ABSTRACT
This chapter explores postcolonialism in the history of Latin American education. Postcolonial historiographic perspectives have yet to be applied in studies of the Spanish Empire. This is surprising because debates about postcolonialism are common in the culture, thought, and politics of Latin America and while the postcolonial approach is used in the historiographic debate surrounding the Portuguese Empire and in recent comparative studies on the history of education in Portugal and Brazil, it has scarcely been considered in the historiography of the Spanish Empire. This chapter uses a genealogical and conceptual analysis of the three defining terms in this field of study: ‘postcolonial’, ‘transnational’, and ‘cultural transfers’. The chapter analyses postcolonial approaches in cultural studies in the Iberian Peninsula, and emerging trends in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, and provides an overview of the various postcolonial discourses for these contexts. Finally, it analyses the situation of postcolonial studies in the history of Latin American and Iberian education by pointing out important lines of investigation in this field and emphasising themes and approaches that concur with postcolonial theory.
