A network of networks: Fernando Ortiz, crossroad between cultures

Abstract

This article analyzes the role that Fernando Ortiz played in the articulation of transatlantic intellectual and academic networks between different Latin American countries, and between these and Spain. The intellectual community formed in the first three decades of the twentieth century, as also did the circuits through which knowledge was transmitted; these circuits are studied here through Ortiz’s correspondence with other thinkers. Studying this correspondence between intellectuals often also reveals the origin of certain theories and their diffusion, which was, through the correspondence, sometimes faster than through the publication of articles or books. Letters have an added value to scholars and researchers as they are often the quickest way of transmitting ideas and weaving networks.