In recent years there has been an upsurge in what has come to be called “quantitative history.” Despite the enthusiasm for this approach, however, some of its critics have validly claimed that its payoffs have all too often failed to live up to its promises of new and more accurate findings. Perhaps a central reason for this criticism is that although the quantitative historian may have been sufficiently thorough in collecting his data, he has often failed to apply to them the sensitive techniques of modern data analysis. Rather, he has continued to rely on more traditional methods of description such as means and percentages. As a result, quantitative works are often long on tables and short on analysis.

The role of the dissertation as part of academic preparation is generally accepted and unquestioned. The dissertation is intended to initiate students into serious research in their chosen field. However, what happens to the research, once completed, is another question. Apparently very few have addressed this question, and their findings are not consistent. McPhie, in a study of dissertations completed in social studies education, measured the dissemination of dissertations via library circulation. He concluded that: “These data on library circulation, even when viewed with caution, would seem to indicate a rather meager use of some potentially valuable findings.” He also found that nearly two-thirds had not published even one article from their dissertations. In a more recent study of Ph.D. dissertations in sociology, Yoels found a similar picture. He concluded, after analyzing citations to Ph.D. dissertations in the two most frequently cited journals in sociology, that “the likelihood that dissertations will be widely disseminated appears to be slim.” However, in a recent and more complete study, Hanson found that dissertations are more widely used than is indicated in the above studies. He concludes that: “When one broadens the definition of dissemination to include the media of books, monographs, chapters, presented papers, journal articles (including those not appearing in the two major journals), research bulletins, and miscellaneous forms during the professional life of the Ph.D. sociologist, a picture of more extensive transmission of dissertation results emerge. A conservative estimate would be that findings from a substantial majority of dissertations are disseminated through various media at some point in time.”

Entrepreneurship is considered fundamental to economic development since entrepreneurs generate their own economic benefit and indirectly promote employment, boost innovation, and attract human and financial resources and investment in infrastructure to the territory, among other benefits. Latin America has very high rates of entrepreneurship, so to deepen our knowledge of the factors that influence entrepreneurship, it is necessary to investigate the region. This article tests various theories of factors (self-efficacy, fear of failure, perception of opportunity, and socialization) that determine the decision to become an entrepreneur, using a quantitative methodology with a representative sample of 27,341 Latin American individuals (including 4,416 entrepreneurs). The results partially support these factors and show that Latin American entrepreneurs differ from the profile indicated in previous literature. In addition, results seem to indicate that the level of development of a country determines the strength with which the factors studied influence entrepreneurship.

This article analyzes several patterns of antisemitism in twentieth-century Latin America. It identifies historical moments when carriers of social and political ideas projected negative images of Jews, sometimes pushing anti-Jewish policies and at times leading violent actions against Jews. Thus, antisemitism served to mobilize in defense of national identity; as a reaction to Jewish peddlers perceived as a threat to national economies; as a basis for the generalized rejection of “undesirable refugees” during World War II and the Holocaust; and as a Cold War phenomenon, along with anticommunism and neo-Nazism. Like other forms of xenophobia, antisemitism was grounded in prejudice and the demonization of a supposed enemy rather than being based on verified evidence. Analysis suggests that antisemitism has been deeply rooted in Latin America and has manifested over time with changing historical and social constellations. At the same time, while Judeophobic prejudices and actions have been intimidating and have at times precluded the legal immigration of Jews, antisemitism has rarely become dominant or led to systemic social discrimination, massive expulsion, or mass genocide, unlike in Europe.

This essay reviews the following works:

Reimagining Brazilian Television: Luiz Fernando Carvalho’s Contemporary Vision. By Eli Lee Carter. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. Pp. x + 286. $28.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822964988.

Frontera Verde. By Jenny Ceballos, Mauricio Leiva-Cock, and Diego Ramírez-Schrempp. Netflix, 2019. 8 episodes.

Foundational Films: Early Cinema and Modernity in Brazil. By Maite Conde. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2018. Pp. xiii + 306. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520290990.

Mock Classicism: Latin American Film Comedy, 1930–1960. By Nilo Couret. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2018. Pp. xi + 279. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520296855.

Roma. Written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Netflix, 2018.

