This book brings together recent research on the sociopolitical history of Latin American statistics from the nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century. Reflecting the influence of social constructivism in the social sciences, it sheds new light on the historical emergence and development of both statistical reasoning and practices within a region traditionally seen as a passive consumer of foreign-produced theories and methods. By analysing the early enthusiasm for enumerating reality and the processes of institutionalisation of statistics in different national spaces, from Mexico to the Southern Cone, these studies show the ways in which Latin America adapted and used this modern tool of government and social classification to build political regimes and scientific arenas. The volume offers valuable insights into the divergent regional trajectories of this discipline, advancing towards an understanding of statistics and its past from a truly global perspective.

Cecilia T. Lanata-Briones is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, University of Warwick, UK, and Adjunct Researcher of the Centro Interdisciplinario para el Estudio de Políticas Públicas, Argentina.

Andrés Estefane is an independent researcher based in Santiago, Chile; he received his Ph.D. in History from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA.

Claudia Jorgelina Daniel is Adjunct Researcher at CONICET based in the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Autorentext

Cecilia T. Lanata-Briones is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, University of Warwick (UK), and Adjunct Researcher of the Centro Interdisciplinario para el Estudio de Políticas Públicas (Argentina). She received her Ph.D. in Economic History from the London School of Economics (UK).

Claudia Jorgelina Daniel is Adjunct Researcher at CONICET based in the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received her Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires.

Andrés Estefane received his Ph.D. in History from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. He co-edited the four-volume project Historia política de Chile, 1810-2010, and recently published Cuando íbamos a ser libres.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction. Cecilia Lanata Briones, Claudia Daniel and Andrés Estefane Chapter 2: Back to color. Ethnic Origins, Race and Nation in Argentine Censuses. Hernán Otero Chapter 3: Statistics, regionalization and the rise of the dimension of the national in Brazil. Alexandre de Paiva Rio Camargo Chapter 4: Reckoning the might of the Republic: Official statistics and population in Colombia, 1886-1936. Victoria Estrada Orrego Chapter 5: Antonio Peñafiel, a physician collecting statistical figures to create a statistical culture for Mexican public life. Laura Cházaro García Chapter 6: The Caribbean Crucible. How the colonial experience shaped statistical practices in the French Caribbean. Fanny Malègue Chapter 7: The Statistics on the Old French Colony of Guadalupe from the nineteenth century to the interwar period. Béatrice Touchelay Chapter 8: Counting Before the Nations. Statistics and Enlightenment in South America. Marcelo Somarriva and Andrés Estefane