Between Academia and Politics: Latin American Studies in Germany during the Cold War

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jürgen Puhle
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Foundations ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

Latin American studies in Germany from the 1960s on developed in two waves with (partial) crises and periods of stagnation in between. Whereas in the communist GDR they were affected by the limited scope of academic endeavors and their instrumentalization for state and party politics and policies, in the Federal Republic interdisciplinary Latin American studies had two tiers (within the universities and outside as independent research institutes) and were shaped by the particular structure of funding schemes and agencies and by “triggers” such as the Cuban Revolution, the Chilean coup, the arrival of exiles, and the presence of the Latin American revolutionary experience in the debates of the West German student movement after 1968. While many of the West German features were shared with other Western countries, significant differences emerged because of Germany’s short colonial tradition, the Cold War rivalry between the Federal Republic and the GDR, and the fact that political foundations such as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation played a key role not only in designing and implementing government-financed development aid projects in Latin America but also in helping to promote and shape a new takeoff for Latin American studies (a uniquely German constellation). A partir de la década de 1960, los estudios alemanes sobre Latinoamérica se desarrollaron en dos oleadas, con crisis (parciales) y períodos de estancamiento en el proceso. En la RDA comunista, la investigación se vio afectada por el alcance limitado de los esfuerzos académicos y su instrumentalización para políticas estatales y partidarias. En la República Federal, los estudios interdisciplinarios latinoamericanos se desarrollaron en dos ámbitos (universidades además de lugares externos como institutos de investigación independientes) y obedeciendo a estructuras y agencias de financiamiento particulares, así como “factores detonantes” (por ejemplo, la Revolución Cubana, el golpe de estado en Chile, la llegada de exiliados y la presencia de la experiencia revolucionaria latinoamericana en los debates del movimiento estudiantil de Alemania Occidental después de 1968). Mientras que muchas de las características de la República Federal eran compartidas por otros países occidentales, surgieron diferencias significativas a partir de la corta tradición colonial alemana, la rivalidad entre la República Federal y la RDA durante la Guerra Fría, y el hecho de que patronatos políticos como la Fundación Konrad Adenauer y la Fundación Friedrich Ebert desempeñaron un papel clave no solo en el diseño e implementación de proyectos gubernamentales de ayuda al desarrollo en Latinoamérica, sino también en promover y encaminar los estudios latinoamericanos (en una constelación exclusivamente alemana).

The Cold War and the Transformation of Latin American Studies in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald H. Chilcote
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The University

The Cold War assumptions of mainstream Latin American studies in the United States were challenged in the 1960s by a new generation of academics that opened up the field to progressive thinking, including Marxism. West Coast intellectuals played a major role in this transformation. These new Latin Americanists rejected the university-government-foundation nexus in the field and emphasized field research that brought them into close relationships with Latin Americans struggling for change and engaging with radical alternatives to mainstream thinking. In the course of this work, they confronted efforts to co-opt them and to discourage and even prevent their field research. Despite this they managed to transform Latin American studies into a field that was intellectually and politically vibrant both in theory and in practice. Los supuestos de la Guerra Fría dominantes en los estudios latinoamericanos en los Estados Unidos fueron cuestionados en la década de 1960 por una nueva generación de académicos que abrió el campo al pensamiento progresista, incluso el Marxismo. Los intelectuales de la costa oeste jugaron un papel importante en esta transformación. Estos nuevos latinoamericanistas rechazaron el nexo universidad-gobierno-fundación que caracterizó el campo y enfatizaron la investigación en el terreno que los ubicó en una estrecha relación con los latinoamericanos que luchan por el cambio y se enfrentan con alternativas radicales al pensamiento dominante. En el curso de este trabajo, confrontaron esfuerzos para cooptarlos y desalentar e incluso prevenir su investigación en el terreno. A pesar de esto, lograron transformar los estudios latinoamericanos en un campo que era intelectualmente y políticamente vibrante tanto en la teoría como en la práctica.

