Latin American History

"Police Museums in Latin America: Preface"

by Amy Chazkel

Contributing editor of "Forum: Police Museums in Latin America," in "Calling the Law into Question: Confronting the Illegal and Illicit in Public Arenas," Special Issue of the Radical History Review 113 (Spring 2012), 127-33.

Organized by the historian Amy Chazkel, who also provides the foreword, this forum gathers the work of three... more Organized by the historian Amy Chazkel, who also provides the foreword, this forum gathers the work of three historians of Latin America who have written extensively on the social history of crime, prompting them to reflect on a ubiquitous but little studied public history institution: the police museum. Alejandra Bronfman, Lila Caimari, and Robert Buffington, specialists in Cuba, Argentina, and Mexico, respectively, guide us through a selection of five police museums: one in Havana that played a crucial role in legal medicine and developing ideas about race during Cuba's Republican period but no longer exists; one in Buenos Aires that was founded as part of the early twentieth-century wave of police reform and modernization; and two in Mexico City and one in Guadalajara that mushroomed in the context of the Mexican police's public image hemorrhage of recent decades. This forum is a critical examination of not only objects on display but also the deeper logic of the categorizing schemes used in each museum. The official history of crime presented to the public, epitomized by police museums, provides a fascinating counterpoint to the contemporary academic history of crime in Latin America, which is remarkably diverse but converges on its use of historical analysis to challenge normative understandings of the law and the illicit. Far from “calling the law into question,” unsurprisingly, police museums naturalize and dehistoricize the criminal law. Yet this forum points toward ways in which further research on police museums can shed new light on how the public encounters the most problematic and controversial manifestations of state power.

A Doctrine for the Hemisphere

by David Cohen

The War of 1812 was more about the expansion of the United States into Canada and Florida than it was about freedom of... more The War of 1812 was more about the expansion of the United States into Canada and Florida than it was about freedom of the seas. The main support for the war came from the frontier regions in the West rather than the maritime region in New England. Vageries in the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase led to the United States annexed West and East Florida and arranging for a joint occupation of the Oregon Territory. Meanwhile in Latin America, Napoleon's invasion of Spain and placing his brother on the Spanish throne provided the opportunity for the Spanish colonies in Latin America to declare their independence. The paper compares Simon Bolivar to George Washington and Napoleon, all three military leaders, but with different views about government. Finally, the paper views the Monroe doctrine in terms of what William Appleman Williams termed "imperial anticolonialism."

“Providing Welfare for the Nation: Honour, Race and Family at the German Hospital in Buenos Aires, 1878-1930”

by Benjamin Bryce

Presented in Spanish at the conference "La minoría de habla alemana en Argentina," Centre for Latin American Migration Studies, Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 22, 2011.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the booming metropolis of Buenos Aires had a vibrant German community with an... more At the turn of the twentieth century, the booming metropolis of Buenos Aires had a vibrant German community with an active publishing industry, a number of schools, and several welfare organizations. This paper examines the largest German-language institution in the city, the Hospital Alemán, from 1878 to 1930 to reveal the internal structure of one of Buenos Aires' small but visible ethnic groups. In a variety of sources, community leaders presented the hospital as a cornerstone a cohesive community that should transcend class lines and citizenship. The hospital and its leadership garnered massive financial contributions by emphasizing racialized ideas of a Germanic nation and highlighting the group’s supposed obligation to care for “indigent” workers of Germanic stock.

I examine a number of fundraising campaigns orchestrated by German women and the large contributions and leadership role of German men. I engage with Donna Guy's recent examination about the role of gender and ethnic ties in performing charity in Argentina. By broadening charity beyond child welfare, I highlight the role of both women and men. The hospital's organization was shaped by conservative models of masculinity that promoted men as providers for their families and reinforced paternalistic ideas in its efforts to care for working-class immigrants.

The Hospital Alemán was not an unique case of immigrant organization in Buenos Aires. Italian, Spanish, French, British, Jewish, and Syrian immigrants also created hospitals. Yet hospitals have received little attention in the historiography on immigration to Argentina.  The German case can speak to larger debates about the power of the Argentine state, ethnic community organization, and the nature of cultural pluralism in Argentina.

Book review: José M. Portillo Valdés, Crisis Atlántica. Autonomía e independencia en la crisis de la monarquía hispana.

by Rodrigo Moreno

Published in Estudios de Historia Moderna y Contemporánea de México, 33, january-june 2009.

