Domínguez, Manuel (1869–1935)

Manuel Domínguez (b. 1869; d. 1935), Paraguayan historian and essayist. Domínguez is widely regarded as the most important revisionist historian of Paraguay after Juan E. O'Leary. Born in the river port of Pilar toward the end of the War of the Triple Alliance, Domínguez grew up in an Asunción that had been terribly affected by the fighting. Despite these difficulties, he made major intellectual strides and ended up teaching subjects as varied as zoology, anatomy, and Roman history at the National College and serving as rector of the university. He also held various political and diplomatic posts for brief periods.

Domínguez was instrumental in introducing Auguste Comte's positivism to Paraguayan historical studies, which meant applying more scientific methods to research. Domínguez himself put theory into practice in his El Chaco Boreal, a work that defended Paraguayan claims to the Gran Chaco region. He also wrote an influential series of essays entitled El alma de la raza, which argued for a portrayal of Paraguayan history in strongly nationalist terms; the book likewise championed the figure of Marshal Francisco Solano López, who had led Paraguay into the earlier war. In this respect, Domínguez broke with the virulently anti-López diatribes of earlier historians, particularly Cecilio Báez.

See alsoAcademia Literaria de Querétaro; Allende, Ignacio; Ortiz de Domínguez, Josefa.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William Belmont Parker, Paraguayans of To-Day (1921), pp. 299-302.

Jack Ray Thomas, Biographical Dictionary of Latin American Historians and Historiography (1984).

Carlos Zubizarreta, Cien vidas paraguayas, 2d ed. (1985), pp. 225-228.

                                    Thomas L. Whigham