Major Trends in the Historiography of the Latin American Oil Industry

The historiography of Latin America’s oil industry has evolved since the period between the 1960s and the 1980s, when most scholars were focusing on the rise of nationalism in reaction to the multinationals’ control of the oil sector. Beginning in the 1990s, the emergence of new methodologies enabled historians to study other aspects of the industry, such as its environmental and cultural impact, local elites’ role in its development, the industry’s impact on the long-term development of Latin American countries, and the organizational evolution of state-owned oil companies. However, the literature continues to be dominated by studies of Mexico, while the subject of oil consumption is largely ignored.