Following Nancy Stepan’s path-breaking study of Latin American eugenics (1992), two generations of historians have continued to investigate the history of biomedicine, psychology, anthropology and other social sciences in the region. And yet many topics remain unexamined. The purpose of this roundtable is to collectively take stock of the “big picture” given by the historiography of science in Latin America, to reflect on its major outcomes, and to examine the past, present, and future stakes of the field. Special attention will be given to a topic ripe with tensions and possibilities – Latin America’s place within “global” histories of science. Some historians of science in Latin America argue that incorporating Latin America into global histories of science offers instructive lessons on how to address issues of power and inequality while raising complex questions about the commensurability of “western” and non-western knowledge systems (McCook 2013, Safier 2010). Others argue that the history of science in Latin America offers an “anti-grand narrative of Western progress” (Portuondo, 2009). Our roundtable will address Latin America's relation to global histories of science by highlighting new and innovative research on the history of the human sciences in Latin America. Contributions will examine the history of the human sciences from multiple angles and national settings while recognizing that Latin America is necessarily a vital node in a larger system of transnational knowledge production (Rodriguez, 2013). Through brief provocations addressing the roundtable theme, each panelist will aim to spark discussion on how to build new frameworks for further research.
Organized by Sebastián Gil-Riaño (University of Pennsylvania)
