Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco: historia, identidad nacional y democracia

Abstract

The author comments on the vocation of Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco as a historian, highlighting his strengths, the narrative style of his writings and the humanity of his characters; he also mentions that its limits spring from having expressly renounced the methodological instruments for analysis, which lead to a manipulated interpretation of a central theme in the nation's recent history, the liberal-conservative question. On the other hand, the author highlights the democratic vocation of Pareja Diezcanseco. His defense of national sovereignty and democracy situate him omong those who forged the Ecuadorian nation, by his preoccupation for his reflection on identity, on mestizization and its function in the construction of the country; his insistence on the defense and consolidation of democracy became more radical with time, as shown in his criticism of the dictatorships, his defense of political guarantees and his proposition on certain social reforms.