Latin American Studies and the Cold War

Ronald H. Chilcote is Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Riverside, and has served as managing editor of the academic journal Latin American Perspectives since its founding in 1974. His recent books include Intellectuals and the Search for a National Identity in Brazil and The Portuguese Revolution: State and Class in the Transition to Democracy. He is the winner of the 2022 Kalman Silvert Award.

This book is the definitive volume on the counterrevolutionary impetus behind the growth of Latin American studies in the United States as well as the more diverse roots of the discipline elsewhere. It also highlights the limits of Cold Warriors’ control, showing how some scholars forcefully challenged imperial doctrine. Understanding this intellectual history is vital at a time when the Cold War’s legacies continue to loom large in society, academia, and the press—and as today’s Cold Warriors recklessly pound the drums for confrontation with US rivals.

• ForewordGilbert M. JosephIntroduction Ronald H. ChilcoteChapter 1: The Cold War and the Transformation of Latin American Studies in the United StatesRonald H. ChilcoteChapter 2: Academic Entrepreneurs, Public Policy, and the Growth of Latin American Studies in Britain during the Cold WarRory M. MillerChapter 3: Between Academia and Civil Society: The Origins of Latin American Studies in the NetherlandsMichiel BaudChapter 4: Between Academia and Politics: Latin American Studies in Germany during the Cold WarHans-Jürgen PuhleChapter 5: Latin American Studies in East Central Europe during the Cold War: The Case of CzechoslovakiaJosef OpatrnýChapter 6: The Cold War and Latin American Area Studies in the Former USSR: Reflections and Reminiscences Russell H. BartleyChapter 7: Latin American Studies in China during the Cold WarMao Xianglin and Shi HuiyeChapter 8: The Centro de Estudios sobre América: Notes on a Little-Known HistoryLuís Suárez Salazar, translated by Victoria FurioAfterword 233Judith Adler HellmanAppendix: The Latin American Challenge to U.S. Scholarship in Latin America 247Ronald H. ChilcoteAbout the Contributors Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom