Most of the world knows Uruguay only for its soccer team, or its vaunted title as the "Switzerland of South America," an enduring moniker given to the country for its earlier social welfare policies and relative stability. Even many scholarly narratives of Latin America fail to integrate the country into historical accounts, reducing the country to, as one historian has explained, "a periphery within the periphery that is Latin America."
This volume fundamentally challenges that characterization, taking one of the most innovative small states in the region and analyzing its transnational influence on the world. Uruguay in Transnational Focus takes a broad look at the country's two-hundred-year history, connecting imperial practices and resistance, Afro-Latin movements, and feminist firebrands, among others to understand how the country and its citizens have influenced and shaped regional and global historical narratives in a way that has thus far been overlooked.
With a true collaboration between scholars of the Global North and Global South, the volume is both transnational in its scholarly focus and its production. Its interdisciplinary nature offers a broad range of perspectives from leading scholars in the field to reevaluate Uruguay's impact on the global stage.
As a comprehensive and in-depth history of Uruguay, this book is excellent for scholars of the Americas, and particularly for those interested in the narratives of Latin America.
About the Author: Pedro Cameselle-Pesce is Assistant Professor of History at Western Washington University. He has published several essays on Uruguay-U.S. relations and regional anti-fascist movements. His article, "Italian-Uruguayans for Free Italy: Serafino Romualdi's Quest for Transnational Anti-Fascist Networks during World War II," can be found in The Americas (2020).
Debbie Sharnak is Assistant Professor of History and International Studies at Rowan University. Her research focuses on Latin America, human rights, transitional justice, and U.S. foreign policy. Sharnak's book, Of Light and Struggle: Social Justice, Human Rights, and Accountability in Uruguay, was published in 2023.