Latin American Film Industries. By Tamara L. Falicov. London: Bloomsbury and British Film Institute, 2019. Pp. ix + 193. $31.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781844573103.

Cosmopolitan Film Cultures in Latin America, 1896–1960. Edited by Rielle Navitski and Nicolas Poppe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017. Pp. xi + 376. $38.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780253026460.

Channeling the State: Community Media and Popular Politics in Venezuela. By Naomi Schiller. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. Pp. xiv + 275. $26.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781478001447.

Bolívar. By Juana Uribe, María Clara Torres, Ricardo Aponte, and Leonor Sardi. Directed by Luis Alberto Restrepo, Andrés Beltrán, and Jaime Rayo. Netflix-Caracol Internacional, 2019. 63 episodes.

Capitán Latinoamérica: Superheroes in Cinema, Television, and Web Series. By Vinodh Venkatesh. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2020. Pp. xiii + 261. $95.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781438480152.

This essay reviews the following works:

Latin America and the Global Cold War. Edited by Thomas C. Field Jr., Stella Krepp, and Vanni Pettinà. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. Pp. 440. $42.50 hardcover, $29.99 e-book. ISBN: 9781469655697.

La imagen tricontinental: La feminidad, el Che Guevara, y el imperialismo a través del arte gráfico de la OSPAAAL. By Alberto García Molinero. Santiago de Chile: Ariadna Ediciones, 2022. Open access: http://ariadnaediciones.cl/images/pdf/LaImagenTricontinental.pdf.

From the Tricontinental to the Global South: Race, Radicalism, and Transnational Solidarity. By Anne Garland Mahler. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. Pp. xi + 347. $28.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822371250.

Toward a Global History of Latin America’s Revolutionary Left. Edited by Tanya Harmer and Alberto Martín Álvarez. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2021. Pp. xi + 301. $90.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781683401698.

No Barrier Can Contain It: Cuban Antifascism and the Spanish Civil War. By Ariel Mae Lambe. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. Pp. xvi + 310. $37.50 paperback. ISBN: 9781469652856.

The Tricontinental Revolution: Third World Radicalism and the Cold War. Edited by R. Joseph Parrott and Mark Atwood Lawrence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xvii + 365. $120.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781316519110.

South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left. By Jessica Stites Mor. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2022. Pp. xix + 266. $79.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780299336103.

Revolution in Development: Mexico and the Governance of the Global Economy. By Christy Thornton. Oakland: University of California Press, 2021. Pp. 301. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520297166.

After a long period of dictatorship in Latin America, the quality and deepening of democracy have been associated with citizen participation. This article examines the social uses of the notion of participation beyond an exclusively institutional dimension. Starting from the example of the transformation of Valparaíso’s former prison into a cultural space, initiated in 1999, this article studies participation in light of the fluctuating relationships to politics that different actors maintain. It examines how the former prison was transformed into a cause as part of a broader response to a neoliberal urban project and top-down practices. Further, this work analyzes the diverse experiences of commitment among the artists occupying the former prison, highlighting the tensions and dilemmas associated with the exercise of politics in a conflictual context.

O artigo visa refletir sobre as fundações raciais do Estado brasileiro através da análise da peça Anjo negro de Nelson Rodrigues. A partir de uma abordagem pós-colonial, argumenta-se que a peça de 1948 pode ser lida como uma crítica à influente visão de “democracia racial” associada à Gilberto Freyre e que seu conteúdo antecipa uma série de ideias posteriormente presentes na obra Pele negra, máscaras brancas ([1952] 2008) de Frantz Fanon. O artigo revela as tensões e violências (re)produzidas pelo Estado no Brasil a partir dos encontros e desencontros entre as múltiplas hierarquias—econômica, patriarcal e racial—exploradas por Nelson Rodrigues ao longo da trama.

Este artículo explora la representación del amulpüllün, o ritual funerario mapuche, en el poemario Reducciones del autor mapuche-huilliche Jaime Huenún. Examina varios poemas en los que el sujeto lírico, asumiendo el papel de orador del amulpüllün, realiza una invocación ritual a los espíritus de mapuche muertos para asegurar su transición al más allá. También analiza cuatro collages creados a partir de fotografías y documentos archivados en el Museo de La Plata en Argentina, en tanto constituyen un canal alternativo de enunciación de los rituales funerarios. Estos poemas y collages recuperan las historias de las personas representadas en ellos, simbólicamente integrándolas a la memoria histórica de sus sociedades por medio de la estrategia literaria del amulpüllün. Además, los textos establecen paralelos entre las historias de las personas, denunciando como estas, de diferentes modos, fueron atravesadas por la violencia, la exclusión y el olvido.

