In the wake of recent events in Bolivia, we have asked some of the scholars who have published on the country in HAHR‘s pages to reflect on the following question: “What would you say is the key piece of historical context for understanding the contemporary political developments in Bolivia?” Rossana Barragán is a senior researcher at the International Institute of Social History. Her article “Working Silver for the World: Mining Labor and Popular Economy in Colonial Potosí” appeared in HAHR 97.2. …

HAHR Forum on Contemporary Bolivia and History Read more »

Curated by Sean Mannion, Duke University Scholars of Latin America have long been concerned with sound. In their forum organized for HAHR 96.2, Alejandra Bronfman and Christine Ehrick invited numerous scholars (Gala Porras-Kim, Elizabeth Dore, and Marc A. Hertzman) to interrogate this concern, opening up critical conversations that deploy sound as a principal category of analysis. The forum pieces not only compellingly suggest what sound studies can contribute to Latin American history–and vice versa–but also incorporate sound itself within their arguments by allowing online …

Forum on “Listening for History” Read more »

Curated by Jocelyn Olcott and Sean Mannion, Duke University Ever since their opening to the public in 2002, the archives of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS) have proven to be both an invaluable trove for researchers and a political lightning rod. In January of this year, new restrictions on access to this source were announced, threatening a burgeoning historiography on Mexico’s dirty war and on the country’s social and political movements from the 1950s to the 1980s, in …

Open Forum on Archives and Access: The DFS Controversy Read more »

Curated by Farren Yero, Duke University Drugs, broadly conceived, have been central to Latin American history from the pre-Columbian era to the present. Over the last three decades, illicit drugs in particular have come to be associated with the region, and with them, tremendous violence and political instability. In this introductory essay, Paul Gootenberg and Isaac Campos consider the possibilities for a “new drug history of the Americas,” offering a long-term periodization of drugs to uncover and analyze their …

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Jeremy Adelman’s monumental biography Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman thus provides an opportunity to assess the importance of this historical ground for Hirschman’s work. We invite you to participate in this forum aimed at reflecting upon not only the ways in which Latin America influenced the development of Hirschman’s thought, but also how Hirschman’s ideas might invigorate the study of Latin American history. Peter Coclanis offers an extended review of Adelman’s books and of all the insights …

Open Forum on Jeremy Adelman’s biography of Albert Hirschman Read more »

Sexuality and Revolution: HAHR’s First Open ForumCurated by Bryan Pitts, Duke University The editors of the Hispanic American Historical Review invite you to participate in an open forum on James Green’s article. Please post any comments below. You may access the full text of the article for free here: The HAHR editors will host periodic online forums to invite debate among scholars and other interested readers on issues of critical importance to Latin American and Caribbean societies. The next …

James N. Green on (Homo)Sex and Revolution in Brazil Read more »