Latin American studies

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Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, history, international relations, political science, geography, cultural studies, gender studies, and literature.

Contents

Definition

Latin American studies critically examines the history, culture, international relations, and politics of Latin America. It is not to be confused with Latino studies, an academic discipline which studies the experience of people of Latin American ancestry in the United States. The emergence of a Latin American scholarly focus departed to a degree from Spain-centric views of regions that had been part of the Spanish Empire. As Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera describes in Decolonizing American Spanish, the rise of Latin American Studies decentralized the Eurocentric nature of scholarship across several fields: "At once a radical and democratizing thrust, the move localized a hemispheric shift in intellectual focus and had profound influences on the central tenets of the disciplines, on the institutions involved (departments, universities, publications, professional associations, and so on), on the structural presumptions that organize knowledge-production, and on the latitude of subjectivities that may be conceptualized and institutionalized. While many of the pre–Latin American studies methodologies remain (including the centrality of literature, foregrounding the national/transnational as a meaningful container of culture, and periodization exigencies), the move toward Latin America localized the themes and subjects that appeared in US classrooms, deconstructing some of the Eurocentric supremacy of the traditional model." [1]

Latin Americanists consider a variety of perspectives and employ diverse research tools in their work. The interdisciplinary disciplines of study varies, depending on the school, association, and academic program. For example, the Latin American Centre of the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies (SIAS) at the University of Oxford heavily focuses on the social sciences, such as the economics, politics, and development of the region. [2] The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona also focuses on social sciences with faculty from Anthropology, Geography, Political Science, Sociology, and History an places emphasis on issues related to anti-racism, human rights, security, environment and health. On the other hand, schools like Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) at The University of Texas at Austin, focus on the humanities; with the language, culture, and history of Latin America as a central component. [3] Others include the study of environment and ecology of the region.

Latin American studies is usually quite open and often includes or is closely associated with, for instance, Development studies, Geography, Anthropology, Caribbean studies, and Transatlantic studies.

History

Latin America has been studied in one way or another ever since Columbus's voyage of 1492. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scientist explorers such as Alexander von Humboldt published extensively about the region. Toward the end of the nineteenth century and at the turn of the twentieth, within the region itself writers such as José Martí and José Enrique Rodó encouraged a consciousness of regional identity.

In 1875, the International Congress of Americanists held its first meeting in Nancy, France, and has met regularly ever since, alternating between venues in Europe and in the Western hemisphere. However, unlike the scholarly organizations of the twentieth century, the ICA does not have an ongoing organization, nor is there a journal of the ICA. The creation of formal and ongoing scholarly organizations focusing on Latin America is a product of the twentieth century.

In the United States, historians with an interest in Latin American history within the American Historical Association created a group focusing on Latin America. In 1918, they founded The Hispanic American Historical Review , which has published quarterly since that time and has built a reputation as one of the premier scholarly journals. [4] The Latin Americanists within the AHA created the Conference on Latin American History in 1926, which is now separately incorporated (since 1964), but continues to coordinate its annual meetings with the American Historical Association. In 1936, Latin Americanists in the United States also founded the Handbook of Latin American Studies, with editorial offices in the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress. In a pre-digital era, the compilation of annotated bibliographic references in the humanities and social science organized by subject and country was a vital tool for scholars in the field. [5] [6] In 1954 was founded in Paris the Institute for Advanced Latin American Studies (IHEAL), by the geographer Pierre Monbeig. [7]

With the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the US government began seriously focusing on Latin America as Cuba and the hemisphere was seen to be an integral element of Cold War politics. The Latin American historian who wrote the early history of the founding of the Latin American Studies Association wryly suggested in 1966 that at some future date Latin Americanists should erect a statue to Fidel Castro, the "remote godfather" of the field, who instigated a renewed US interest in the region. [8]

Interest in Latin American studies increased starting in the 1950s. In the United States, Latin American studies (like other area studies) was boosted by the passing of Title VI of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958, which provided resources for Centers of Area and International Studies.International Education Programs Service - The History of Title VI and Fulbright-Hays: An Impressive International Timeline In the UK, the 1965 "Parry Report"[ citation needed ] provided similar impetus for the establishment of Institutes and Centres of Latin American Studies at Oxford, London, Cambridge, and Liverpool. [9] In Canada, York University in Toronto established the first Latin American center, "in part thanks to the inflow of exiled intellectuals from South America." [10] Germany's Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut in Berlin had been founded in 1930, but not until the 1970s did it experience expansion. [11]

Associations

Bibliographic resources

Reference works

Journals

Programs

Research Libraries and Archives outside Latin America

Some notable Latin Americanists

See also Category:Latin Americanists

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Latin American Studies</span>

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Clarence Henry Haring was an American historian of Latin America and a pioneer in initiating the study of Latin American colonial institutions among scholars in the United States.

The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest association for scholars of Latin American studies. Founded in 1966, it has over 12,000 members, 45 percent of whom reside outside the United States, LASA brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe.

