Looking South. The Evolution of Latin Americanist Scholarship in the United States, 1850–1975 by Helen Delpar (review)

The Latin Americanist, June 2009 LOOKING SOUTH. THE EVOLUTION OF LATIN AMERICANIST SCHOLARSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES, 1850–1975. By Helen Delpar. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008, p. 241, $24.95. Looking South is a motivating and well documented book for scholars interested in Latin American research history, its relationships with the United States, and the construction of Latin American identity based on discourses from disciplines such as anthropology, archeology, history, political sciences, and economics, in order of prominence through the covered period. The book is divided in two parts presenting the foundations of scholarship on Latin America and the years of institutionalization of research through 1975, following by a brief conclusion and projections. Interestingly, Delpar shows through this division a professional inclination to use a vocabulary related to the study on Latin America to identify a region that historically is rooted in an ideology of progress—precisely “foundations” and “maturity” connect to “evolution” in the title. “Beginnings” and the first part, “Laying the Foundations,” offer an insightful panorama from the early nineteenth century to the scholar institutionalization , around 1935. Learning from the waves of independence of nations in Latin America, an almost heroic and curious group of characters traveled to the South to find language, people, and objects. It is remarkable that, resembling the “cronistas” from the sixteenth-century Spanish crown interested in “people” and “nature,” independent historians, physicians, and travelers evaluated native culture as either barbaric or innocent, mixing their rationale with historical, biblical, and genealogical evolutionary echoes. The ideas lead to discussions such as whether the Incas or Aztecs were “civilized” or just “tribal,” as well as to the use of epic tones to evoke proper and convincingly native history. By the first decades of the twentieth century, once the United States economy needed to expand, a more structured effort to institutionalize undergraduate and graduate studies took place; the following chapters describe the shift from German as the ideal of scholarship, toward Spanish and Latin American studies. A significant debate towards the final chapter of this part arises around the relationship between policy-making and scholarly activity. The second part, the institutionalization, is presented within the frame of World War II. During this time, Latin America is not in the periphery but in the center of US national security concerns, contrary to what happened during World War I. The emphasis on cooperation lead to operations with a more clearly governmental involvement, along with private and professional organizations. A group of researchers went to Latin America finding places to invest funds, among them David H. Stevens, who tried to connect humanistic ethics to scholarly interest demanding more respect for the Other’s culture. In contrast to his commitment, there is an example of ideological content that blurs the understanding of a society, such as the case of Irving Leonard who travels to evaluate which country could benefit from Rockefeller funds. From his travel, he criticizes Peru for its 94 Book Reviews “inertia” and praises Chile for its private sector effort (113), revealing that he moved around governmental institutions rather than popular organizations . During the war as well, a large amount of money was designated for social scientists in economics, anthropology, and geography, and federal agencies and foundations helped research activity at both institutional and individual levels. The idea was to improve the relationships among cultures creating departments as, for example, the new Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. After the war, the level of funding stalled as a consequence on investments in Europe; however, the number of Spanish and Latin American programs continued to grow, among them political science, sociology, and studies on Brazilian Portuguese. At this point, studies and interest in Latin American literature across campuses continued, and the creation of new associations joined a number of efforts to expand scholar activity. At first impression, this study looks like it would cover too much information but, gladly, the author presents it through a smooth narrative that includes interesting details on individuals and commitments. Thus Delpar makes a meaningful piece of the archeology of ideas that shape Latin America for American consumption as well as of the mechanisms that lead to place scholarly interest and...