Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.118- 124 dossiê scales of global hist ory
Global Hist ory and Lat in American Hist ory:
A Comment
DOI: ht t p://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236- 463320161407
Gust avo L. Paz Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero Inst it ut o Ravignani/UBA/ Conicet , Buenos Aires, Argent ina
glpaz2@ yahoo.com
Abst ract : Based on Scales of Global Hist ory dossier, t his art icle crit icizes t he silences of
Global Hist ory in t erms of Lat in American hist ory, and reflect s upon t he quest ion of how t o include t his hist ory on t hat approach.
Keywords: Lat in America; Global Hist ory.
Three of t he six papers included in t he dossier on Global Hist ory published in t his
issue of Almanack are relat ed t o Lat in America. In his art icle on t he set t lement of a M ennonit e communit y in Paraguay in t he first decades of t he t went iet h cent ury, Benjamin Goossen argues t hat t heir est ablishment in t he Chaco area derives from
Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.118- 124 dossiê scales of global hist ory and ext ension of t he Port uguese opium t rade bet ween India and China in t he middle of t he ninet eent h cent ury
circulat ion of goods and people t hat included also Brazil.
This issue of Almanack seems t o be rat her except ional in publishing papers dealing
wit h Lat in American hist ory in a global cont ext . Up t o now, t he region has not figured prominent ly in Global Hist ory books and journals. This neglect reflect s a mut ual disconnect ion bet ween t he fields of Lat in American and Global Hist ory. M ost global hist orians seem t o be at a loss when dealing wit h Lat in America as a region part icipat ing in global hist orical processes. At t he same t ime, Lat in- American hist orians have been slow in linking t heir research agendas t o t he emerging st udy of Global Hist ory. Why have Lat in American Hist ory and Global Hist ory not been engaged in a more fruit ful dialogue?
A recent art icle by M at t hew Brown appeared in t he Journal of Global Hist ory gives clues t o solve t his conundrum.1 He point s out t hat t he t wo leading journals in t he field
have published a very small number of art icles on Lat in America in global cont ext . According t o Brown, only 6.7% of t he art icles appeared in t he Journal of World Hist ory
deal wit h Lat in America, and most of t hem focus on t he colonial period bet ween t he sixt eent h and t he eight eent h cent uries. The Journal of Global Hist ory fares only a lit t le bit
bet t er: 9.5 % of t he art icles published in t his journal deal wit h Lat in America, but in t his case t hey lack a t opical pat t ern or a common t heme.2 If we t urn our at t ent ion t o t he major
recent books on global hist ory t he out come is no bet t er. A look at The Birt h of
t he M odern World bibliography at t est s t o t hat .3 Out of a reading list numbering some 500
books, only 11 deal wit h Lat in America, and just one of t hem is in Spanish. In comparison, Bayly cit es 40 books on Africa. (This is less t han 10 % of t he t ot al number of books, but Lat in America is only 2 %!.) Lat in America fares somewhat
The Transf ormat ion of t he World.4 Out of a massive reading list of slight ly over 2,500
1 BROWN, M at t hew. The Global Hist ory of Lat in America. Journal of Global Hist ory, n. 10, p. 365- 386, 2015. 2 BROWN, M at t hew, Op. cit ., p. 370.
3 BAYLY, C. A. The Birt h of t he M odern World, 1780- 1914. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. (Spanish t ranslat ion: ___.
El nacimient o del mundo moderno, 1780- 1914. M adrid: Siglo XXI, 2010).
4 OSTERHAM M EL, Jürgen. The Transf ormat ion of t he World: A Global Hist ory of t he Ninet eent h Cent ury.
Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.118- 124 dossiê scales of global hist ory ent ries t he aut hor cit es 93 books on Lat in America which make up less t han 4% of t he t ot al. (M any of t hese books are writ t en by Lat in American hist orians, a few of t hem are in it comprises only 70 t it les, which makes up less t han 3% of t he t ot al. What do t hese rough figures show? M ainly t hat t hese t wo hist oriographies, Lat in American and Global, t alk t o each ot her only sporadically, if t hey do at all.
