Good Neighbors and Automovilistas

Abstract

The Pan-American Highway is a hemispheric infrastructure project which extends from Alaska to Patagonia, with an incomplete section called the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia. It embodied the Pan-American promise of hemispheric connectivity and integration. This promise was unstable, mutable, and contested, and its meanings shifted throughout the twentieth century in tune with the changing power dynamics within Pan-Americanism. Between the 1930s and the World War II years, this promise became entwined with the narratives, representations, and practices of automobility and hemispheric travel. The scale of the Pan-American Highway, which is commonly referred to as the longest road in the world, was a powerful metaphor for unification. During these years, the highway embodied a future where one could drive across the Americas from one end to the other, and cross the borders with Pan-American passports and hemispheric tourist cards. In this chapter, I trace these travel narratives, representations, and practices between 1936 and 1942 to question how this travel imaginary shaped the Pan-American Highway project, its promise of integration, and its imprint on the built environment. I compare the travelogues of the U.S. American drivers who embarked on expeditions to Latin America during the Good Neighbor Policy years, with the advocacy efforts of Automóvil Club Argentino, which organized international car races, expeditions, and caravans to promote the Pan-American Highway project. Through this comparison, I highlight how long-distance travel assumed different roles in relation to the Pan-American Highway project, performing ideological, representational, and logistical functions.