Based on the analysis of the transfer of the science of language in Colombia between 1867 and 1911, this text examines the processes of transatlantic transfer between Latin America and Europe in the 19th century. In the first part, I discuss the ideological conflict between liberals and conservatives that shaped the reception of linguistic and philological knowledge in Colombia. Then, I focus on the social and cultural profile of the intellectuals behind it. The third part is devoted to two fundamental practices in the context of this transfer: autodidactism and correspondence. On this basis, I conclude with some considerations on the importance of cultural transfers in the Latin American context and their analysis for the history of knowledge in the region.
This article examines the Revue des langues romanes between 1870 and 1914, focusing on its role in the making of a French linguistics beyond Paris. It analyses two phases of the journal’s development: the initial consolidation of Occitan dialectology (1870–1890) and a later period of methodological reorientation (1890–1914). Particular attention is paid to book reviews, which served as a privileged space for discussing, debating, and adapting German scholarly models. The study highlights how linguistic knowledge and methodological practices were actively produced, negotiated, and refined outside the Parisian academic centre.
In 1911, Fritz Graebner (1877–1934) published his seminal work Methode der Ethnologie. This systematic study was the first to formalise a coherent method for the ethnological practices developed by the Berlin School of Anthropology. Its aim was to formalise a method that would serve as the basis for a scientific approach to ethnological studies. In his methodological effort to formalise and systematise the frameworks of a still young discipline, Graebner turned to the example of an older discipline that was already institutionalised: classical philology.
