When Was Latin America Modern

Stemming from an interdisciplinary convention in 2005 at the Institute for the Studies of the Americas in London, this collection has a strong thematic integrity, but also illustrates the dramatic variety of approaches to the question of modernity. This volume fills the gaps in prior literature on Latin America's experience of modernity.

This book presents a cultural history of Latin America as seen through a symbolic good and a practice – the book, and the act of publication – two elements that have had an irrefutable power in shaping the modern world. The volume combines multiple theoretical approaches and empirical landscapes with the aim to comprehend how Latin American publishers became the protagonists of a symbolic unification of their continent from the 1930s through the 1970s. The Latin American focus responds to a central point in its history: the effective interdependence of the national cultures of the continent. Americanism, until the 1950s, or Latin Americanism, from the onset of the Cold War, were moral frameworks that guided publishers’ thinking and actions and had concrete effects on the process of regional integration. The illustration of how Latin American publishing markets were articulated opens up broader and comparative questions regarding the ways in which the ideas embodied in books also sought to unify other cultural areas. The intersection of cultural, political and economic themes, as well as the style of writing, makes this book an interest to a wide reading public with historical and sociological sensitivity and global cultural curiosity.

Though still a relatively young field, the study of Latin American environmental history is blossoming, as the contributions to this definitive volume demonstrate. Bringing together thirteen leading experts on the region, A Living Past synthesizes a wide range of scholarship to offer new perspectives on environmental change in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean since the nineteenth century. Each chapter provides insightful, up-to-date syntheses of current scholarship on critical countries and ecosystems (including Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, the tropical Andes, and tropical forests) and such cross-cutting themes as agriculture, conservation, mining, ranching, science, and urbanization. Together, these studies provide valuable historical contexts for making sense of contemporary environmental challenges facing the region.

Now available in a fully-revised and updated second edition, A History of Modern Latin America offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the rich cultural and political history of this vibrant region from the onset of independence to the present day. Includes coverage of the recent opening of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba as well as a new chapter exploring economic growth and environmental sustainability Balances accounts of the lives of prominent figures with those of ordinary people from a diverse array of social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds Features first-hand accounts, documents, and excerpts from fiction interspersed throughout the narrative to provide tangible examples of historical ideas Examines gender and its influence on political and economic change and the important role of popular culture, including music, art, sports, and movies, in the formation of Latin American cultural identity Includes all-new study questions and topics for discussion at the end of each chapter, plus comprehensive updates to the suggested readings

This collection brings together innovative historical work on race and national identity in Latin America and the Caribbean and places this scholarship in the context of interdisciplinary and transnational discussions regarding race and nation in the Americas. Moving beyond debates about whether ideologies of racial democracy have actually served to obscure discrimination, the book shows how notions of race and nationhood have varied over time across Latin America's political landscapes. Framing the themes and questions explored in the volume, the editors' introduction also provides an overview of the current state of the interdisciplinary literature on race and nation-state formation. Essays on the postindependence period in Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Peru consider how popular and elite racial constructs have developed in relation to one another and to processes of nation building. Contributors also examine how ideas regarding racial and national identities have been gendered and ask how racialized constructions of nationhood have shaped and limited the citizenship rights of subordinated groups. The contributors are Sueann Caulfield, Sarah C. Chambers, Lillian Guerra, Anne S. Macpherson, Aims McGuinness, Gerardo Renique, James Sanders, Alexandra Minna Stern, and Barbara Weinstein.

A New History of Modern Latin America provides an engaging and readable narrative history of the nations of Latin America from the Wars of Independence in the nineteenth century to the democratic turn in the twenty-first. This new edition of a well-known text has been revised and updated to include the most recent interpretations of major themes in the economic, social, and cultural history of the region to show the unity of the Latin America experience while exploring the diversity of the region’s geography, peoples, and cultures. It also presents substantial new material on women, gender, and race in the region. Each chapter begins with primary documents, offering glimpses into moments in history and setting the scene for the chapter, and concludes with timelines and key words to reinforce content. Discussion questions are included to help students with research assignments and papers. Both professors and students will find its narrative, chronological approach a useful guide to the history of this important area of the world.

It is well known that large numbers of Europeans migrated overseas during the century preceding the Great Depression of 1930, and that a great many of them went to the United States. What is not well known, particularly in the United States, is that more than 20 percent of these migrants emigrated to Latin America, and that they significantly influenced the demographic, economic, and cultural evolution of many areas in the region. Individuals have migrated to Latin America since the beginning of the Conquest more than 500 years ago, but by far the largest number, 10 million, migrated from 1870 to 1930. This incredible influx was also concentrated in terms of the origins and destinations of the individuals: three-quarters came from the Iberian peninsula and Italy, while 91 percent relocated to just three countries-Argentina (50 percent), Brazil (36 percent), and Uruguay (5 percent). Mass Migration to Modern Latin America includes original contributions from more than a dozen of the leading scholars of the new methodologically and theoretically innovative Latin American migration history that has emerged during the past 20 years. Although the authors focus primarily on the nature and impact of mass migration to Argentina and Brazil from 1870 to 1930, they place their analysis in broader historical and comparative contexts. They link the mass migrations at the turn of the past century to older migratory traditions and existing social networks, some of which had their roots in the colonial period. The editors begin each section of the book with personal stories of individual immigrants and their families, providing students with a glimpse into the complex process of migration and how it played out in various situations. This text will help readers understand that Latin America is more than a "traditional society," composed of the descendants of the Conquistadors and Native Americans. This book demonstrates the crucial impact of the mass migrations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth c