Understanding historical continuities is fundamental to considering the dilemmas of regional integration.

The article "Modern World System, Coloniality, and National States in Latin America: The Place of the 'Other,'" by researcher Tania Rodríguez Ravera (UNILA), analyzes how the social construction of the "other," seen as barbaric, inferior, and dangerous, sustained hegemonic domination over Latin American peoples from colonization until the consolidation of nation states.
The author revisits the perspectives of thinkers such as Wallerstein, Quijano, Dussel, Marini, and Walsh to show that the colonization of the Americas was decisive in the formation of global capitalism, at the cost of violence, slavery, and the exploitation of Indigenous and African people. Even after independence, elites maintained the exclusion of workers, women, Black people, and Indigenous people, making them invisible as "non-citizens."
The article emphasizes that the coloniality of power, knowledge, being, and gender remains a structural legacy, legitimizing inequalities and justifying elite control. Historical examples, such as the "Conquest of the Desert" in Argentina or the "Pacification of Araucanía" in Chile, illustrate how nation states were consolidated through massacres, land appropriation, and the subjugation of indigenous populations.
According to Ravera, understanding these historical continuities is fundamental to considering the current dilemmas of regional integration, marked by political crises, neoliberalism, and deepening social inequalities.
Why does coloniality remain alive, even without formal colonialism? Read the full article. The article was published in Espirales, v. 1, n. 1, in December 2017.