Paths, Detours, and Connections: Consumption and Its Contribution to Latin American History

Abstract

Despite the increase and variety of historical literature in the region in the last decades, the history of consumption, as a proper area of study, has received only modest scholarly attention from Latin American historians. With the aim of contributing to the emerging literature on the subject, this essay illustrates the relevance of studies on the history of consumption for a better and novel understanding of Latin America’s social, economic, and cultural past. It does this: 1) by revisiting the lessons learned from the first debates in the historical literature on consumption; 2) by examining recent developments in the history of consumption in Latin America, and; 3) by identifying future challenges for consumption studies.

Keywords

• Consumption
• historiography
• Latin America (Thesaurus); consumer society (Author).