About the topic
Most of our history lessons about the origins of democratic practice and constitutional government come from our reflections about such experiments in the North Atlantic. These reflections currently entail triumphant stories and cautionary tales. But to gain a more comprehensive historical understanding of the democratic experiment on Earth, we must broaden our panorama. We must consider the other historic epicenter of democratic experimentation in the world: Latin America. Doing so brings a host of additional triumphant stories and cautionary tales to share with students and to enrich our conversations about what it takes to build a democratic republic—in the nineteenth century, when such projects were so new and fragile, during the first great wave of global decolonization. In this session, we take a closer look at how inhabitants in the South American territory of Paraguay navigated this wave and conducted their own tenuous experiment to build an independent republic.
Our host
The event will be hosted by Michael Huner, Associate Professor of History at the Grand Valley State University.
In the wider context
This webinar will be the third of a series of four monthly sessions on the history of Latin America, held in the fall of 2023. Other sessions in the series will cover:
- 19 September 2023: Pre-colonial civilisations and people of Latin America – the recording will be made available to EuroClio Members soon!
- October 2023: Colonial Empires in Latin America
- 14 December 2023: Old World, New World: Postcolonial Politics, Production, and Innovation
You can register to these sessions individually for a fee of 10 EUR, or register to the whole series for a fee of 20 EUR.
Participation to the webinar series is free of charge for our members. Click here to learn more about how to become a member!