What are t he reasons for t his disconnect ion? First , t here is a disparit y of agendas and t opics bet ween bot h fields of hist ory. As Brown put s it in his art icle,
The cent ral quest ions asked by global hist orians have oft en been about East -ion
5
First , t here is t he quest ion of proximit y t o t he West . Global hist orians usually port ray Lat in America as a periphery of t he most dynamic regions engaged in global int eract ions, namely of West ern Europe and Nort h America. These hist orians seem t o consider Lat in America only as a passive recipient of t he changes experiment ed and export ed from t hese t wo core areas. Lat in America is perhaps t he closest t o t he West ern World. It s t errit ories and peoples were conquered and colonized by European powers (namely Spain and Port ugal) in t he Early M odern period. Also, t he region part icipat ed act ively of t he sweeping changes brought about by t he Era of Revolut ions at t he t urn of t he eight eent h cent ury, a process t hat led t o t he format ion of newly independent polit ies t hat organized t hemselves as republics.6 As t hese hist orical
processes connect Lat in America very closely t o t he West ern world, many hist orians of Lat in America have begun t o place t he region in t he cont ext of At lant ic hist ory which has been widely accept ed (and t o a cert ain degree fost ered) by European and Nort h American hist orians working wit hin t his hist oriographical paradigm.7 But so far, global hist orians
5 BROWN, M at t hew, Op. cit ., p. 369. 6
Rouquié), see: CARM AGNANI, M arcello. El ot ro occident e: América Lat ina desde la invasión europea hast a la globalización. M éxico: Fondo de Cult ura Económica, 2004; and ROUQUIÉ, Alain. América Lat ina: Int roducción al ext remo occident e. M éxico: Siglo XXI, 1986.
7 See for inst ance: BAILYN, Bernard. At lant ic Hist ory: Concept s and Cont ours. Cambridge (M ass.): Harvard
Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.118- 124 dossiê scales of global hist ory have been reluct ant t o give more room t o Lat in America in t heir st udies. Aft er all, if Lat in
t he region t hat would render t hem wort h not icing so as t o be included in a global cont ext ? Second, t here is
specialized in one area of t he world t end t o delve more int o t he region of t heir expert ise when dealing wit h global hist orical t opics. They t end t o draw examples and illust rat ions from cases close t o t heir field of expert ise. M ost of t he hist orians who writ e hist ory wit h a global perspect ive are expert s on Europe and European imperialism, Sout heast Asia (most ly China), India, and t o a lesser ext ent , Nort h America. Whenever t hey branch out , t hey t end t o cover more t horoughly t he areas of more recent European expansion and colonizat ion (such as Africa and Asia) or t hey incorporat e old, non- colonial nat ions such as China and
Japan.8 his respect
it falls out of t he full- fledged era of globalizat ion st art ing in t he ninet eent h cent ury. Third, t he language skills of t he hist orian have t o be t aken int o considerat ion. For Lat in American hist orians writ ing in languages ot her t han English, it is hard t o beat t he linguist ic barrier t hat separat es t hem from global hist ory. Whereas most global hist orians writ e in English and most of t he lit erat ure on global hist ory is writ t en in English, most of t he scholarship on Lat in America is writ t en in Spanish and Port uguese. Translat ions are usually t ime- and money- consuming endeavors, bot h from English t o Spanish or Port uguese and vice versa. Therefore, unless t he global hist orian (what ever his or her nat ive language) is an expert on Lat in America and t herefore is familiarized wit h t he work of hist orians from Lat in America, or t he global hist orian is not an expert in Lat in American hist ory but has t he language skills t o read t hose works in t heir original language, t he scholarship of Lat in American hist orians remains largely unnot iced by global hist ory pract it ioners.
8 I am t hinking here, for inst ance, about C. A. Bayly, an expert in India and Brit ish Imperial expansion who
branches out t o incorporat e China, Japan, and t he M iddle East in his global account , and of Jurgen Ost erhammel, an expert in Chinese hist ory, who covers most areas of t he world in his massive book, but concent rat es heavily on India and t he Arab world. A part ial except ion t o t his rule of global hist ory writ ing is t he recent book by t he dist inguished Spanish hist orian FUSI, Juan Pablo. Breve hist oria del mundo: de la Edad M edia hast a hoy. Barcelona: Galaxia Gut enberg, 2016.
Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.118- 124 dossiê scales of global hist ory Finally, I would like t o consider t he condit ions of scholarly work in Lat in America t hat can account for t he slow adopt ion of t he global perspect ive by hist orians of t he area. In his art icle Brown cont ends t hat Lat in American hist orians reluct ance t o accept global hist ory as a legit imat e int erpret ive paradigm is closely relat ed t o t he fact t hat t hey cont inue working wit hin a nat ional hist orical framework. In his words,
t he inabilit y of t he hist orical discipline t here t o deal wit h t he pressures of a globalizing world, or t he resilience of t he nat ional paradigm many years aft er t his was made obsolet e elsewhere.9
I would like t o disput e his assert ions. M ost professional Lat in American hist orians are very aware of t he obsolescence of t he nat ional paradigm applied t o hist orical analysis and are t rying t o break away from it . Never before have hist orians from Lat in America produced scholarship t hat quest ions t he nat ional paradigm, despit e t he difficult ies in get t ing enough funding t o do research abroad and t o access t o libraries and dat abases suit able for comparat ive work. Despit e t hese difficult ies, a growing number of hist orians have st art ed
t o produce works t hat t ranscend drawn from a
period I am familiar wit h, Lat in American hist orians working on t he Era of Revolut ions - have been writ ing a
independences, placing t heir st udies wit hin a comparat ive cont ext , being it Lat in American, Iberian or At lant ic.10 Ot her Lat in American hist orians have writ t en fine comparat ive
hist ories encompassing more t han one count ry or have t ackled comparat ive t hemes t hat range from polit ical t o economic t o social hist ory.11
These st udies may not perhaps fit int o t he global hist ory paradigm as t heir range is confined wit hin t he comparison of t wo cases or t o t he opposit e (i.e. European and
9 BROWN, M at t hew, Op. cit ., p. 374.
10 A few examples of t his recent comparat ive scholarship are: PIM ENTA, João Paulo. Est ado e nação no f im
dos impérios ibéricos no Prat a (1808- 1828). São Paulo: Hucit ec/FAPESP, 2002; PRADO, Fabrício. Edge of Empire: At lant ic Net works and Revolut ion in Bourbon Rio de la Plat a. Berkeley: Universit y of California Press, 2015; and BORUCKI, Alex. From Shipmat es t o Soldiers: Emerging Black Ident it ies in t he Rio de la Plat a. Albuquerque: Universit y of New M exico Press, 2015.
11 See for inst ance: PINTO VALLEJOS, Julio; PALM A ALVARADO, Daniel; DONOSO FRITZ, Karen; PIZARRO
Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.118- 124 dossiê scales of global hist ory American) shores of t he At lant ic Ocean. But t he t rend t owards widening t he horizons of Lat in American hist ory is picking up, albeit slowly. Thanks t o t he development of digit al t echnology Lat in American hist orians find it easier now t o get access t o journal art icles, books and sources t hat facilit at e comparisons. Also, some inst it ut ions deeply commit t ed t o developing global hist ory have launched project s t hat include Lat in American hist orians as part icipant s engaged in comparat ive research.12
Lat in American hist orians have begun t o look at t he world at large t o underst and t heir own hist ory. In t ime, global hist orians ought t o st art looking at Lat in America as a significant part of t he globe in it s own right .
Dat a de recebiment o do art igo: 12/11/2016
Dat a de aprovação do art igo: 30/11/2016
Bibliography
BROWN, M at t hew . The Global Hist ory of Lat in America. Journal of Global Hist ory, n. 10, p. 365- 386, 2015.
BAILYN, Bernard. At lant ic Hist ory: Concept s and Cont ours. Cambridge (M ass.): Harvard Universit y Press, 2005.
BAYLY, C. A. The Birt h of t he M odern World, 1780- 1914. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. ____. El nacimient o del mundo moderno, 1780- 1914. M adrid: Siglo XXI, 2010.
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12 I am t hinking of LabM undi- USP est ablished at t he Universit y of São Paulo, which is a part ner inst it ut ion of
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