<i>Guatemala, las líneas de su mano</i>: Identidad cultural e imaginario nacional

Abstract

The identity project Guatemala, las líneas de su mano is constructed through a political and cultural writing of Guatemala's history. The text elaborates a nation, along with its traditions, roots, geography, food, and contradictions. This article presents two textual levels: identity and national imaginary. The first part contains an analysis of the axis upon which cultural identity rests, while the second part is devoted to discuss about the proposal of mestizaje and indigenous integration. This work pursues to analyze the discourse construction of the question of cultural identity as it is presented in the essay, to examine the construction of a nation like a national identity paradigm, and to discuss about the topics, assumed and explored in the text, concerning the relationship between cultural identity and the processes of modernity. It is suggested that Guatemala, las líneas de su mano presents a discourse construct of Guatemalan cultural identity based on the epistemological constants of modernity, and that this identity proposal is articulated by means of the elaboration of a national history.