John Henry Coatsworth is an American historian of Latin America and the former provost of Columbia University. From 2012 until June 30, 2019, Coatsworth served as Columbia provost. From 2007 until February 2012 Coatsworth was the dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and served concurrently as interim provost beginning in 2011. Coatsworth is a scholar of Latin American economic, social and international history, with an emphasis on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Lewis Hanke was an American historian of colonial Latin America best known for his writings on the Spanish conquest of Latin America. Hanke presented a revisionist narrative of colonial history that focused on the role of Bartolomé de las Casas, who famously advocated for the rights of Native Americans, and searched for just resolutions to the tensions between the conquistadores and the natives during the colonial period of Spanish rule. Hanke's writings documented Las Casas' work as a political activist, historian, political theorist, and anthropologist. His scholarship also uncovered evidence to support Hanke's claim that Las Casas did not act as the sole voice of conscience during the colonial era, but actually constituted the head of what was a larger reform movement by a number of Spanish colonists to prevent "the destruction of the Indies.”

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benson Latin American Collection</span> Comprehensive collection of Latin American materials

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<i>The Hispanic American Historical Review</i> Academic journal

The Hispanic American Historical Review is a quarterly, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal of Latin American history, the official publication of the Conference on Latin American History, the professional organization of Latin American historians. Founded in 1916, HAHR is the oldest journal of Latin American history, and, since 1926, published by Duke University Press. On July 1, 2017, editorial responsibility shifted from Duke University to Penn State for the 2017–2022 term.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historiography of Colonial Spanish America</span>

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Howard F. Cline was an American government official and historian, specializing in Latin America. Cline served as Director of the Hispanic Foundation at the Library of Congress from 1952 until his death in June 1971. He was one of the founders of the Latin American Studies Association. He was also active in the Conference on Latin American History (CLAH), the professional organization of Latin American historians, which he chaired in 1964. He is still highly regarded as a scholar "devoted to and effective in the promotion of Latin American studies in the United States."

Jane Gilmer Landers is an historian of colonial Latin America and the Atlantic World who specializes in the history of Africans and their descendants. She is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, director of the Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies, and former associate dean of the college of arts & science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials</span>

The Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) is the oldest professional Area Studies library organization for academic librarians, archivists, book vendors, scholars, and students who specialize in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Members are from at least 20 different countries. SALALM promotes better library services and purchasing power among individual members and member libraries. With the Secretariat based at Tulane University's Latin American Library, it is an international non-profit professional organization with three official languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese. SALALM is an affiliate of the American Library Association. As of May 2015, the organization had 242 personal and 84 institutional members including librarians, archivists, book dealers, vendors, and university libraries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin America North East Libraries Network</span>

The Latin America North East LibrariesNetwork (LANE) is an organization of library professionals representing academic and research libraries based mainly in the northeastern United States who are committed to supporting research, teaching, and learning in Latin American, Caribbean, Iberian, and Latinx Studies. LANE is a regional affinity group of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM). The goals and the structure of the organization are detailed in its Statement of Purpose page.

References

  1. ↑ Herlihy-Mera, Jeffrey (2022). Decolonizing American Spanish. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 1. ISBN   9780822988984.
  2. ↑ "MSc Latin American Studies (MSc LAS)". Latin American Centre. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  3. ↑ "LLILAS Graduate Program". UT College of Liberal Arts. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  4. ↑ see homepage
  5. ↑ Howard F. Cline, "The Latin American Studies Association: A Summary Survey with Appendix," Latin American Research Review , Vol 2 No. 1, (Autumn, 1966) pp. 57-79.
  6. ↑ Panel 11-The Hispanic Division and the Handbook of Latin American Studies: highlighting Luso-Hispanic Collections in the Library of Congress Archived 2016-09-20 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  7. ↑ About IHEAL, accessed 15 November 2019.
  8. ↑ Howard F. Cline, "The Latin American Studies Association: A Summary Survey with Appendix," Latin American Research Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Autumn 1966), p. 64.
  9. ↑ José C. Moya, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History, New York: Oxford University Press 2011, p. viii.
  10. ↑ Moya, The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History, p. viii
  11. ↑ Moya, The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History, p. viii.
  12. ↑ "CLAH". clah.h-net.org. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  13. ↑ Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies website
  14. ↑ "Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies". 31 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies". Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  16. ↑ "Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials".
  17. ↑ "ABOUT".
  18. ↑ "The Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies". 5 March 2018.
  19. ↑ "HAHR – Hispanic American Historical Review Online" . Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  20. ↑ "Journal of Politics in Latin America: Sage Journals" . Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  21. ↑ "UCSB Latin American and Iberian Studies Program – Latin American and Iberian Studies Program, UC Santa Barbara" . Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  22. ↑ Donald L. Gibbs, "The development of the literary holdings of the Benson Latin American Collection" Library Chronicle (1992) 22#3 pp 10-21
  23. ↑ Mary Wilke, Patricia J. Finney, and James Simon. "Colonial Latin American Resources at the Center for Research Libraries." Colonial Latin American Review 11.2 (2002): 317-323.
  24. ↑ Roger Macdonald, "Library Resources for Latin American Studies in the United Kingdom 25 Years after the Parry Report." Bulletin of Latin American Research 9.2 (1990): 265-269. in JSTOR

Further reading

Library Guides for Latin American Studies

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