAVE, IN TURN, USED THE COLONIAL PERIOD AS A "FEUDAL" BENCHMARK (LACLAU, 1971). EVERY VISION OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE INCLUDES A VISION OF THE PAST; IN THE LATIN AMERICAN CASE, THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE AND ITS "NEOCOLONIAL" REPERCUSSIONS ARE AT THE CORE OF THIS CHARGED AND STILL UNRESOLVED PAST. ON ANY OF THE GROUNDS JUST MENTIONED-SHEER PROPORTIONAL WEIGHT IN POSTCONQUEST HISTORY, IMPORTANCE AS A SOURCE OF LEGACIES CONDITIONING POSTCOLONIAL TRAJECTORIEPY: 1985

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois, 1911. ; Typescript. ; Vita. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-268).