Abstract
This article concerns the scientific writings of the Cuban intellectual and social scientist Fernando Ortiz, in what pertains to his facet as a historian. Considering the recent historiographical proposal for an 'Atlantic History', the article examines how, decades before, Ortiz had pioneered a cultural history that set the interpretation of the Cuban and Hispano-American past against the backdrop of the geographical and social space of the Atlantic world. The article outlines Ortiz's career, focusing on his later work. The theory of transculturation proposed by the author denies both racial determinism and the somatic definition of race. This theory is central to the way Ortiz examines the African contribution to Cuban culture, and, more generally, to the culture of the western Atlantic seaboard in the context of his search for a Latin-Americanist cultural history anchored in the social sciences.
Keywords:
Fernando Ortiz; Transculturation; Atlantic history; Cultural history; Cuba