[April 30th marks the 75th anniversary of the formal founding of the Organization of American States (OAS). So this week I’ve offered some AmericanStudies contexts for that important community and a handful of other hemispheric histories, leading up to this weekend post highlighting some of the many awesome scholars doing hemispheric studies!]
1)
Elena
Lahr-Vivaz: Full disclosure, the first two scholars I’m highlighting here
are good friends of mine—but that doesn’t change in any way the strength and
importance of their work, nor its relevance to this week’s subjects. Lahr-Vivaz,
a fellow Charlottesville, Virignia product, is doing some of the most thoughtful
Latin American Studying I’ve encountered, and I’d highlight in particular her
excellent recent book Writing Islands: Space and
Identity in the Transnational Cuban Archipelago (2022).
2)
Diego
Ubiera: Elena I only get to see occasionally; but Diego, who is my Fitchburg
State University English Studies colleague as well as a good friend, I’m
fortunate enough to see and work closely with (I consider chairing the job
search that brought Diego to FSU one of my career highlights!). His co-authored
2022 Latin American Research Review
article, “Caribbean
Exceptions: The Problem of Race and Nation in Dominican Studies,” reveals a
scholar who is both deeply connected to Dominican Studies yet investigating
questions that cut across the hemisphere’s histories and current events alike.
3)
Greg Grandin: These
last few folks I don’t know personally, but I sure know their exceptional work
on such hemispheric histories and topics. Grandin’s book Empire’s
Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism
(2006, but that’s a link to the 2021 updated and expanded edition) remains a
gold standard for thinking about the U.S. and empire, which of course is far
from the only way to approach hemispheric studies but is certainly one of particular
interest to this AmericanStudies blog.
4)
Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall: Two-for-one
here in the #4 slot, as this paired of married Latin American Studies
professors and scholars co-authored one of the best post-Grandin books on the
U.S. and Latin America, “Our
Hemisphere”?: The United States in Latin
America, from 1776 to the 21st Century (2021). While I’m
slightly worried about replicating that “our hemisphere” notion by including a
couple U.S.-centric books in this list, that is of course the focus of this
blog—and I greatly welcome suggestions for non-U.S.-centric works, along with
my own more genuinely hemispheric entry…
5)
Felipe
Fernández-Armesto: … The
Americas: A Hemispheric History (2006), Felipe Fernández-Armesto’s magisterial
and to my mind entirely successful attempt to bring Glissant’s concept of
creolization to bear on the history of the Western Hemisphere. Not sure I need
to say much more than that, other than, y’know, read the book!
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Histories, contexts, and/or scholars you’d highlight?
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