Monday, October 6, 2014

October 6-12, 2014





ANNOUNCEMENTS

·         The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) is very pleased to announce that we have received one again TITLE VI funds for the 2014-2018 cycle from the U.S. Department of Education. These funds made possible the programming of all our activities, Quechua instruction, and FLAS fellowships for students. We look forward to work with all of you in the coming years, and we thank you for your constant support and encouragement.

·         Congratulations to our affiliated faculty FARANAK MIRAFTAB (Urban and Regional Planning), named University Scholar in recognition of her scholar excellence and the University’s commitment to foster outstanding people and their work.
Professor Miraftab is an innovative scholar whose research is changing the field of Urban and Regional Planning. She examines the intersections of global and local process in shaping communities and the efforts of citizens disadvantaged by race, gender, ethnicity and class to establish basic urban livelihoods.

  • GRADUATE MINOR IN LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
The graduate minor in Latin American Studies will require the student to complete 12 graduate hours; 8 of the hours must be at the 500-level.
  • Area Coursework: A minimum of 8 graduate hours at the 400/500-level from courses in two different departments approved by CLACS every semester. The Center updates and posts approved courses in our website and announce them through our listserv. Our Center has approximately 104 faculty affiliated from different departments in campus, and we approve their courses as part of our curriculum. The Center will record the approved courses on a master list to be kept in the unit that will be used to certify that students took approved courses during their studies in the minor.
  • Language Component: At least 4 hours in language coursework taken in any Latin American language (Portuguese, Spanish or Native American Language or Haitian Creole) while enrolled in the Graduate Minor program.
  • In the case that not enough or advance language courses are offered, The Center also accepts as equivalent area courses taught in these languages, i.e. literature class taught in Portuguese or Spanish.
  • If the chosen language course is at the 400-or 500 level it may count towards the required 12 hours for Graduate Minor. We anticipate that students registering in the Minor already have knowledge of Latin American language.
  • If the Student's Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation deals with a country from Latin America and the Caribbean, we advise students in this minor to speak with their advisor about including a committee member from the minor area.
  • We recommend that the courses taken for the minor not be applied to course requirements in the students' Master's or PhD program
 http://www.clacs.illinois.edu/academics/graduate/minor/default.aspx <http://www.clacs.illinois.edu/academics/graduate/minor/default.aspx

  • CONSULT WITH THE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES LIBRARIAN
Antonio Sotomayor, Latin American Studies Librarian, will be holding special office hours in CLACS every Thursday this semester from 3:00pm to 4:00pm in room 200, ISB. If you have any questions about the research process, finding sources, literature review, exploring a potential research topic, starting a paper, or anything else involving research, the library, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, please stop by the International Studies Building room 200 on a Thursday, 3:00-4:00pm. If these hours doesn’t work for you, just send me an e-mail and we’ll find another time to meet. 
asotomay@illinois.edu, http://www.library.illinois.edu/ias/lat/index.html

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LECTURES

  • ·         LEMANN INSTITUTE FOR BRAZILIAN STUDIES
Presents
MARCOS ALVITO, History. Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil

BIG BUSINESS AS USUAL: THE 2014 WORLD CUP

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8th
1pm
101 International Studies Building

I will try to show the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as a turning point for FIFA in terms of readjusting their main product,  in the Entertainment World Industry. I will argue that the choice of Brazil was linked to this business plan, involving the handling and modification of key elements in football practice: the size of the pitch, type of ball and the use of yellow and red cards, among others.
Marcos Alvito, a professor of history at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, is the author of several books and many articles on popular culture, soccer and samba in Brazil, including Histórias do Samba: de João da Baiana a Zeca Pagodinho (Matrix, 2013), A cores de Acari: uma favela carioca (FGV, 2001) and Futebol por todo o mundo: Diálogos com o cinema.  His podcasts on the history of Samba can be heard at https://uff.academia.edu/MarcosAlvito/PODCAST---1001-Histórias-do-Samba.


