Resumo

CUEVA PERUS, Marcos. Fronteras y representaciones fronterizas: aproximaciones comparativas entre Estados Unidos y América Latina. Estud. front [online]. 2005, vol.6, n.11, pp.9-38. ISSN 2395-9134.

This article uses a comparative approach regarding frontier symbols and myths among the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Although wars fought over frontiers have greatly diminished throughout the world, the conception of frontier still held by the United States is that of a nationalist myth which embodies a semi-religious faith in the free market and democracy. On the other hand, Latin American and Caribbean countries, whose frontiers are far more complex, have shown extraordinary stability for several decades. This paper points out the risks involved in the spread of United States' notions of frontier which, in addition, go hand-in-hand with the problem of multicultural segmentation. Although Latin American and Caribbean frontiers may be stable, they are vulnerable to the infiltration of foreing frontier representations.

Palavras-chave : frontier; United States; Latin America; myths; representations.