The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development

"[A] rich and impressive book. . . . Saldaña-Portillo thus offers not only a powerful and important critique of development and postcolonial politics (both left and 'right'), but also a refreshingly hopeful vision of revolutionary projects for the twenty-first century. Her book should be required reading for students of social movements and Latin American politics. Saldaña-Portillo's writing is at times dense and presumes a familiarity with postcolonial and poststructural theory but could be used for teaching advanced undergraduates and for graduate seminars." - Maya Parson, Bulletin of Latin American Research

"[A]n insightful call for cultural decolonization. . . . Saldaña-Portillo's book demonstrates profound intellectual breadth and real political commitment and solidarity; its contribution to decolonizing efforts in the Americas cannot be overstated." - Katherine M. Hedeen, Latin American Research Review

"This is an ambitious work of discourse analysis, which offers many valuable insights about specific texts. . . ." - Nicola Miller, Journal of Latin American Studies

"Whether this book is cultural studies, development studies, discourse studies, or just plain history does not really matter because it is a great book. There is very little of the rather self-conscious "culturalism" and "politicism" that characterizes some other titles in this series and genre. María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo has something to say and tells her story in a most readable manner (no mean achievement). The book's topics are familiar, yet she manages to treat them in an engaging and relevant manner." - Ronaldo Munck , American Historical Review

“This is an important and strikingly original work on a topic of enormous contemporary importance. By bringing disparate phenomena together and insisting that they may all be analyzed as examples of the unexamined perpetuation of developmentalist narratives in discourses and practices of resistance in the Americas, María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo allows a fresh light to be shed on what appeared to be well-trodden ground.” - James Ferguson, coeditor of Culture, Power, Place: Explorations in Critical Anthropology

"María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo takes discourse studies where it needs to go and where few humanists are able to take it: toward an effective interfacing with political economy and ethnography. The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development sits at the center of the hemispheric paradigm that has been emerging in American Studies. Saldaña-Portillo is one of the key new architects of that paradigm."
  - Mary Louise Pratt, author of Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation