rooted in certain languages (geolinguistics). In
many such studies (but not all), the geography
oflanguageinsuchtermsisaformofhistorical
geography(e.g. Withers, 1984). Attempts to
reverse language decline or obsolescence may
involve direct language planning.
Attention to the language in and of geog-
raphy is more concerned with the study of
language as the medium through which inter-
subjective meaning is communicated, and in
the power relations intrinsic to such meaning.
Thus understood, interest in the role and
nature of language within geography is part
of the ‘linguistic turn’ within twentieth-
century philosophy and social theory. It is
evident in work on the politics of language, in
the connections between spoken and written
languages and authorial power, in attempts to
‘recover’ or do interpretative justice to others’
words and worlds in quantitative methodolo-
gies (e.g. Crang, 1992), in a recognition that
the limits to our understanding of the world
may indeed be the limits of our language (e.g.
Farinelli, Ollson and Reichart, 1996) and, for
some, in practices of resistance to an Anglo-
American hegemony within geography evident
in the dominance of English as the discipline’s
lingua franca(e.g. Braun, 2003; Desbiens and
Ruddick, 2006: seeanglocentrism). cwjw
Suggested reading
Crang (1992).
Latin America Inconventionalusage,theterm
refers to those countries of the American contin-
ent that share a history of Spanish, Portuguese
and French colonialism. However, the term also
is widely used to denote all countries south of the
USA (Lewis and Wigen, 1997, p. 182). The
term’s ambiguity has led to academic disputes
over how the category is defined and which coun-
tries properly belong within it. For instance,
Quebec is not included, despite a history of
French colonialism; nor are the Mexican states
annexed by the USA in 1848. The problem with
such debates is that they presume a natural con-
gruence between geographical categories and an
underlying social reality, which can be accurately
mapped. Obscured are ontological questions
concerned with how categories are constituted
through intersectingdiscoursesand interlocking
power-geometries.
Since its inception, the term ‘Latin
America’ has been tangled in colonial and
post-colonial contests over identity and terri-
tory (Mignolo, 2005). John Phelan (1968)
attributes the term to nineteenth-century
French scholars, who positioned France as
the leader of a Latin ‘race’ engaged in a strug-
gle for domination against Anglo-Saxon and
Slavic racial blocs. According to Phelan (1968,
p. 296), the term ‘Latin America’ was baptized
in 1861 inLa revue des races Latines, a maga-
zine ‘dedicated to the cause of Pan-Latinism’.
Theories of Pan-Latinism were called upon to
naturalize attempts by Napoleon III to expand
imperial power in what was then commonly
calledHispanic America.
However, the idea of pan-Latinism also cir-
culated in Spain and Hispanic America in the
mid-nineteenth century, as intellectuals from
the Creole elite expressed anxiety about the
imperial ambitions of Anglo-Saxon America
(Ardao, 1992). Chilean scholar Miguel Rojas
Mix (1986) attributes the term to Francisco
Bilbao (1823–65), an exiled Chilean writer
living in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.
According to Rojas Mix, Bilbao used the term
in a speech in 1856. Arturo Ardao (1992)
credits the Colombian writer Jose ́ Marı ́a
Torres Caicedo (1830–89), also living in
Paris, with its christening in 1856 in his poem
‘The Two Americas’. In any case, both authors
used the term to delineate fundamental cul-
tural and political distinctions between aLatin
America characterized by spirituality and a
quest for independence versus a materialist,
individualistic and imperialist Anglo-Saxon
America. With the US invasion and dismem-
berment of Mexico in mind, Bilbao, Torres
Caicedo and others echoed Simon Bolivar in
calling for a union of South American nations
to detain the imperialist interests of the USA.
According to theOxford English Dictionary,
the term ‘Latin America’ appears in the USA
in 1890, the year of the First International
Conference of American states, held in
Washington, DC. A precursor to the Pan-
American Union, the conference led to
increased academic interest in the countries
south of the Rio Grande. The first academic
course on ‘Spanish American History and
Institutions’ was offered at the University of
California in 1895 (Hanke, 1964, p. 10). In
1917 theEncyclopedia of Latin Americawas
published, with a foreword from the then
Director General of the Pan American
Union, who suggested that the spread of ‘ac-
curate information will serve Pan American
solidarity and community of action and pur-
pose’ (Wilcox and Rines, 1917, p. 4). His
message explicitly positions ‘Latin America’
as an important object of study at a time
when the USA sought to bring the region in
line with its policies; here, knowledge is made
a key instrument of geopolitical power.Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_L Final Proof page 412 31.3.2009 2:44pmLATIN AMERICA