Repressed memory: Rethinking the impact of Latin America's forgotten pandemics

Abstract

The 'Columbian exchange' (Crosby) after 1492 mixed bacteria and viruses from the 'Old' and the 'New World'; ever since then, epidemics have shaped the political course of events in Latin America and the Caribbean. While the diseases and their victims are largely forgotten in collective memory, they also remain marginal in much of conventional scholarship, as they are not easily framed in narratives of national history or social emancipation. The present contribution provides concrete examples that demonstrate the profound political impact of pandemics, but also the lack of attention they have received in standard textbooks and accounts of Latin American history. The conclusions call on scholars to fully embrace the insights from environmental history and epidemiological research into their teaching and writing on the region.