Abstract
THE British Council was first established at the end of 1934 with the purpose of disseminating in foreign countries knowledge of the English language, British institutions and British contributions to science, medicine and the arts. Since then, a large network of institutes has grown up under the Council's auspices in Latin America, as in other parts of the world. But a one-way cultural programme is incomplete : what is needed is a two-way traffic of cultural relations. It is no less desirable that people in Britain should be informed of Latin American life and thought than that Latin Americans should be informed about British thought and customs. The anonymous donation of £30,000* received by the British Government for the promotion of cultural relations with Latin America is thus most opportune. The donors have asked that the gift be at the disposal of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the chairman of the British Council. They have decided that £2.0,000 is to be set aside as part of the British contribution to the establishment of an Institute of Latin American Culture in London after the War. One of the projects which will be carried out with the remainder will be the provision of a science laboratory for an important boys' school in South America, conducted on British lines. This news will undoubtedly have an encouraging effect in the Latin American Republics. It will show them that Great Britain wants, not to impose British cultural propaganda on them, but to secure exchange of information on a basis of equality.
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Great Britain and Latin American Culture. Nature 151, 274 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151274b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151274b0