The publication of Carlos Nelson Coutinho’s Gramsci’s Political Thought in the Historical Materialism Book Series by Brill [2012] provides a wonderful opportunity to draw some attention to the debates on Gramsci in Latin America. This particular book is a translation of Gramsci: Um estudo sobre su pensamento politico [1999] and is an essential window through which to view debates in and beyond Brazil. It is written by one of the most hugely important intellectual figures in Latin America producing studies on Gramsci whose company would also include José Aricó, Juan Carlos Portantiero, or Dora Kanoussi, to name a few. Its publication in translation represents a really positive and agenda-setting attempt by the editorial board of the Historical Materialism Book Series to bring Latin American texts to a wider Anglophone audience and is to be much applauded. The appearance of Carlos Nelson Coutinho’s work in English leads the way in this respect and my hope is that additional texts in this series and others will follow. Notably, Verso also recently published Emir Sader’s The New Mole: Paths of the Latin American Left [2012]. What can engaging work from a Latin American context offer to past and present Gramsci debates?