  • ·         THE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STUDIES

Presents
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9th
12pm
International Studies Building

ALEJANDRO PERDOMO AGUILERA, Investigador del Centro de Investigaciones de Política Internacional (CIPI)
RETOS Y PERSPECTIVAS DE LAS RELACIONES BILATERALES ENTRE CUBA Y EEUU

 







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  • LEMANN INSTITUTE FOR BRAZILIAN STUDIES

Presents
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14
2pm
International Studies Building

EDUARDO AMARAL HADDD, Economics. University of São Paulo

MOBILITY, ACCESIBILITY, AND PRODUCTIVITY IN METROPOLITAN SYSTEMS: THE CASE OF SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

Over one million workers commute daily to São Paulo city center, using different modes of transportation. The São Paulo subway network reaches 74.2 kilometers of length and is involved in around 20% of the commuting trips by public transportation, enhancing mobility and productivity of workers. This paper uses an integrated framework to assess the higher-order economic impacts of the existing underground metro infrastructure. We consider links between mobility, accessibility and labor productivity in the context of a detailed metropolitan system embedded in the national economy. Simulation results from a spatial computable general equilibrium model integrated to a transportation model suggest positive economic impacts that go beyond the city limits. While 32% of the impacts accrue to the city of São Paulo, the remaining 68% benefit other municipalities in the metropolitan area (11%), in the State of São Paulo (12.0%) and in the rest of the country (45%).
Eduardo A. Haddad is Full Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he directs the Regional and Urban Economics Lab (NEREUS). He also holds a position as Affiliate Research Professor at the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory – REAL – at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Haddad has published widely in professional journals on regional and interregional input-output analysis, computable general equilibrium modeling, and various aspects of regional economic development in developing countries; he has also contributed with chapters in international books in the fields of regional science and economic development. His research focuses on large-scale modeling of multi-regional economic systems, with special interest in modeling integration applied to transportation, climate change and spatial interaction.
Professor Haddad received his B.A. in Economics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1993 and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign in 1997. In 1998 he held a post-doctoral position at the University of Oxford. He has served as the president of the Brazilian Regional Science Association (2008-2010), and as the first president of the Regional Science Association of the Americas (2008-2010). He was the Director of Research of the Institute of Economic Research Foundation – FIPE – from 2005 to 2013. He is currently on sabbatical as a visitor at the Department of Economics (International Economics Section) at Princeton University, and at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Policy and Planning at Rutgers University.

  • ·         THE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STUDIES

Presents
KARLA PALMA. Ph.D. Candidate Institute of Communication Research

TECHNOLOGIES AD VALUES OF MINING PRODUCTION: MAKING POWER IN THE CHILEAN ANDES VISIBLE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16TH
12pm
101 International Studies Building

Chile has historically positioned its mining industry as a central factor on which its economic growth and retraction, and the future of Chilean society as a whole, turns. Yet in the country of 17 million, the role of mining has become notorious for impacts in areas ranging from employment rates to environmental issues. In this scenario, this presentation will analyze what have been some of the technologies implemented by the mining industry to become a relevant actor not only in the economic sphere, but also among the administration of society. This paper takes as its central case of exploration a long lasting conflict that has experienced notorious transformation in the past six years, the case of the Choapa Valley, where the mining company Los Pelambres operates. This presentation will address with an specific emphasis issues related to the construction of nature and sustainability discourses.

Karla Palma pursues a doctoral program at the Institute for Communication Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where she also teaches Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She is a journalist from the Universidad de La Frontera in Chile with a specialization in Human Rights and Public Policies. For years she worked with different NGOs and local organizations throughout Chile in the development of communication strategies, especially with communities that were affected by the violation of their human rights. Currently she is a Senior Fellow of the Melton Foundation and member of its Board of Directors, a Fulbright Alumni, and an affiliate research fellow of “Learning to See System”, an experimental program that address the role of vision in new technologies. Karla’s research project involve the study of mining industry in Chile and the ways how articulates itself within Chilean society in terms of technologies and values.

