We have the pleasure to invite you to send your paper proposal to take part in the panel entitled "Convergence & divergence. US Relations with Western Europe, Latin America and the Mediterranean Basin from World War II to present", to be held in Barcelona during the V Meeting of Young Scholars of the Contemporary History Association (15-17th July 2015).
The deadline to recieve the proposals is next 1st November. The proposals must be sent to cristinaluzgarcia@gmail.com(with CC to the Organising Committee e-mail: joveneshistoria2015@gmail.com). You can find more general details at the Meeting website as well as the paper proposal form (http://historiabcn2015eng.wordpress.com).
Panel information:
CONVERGENCE & DIVERGENCE. US RELATIONS WITH WESTERN EUROPE, LATIN AMERICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN FROM WORLD WAR II TO PRESENT
COORDINATORS: Cristina Luz García Gutiérrez (Universidad de Santiago de Chile), Misael Arturo López Zapico (Instituto Franklin-UAH/ UNED-Centro Asociado de Asturias)
CONTACT: cristinaluzgarcia@gmail.com
SUMMARY: Appropriating the poignant expression coined in 1941 by media mogul Henry Luce, many researchers have referred to the last century as “the American Century”. Since the USA burst onto the world stage as a great power, his political, economic, military and cultural influence has been evident in every country across the globe. This American influence has been the focus of analyses by various social scientists, especially those concerned with the History of International Relations between the U.S. hegemon and other nations.
But, because the collapse of the bipolar order brought about new realities and global phenomena, historians have had to readjust their approaches and methods to accommodate the necessary examination of these relations from a much broader perspective. For this reason, when investigating the behavior of the United States against to the world, and vice versa, issues such as cultural transfers and the weight of public diplomacy, business networking and the role of lobbies remained unaddressed.
The purpose of our workshop is to cater to researchers that aim to study relationships involving third countries or institutions and the United States from 1945 to the present. To this effect, we have defined a geographical area of special attention that has had particularly intense contact with the U.S.A. where there were situations in which Americans appear both as bearers of progress and positive values and as stakeholders supporting a new kind of imperialism. All this will introduce a transnational and comparative approach that connects to the present and finds links between ideological debates about what has been done ”for the good of the Empire” with more tangible examples, like the impact of Wikileaks.
KEYWORDS: United States, Western Europe, Latin America, Mediterranean Area, International Relations.
LANGUAGES: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician Language.
MOTIVATIONS: Taking into account the growing declassification process of historical documents at the Public & Private Archives – unfortunately the Spanish case is quite anomalous– and the proliferation of new sources and approaches, we believe that it’s now possible to analyze U.S. relations with European, Latin American and Mediterranean countries from a renewed and more complete point of view. Therefore, there is a manifest interest among young researchers to explore new approaches in order to rework the study of this subject and get rid of some enduring clichés. Hence, we aim to make the voices of these researchers heard and allow space for those wishing to contribute new ways to study relations with the American superpower. The following schools of research will serve as inspiration, from general to specific: public diplomacy; development policies; mass media: foreign view & domestic influence; relations between US, European and Latin American social organizations; the influence of the American culture of consumption on Latin American & Southern European societies; and studies regarding Hispanic minorities in the United States, etc.
OBJECTIVES: With this panel-workshop session we aspire to create a network of people interested in the study of International Relations from a refreshing perspective, but we remain open to researchers with a more conventional approach. Furthermore, we believe this will be a good opportunity to gauge topics of interest outside Spain on this subject, as well as to evaluate to what extent Spanish historiography is setting trends, or if it is lagging behind other European and American research centers.
METHODOLOGY: In terms of methodology, we will prioritize proposals that rely on comparative and transnational perspectives of analysis and utilize several sources. Although in the motivations of the panel we’ve indicated which specific lines of research we are interested in, we encourage researchers to submit any proposals they think could fit the workshop. To limit the number of topics brought to the panel, we will use the United States as the common thread, and adhere to the chronological and geographic parameters given. Because of this continuity of subject matter, participants will not only be able to expose their progress, but also to give and receive suggestions from their peers.
Best Regards,
Cristina Luz García & M. Arturo López Zapico
https://historiabcn2015eng.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/segunda-circular-inglc3a9s.pdf