Invites you to a conference
The Other Mirror: Comparative History and Latin America
February 20-21, 1998
Dickinson Hall, Room 211
Princeton University
If the "cultural turn" of much of contemporary social science has taught us
anything, it is that the production of knowledge is often circumstantial and
constrained within a variety of institutional and social boundaries. Most general
models of political and social development are based mainly on a very small set of
largely European cases of questionable relevance to the contemporary world. As
important as 1688, 1789, and 1870 may be for their respective countries, we want to
argue that 1521, 1810, 1852, and 1889 may be more critical for Latin America. It is
not enough, however, to argue for historical specificity. Given the predominance of
theory over empirical work in the epistemological and institutional hierarchy of the
academy, Latin Americanists need to work on creating our own models of human
behavior. In order to advance this endeavor we have asked leading scholars to
analyze a number of prominent theorists (including Braudel, de Certeau, Huntington,
North, Polanyi, and Tilly) and questions (civil society, social movements, and state
formation) in light of Latin American history. Do these problematics make sense?
How could they be adjusted? What might Latin American variants look like? These
issues will be examined by fourteen scholars from Latin America, Europe, and the
United States in papers and discussions that aim to advance comparative historical
research from the perspective of Latin America.
AGENDA
Friday, February 20
1:30 p.m. -- Political Economy
Jeremy Adelman (Princeton University), Institutions, Property Rights, and Economic
Development: Douglass North in Latin America
Paul Gootenberg (SUNY-Stony Brook), Hijos de Dr. Gerschenkron? The Strange Case of
'Late-comer' Conceptions in Latin American Economic History
Veronica Montecinos (Pennsylvania State University), Questions About The
Professionalization of Economics in Latin America
Steven Topik (UC-Irvine), Karl Polanyi: Theorist for a Post-Marxist Age
J. Samuel Valenzuela (University of Notre Dame), Landowners, Peasants, the
Bourgeoisie, and Democratization in Chile: A Reassessment of Barrington Moore's
Model
Saturday, February 21
9:00 a.m.-- The Problem of Order
Miguel Angel Centeno (Princeton University), The Disciplinary Society in Latin
America
Jorge Domínguez (Harvard University), Samuel Huntington's POLITICAL ORDER and the
Latin American State
Alan Knight (Oxford University), The Modern Mexican State: Theory and Practice
Fernando López-Alves (UC-Santa Barbara), The Transatlantic Bridge: Unintended
Consequences, Charles Tilly, and State-Making in the River Plate
1:30 p.m. -- Reimagining Society
Robert Levine (University of Miami), Tactics as the Art of the Weak: Michel de
Certeau on Latin America
Claudio Lomnitz (University of Chicago), Colonialism and Post-Colonialism
Susana Mallo (Universidad de la República), Latin America: Between Reason and
Subject -- An Examination of Alain Touraine
Gerardo Munck (University of Illinois), Social Movements and Latin America:
Conceptual Issues and Empirical Applications
Organizers
Miguel Angel Centeno
Fernando López-Alves
Sponsors
The Program in Latin American Studies
The Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies
The Center of International Studies
The Council on Regional Studies
Wilson College
The Department of Sociology
University of California, Santa Barbara
To obtain more information, contact:
"The Other Mirror" Conference
Program in Latin American Studies
The Joseph Henry House FAX: (609) 258-0113
Princeton University plas@princeton.edu
Princeton, NJ 08544-1019
Free and open to the public