Raymond Williams in Latin America: reception, translation and circulation of ideas

• Grant number: 20/04175-3
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Theory and Philosophy of History
• Principal researcher: Silvana Barbosa Rubino
• Grantee: Carla Rocha Baute
• Home Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the diffusion of Raymond Williams' thinking in Latin America, through a concentrated study of works from notorious intellectuals situated in Argentine, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico that references the Welsh critic and the mapping and data analysis regarding his books translations for Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish, from the late 1970s until nowadays. We argued that, amidst the British left-wing intelligentsia of the second half of the twentieth century, new ways of analyzing society emerged, ways that, among other things, proclaimed that culture could no longer be left in the hands of purely aesthetic studies, nor could it be seen as a mere reflection of the superstructure. In this context, Raymond Williams became a key figure by proposing a theory that conceives culture as a social and material productive process: Cultural Materialism. In Latin America, in the midst of specific intellectual configurations, different developments have led to the refinement of theoretical and methodological tools and the multiplication of methods and objects of study. It is our understanding that, Even though Williams' popularity in this region has not reached the same level as some of his colleagues from the New Left and Cultural Studies, it is a fact that a significant number of references to his work can be verified in the selected period. We propose, from Williams' "trail", to understand diverse transformations and complex movements in the Latin American intellectual field. Through an approach that combines the analysis of various documentary supports alongside with the adoption of heterogeneous methodology, this research proposes to answer questions about the circulation and reception of his texts while seeking to uncover the circumstances in which his ideas found both support and resonance within the Latin American context.