In the 2016 United States presidential election, candidates Trump and Clinton embraced the demands of certain social groups and in this way, politically and symbolically, chose to “own” the social identities of these groups. Trump decided to attack the Latino community, while Clinton positioned herself as an advocate for this community. This article presents the results of a social narrative analysis of the values that Clinton and her team used to reach out to Latino communities during the 2016 election. The Spanish-language messages produced by the Democratic campaign compose the sample, which includes blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets, and television ads. Clinton’s campaign produced narratives about who the “good Latinos” are and, consequently, the “good immigrants” while at the same time promoting values such as globalism, cosmopolitanism, and multiculturalism. Paradoxically, these narratives and values failed to portray Latinos’ diversity because they left out this community’s historical, social, and cultural complexity.

Este artículo analiza las representaciones centradas en la víctima del conflicto armado interno peruano que propone el documental Tempestad en los Andes (2014), de Mikael Wiström. A partir de este objeto cultural, se examinan las limitaciones y posibilidades que presenta la memoria victimista en el posconflicto peruano. El análisis parte de los significados contrapuestos que el filme articula para Augusta La Torre (líder de Sendero Luminoso) y Claudio Gonzales (estudiante universitario desaparecido). Por un lado, se reflexiona sobre el posicionamiento reconciliador que esta película sostiene en torno a la búsqueda de una víctima neutral merecedora de compasión, la reconstitución de un supuesto mundo andino devastado por la guerra y el énfasis identificatorio con el sufrimiento padecido. Esta interpretación del pasado reciente fuerza una reconciliación (un perdón normalizante) que no permite comprender las complejidades surgidas y, por el contrario, las sutura en vías de alcanzar una cura y unificación del cuerpo social fragmentado con la guerra. Sin embargo, por otro lado, también se analizan las posibilidades de reconocimiento, esas renegociaciones y apropiaciones que suceden desde los márgenes de este proyecto audiovisual: una reivindicación, breve pero real, que intenta reparar el olvido.

Durante el último tercio del siglo XX, la crisis del régimen de hacienda en los Andes septentrionales marcó el inicio de una gran transformación social. En ese proceso, la identidad étnica devino en una poderosa herramienta de reivindicación por el acceso a recursos (y derechos) esenciales de los campesinos-indígenas sometidos al poder de los terratenientes. Tomando el ejemplo de la provincia de Chimborazo, en la sierra central del Ecuador, y tras una revisión de las peculiaridades de ese longevo sistema de dominación, el artículo centra la atención en las formas y alcance de la insurgencia indígena-campesina hasta la consolidación del proceso de reforma agraria, entre las décadas de 1960 y 1980. A continuación, se establecen los vínculos entre el desenlace de la reforma, el fortalecimiento organizativo indígena y la etnitización de sus demandas como recurso estructurante de su relación con el Estado y las agencias de desarrollo, ya en las postrimerías del siglo XX. La intención es aportar reflexiones sobre algunos aspectos de la politización de la etnicidad que, desde un escenario concreto, interpelan a otros fenómenos comparables de la región andina.

This article explores how Francisco de Aguirre used the Copiapó Valley encomienda to negotiate political power during the transition from conquest to colonial rule in northern Chile. Simultaneously, we analyze the circumstances of how a native society was incorporated into the Spanish Empire after a decade of fighting and resistance on the fringes of the empire. The strategic use of the fear of native rebellions to close the road from Peru to Chile gave Aguirre enough power to negotiate an important political position, which in the future would clash with the colonial authorities. Copiapó Valley’s peripheral location in the southernmost Atacama Desert constituted a political gray zone for the colonial administration. This space contributed to consolidating power for Aguirre and enabled locals some negotiation power within the possibilities afforded by the colonial system.

This essay reviews the following works:

Contemporary U.S.-Latin American Relations: Cooperation or Conflict in the 21st Century? Edited by Jorge I. Domínguez and Rafael Fernández de Castro. 2nd revised edition. New York: Routledge, 2016. Pp. xiv + 309. $49.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781138786325.

