Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History

Lost (and Found) in Translation: Language in Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History

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│By Leila Marhamati, Associate Editor, Gale Primary Sources│

Post-colonialist thinker Frantz Fanon declared the importance of language in a world globalised through empire and colonisation: “To speak… means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization”. It is ironic to cite this quotation in translation from the original French, as Fanon’s point is that the language we speak is both a product of and perpetuates the culture we live in. As an English speaker, what do I know about his thinking? His worldview?

For societies and nations founded through colonialism, language is crucial. The language of the coloniser is often forced upon the colonised. Holding onto a language despite imperialist pressures then becomes a form of resistance and a declaration of selfhood. All of these implications of language can be explored in Gale Primary Sources’ Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Centuries.

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Emancipating a Continent: Studying the Americas Through The Region’s Liberators

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American continent

|By Lola Hylander, Gale Ambassador at University College London|

Four years ago, when I began studying History and Politics of the Americas at University College London, I had little prior knowledge about the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. I’d studied History A-Level in the UK, but the syllabus focused mainly on European revolutions. My knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean was limited to the perspective of Europe. For example, I had studied Napoleon III’s attempt to colonise Mexico, but from the perspective of France.

Joining the Institute of the Americas was, therefore, a big adjustment. I had to free myself from the Eurocentric framework I had developed in school. Using primary sources helped me familiarise myself with the region, and students of the region should check out Gale’s Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century database to do so. I found some engaging sources in the Latin American and Iberian Biographies collection on three of the most significant liberators of Latin America and the Caribbean, and these men’s stories can teach us useful lessons about studying the Americas.

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