Contents
Preface: The Precarious Politics of Going There
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Scene Setting
Chapter 1: Constituting Citizenship
Chapter 2: Geography Is History
Chapter 3: Burdens of the Nation
Chapter 4: Dead Weight: The Indian as National Other
Chapter 5: Performing Strategic Indigeneity
Conclusion: ¿De Quién Es la Patria?
Notes
Bibliography
Christa J. Olson is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
“Constitutive Visions demonstrates, in rich detail, how visual
representations serve as rhetorical acts that constitute
nations—acts every bit as important as the constitutions, laws,
political speeches, and policies that make up a national rhetorical
culture. Christa Olson pushes rhetoric scholars to extend their
reach beyond the English world and beyond dominant Western
traditions, a trend in contemporary scholarship that she models
masterfully. This book will become a benchmark for both experienced
scholars and novices seeking to examine how national and visual
arguments take on rhetorical power across time and space.”—Jordynn
Jack, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
“This engaging book explores the larger rhetorical ecology
generated out of a wide range of image-making and discursive
practices by which Ecuadorians came to see themselves, others, and
the national territory between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth
centuries. Christa Olson shows how national visions—including,
centrally, topoi of indigeneity—were forged over time through
interactions, dialogues, and engagements among social groups. In
doing so she explores the resilience of topoi and their re-creation
over time and into the present, illuminating the formation of
deeply rooted common sense that has shaped visions of the
Ecuadorian nation.”—Kim Clark, University of Western Ontario
“[This] book makes a unique interpretation of the frequently
debated topic of national identity formation, adding significantly
to our understanding of the contradictions and intricacies of this
process.”—Michele Greet The Americas
“[Olson’s] innovative application of the theoretical language of
constitutive rhetoric to the exercise of both national and popular
sovereignty challenges our understandings of the creation of
national identities. As such, this important new work significantly
advances our understanding of theories of citizenship and national
formation.”—Marc Becker Hispanic American Historical Review
“Analyzing the relationship of the indigenous to the nation-state
is a global challenge and one that the author of this new study
undertakes with great skill and unquestionable success. . . . This
is an excellent work of scholarship and highly recommended for
graduate students as well as specialists in the field.”—Roger P.
Davis The Historian
“Constitutive Visions brings readers a graphic-rich rhetorical
history of nationalisms in Ecuador. Christa Olson makes a
compelling argument showing how Ecuadorian national identity
formations are a particularly valuable example for drawing out
broader claims about the visual rhetoricity of
nationalism.”—Abigail Selzer King Rhetoric & Public Affairs
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