About Us

This project, funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, aims to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and development of democracy in Latin America as a key arena for the resolution of political and social conflicts during the period 1810-1930. The project explores several interrelated aspects. First, it analyses how democracy was invoked in highly racially and ethnically heterogeneous societies and in terms of gendered participation in the public sphere. Second, it considers the roles played by the press, parliamentary cultures, and the local emergence of academic disciplines in the translation, adoption, and innovation of doctrines and practices that came to be seen as central elements of democracy. Third, it examines the extent to which democracy in the region was part of a broader transnational and interconnected story. Finally, it suggests ways in which Latin America can be further incorporated into a global history of democracy that is also attentive to the particularities of individual regions and countries. While this is a project firmly grounded in the history discipline, it also aims at making a significant contribution to current debates about democracy amongst the historically oriented social sciences.

The project is supported by the following institutions: