Latin American Historiographies of the Past Half-Century: Argentina and Uruguay in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Over the past four decades, Latin American historiographies produced in the region’s leading academic centers have renewed their approaches and methodologies, aligning with global trends in historical and social research. These developments emerged from the normalization of academic life in universities and scientific institutions following the end of the dictatorships that devastated Southern Cone scholarly communities, as well as from state-sponsored incentives that fostered the professionalization of the discipline. Key factors included academic mobility, the proliferation of journals and conferences, integration into international networks, and the training of new generations of historians. The theoretical and methodological "turns" that reshaped historians’ analytical frameworks—spurred by the crisis of macro-explanatory models, the focus on agency and social practices, the "play of scales", and other pivotal themes—gained traction in Argentina and Uruguay. This was facilitated by preexisting intellectual exchanges, conceptual convergences, and shared archival practices centered on issues that have shaped the historical trajectories of both Río de la Plata nations from the formation of nation-states to the present. This panel, organized by the Argentine Association of Historians (ASAHI) and the Uruguayan Association of Historians (AUDHI), proposes paired papers by Argentine and Uruguayan scholars specializing in political, economic, social, and cultural/intellectual history. Through these disciplinary lenses, the panel traces shared historiographical paths to highlight affiliations, exchanges, and interactions between both traditions while assessing the enduring influence of local frameworks and recent shifts in historical practice. It further explores tensions within the professional historian community—particularly regarding "presentism" and the memorialist turn—which reflect a dual challenge confronting Clio’s practitioners today: the negotiation between historical distance and contemporary relevance, and the dynamic interplay of academic historiography with pluralistic, often parallel, historical narratives. By juxtaposing Argentine and Uruguayan cases, the panel delineates convergent and divergent responses to common methodological and epistemological problems, offering a transnational perspective on how Southern Cone historiography engages global debates while retaining regional distinctiveness.

Papers

History and Politics: Historiographies in dialogue. Argentina and Uruguay, 1980s-2020s

Hilda Sabato, José Rilla

Subjects in plural: social movements and historical change in the American Southern Cone

Inés Cuadro, Mirta Lobato

From the construction of national narratives to the emergence of contemporary memories: histories and commemorations in Argentina and Uruguay

Beatriz Bragoni, Ana Frega

An intellectual history of Buenos Aires and Montevideo as a cultural zone

Adrián Gorelik, Vania Markarian

From the Big Questions to the case-studies. The renewal of economic history in Argentina and Uruguay

Julio Djenderedjian, Maria Ines Moraes

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Latin American Historiographies of the Past Half-Century: Argentina and Uruguay in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Convenor

Panelists