Un bloque al mismo tiempo: historiografia de las relaciones de Canada con America Latina y de Canada con Colombia.
| Autor | Tijerina, Stefano |
| Cargo | Artículo en inglés |
| Páginas | 275(18) |
The study of Canadian-Latin American relations has been for the most part disregarded by historians who have been interested in transnational, hemispheric, diplomatic, international, Canadian, Latin American, or even American history. This is even more palpable in the case of Canadian-Colombian relations, whose intricate history may be traced back to the late 1800s, and yet its story remains neglected by scholars. Some argue that the bilateral relationship has had a much greater influence on Colombia's nation building process and not enough impact on Canada's, and therefore overlooked by North American scholars. Nevertheless, the fact that the relationship has left a mark on each other's economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental development is more than enough to justify further research. (1) This work argues that the historical study of the role played by secondary powers in the development of Latin American and Caribbean countries is crucial in order to reconstruct the issues that determined the paths of modernization, economic development, and the expansion of capitalism across the region. The review of Canadian-Latin American historiography shows how limited research has been in this area, and the case of Canadian-Colombian historiography helps illustrate this point even further.
The historiography of Canadian-Latin American and Canadian-Caribbean relations continues to be limited. The most recent literature review on Canadian-Latin American relations was published in the Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, back in 1985. (2) Twenty-six years ago, Graeme S. Mount and Edelgard E. Mahant predicted a "growing interest in Latin American studies in Canadian universities," and hoped that the nation would become "a net exporter of Caribbean and Latin American specialists". (3) The same could not be said about scholars in the United States and the Americas. According to their research, American scholars were not interested in studying the role of Canada in the Americas, and "not a single article by a resident of Latin America" had surfaced up to that point. (4) They expected Canadian scholars to increase their interest in Latin America because both Canada and Latin America were looking for mechanisms that could "counterweight the overwhelming influence of the United States," and they were both interested "in diversifying their sources of trade and investment". (5) Their literature review showed that scholars across the hemisphere had "barely scratched the surface of Canadian-Latin American relations," and that there was much to be done in this field of study. (6) Nevertheless, current historiography shows that scholars are yet to become truly engaged with the study of Canada's role in the Americas. Few Canadian, American, and Latin American scholars have shown interest in this subject.
Only recently have scholars and policy makers emphasized the need for a better understanding of the history behind the external relationship of Canada and the region. (7) One product of this effort has been Rosana Barbosa's most recent work Brazil and Canada in the Americas, which was published in 2007. (8) Although a historian by training, Rosana Barbosa edited a work that is laden with policy content and does not emphasis historical aspects of the bilateral relationship. Her contribution, "Brazilian and Canadian relations: A historical survey," does center on historical aspects of the bilateral relationship; it represents an initial step toward an increasing academic interest in the bilateral study of Canada and Latin America.
Some Canadian historians of the continentalist school have touched on the subject of Canadian-Latin American relations indirectly in their pursuit of economic and business history research (9). Among those who have stressed the Latin American dimension are Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles, who collaborated in several journal articles, as well as a monograph titled Southern Exposure: Canadian Promoters in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1896-1930. (10) Duncan McDowall has written extensively about Canadian business developments in Latin America. His book, The Light, provided a business history of the largest Canadian foreign enterprise, and Quick to the Frontier focused on the history of Royal Bank's operations across the globe, which included a section on Caribbean and South American operations. (11) Clifford Ince's The Royal Bank of Canada, a Chronology provided an overview of the bank's operations in Latin America. (12) Moreover, Daniel Jay Baum's The Banks of Canada in the Commonwealth Caribbean looked less at the business aspect of the bank's history and more at the impact that these private institutions had on the development of banking business in the Caribbean. (13)
Other Canadian business historians looked at the specific impact of Canadian business in Latin America by endorsing the spectrum of multinational operations in the region. Two works that stand out are Jorge Niosi's Canadian Multinationals and Alan M. Rugman's Canadian Multinational Enterprises and Developing Countries, both of which are critical of the impact that these business operations had on the economic and social development of Latin America. (14)
However, a more critical approach was taken by Canadian revisionist historians of the 1970s that centered on the idea of Canada as an imperialist nation. Carl Berger's The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism, 1867-1914 touched briefly on the subject of Latin America, as did Craig Heron's Imperialism, Nationalism and Canada. (15) Moreover, Jamie Swift's The Big Nickel focused on the negative impact of Inco's presence in Guatemala, particularly the relationship between national economic development and export mining operations. (16)
Canadian continentalist and revisionist historians who looked at the impacts of Canadian businesses and economic policies in the region have yet to engage in a full commitment to the study of Latin America. Instead, they have opted to study the region from a one-sided approach. With the exception of McDowall, all other historians have centered their research on Canadian archives. A limited number of Canadian historians have chosen to look at the history of Canadian-Latin American relations, fewer have produced major intellectual works that provide historical interpretations of the subject, and none have fully engaged with archival sources in Latin America or the Caribbean. (17)
J.C.M. Ogelsby may be considered the pioneer in the historical study of Canadian-Latin American relations. In addition to Gringos from the Far North, Ogelsby has written on Canada and the Pan American Union, policy toward Latin America under Trudeau, and the role of the French-Canadian agenda. (18) His work has become the key historiographical resource for scholars studying Canadian-Latin American relations, and his monograph represents the first book-length study on this aspect of Canadian history. (19) Ogelsby's curiosity for Latin America led him to pursue archival research beyond Ottawa, thereby opening the door to intellectual inquiries that expanded the realm of Canadian-Latin American relations to include the role of the church, the French-Canadian dynamic, Latin America's view of Canada, and the impact of Canada's foreign policy and nation building efforts. Ogelsby was also actively involved in the establishment of the Canadian Association of Latin American Studies, which is now known as the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CALACS), as well as the organization's specialized academic journal, North-South: Canadian Journal of Latin American Studies.
Following the footsteps of Ogelsby were other Canadian Latin-Americanists who have been more concerned with looking at Canada's North-South relationship, James John Guy has worked on issues dealing with Canadian foreign policy...
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