Uruguay: identity and nation building.

Abstract

A historical document, the first number of a newspaper, Ilustración Uruguya, official publication of the School of Arts and Occupations, of the year 1883, is analyzed. We reflect on the origin of José Artigas’s “social representation”, and investigate about the process of social construction and try to show that the state educational institution, founded more than 130 years ago (today, CETP-UTU), has collaborated actively to create the national identity and to consolidate the hero’s image.