In Etnografia, politica y poder a finales del siglo XIX: Jose Marti y la cuestion indigena, Jorge Camacho traces the development of Jose Marti's ideas about progress, the market, and the educational reforms carried out by liberal governments in Central America, Argentina, and the United States at the end of the 19th century. Unlike previous work in the area that tends to focus on Marti's famous essay Our America, Camacho shows his support of laws and military acts that were very detrimental to the Indians during this time. Among these acts were Julio Roca's genocidal campaign in Argentina that virtually wiped out the indigenous population in La Pampa and General Rufino Barrios' expropriation and commercialization of indigenous lands in Guatemala. The book also sheds light on Marti's ideas about social-evolution and race, discourses that were frequently used by the cultural elites to justify their acts.

The essays in this collection reflect two of Marti's key observations during his time in the United States: first, how did he, an exile living in New York, view and read his North American neighbors from a sociocultural, political and literary perspective? Second, how did his perception of the modern nation impact his own concepts of race, capital punishment, poetics, and nation building for Cuba? The overarching endeavor of this project is to view and read Marti with the same critical or modern eye with which he viewed and read Spain, Cuba, Latin America and the United States. This volume, combining many of the most relevant experts in the field of Marti studies, attempts to answer those questions. It hopes to broaden the understanding and extend the influence of one of Americas' (speaking of the collective Americas) most prolific and important writers, particularly within the very nation where his chronicles, poetry, and journalism were written. In spite of the political differences still separating Cuba and the United States, understanding Marti's relevancy is crucial to bridging the gap between these nations.