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SYMPOSIUM ON COMPARATIVE EARLY MODERN LEGAL HISTORY: MEANINGS OF JUSTCE IN NEW WORLD EMPIRES: SETTLER AND INDIGENOUS LAW AS COUNTERPOINTS

Friday, October 10, 2014
Newberry Library, Chicago
Organized by: Brian Owensby (University of Virginia) and Richard J. Ross (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

            Understandings of justice differed among New World empires and among the settlers, imperial officials, and indigenous peoples within each one.  This conference will focus on the array of meanings of justice, their emergence and transformation, and the implications of adopting one or another definition.  Our emphasis is less on the long-studied problem of the ethics of conquest and dispossession as on the notions of justice animating workaday negotiations, lawsuits, and assertions of right.  To this end, we are interested in the following sorts of questions: What about pre-contact legality and about European debates about law impelled empires to offer indigenous people access to settlers’ courts and legal remedies?  How did indigenous notions of legality shape natives’ resort to settlers’ law?  How and why did it occur to Indians that European law offered them a tactical opportunity?  To what extent did indigenous litigants and communities see law as a moral resource?  In what ways did Indians misconstrue settler’s legality because of their own preconceptions about justice?  How did indigenous recourse to law shape colonial and imperial legal structures?  These questions invite reflection on how settler law became intelligible—tactically, technically and morally—to natives. 

From the Europeans’ point of view, settlers thought about their own legal order by reference to highly stylized depictions of natives’ law.  Sometimes indigenous legality was treated as an example of primitivism, or savagery, or the work of the devil; sometimes as an honorable system appropriate to the social situation of Indians; sometimes as a precursor to imperial law; sometimes as reminiscent of legal systems in European antiquity or in other non-Western societies; and sometimes as an early stage in the Scottish Enlightenment’s four-stage theory of socio-legal development.  How did indigenous law serve as a contrast that helped settlers legitimate, critique, and understand their own legal system?  Conversely, in what ways did the example of settler law occasion debates about the meaning of justice within native communities?  The conference will bring together law professors, historians, and social scientists to explore how settler and indigenous law acted as counterpoints within and across European New World empires.

Brian Owensby (University of Virginia History) and Richard Ross (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Law and History) organized “Meanings of Justice in New World Empires: Settler and Indigenous Law as Counterpoints.”  The conference is an offering of the Symposium on Comparative Early Modern Legal History, which gathers under the auspices of the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago in order to explore a particular topic in the comparative legal history of the Atlantic world in the period c.1492-1815.  Funding has been provided by the University of Illinois College of Law. 

Attendance at the Symposium is free and open to the public.  Participants and attendees should preregister by contacting the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library at 312.255.3514, or send an e-mail to renaissance@newberry.org. Papers will be precirculated electronically to all registrants. 

For information about the conference, please consult our website at http://www.newberry.org/symposium-comparative-early-modern-legal-history or contact Prof. Richard Ross at Rjross@illinois.edu or at 217-244-7890. 

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OPPORTUNITIES

  •       BRASA 2014-2015 BRAZILIAN INITIATION SCHOLARSHIP

The Brazilian Initiation Scholarship (BIS) is a key component of BRASA’s agenda to expand Brazilian Studies in the United States.  BRASA invites applications from graduate and undergraduate students for a one-time $1,500 travel scholarship to do exploratory research in Brazil.  This scholarship targets aspiring Brazilianists with relatively little or no experience in Brazil.  It seeks to contribute to the student’s initial trip (for a period from six weeks to three months), to heighten the student’s interest in Brazil, and deepen his/her commitment to Brazilian studies in the United States.  Students are encouraged to combine this scholarship with other grants or awards. 
Eligibility:  Proposals for the BIS will be reviewed according to the following criteria: 
Highest priority will be given to applicants who are outstanding college seniors, recent college graduates applying to graduate programs in Brazilian studies or in Latin American studies with the intent of focusing on Brazil, or new graduate students already focusing on Brazil.

