More than adding a “C” to the acronym

Where is the Caribbean in Latin American Studies?

Abstract

In principle, Latin American studies tend to include the Caribbean. In practice, however, the non-Spanish-speaking Caribbean remains off the radar. It is time to rethink this marginalisation of the closest of neighbours. If Latin American studies have – at times implicitly, at times formally – added an “and the Caribbean” into their name, they need to do more to live up to that claim. They need to do so not for the sake of fairness towards smaller countries, but because the Caribbean is central to understanding how the world, Europe and Latin America have evolved over the past 500-plus years, and continue to evolve today.