Transformed by the South. The Circulation of Latin American Social Sciences in France and Germany

• Applicant: Dr. Clara Inés Ruvituso
• Subject Area: African, American and Oceania Studies
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567404625

The circulation of academic knowledge from North to South has been one of the most explored foci in studies on the circulation of knowledge, yet we know little about the reverse direction: How does knowledge of the global South circulate and what role does it play in the North? In this project, we address this research gap based on a comparative study on the circulation of Latin American social sciences in France and Germany. The starting point of the study is based on three central and intertwined considerations: 1) Despite the asymmetrical relations in the global circulation of academic knowledge, Latin America has made specific and innovative contributions to global debates in the social sciences. 2) Latin American scholars contested and co-created knowledge in exchange with Europeans. In this exchange perspectives were transformed in both directions. 3) France and Germany are two privileged spaces for a comparative study of the ways in which Latin American knowledge circulated in the so-called global North. We will focus on the circulation of Latin American knowledge during the period that coincides with the development of area studies during the Cold War up to the present (1950-2024). Although with divergences and specificities, institutions with a focus on Latin America grew in importance in France and Germany in the context of a new geopolitical interest in the subcontinent during the Cold War. The exile of many Latin American academics during the dictatorships intensified the transnational exchanges among social scientists, especially around dependency debates. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, debates related to global inequalities, postdevelopment, Buen Vivir, and more recently, “decoloniality” were received. The central research questions of the project can be formulated as follows: How has the circulation of social sciences from Latin America to France and Germany evolved during different periods since the beginning of the Cold War? Which factors have favored this South-North circulation, which made it more difficult? How have academic production in France and Germany, considered as European centers of social science knowledge production, been transformed as a result of these circulations? To discuss these issues, we address three interconnected key dimensions A) Institutionalization of Latin American studies B) Reception and Exchange and C) Translation, each with specific questions. In order to tackle these questions, we use perspectives of sociology of knowledge and intellectual history, domains in which the project coordinators are both specialised. The research topic requires additional expertise from neighbouring research fields and disciplines (history, political science, anthropology, STS, and Library and Information Studies) as well as its integration through an interdisciplinary, synergetic approach that we develop in this proposal.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Wiebke Keim