Students from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are eligible.  In exceptional cases, applications from the natural sciences will be given consideration (for example, someone in environmental sciences who is writing a dissertation on the Amazon or pollution in São Paulo and who plans to continue research on Brazil).  
Preference will be given to those applicants who have little or no in-country experience in Brazil.  A student requesting funding to undertake an exploratory research trip should present evidence at the time of the application that he/she has achieved at least an intermediate level of competence in the Portuguese language sufficient to carry out the proposed research.
Successful applicants may combine BIS with other grants, scholarships, or awards, as long as he/she specifies clearly how the funds are going to be spent (for example, the BRASA scholarship might be used to cover travel costs, while a grant from another source could be used for living expenses, etc.). Applicants are required to be BRASA members at the time of submission.

Application Process:  A complete application will include the following documents:
-          The application cover page (download form);
-          Proof of BRASA membership,
-          A two-page prospectus - which include your research agenda (double spaced, 12-point font);
-          A two-page bibliography on the subject of study (list of references)
-          A budget specifying how the $1500 will be spent;
-          A two-page résumé or CV;
-          Electronic copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts;
-          Evidence of Portuguese proficiency on intermediate level  - (This can be demonstrated by a transcript or a letter from a university instructor of Portuguese);
-          A letter of intent to study Brazil in graduate school, in the case of undergraduates or recent college graduates,
-          Two letters of recommendation from professors;

NOTE:
-          All documents must be submitted to brasa-illinois@illinois.edu. In the subject line of the email, please include the applicant full name and the sentence “BIS Application” (e.g. Mary Smith - BIS Application).
-          Professors can email the letters of recommendation directly to BRASA at brasa-illinois@illinois.edu. In the subject line of the email, please include the applicant full name and the sentence “BIS 2014 Application” (e.g. Mary Smith - BIS Application).
-          Partial applications or applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Evaluation Criteria and Selection Process:
In order to be considered for the scholarship, the two-page prospectus should:
(1) Clearly and coherently outline the project’s engagement with Brazil; 
(2) Demonstrate as precisely as possible the feasibility of the proposed exploratory research project and how it will contribute to the student’s academic development; 
(3) Briefly discuss the role the work undertaken in Brazil will play in shaping the applicant’s future course of academic study (for instance, it could be the seed project for a larger grant application, provide the basis of a paper prepared for presentation at a BRASA conference, or serve as the foundation for future research on Brazil).
Report: Upon completion of the research experience in Brazil, recipients are required to file a two-page, double-spaced report with the BRASA Executive Director summarizing their activities and identifying relevant academic outcomes. In addition, a statement accounting for the expenditure of funds must be sent to the BRASA Executive Director. Following completion of studies in Brazil, BRASA strongly encourages recipients to participate in a subsequent BRASA congress in order to report on their activities. 
Deadline for application: November 15, 2014.
Awards will be announced by February 1st, 2015.
To submit a proposal and for all other correspondence regarding this award, contact, the BRASA Research assistants at brasa-illinois@illinois.edu 

  • 2015-2016 IAF GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT Ph.D. FELLOWSHIP
The deadline for applications JANUARY 20, 2015.

Fellowships are available to currently registered students who have advanced to candidacy (by the time research begins) for the Ph.D. in the social sciences, physical sciences, technical fields and the professions as related to grassroots development issues. Applications for clinical research in the health field will NOT be considered.

Awards are based on both development and scholarly criteria. Proposals should offer a practical orientation to field-based information. In exceptional cases the IAF will support research reflecting a primary interest in macro questions of politics and economics but only as they relate to the environment of the poor. The Fellowship Program complements IAF’s support for grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and preference for those applicants whose careers or research projects are related to topics of greatest interest to the IAF. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Organizations promoting grassroots development among poor and disadvantaged peoples;
The financial sustainability and independence of development organizations;
Trends affecting historically excluded groups, such as African descendants, indigenous peoples, women, LGBT, people with disabilities and young people;
Transnational development;
The role of corporate social responsibility in grassroots development;
The impact of globalization on grassroots development;
The impact on the quality of life of the poor of grassroots development activities in such areas as sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, housing, health care, education, urban development, technology transfer, jobs creation, and marketing and small-enterprise development.

