Eduardo Galeano
In the 1970s, Eduardo Galeano, explained: "underdevelopment isn't a stage of development, but its consequence." As I reflect on our first week, it is evident that Uruguay is an ideal place for students to explore the subtleties of the core-periphery model. We are close to the Argentine home base of Raul Prebisch, the mid 20th century economist who first divided the world into industrialized core nations and exploited, peripheral counterparts. Later, his model would be adopted by dependency theorists in Latin America and Africa as a reaction to the "one size fits all" story of development. Uruguay has elements of a periphery that existed to fuel the economic prosperity of the metropole (in this case, Spain, Portugal, and Britain). At the same time, Uruguayans protected themselves from the worst forms of exploitation; they managed to retain a grasp over the engine of economic growth and they reinvested profits from wool and livestock into social programs that advanced democratization. Uruguay defies easy categorization in the context of dependency theory and, as such, it stands out among Latin American nations. While Galeano travels with us, it is clear that Uruguay offered a challenge to his worst fears of the 1970s. Our students are equally adept at engaging with economic theories about inequality in the world as they are willing to puzzle over questions like: How is Uruguay different? and how does the tension between modernity and tradition play out in this southern cone, prosperous, and largely white nation?
a sunny farewell to Colonia!
