Professor Safford’s thought-provoking volume raises a number of questions about the problems of economic development in nineteenthcentury Colombia and presumably in other Latin American countries as well. What are the technical skills and values conducive to such development? Can they be inculcated in an aristocratic society? To what extent can technical education survive, let alone flourish, in a stagnant economic milieu?
After an introduction and a survey of Colombian economy and society, Safford traces efforts to provide primary and industrial education for the masses and to instill the work ethic in both the lower and upper classes. He next examines the introduction of modern science to academic curricula in the 1760s and the simultaneous development of interest in applied science, as well as the ultimately unsuccessful attempts of Colombian elites in the early national period to increase the scientific content of public secondary and university education. The longest section of the book, “The Origins of a Colombian Engineering Profession,” is devoted to three principal topics: the experiences of Colombian youths who studied engineering and other technical subjects in the United States and Europe; the significant contribution of Colombia’s transitory military schools (1848-54, 1866-67, 1883-85) in producing a corps of practicing civil engineers; and the emergence by 1900 of communities of professional engineers in eastern and western Colombia with assertive, if often divergent, self-images. An epilogue, which reviews earlier conclusions and summarizes twentieth-century trends, concludes the volume.
Safford maintains that the chief impediment to the expansion of technical education was not the antithetical values espoused by Colombian elites but rather the constrictions imposed by Colombia’s stagnant economy, which could provide few rewards for those who pursued technical training. Accordingly, it was not until after 1870, when the economy experienced modest expansion, that a community of scientific and technical professionals could be sustained. Another obstacle to technical progress was the political strife and policy discontinuities that characterized nineteenth-century Colombia.
Safford’s book is written in a vigorous style and is based on an impressive array of manuscript and printed sources. His presentation is somewhat weakened, however, by several structural flaws. Although he purports to cover the entire nineteenth century, he emphasizes the decades from 1820 to 1860 and is most persuasive when dealing with the developments of these years. Several subjects, such as primary education and study abroad, are treated in detail for specific periods and then recede from view without adequate explanation. On the other hand, commercial education is mentioned in a few places, but it is not clear whether the author considers it a technical field. These blemishes, however, do not seriously detract from an innovative work which amply substantiates the author’s principal contentions.
