The consolidation of the socioscientific study of Latin America

a brief history cum bibliographical study

Abstract

This paper explores the secondary literature about the Latin American Studies, using the his­tory of its consolidation in die United States as background. The term secondary literature here refers to those papers reflecting on the institutional and academic development of the LatinAmerica Studies. It shows that such consolidation, in the form of a vast network of research centers, universities, professional scholars, grant opportunities, journals, associations, and so on, can only be properly understood in the context of the Cold War, more specifically as a response to the Cuban Revolution. Besides reviewing the literature, the paper contains a bib- liometric analysis that shows the vertiginous growth of academic output about Latin America in the US starting in the 1960s.