Latin-American social sciences and the struggle for UNESCO’s leadership during the Cold War: the competence between Chile and Brazil

BEIGEL, FERNANDA

University of Heidelberg, Germany

Conferencia; Conference UNESCO and the Cold War; 2010

UNESCO History Project, University of Heidelberg

The role played by the United States and France in the cultural dynamics of the second post-war period is quite well known. Their role within international organizations, cooperation agencies and foundations has also been explored. However, the emergence of Chile as a centre of internationalization has not received so much attention, even though by mid 1950s it became the main regional platform for international cooperation. It was in Chile where the United Nations economic comission (CEPAL) and FAO’s regional sede were installed. It was at Santiago where an area called “Little Vatican” was created. This situation had an important shift with the John F. Kennedy presidency, because CEPAL was one of the main threads for the constitution of the Alliance for Progress –in fact, Raúl Prebisch headed its Board of Experts (“Comité de los Nueve Sabios”). Our findings on Chile’s role in the creation of a regional academic circuit indicated also that this South American country had a central part in the struggle between different types of international cultural projects: the Company of Jesus, UNESCO, OEA, among others. Other Latin American countries played an important role in these struggles, such as Argentina, México and Brazil. The fact that the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) was a result of the competence against the Latin American Center for Social Science Research (CLAPCS), installed in Brazil, was a starting point to us. We believe two types of processes are acting in the background of the above situation. Firstly, a major diplomatic competence for leadership within UNESCO, in the frame of the ideological confrontations of the second half of 1950s. Secondly, an academic dispute between South American social scientists for the control of the process of regionalization of teaching and social research conducted by UNESCO. On a major scope, we intend to work on the competence between Chile, at first as a representative of the Alliance for Progress’ forces, and Brazil as a counter example of the United States social system.