Doctoral Dissertation Research: Production and Political Use of Social Science during Extended Periods of Cold War Unrest and Instability

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Project Overview This historical study examines how the psychological sciences in Argentina became a crucial weapon in the ideological battle for loyalty during the Cold War in the global South, which is characterized by political instability, ideological polarization, and bloodshed. The proposed study includes both archival research and interviews with key historical actors in Argentina. There are two core questions that will be investigated: How did political actors use the psychological sciences to advance ideological goals during the height of Cold War political extremism in Argentina, from 1966 to 1983? How did psychologists and psychiatrists embed political values into psychological theory and practice during this period? Intellectual Merit This study focuses on the interaction between social-scientific knowledge production and the volatile politics that characterized the Cold War below the equator. The vast majority of Cold War studies of social science focus on social science under the peace and stability of the US and Soviet superpowers. By contrast, this study contribute to the growing body of literature that examines how ideological polarization, grassroots activism, and political violence in the global south affected the production and political use of social science during the Cold War. Argentina provides a useful case for study because of its rich tradition in the psychological sciences. Broader Impacts The Co-PI plans to present his research findings to psychologists at seminars and conferences in Buenos Aires and to publish in a Spanish-language psychology journal, in addition to presenting them at psychology conferences and publishing them in psychology journals in the US. The Co-PI also plans to donate his collected oral histories of psychologists who were politically active during the Cold War to the Memoria Abierta Oral Archive in Argentina. Doing so will not only shed light on a period for which documentation is sparse due to political repression, but also to advance the human rights organization's goals of preserving memory of state violence, enriching democratic culture, and preventing the return of authoritarianism in Argentina.