ENCOUNTERS WITH ASIA: A REFLECTION ON LATIN AMERICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY FROM THE PACIFIC OCEAN BASIN

Abstract

This paper examines the Pacific Rim as a field of new possible insights for the Latin-American historiography. We contextualize our analysis vis-a-vis the renewed commercial and academic interest on the region and bring to the fore an alternative perspective to the economic-minded narratives on the region. Through three case studies (The Manila Galleon, the Empire of Japan's foreign policies during World War II, and reflections about the Asian factor in contemporary Latin American culture), this paper takes on the question of the historiographical usefulness of transpacific studies for Latin-American studies. The paper concludes that thinking about and through the Pacific provides a fresh look into various aspects of the Americas' economic, political and cultural history; aspects that otherwise would be invisible, and thus, enriches our knowledge on the region.