Summary:

This text belongs to the Swiss sociologist Jean Widmer and was originally published in French in 1992, on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ first voyage. It constitutes the most important study of S. Todorov’s work on otherness and was included in an anthology together with other works by Widmer, in an indispensable compilation for understanding the new structural sociology. It is now published for the first time in Spanish, fifteen years after the death of its author, as a tribute to his academic work at the University of Fribourg and in full force of his ideas.

Key words: America | language | otherness | semiotics | structural sociology