The Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe) invites you to the Druckfrisch digital book discussion. Nikola Miller (University College London) presents her new book “Republics of Knowledge”.

The book examines nineteenth-century networks of knowledge in Latin America and offers new insights into the process of nation-making. It was not, as has been assumed in research so far, common language or collective identities that united citizens in Lating America into a common national idea, but the promise of access to modern information and global knowledge.

The book will be discussed by Augustina Carrizo de Reimann (Leipzig University) and Olaf Kaltmeier (Bielefeld University). The event will be chaired by Axel Körner (University College London / Leipzig University).

The conversation is open to the public and will take place online via Zooom:

About the Book

The rise of nation-states is a hallmark of the modern age, yet we are still untangling how the phenomenon unfolded across the globe. Here, Nicola Miller offers new insights into the process of nation-making through an account of nineteenth-century Latin America, where, she argues, the identity of nascent republics was molded through previously underappreciated means: the creation and sharing of knowledge.
Drawing evidence from Argentina, Chile, and Peru, Republics of Knowledgetraces the histories of these countries from the early 1800s, as they gained independence, to their centennial celebrations in the twentieth century. Miller identifies how public exchange of ideas affected policymaking, the emergence of a collective identity, and more. She finds that instead of defining themselves through language or culture, these new nations united citizens under the promise of widespread access to modern information. Miller challenges the narrative that modernization was a strictly North Atlantic affair, demonstrating that knowledge traveled both ways between Latin America and Europe. And she looks at how certain forms of knowledge came to be seen as more legitimate and valuable than others, both locally and globally. Miller ultimately suggests that all modern nations can be viewed as communities of shared knowledge, a perspective with the power to reshape our conception of the very basis of nationhood.

About the Author

Nicola Miller is professor of Latin American history at University College London. She is interested in the intellectual, cultural, political and international history of the Americas, in comparative and transnational perspectives; and in nationalism and national identity, especially in the Americas. Her current research focuses on the history of knowledge in Latin America. Her books include Reinventing Modernity in Latin America: Intellectuals Imagine the Future, 1900–1930 and In the Shadow of the State: Intellectuals and the Quest for National Identity in Twentieth-Century Spanish America.