Seminar
(in cooperation with IRS - PhD POLS Seminar Series in International Relations)

Forging Nations:
International Shocks and Identity Formation
in Nineteenth-Century Latin America

Luis Schenoni

University College London

Chairs
Juan Masullo & Andrea Ruggeri
University of Milan 

13 May 2026, h. 16:00
Seminar Room (Passione)
Department of Social and Political Sciences
Via Passione, 15 - Milan

Abstract
As pioneers of nationalist ideology in the nineteenth century, Latin American elites operated within a relatively blank slate, providing a unique setting to analyze how the ideology is shaped by factors such as war, capitalism, and migration, all central to theories of nationalism and variable across the region during this period. In this paper, I analyze a novel dataset of presidential speeches from eighteen Latin American countries between 1840 and 1913. Using dictionary-based and computational text analysis methods, I measure the prevalence of nationalism, distinguish among some subtypes, and evaluate the impact of exogenous shocks—wars, trade, and migration—on both its overall prevalence and its forms. By examining this understudied period across a region second only to Europe in the number of nation-states at the time—and often identified by scholars such as Benedict Anderson as a cradle of nationalist ideology—this study provides new insights into the historical origins of nationalism and the factors shaping its evolution.

Bio

Luis Schenoni is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Programme at University College London. ​He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, held a postdoctoral position at the University of Konstanz, and is affiliated with Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires. His work has been recognised with the ECPR Rising Star Award and the PEACE Emerging Scholar Award of the ISA.