Latin American Studies in China during the Cold War

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mao Xianglin ◽  
Shi Huiye
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Five Phases

China’s Latin American studies during the Cold War can be divided into five phases. Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai showed concern for the development of Latin American studies in China. These studies were suspended during the Great Cultural Revolution. The field developed significantly in the 1970s and 1980s, with three academic associations being established and the five major systems of Latin American studies beginning to take shape. After 2000, Sino–Latin American relations entered a new era, and the first 10 years of the century saw their rapid development, opening broad perspectives for the field. Los estudios latinoamericanos en China durante la Guerra Fría se pueden dividir en cinco fases. El presidente Mao Zedong y el primer ministro Zhou Enlai mostraron interés en el desarrollo de dichos estudios, pero estos se suspendieron durante la Revolución Cultural. Posteriormente, el campo se desarrolló de manera significativa durante los años setenta y ochenta gracias al establecimiento de tres asociaciones académicas y conforme se consolidaron los cinco sistemas principales de estudios latinoamericanos. Después del año 2000, las relaciones entre China y Latinoamérica entraron en una nueva fase, y la primera década del nuevo siglo atestiguó un rápido desarrollo que expandió las posibilidades en el campo.

scholarly journals Ibero-American Studies

2014 ◽  
pp. 136-142
Author(s):  
A. V. Shestopal ◽  
L. S. Okuneva
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
First Generation ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
Creative Potential ◽  
The Cold War

Traditions of the Ibero-American Studies at MGIMO were laid by generation of professors who taught at the MGIMO University in the late 1940s - early 1950s. Among them were such distinguished scholars as historian L.I. Clove and economic geographer I.A. Witwer. The formation of the first generation of iberoamerican scholars at MGIMO took place in an atmosphere marked by fresh memories of the Spanish Civil War and the convergence of the USSR and the countries of Latin America, with the majority of which diplomatic relations were established. The outbreak of the "cold war" reduced to a minimum soviet relations with the Spanish-speaking countries. The creative potential of students of Zubok and Witwer was fully revealed only in 1960-1970-ies. when the historical fate of Russia and Latin America once again converged and intertwined. A number of graduates students of Ibero-American studies (U.V. Dubinin, M.F. Kudachkin, N. Leonov, K.A. Hachaturov, G.E. Hatters) in those years successfully combined practical and scientific activities. MGIMO graduates have contributed greatly to the establishment of the leading centers of domestic Latin American studies - Institute of Latin America and the journal "Latin America."

scholarly journals Trajectory of Latin American Studies in Bulgaria

Ad Americam ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 117-124
Author(s):  
Valentin Petroussenko
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
Close Collaboration ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
The Cold War

This article is a review of the development of Latin American Studies in Bulgaria since the very beginning of relations between this country and the remote continent in the Western Hemisphere. While research and publications in the first half of 20th century were scarce and more of a travelogue genre, a new and genuine interest appeared after the revolution in Cuba, which was facilitated by close collaboration in respect to the socialist doctrine. Naturally, all research and publications during the Cold War had to fit ideological requirements. After 1989, the situation has changed and full freedom of scholarly research has allowed for a wide range of opinions to be voiced. However, Bulgaria entered a period of economic stagnation and lost most of its economic and trade ties with Latin America. As a result, there are significant difficulties in developing any studies beyond the European cultural space. Nevertheless, various attempts at refreshing connections with the Hispanic world on academic and other levels have been developed.

scholarly journals Conceptual Readings into the Cold War: Towards Transnational Approaches from the Perspective of Latin American Studies in Eastern and Western Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (60) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Manke ◽  
Kateřina Březinová ◽  
Laurin Blecha
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Global South ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
Global North ◽  
Scale Integration ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Eastern And Western Europe ◽  
Multiple Actors

Abstract This bibliographical and conceptual essay summarizes recent research in Cold War Studies in Europe and the Americas, especially on smaller states in historiographical studies. Against the background of an increasing connectedness and globalization of research about the Cold War, the authors highlight the importance of the full-scale integration of countries and regions of the 'Global South' into Cold War Studies. Critical readings of the newly available resources reveal the existence of important decentralizing perspectives resulting from Cold War entanglements of the 'Global South' with the 'Global North.' As a result, the idea that these state actors from the former 'periphery' of the Cold War should be considered as passive recipients of superpower politics seems rather troubled. The evidence shows (at least partially) autonomous and active multiple actors.

