The Peace Corps in South America [electronic resource] : Volunteers and the Global War on Poverty in the 1960s /
Purcell, Fernando.author.
In the 1960s, twenty-thousand young Americans landed in South America to serve as Peace Corps volunteers. The program was hailed by President John F. Kennedy and by volunteers themselves as an exceptional initiative to end global poverty. In practice, it was another front for fighting the Cold War and promoting American interests in the Global South. This book examines how this ideological project played out on the ground as volunteers encountered a range of local actors and agencies engaged in anti-poverty efforts of their own. As they negotiated the complexities of community intervention, these volunteers faced conflicts and frustrations, struggled to adapt, and gradually transformed the Peace Corps of the 1960s into a truly global, decentralized institution. Drawing on letters, diaries, reports, and newsletters created by volunteers themselves, Fernando Purcell shows how their experiences offer an invaluable perspective on local manifestations of the global Cold War.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
In the 1960s, twenty-thousand young Americans landed in South America to serve as Peace Corps volunteers. The program was hailed by President John F. Kennedy and by volunteers themselves as an exceptional initiative to end global poverty. In practice, it was another front for fighting the Cold War and promoting American interests in the Global South. This book examines how this ideological project played out on the ground as volunteers encountered a range of local actors and agencies engaged in anti-poverty efforts of their own. As they negotiated the complexities of community intervention, these volunteers faced conflicts and frustrations, struggled to adapt, and gradually transformed the Peace Corps of the 1960s into a truly global, decentralized institution. Drawing on letters, diaries, reports, and newsletters created by volunteers themselves, Fernando Purcell shows how their experiences offer an invaluable perspective on local manifestations of the global Cold War.
1. Introduction: Peace Corp Volunteers as Intermediary Agents in the Global War on Poverty -- 2. Learning to Learn: Community-Development Training during the 1960s -- 3. Confront Poverty Beforehand -- 4. South America's Fertile but Different World -- 5. Difficulties and Frustrations on the Ground -- 6. Volunteers in the Middle of Cold War Ideological Struggles -- 7. Epilogue: De-centering Cold War Narratives Using Peace Corp Volunteer´s Accounts.
Latin America—History.
United States-History.
World politics.
World history.
Latin American History.
US History.
Political History.
World History, Global and Transnational History.