"Departs from the Cuban Fernando Ortiz's cultural theory of transculturation. Modifies Ortiz, following Angel Rama, to include all of Latin America, not just Cuba, as a culture defined and articulated by transculation processes. Chooses four moments - Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios, extirpation of idolatries, the Cuzco School of Painting, and José María Arguedas - providing interesting discussions of each, relying on existing scholarship. Important here is the project's ambition and the series of works examined. The triumphalist tone of the proponents of transculturation has lately been dampened by forceful critiques of Rama's work and the implicit asymmetry of any transculturative situation. Important resource"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.