Backbone of Latin America: recent developments and new directions in anthropometric history

Abstract

This article examines scholarship in the anthropometric history of Latin America, published after the last survey in 2016. The field has grown in diverse senses: there are studies for countries that had not been studied before, such as Bolivia, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad, and the scholarship covers broader periods and in more detail for those countries that were first studied such as Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and especially Chile. New methodologies are used to examine height data and its determinants beyond the traditional realm of anthropometric history, such as gender dimorphism, nutrition, and Technophysio evolution. The approach has also led to assessing the effects of immigration and violence on living stan- dards. This growing scholarship contributes to deepening our understanding of the region’s socioeconomic aspects of stature, inequality, and welfare. More historical analysis would help to further our knowledge of the context in which these processes evolved in different periods for different countries. The field can expand and be part of debates on these topics beyond Latin America in many ways.