ABSTRACT
In operation from 1922 to 1939, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) was an organ of the League of Nations responsible for coordinating scientific and cultural collaboration efforts. Bringing together scientific and intellectual personalities from the main political powers participating in the new multilateralism following World War I, the Committee built a dense network of relationships and partnerships around the world. The purpose of this chapter is to conduct a study of the constitution of the ICIC by reversing the focus usually consisting of commenting on the presence of a few famous personalities (e.g. Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Henri Bergson or Paul Valéry) to question the nomination process and to highlight the contribution of several Ibero-American scientists and intellectuals sometimes left in the shadows. Its goal is to understand the appointment mechanism and in particular how the concept of “national culture” allowed the amalgamation of all speakers of Spanish and Portuguese and led to the under-representation of Iberian and Latin-American personalities compared to representatives of leading European powers throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
