Latin American Studies as an integral and fully recognised field of scholarly inquiry only exists for those accustomed to viewing the region from north of the US-Mexican border. Although never completely stable or uncontested, Latin American Studies had its first heyday between the mid-1960s and late 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, when the region became the focus of intense geopolitical contention. While two decades later it is clear that Latin American Studies has remained vibrant in the face of such challenges, its resilience is due to innovation, rather than to a merely reactive defense of deeply engrained premises and institutional practises.
