Table 3

“Thinking about cultural diplomacy in Latin America”

Throughout the 20th century, culture gained a new place in international politics. Accepted by scholars today as a central concept in the study of international relations, cultural diplomacy can be defined as the place of culture in international agreements and its instrumentalization in service of political and economic diplomacy. Cultural diplomacy allows scholars to rethink the role of the state in international relations. Once considered a central actor only able to interact with other states through diplomatic channels, the state is now seen as one of many actors on the international stage. The study of state action is no longer limited to diplomatic channels. Direct mediation with populations of other states can occur through different means and actors. This panel proposes discussions that problematize the concept of cultural diplomacy for scholars, questioning both its scope and limitations. How has cultural action evolved as a vector of influence in Latin American contexts? How do the actions of Latin American artists, intellectuals, and students align with the objectives of public and private actors such as governments or philanthropic foundations?

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Moderation
Manuel Suzarte [USN, CREDA]

Discussion
Ludovic Tournès [University of Geneva]

Intervenant·es

Benedetta Calandra [University of Bergame]
The Sixties in Inter-American Relations, between Modernization, Counterinsurgency, and Cultural Diplomacy.

The presentation aims to focus on 'old' and 'new' historiographical findings in Inter-American cultural relations. It starts with a journey through the books that have personally marked my early cultural formation, to reach the most recent publications, which partly also result from a working group in which I had the fortune to participate. 

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Marcelo Ridenti [University of Caminas]
Latin American Intellectuals, Internationalization and Financing during the Cultural Cold War (1950-1960)

I will present the results of the research that led to my book O segredo das senhoras americanas - intelectuais, internacionalização e financiamento na guerra fria cultural (ed. Unesp, 2022). The book analyzes: 1. the international communist circle, in which Jorge Amado and his Latin American colleagues were active; 2. the Western side, organized by the Paris-based Congress for Cultural Freedom, sponsor of the magazine Cadernos Brasileiros with funds from the United States; 3. an exchange offered to Brazilian university students to discover Harvard University and the American way of life for free. The central hypothesis is that intellectuals played an active role in the conflict between the great powers in the 1950s and 1960s. They were used by the superpowers and their institutions, but they were also able to act with relative autonomy, without necessarily defining themselves by one of the sides.

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Rafael Pedemonte [University of Poitiers]
Les premiers étudiants cubains en URSS (années 1960)

Résumé à venir

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Selective bibliographies

Altamirano Carlos (dir.), Historia de los intelectuales en América Latina. v.II: Los avatares de la ciudad letrada en el siglo XX, Buenos Aires, Katz, 2010.

Berghe Kristine Vanden, Intelectuales y anticomunismo: la revista Cuadernos Brasileiros (1959-1970), Louvain, Leuven University Press, 1997.

Calandra Benedetta, Franco Marina (dir.) La guerra fría cultural en América Latina, Buenos Aires, Biblos, 2012.

Coleman Peter,  The Liberal Conspiracy: The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Struggle for the Mind of Postwar Europe, New York, Londres, The Free Press, Collier Macmillan, 1989.

Grémion Pierre, Intelligence de l’anticommunisme. Le Congrès pour la Liberté de la Culture à Paris – 1950-1975, Paris, Fayard, 1995.

Iber Patrick J., Neither Peace nor Freedom: The Cultural Cold War in Latin America, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2015.

Joseph Gil, Spenser Daniela (dir.), In from the Cold. Latin America’s New Encounter with the Cold War, Durham, Duke University Press, 2008.

Joseph Gil, LeGrand Catherine C., Salvatore Ricardo D.  (dir.), Close Encounters of Empire. Writing the Cultural History of U.S.-Latin American Relations, Durham, Duke University Press, 1998.

Ridenti Marcelo, O segredo das senhoras americanas – intelectuais, internacionalização e financiamento na Guerra fria cultural, São Paulo, Unesp, 2022.

Rodríguez Francisco, Delgado Lorenzo, Calandra Benedetta (dir.), “EL ‘AMERICANO’ IMPOSIBLE” Estados Unidos y América Latina: entre modernización y contrainsurgencia, Madrid, Silex, 2023.

Rodríguez Francisco, Delgado Lorenzo, Calandra Benedetta (dir.), U.S. Public Diplomacy Strategies in Latin America during the Sixties. Time for persuasion, London, Routledge, 2024.

Salvatore Ricardo, Disciplinary Conquest. U.S. Scholars in South America, 1900–1945, Durham, Duke University Press, 2016.

Saunders Frances Stonor, Quem pagou a conta? A CIA na Guerra Fria da cultura, Rio de Janeiro, Record, 2008.

Scott Smith Giles, The Cultural Cold War in Western Europe, 1945-60, Londres, Routledge, 2004.

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