El vértigo revolucionario. Nueva España 1808-1821

by Rodrigo Moreno

Co-authored with Alfredo Ávila, published in Nuevo Topo. Revista de Historia y Pensamiento Crítico, 5, September-October, 2008, and also in www.historiapolitica.com

Jose Vasconcelos, White Supremacy, and the Silence of American Pragmatism

by Jose-Antonio Orosco

Inter-american Journal of Philosophy Vol. 2., Issue 2 (December 2011)

А. Скромницкий. В. Талах. Энциклопедия доколумбовой Америки. Часть 1. Южная Америка. Том 2. Источники XVI-XVII веков по истории Южной Америки: Хроники. Документы.

by Alejandro Skromnitsky

A. Skromnitsky (editor). V. Talakh (editor).
The Encyclopedia of pre-Columbian America. Part 1. South America. Vol 2. Cronicas and documents of the XVI-XVII centuries about South America. / Ed. A. Skromnitsky, V. Talakh. - Kiev: Blok.NOT, 2012. - 1335 p.

Скромницкий, А. (редактор-составитель), Талах, В. (редактор).
Энциклопедия доколумбовой Америки. Часть 1. Южная Америка. Том 2. Источники XVI-XVII веков по истории Южной Америки: Хроники. Документы. / под ред. А. Скромницкого. — Киев: Blok.NOT, 2012. — 1335 с.
ISBN 978-966-XXXX-XX-X


© А. Скромницкий, 2012,
перевод с испанского и английского, статьи, составление, редактирование, оформление, комментарии

© В.Н. Талах, 2012,
перевод, статьи, редактирование, комментарии

© В. Тюленева, 2012,
перевод, статья

© различные авторы, 2012,
статьи

Детектив величиною с континент. Именно так можно охарактеризовать эпоху завоевания Нового света европейцами, и... more Детектив величиною с континент. Именно так можно охарактеризовать эпоху завоевания Нового света европейцами, и прочесть этот «детектив» помогут документы, включенные в данное издание украинскими историками и переводчиками А. Скромницким и В. Талахом.
Во второй том первой части «Энциклопедии доколумбовой Америки» вошло большинство доступных на русском языке источников по истории Южной Америки XVI-XVII веков, в которых отражены все стороны жизни индейцев, даны описания индейских обществ, их обычаев, нравов, традиций, военного дела, а также подробно изложена политическая, социально-экономическая история.
Источники поданы в книге в хронологическом порядке: это позволит понять логику конкисты, степень проникновения европейцев в индейский мир и обратного влияния «индейского» на представителей Старого Света.
Книга рассчитана на студентов, аспирантов и преподавателей исторических факультетов высших учебных заведений, а также всех тех, кто интересуется историей Южной Америки (Аргентина, Боливия, Бразилия, Венесуэла, Колумбия, Панама, Парагвай, Перу, Чили, Эквадор), эпохой Великих географических открытий, завоеванием Нового Света и доколумбовыми цивилизациями, в частности инками, чибча-муисками и другими менее известными народами.

Two Worlds Merging: the Transformation of Society In the Valley of Puebla, 1570-1640

by Rik Hoekstra

Libertà religiosa e dottrina di Monroe. La Santa Sede e il Messico alla VI Conferenza panamericana (Avana, 1928)

by Paolo Valvo

published in "Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore", 2-2011, pp. 169-205

The Church-State conflict in revolutionary Mexico was one of the most relevant issues in Pius XI' pontificate. The... more The Church-State conflict in revolutionary Mexico was one of the most relevant issues in Pius XI' pontificate. The paper focused on some aspects of Vatican diplomacy in regard to this, particularly on the intervention on behalf of Mexican Catholics at the Sixth Panamerican Conference (Havana, 1928).

Il conflitto tra Stato e Chiesa nel Messico rivoluzionario rientra a pieno titolo nei temi caratterizzanti del pontificato di Pio XI. Il presente contributo evidenzia alcuni aspetti dell'azione diplomatica della Santa Sede a favore della Chiesa cattolica messicana, concentrandosi in particolare sull'intervento vaticano in occasione della VI Conferenza panamericana dell'Avana (gennaio-febbraio 1928).

Los Sistemas Interétnicos del Oriente de Venezuela y el Bajo Orinoco durante la época colonial. Lecturas Antropológicas de Venezuela, p.p. 231-238

by Francisco Tiapa

Politics and Ideas in Latin American Independence

by Christopher Schmidt-Nowara

Jewish Latinas. How Jewishness, femininity and latinidad are interwoven?

by Mariusz Kalczewiak

In: Culture and History, issue 20/2011; in English; peer – reviewed

Preliminary PHD-discription: Including the recipient in a study of cultural memory - the case of Cuban culture

by Sjamme van de Voort

To be finished march 2012

By publishing my preliminary thoughts about my PHD-project, I hope to find feedback.

Specially I would... more By publishing my preliminary thoughts about my PHD-project, I hope to find feedback.

Specially I would like ideas as to:
- Which networks, universities and researchers would be interesting??
- How to grasp the essence of historical consciousness through ethnographic fieldwork, studies of official and educational sources??

Imagining (im)mobility at the "end of the world"

by Noel B. Salazar

Salazar, Noel B. 2012. Imagining (im)mobility at the "end of the world". In P. Vannini, P. Jiron, O. B. Jensen, L. Budd & C. Fisker (Eds.), Technologies of Mobility in the Americas. New York: Peter Lang.

Mexico, 1931: The Vatican and the "just war"

by Paolo Valvo

Is it right for a Christian to take up arms against a government that persecutes the Church? Two years after the end... more Is it right for a Christian to take up arms against a government that persecutes the Church? Two years after the end of the Cristero War in Mexico, Cardinals Pacelli, Gasparri, and Boggiani discussed the subject at the Secretariat of State

Tawantinsuyu. The frontiers of the Inca Empire

by Rodolfo A. Raffino

Raffino, Rodolfo; Stehberg, Rubén. "Tawantinsuyu. The frontiers of the Inca Empire". In: Archaeology in Latin America. Ed. G. Politis and B.Alberti. Part II, Chapter 9, pp.167-181. Ed. Routledge, Gran Bretaña, 1999. ISBN 0-415-13308-4

The archaeology of Latin America contains many unique features, both in focus and approach. This pioneering and... more The archaeology of Latin America contains many unique features, both in focus and approach. This pioneering and comprehensive survey is the first overview of current themes in Latin American archaeology written solely by scholars native to the region, making their collective expertise available to an English-speaking audience. The contributors cover the most significant issues in the archaeology of Latin America, such as the domestication of camelids, the emergence of urban society in Mesoamerica, the frontier of the Inca empire, and the relatively little known archaeology of the Amazon basin. Further subjects covered include hunter-gatherer studies, the political implications of the history of archaeology in Brazil, and the French theoretical influence on the region. The book also presents an account of Latin American social archaeology, probably the region's best-known theoretical product. written solely by academics native to the region, and it makes their collected expertise available to an English-speaking audience for the firsttime. The contributors cover the most significant issues in the archaeology of Latin America, such as the domestication of camelids, the emergence of urban society in Mesoamerica, the frontier of the Inca empire, and the relatively little known archaeology of the Amazon basin.

Nature, God, and Nation in Revolutionary Venezuela: The Holy Thursday Earthquake of 1812

by Stuart McCook

McCook, Stuart. 2009. Nature, God, and Nation in Revolutionary Venezuela: The Holy Thursday Earthquake of 1812. In Aftershocks: Earthquakes and Popular Politics in Latin America, ed. Jürgen Buchenau and Lyman Johnson, 43-69. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Gerónimo de Bibar y Juan Díez de la Calle : Dos representaciones del espacio iberoamericano en la época moderna

by Guillaume Gaudin

Takwá, n° 9, 2006, Guadalajara (Mex.),p. 31-51

L'Empire de papiers de Juan Díez de la Calle, commis du Conseil des Indes. Espace, administration et représentations du Nouveau Monde au xviie siècle. …

by Guillaume Gaudin

Crônica De Uma Praga Anunciada Epidemias Agrícolas E História Ambiental Do Café Nas Américas

by Stuart McCook

McCook, Stuart. 2008. “Crônica de uma praga anunciada: epidemias agrícolas e história ambiental do café nas Américas.” Varia Historia 24 (39) (January): 87-111.

Crop epidemics provide a portal into the global and transnational environmental history of commodities. The coffee... more Crop epidemics provide a portal into the global and transnational environmental history of commodities. The coffee rust epidemic, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, is one of the most serious diseases to have afflicted the global coffee industry. In the nineteenth century, it devastated the coffee plantations in the Old World. It sharply curtailed arabica coffee production in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. This was one of the factors that allowed the Americas do dominate global coffee production in the twentieth century. The coffee rust epidemic was first detected in the Americas in the 1970s. The history of the rust epidemic in the Americas, and attempts to control it, shed light on two major paradigms that shaped the environmental history of coffee in the late twentieth century. The paradigm of technification, which dominated from the mid-20th century to the early 1990s; and the paradigm of sustainability, which dominated emerged in the mid-1980s and continues to the present.