Sociology in Place of Socialism: On West German Cultural Radio

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-42
Author(s):  
Monika Boll
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Free Space ◽  
The West ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Sociological Discourse ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
East West

This article delves into the relationship between cultural radio and the Cold War. After 1945, culural radio took on a central role in the intellectual self-understanding of the early Federal Republic. From the very beginning, there was much less censorship than with political editorial departments. Thus, it was possible for cultrual radio to offer an intellectual forum in which socialism was not simply dismissed due to the official anticommunist political doctrine. This article shows the ways in which the East-West conflict was present in the cultrual departments of radio broadcasters. It argues that socialism appeared less as an ideological restraint or taboo, but rather as a productive challenge, which in the end was part of the modernization of West Germany's intellectual self-understanding. Two prominent examples buttress this argument: the free space that cultrual radio conquered in a kind of leftist integration with the West, and the rapid advancement of sociological discourse.

Academic Entrepreneurs, Public Policy, and the Growth of Latin American Studies in Britain during the Cold War

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory M. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
American Studies ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
The Social ◽  
America Latina ◽  
The Cold War

The initial development of Latin American studies in Britain in the early 1960s resulted from the interest of pioneering academics in London and Cambridge and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Alongside these academic efforts, the government’s concerns about the declining role of British business in the region triggered the establishment of the Parry Committee in 1962. Reporting in 1965, this committee recommended the establishment of five government-financed Latin American centers, together with investment in training new Ph.D. students, especially in the social sciences. These younger scholars, who took the opportunity to do research and travel in Latin America, soon began to react more strongly against U.S. policy, economic inequality, and human rights abuses. In the 1970s, tensions between the older and newer generations became acute with the Pinochet coup and the “dirty wars.” Many academics thus distanced themselves from business and government in a way that the pioneers had not anticipated. El desarrollo inicial de los estudios latinoamericanos en Gran Bretaña a principios de la década de 1960 se debió al interés de académicos pioneros en Londres, Cambridge y el Instituto Real de Asuntos Internacionales. Junto con estas iniciativas académicas, la preocupación gubernamental ante el declive de los negocios británicos en la región dio lugar a la fundación del Comité Parry en 1962. En su informe de 1965, dicho comité recomendó el establecimiento de cinco centros latinoamericanos financiados por el gobierno, así como la formación de nuevos estudiantes doctorales, sobre todo en el área de ciencias sociales. Estos académicos más jóvenes, que aprovecharon la oportunidad de estudiar en y viajar por América Latina, pronto comenzaron a reaccionar con mayor fuerza contra la política de EE.UU., la desigualdad económica y los abusos contra los derechos humanos. En la década de 1970, las tensiones entre las generaciones más viejas y las nuevas se agudizaron con el golpe de estado de Pinochet y las “guerras sucias.” Muchos académicos se distanciaron entonces de los negocios y los asuntos del gobierno de una manera que los pioneros no habían previsto.

Uruguay, 1968

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vania Markarian ◽  
Eric Zolov ◽  
Laura Pérez Carrara
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Youth Movements ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

This book examines the creation of new conceptions of youth and politics during the Cold War era by focusing on the case of Uruguay in the 1960s. In this decade, a generation of Latin American youth entered political life inspired by a heroic view of activism that coincided, often contentiously, with the spread of new cultural trends from youth movements in Europe and United States. The Uruguayan case shows a series of distinctive features which can help us rethink the significance of similar Cold War processes in the region and across the globe. This study analyzes the Uruguayan student movement of 1968 through a close examination of the intellectual debates, ideological schisms, and social representations that shaped the positions of leftist groups and fueby building on earlier discussions about how to achieve revolutionary change in Uruguay and the region as a whole. By exploring the intersection of activism, political violence, and youth culture, this book opens new insights on categories such as the 哲‎ew

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