Institute of Latin American Studies

From houses to roads, infrastructures offer a unique lens through which to explore social and political change. Serving as an important conduit between states and citizens, infrastructures provide governments with a powerful tool to mould subjects and control populations. Yet, at the same time they also give individuals, communities, and movements a platform to challenge the state and forge alternative forms of citizenship and politics. Infrastructures therefore shape social and political relations in unexpected ways and never dutifully follow the scripts of politicians, bureaucrats, and...

From the late fifteenth century to the present day, the New World has been plundered and pilfered for its many ‘treasures’ and ‘wonders’ and as a consequence, many of its natural and cultural productions have been scattered around the world, often hidden in libraries, museums and private collections. New World Objects of Knowledge: A Cabinet of Curiosities gathers a fascinating sampling of these scattered objects in forty richly illustrated essays written by world-leading scholars in the field. We discover the secret, often global, itineraries of such things as Aztec...

Acompañada de una nueva introducción, esta traducción al español del clásico libro, Indian Survival in Colonial Nicaragua, ofrece una descripción detallada de los cambios demográficos y culturales que la conquista española y el dominio colonial trajeron a las sociedades indígenas de Nicaragua. Muestra cómo la naturaleza de las propias sociedades indígenas y la forma en que los españoles buscaron controlarlas y explotarlas se reflejaron en diferentes niveles de disminución y supervivencia de la población.

 Se basa en una extensa...

The conflict over possession of the Falklands-Malvinas Islands was waged in an area remote both geographically and geo-politically in an era of cold war and also of tensions within and between sovereign states of the supposed western bloc. It has been broadly perceived as an absurd confrontation, the echoes of which, despite the brevity of its duration, and some four decades on, resonate still not least in the lasting wounds that bear testimony yet to its underlying causes. 

This book probes the reasons behind the conflict’s tragic occurrence and the processing of its...

Indigenous artists frequently voice concerns over the commodification of their cultures, a process acutely felt by those living with the consequences of colonialism. Thistimely book, which features color illustrations throughout, examines the ways in which contemporary indigenous peoples in different parts of the Americas have harnessedperformance practices to resist imposed stereotypes and shape their own complex identities. Essays by leading academics and practitioners show the vibrancy of a wide array of indigenous arts and cultural events in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia,...

This edited volume brings together several scholars who have produced outstanding ethnographies of Andean communities, mostly in Peru but also in neighbouring countries. These ethnographies were published between the 1970s and 2000s, following different theoretical and thematic approaches, and they often transcended the boundaries of case studies to become important reference works on key aspects of Andean culture: for example, the symbolism and ritual uses of coca in the case of Catherine J. Allen;...

Provincialising Nature: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Politics of the Environment in Latin America offers a timely analysis of some of the crucial challenges, contradictions and promises within current environmental discourses and practices in the region. This book shows both challenging scenarios and original perspectives that have emerged in Latin America in relation to the globally urgent issues of climate change and the environmental crisis. Two interconnected analytical frameworks guide the discussions in the book: the relationship between nature, knowledge and...

The Jesuits’ colonial legacy in Latin America is well-known. They pioneered an interest in indigenous languages and cultures, compiling dictionaries and writing some of the earliest ethnographies of the region. They also explored the region’s natural history and made significant contributions to the development of science and medicine. On their estates and in the missions they introduced new plants, livestock, and agricultural techniques, such as irrigation. In addition, they left a lasting legacy on the region’s architecture, art and music.

The volume demonstrates the diversity...

In recent years, child migrants from Central America have arrived in the United States in unprecedented numbers. But whilst minors from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador make the perilous journey to the north, their Nicaraguan peers have remained in Central America. Nicaragua also enjoys lower murder rates and far fewer gang problems when compared with her neighbours.

Why is Nicaragua so different? The present government has promulgated a discourse of Nicaraguan exceptionalism, arguing that Nicaragua is unique thanks to heritage of the 1979 Sandinista revolution. This volume...

In recent years, academics, policy makers and media outlets have increasingly recognised the importance of Caribbean migrations and migrants to the histories and cultures of countries across the Northern Atlantic.

Memory, Migration and (De)Colonisation furthers our understanding of the lives of many of these migrants, and the contexts through which they lived and continue to live. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between Caribbean migrants and processes of...

Latin America’s long history of showing how racism can co-exist with racial mixture and conviviality offers useful ammunition for strengthening anti-racist stances. This volume asks whether cultural production has a particular role to play within discourses and practices of anti-racism in Latin America and the Caribbean. The contributors analyse music, performance, education, language, film and art in diverse national contexts across the region.

The book also places Latin American and Caribbean racial formations within a broader global context. It shows that the region provides...

Creative Spaces: Urban Culture and Marginality is an interdisciplinary exploration of the different ways in which marginal urban spaces have become privileged locations for creativity in Latin America. The essays within the collection reassess dominant theoretical notions of ‘marginality’ in the region and argue that, in contemporary society, it invariably allows for (if not leads to) the production of the new.

While Latin American cities have, since their foundation, always included marginal spaces (due, for example, to the segregation of indigenous groups), the massive...

Published to mark his 80th birthday, this volume consists of seven essays by Leslie Bethell on major themes in modern Brazilian history and politics: Brazil and Latin America; Britain and Brazil (1808-1914); The Paraguayan War (1864-70); The decline and fall of slavery (1850-1888); The long road to democracy; Populism; The failure of the Left. The essays are new, but they draw on book chapters and journal articles published (mainly in Portuguese) and public lectures delivered in the ten years since his retirement as founding Director of the University of Oxford Centre for Brazilian...