Beyond the Eagle’s Shadow: New Histories of Latin America’s Cold War. Edited by Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Mark Atwood Lawrence, and Julio E. Moreno. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013. Pp. viii + 341. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780826353689.

The Third Century: U.S.-Latin American Relations since 1889. By Mark T. Gilderhus, David C. LaFevor, and Michael J. LaRosa. 2nd revised edition. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017. Pp. xiii + 303. $39.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781442257160.

Latin America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence. By Tom Long. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Pp. xi + 260. $29.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781107547056.

Cooperation and Hegemony in US-Latin American Relations: Revisiting the Western Hemisphere Idea. Edited by Juan Pablo Scarfi and Andrew R. Tillman. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Pp. ix + 260. $119.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137510730.

Latin America in International Politics: Challenging US Hegemony. By Joseph S. Tulchin. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2016. Pp. vii + 235. $65.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781626374485.

Although they represent a principal source of data for demographers, population censuses have not usually been undertaken for the benefit of population analysts. In ancient times, population enumerations were usually linked to the collection of taxes or to military conscription. Although in modern censuses such motivations are not entirely absent, other important considerations have emerged, such as equitable apportionment of representation in legislative bodies, the compilation of voting lists, and the necessity of having an accurate basis for the distribution of governmental funds, programs, and social intervention efforts. Nevertheless, one basic fact has never changed: population censuses are undertaken by political entities with politico-administrative goals.

El Instituto Ibero-Americano de Berlín fue fundado en el año 1930 como centro de enlace científico y cultural, con miras a fomentar la continuación de la expansión socioeconómica de Alemania hacia los países latinoamericanos e ibéricos. Incentiva primordial para este propósito fue la adquisición de una vasta biblioteca particular y un archivo de documentos históricos por intermedio del Ministerio Prusiano de Artes, Ciencias, y Educación Popular. Propietario de esta biblioteca y del archivo fue el argentino Ernesto Quesada (1858-1934). Las partes más antiguas del Fondo, recolectadas por su padre Vicente G. Quesada (1830-1913) a partir de mediados del siglo XIX, pudieron ser completadas y ampliadas constantemente por él mismo. La colección, que en total abarcó unos ochenta y dos mil volúmenes y legajos,1 constituye aún hoy en día, a pesar de las pérdidas sufridas a finales de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, una excelente base documental para investigaciones sobre la historia moderna de la Argentina. Las monografías, revistas y diarios de la antigua Biblioteca Quesada hace muchos años pudieron ser integrados en su totalidad a los fondos bibliotecarios temáticamente clasificados del Instituto Ibero-Americano y, sin haber sufrido mayores pérdidas durante los años de guerra, fue posible conservarlos hasta la fecha. En cambio, aquellas partes del Archivo Quesada que hacia fines de la guerra fueron depositadas en la hacienda Hohenlandin cerca de Angermünde (hoy RDA) fueron presa de la destrucción.2 Para poder precisar más ciertamente la importancia del Fondo Quesada para el historiador, se describirán brevemente en este aporte primero, la biografía de los dos Quesada, y segundo, las existencias que aún se conservan del Archivo Quesada, y las consistentes en diarios de la Argentina y sus países vecinos.

El presente artículo, cuya base empírica es una entrevista estructurada a quince de las principales organizaciones nacionales de observación electoral latinoamericanas, muestra que los grupos de la sociedad civil de la región más activos en esta área han usado desde 2005 diversas herramientas de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y comunicación para hacer observación colectiva (lo que se conoce en inglés como crowdsourced election observation), ya sea para desarrollar proyectos especializados o para sustituir por completo sus herramientas de observación tradicionales. En opinión de los directivos de las organizaciones, las nuevas tecnologías han servido fundamentalmente para concienciar a la población general sobre la importancia de las elecciones e implicarla en sus actividades, y para abrir a la observación áreas que sin las nuevas herramientas hubieran sido impracticables. La observación colectiva afronta el reto de fijar un estándar comúnmente aceptado de verificación de la información recopilada, al menos potencialmente, por un conjunto de observadores desconocidos y que puede no haber recibido la suficiente capacitación.