Abstract
Drawing from a combination of the author’s own research on Portugal’s empire and recent work across a range of disciplines, this essay discusses the growing dialogue between Latin American studies and science and technology studies (STS). It discusses key similarities and differences in the questions, methods, and theoretical frameworks which have guided research in both areas. It focuses particular attention on the divergent ways in which the two interdisciplinary arenas of scholarship have handled objects and materiality. The author argues that despite important differences in orientation, a focus on objects and materiality informed by STS perspectives can broaden the archive available to scholars of colonial Latin America, challenge and extend critical insights of colonial research, and call into question the adequacy of conventional Latin American and Atlantic spatial frameworks.
Highlights
Baseando-se numa combinação das pesquisas do próprio autor com trabalhos recentes de temas variados, o presente artigo trata do diálogo crescente entre Estudos Latinoamericanos e Estudos de Ciência e Tecnologia (STS)
How can studies of science and technology enrich our accounts of colonial Latin America? Over the past twenty years, as Latin American studies specialists have become more attuned to the intellectual sophistication and technical expertise of subaltern actors in the colonial period, specialists within science and technology studies (STS) have struggled to account for the asymmetries of power that shape colonial archives and definitions of scientific knowledge
I begin by briefly tracing what I see as an expanding dialogue between Latin American studies and STS, highlighting common ground before drawing attention to some of the divergent ways in which the two interdisciplinary arenas of scholarship have constructed their domains of study
Summary
Drawing from a combination of the author’s own research on Portugal’s empire and recent work across a range of disciplines, this essay discusses the growing dialogue between Latin American studies and science and technology studies (STS). It discusses key similarities and differences in the questions, methods, and theoretical frameworks which have guided research in both areas. Drawing on a combination of my own research, STS scholarship, and work by specialists of Latin America and the Atlantic world from across a range of disciplines (including history, art history, anthropology, history and sociology of science, and literary and cultural studies), I highlight some of the ways in which insights drawn from STS challenge, enrich, and extend the questions and interpretations current among scholars. A third line of inquiry concludes the essay by suggesting ways in which a focus on objects, expertise, and circulation can more thoroughly integrate scholarship on Latin America and the Atlantic world within a global frame, helping to establish stronger connections between world regions too often cleaved apart by area studies and oceanic world frameworks
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