Connections, Networks, and Transnational Circulations in the History of Latin American Hydrocarbons

National histories of energy and hydrocarbons in Latin America display a number of common features and ground for inquiries at regional or transnational scale. In particular, the foreground importance of petroleum production, nationalization and distribution in nation-building projects as well as representations of modernity, and discourses of anti-imperialism, is notable. This paper provides an overview of the transnational connections and exchange which have been addressed by previous literature in the history of 20^th century Latin American petroleum. In the aim of drawing perspectives to amplify this research agenda, I will also discuss historiographical interpretations, research methods, and overlooked as well as promising, newly available archives which could help build a connected history of regional fossil energy transitions.

The ideal of unification of Latin America has been labelled different names in the historical literature (Bolivarianism, Panamericanism, Panlatinism, Latinoamericanism). It leads back to a common revolutionary imaginary which has its roots in the anti-European independence movements of the 19th century and has evolved in the 20th century along with repertoires of resistance against Latin America’s marginalization in global capitalism. Yet, very few studies actually address the circulation of Pan-Latin-American ideas, discourses of “Latin American modernity” and the awareness of carrying a common regional project. This is mostly because historians have struggled to identify concrete causes and issues around which such transnational solidarity could develop. Because they were loaded with references to regional sovereignty, ideas of liberation from a colonial economic order and common struggles against US imperialism, petroleum politics are a fruitful angle from which to explore converging political concepts of the Latin American space.