15 - Business History in Latin America: Issues and Debates

Summary

To present an outlook of business history in Latin America is by no means a simple job. It is a territory consisting of twenty countries that have many features in common but also significant differences among them. These differences show up not only at the economic, social, or political levels but also in their cultural traditions, as well as in the development of social sciences and business history. As James Baughman pointed out, the “chronic disease” of Latin American historiography has been to survey and hence overgeneralize about twenty diverse nations.

Despite such conditions, this essay aims to present some of the major lines in the evolution of this discipline in Latin American countries, from the sixties to the present, and to provide a brief description of the field's current trends and the major issues under debate. It does not intend to provide an exhaustive tour through Latin American business history, but rather to offer, through an overall view, a synthesis that will enable comparison with the experience of other countries and regions, and to reflect on its strengths, weaknesses, and future prospects.

To date, the course of business history has been studied in depth only in the most developed countries. An overview of the Latin American scenario is a first step toward studying the business history of the later-developed nations and toward thinking of a more general typology that will include the countries of other continents.