Capital Wisdom

Nicola Miller on Learning and Trading in Southern America

Bibliographic Data

ID13104316
AuthorsGregorio Alonso García (0000-0002-7485-0847, University of Leeds, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume9
Issue3
Pages316-328
Publication date2022-12-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Intellectual History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2380-1883 • E-ISSN: 2380-1891
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23801883.2022.2132175
OpenAlexW4311761764
LanguageEN
References cited15

The latest monograph by Nicola Miller constitutes a masterclass on how to write history with little, or no mainstream politics.Instead, the politics of taste and finesse permeate many pages of Miller's Republics of Knowledge.The political economy of wisdom, its realisations, and scope during the period nation-and state-building processes in mainland Latin America inform this compelling and stimulating book.Adding her expertise to a growing field, Miller demonstrates foresight when she frames and reassesses the role played by bookshops, publishers, engineers, and drawing teachers in the history of knowledge in the first century of the of new-born Argentina, Chile and Perú.i The author thus persuasively argues that 'travelling shows, agricultural fairs and improvised lectures are the real unexplored hinterland of knowledge circulation' (p.10).However, some readers would have liked to be taken for a longer stroll to explore those unbeaten tracks.Despite this, the book makes an original contribution to de-Westernising the creation and circulation of modern knowledge too.ii Miller first highlights the stark contrast between the knowledge generation and circulation in the Old Regime's Republic of Letters, on the one hand, and the one that emerged under the modern Republics of Knowledge, on the other.Miller argues that the nature and the institutions of the former are monarchical, centralized, and often sacralised, as exemplified by Royal Academies.At the same time, the latter generated republican, horizontal, and secular bodies; its outcomes must be emancipatory, and they tend to be founded by private individuals, associations, and organizations.That said, Miller implicitly acknowledges the fact that both programmes of enlightening all citizens were marred by sexism, racism, classism, and political elitism.Based on the findings and suggestions put forward by Peter Burke and Geoffrey Lloyd, the monograph clearly distinguishes between two major areas of enquiry that inform how the author approaches the study of knowledge.iii Firstly, following sociologists, Miller tackles the role of some institutions and practices of knowledge; but she also deals with ideas, images, and discourses about it, drawing on cultural historians and practitioners of cultural studies.On the other hand, the volume new light on what Miller calls 'Knowledge for nations', and duly focuses on fields such as philosophy of language, geography, political economy, civil engineering, and philosophy of education.It is this second area which takes the upper hand in the book, while the development of specialized state agencies looms on the background.The creation of specialized institutions to produce, hold, and share knowledge steadily followed national emancipation in Argentina, Chile, and Perú.It showed the liberators' conception of modern

Economic history · Latin Americans · Miller · Political science · Classics · History · Law · World Systems and Global Transformations · Geology

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