Funding is for between four and 12 months. Research during the 2015-2016 cycle must be initiated between June 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016.
IAF’s Fellowships provide support for Ph.D. candidates to conduct dissertation research in Latin America and the Caribbean on topics related to grassroots development. The Inter-American Foundation expects to award up to 15 Doctoral Field Research Fellowships in 2015.

Complete proposals include:
A complete research prospectus - an application statement, a field research prospectus, a Curriculum Vitae (custom), and a Personal Statement;
A letter of University Certification;
A letter of affiliation from at least one host organization;
Statement of IRB Status or proof of submission or approval;
Graduate transcripts;
Three academic letters of reference, one which must be from the chair of the applicant's dissertation committee;
A Language Proficiency Report.
Selected candidates must present proof of candidacy and IRB exemption or approval prior to receiving funding or entering the field.  Complete application information and instructions are available at www.iie.org/iaf.

Informational Webinars. Would you like to know more about the eligibility requirements of the Fellowship?  How to apply?  The benefits?  Hear about previously funded studies?  Join us for a one-hour information session on these dates (All times EST).
Visit the Program Homepage for additional sessions and updates.

  • POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN CRITICAL CARIBBEAN STUDIES AT RUTGERS
Critical Caribbean Studies at Rutgers, in collaboration with the Department of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies, is pleased to announce a one-year competitive postdoctoral fellowship for a scholar pursuing research in Caribbean Studies. We seek scholars working on innovative cultural, artistic, historical, theoretical, and/or social studies. Scholars working on the Dutch or the French Caribbean, with a focus on transnationalism, migration, colonial legacies, decolonization, race and racism, and/or queer feminist studies, are especially encouraged to apply, but we welcome applications from all scholars who feel that their work would benefit from affiliation with the Caribbean studies community at Rutgers. The selected fellow will receive a stipend of $65,000 as well as an annual research allocation of $3,000 and Rutgers University health benefits. The successful applicant must have the doctorate in hand by July 1, 2015 (defense date must be scheduled no later than May 31, 2015), be no more than three years beyond the Ph.D. (degree received on 2012 or later), and be able to teach one undergraduate course during the Spring semester of their tenure at Rutgers. Position begins on July 1, 2015 and ends on June 30, 2016.
The Department of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean studies (http://latcar.rutgers.edu/) is a space for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and teaching. Critical Caribbean Studies at Rutgers http://criticalcaribbean.rutgers.edu/ aims to foster multi-disciplinary research about the Caribbean to allow a better understanding of the region and its people from a variety of perspectives. 
 Critical Caribbean Studies at Rutgers http://criticalcaribbean.rutgers.edu/ aims to foster multi-disciplinary research about the Caribbean to allow a better understanding of the region and its people from a variety of perspectives.  Affiliates conduct research on such diverse areas as diaspora and transnational studies, migration and immigration, cultural and performance studies, critical race theory, gender and sexuality studies, psychoanalysis, colonial and postcolonial studies, decoloniality, political theory, critical epistemology, intellectual history, history of New World slavery, social movements and revolution, eighteenth century studies, the urban Atlantic, contemporary urbanization, environmental studies, insularity, and the archipelagic Americas.
 There will be opportunities for the postdoctoral fellow to connect with broader academic and community-minded research units at the University, including the Center for Cultural Analysis, the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, the Center for Race & Ethnicity, the Center for African Studies and the Institute for Research on Women.
 Candidates should submit their applications, consisting of a CV, a 1,500-word statement and 3 letters of recommendation, electronically to http://apply.interfolio.com/26321.  The statement should address the following: (1) the significance of the candidate’s research and the specific project that will be developed during the one year postdoctoral fellowship, (2) a brief description of the course the candidate could offer, and (3) how and why Rutgers can advance the candidate’s areas of research. Applications must be received by Friday, January 9, 2015.
 Applications are free to candidates who already have an account in interfolio.com.  If you are unable to create an interfolio account, please contact yolamsm@rci.rutgers.edu by December 10, 2014.

  •        FIELD METHODS AND INTERNSHIP TRAINING SEMINAR- PERU

Andean Community response to Climate and Social Change

The Center for Social Well Being celebrates 13 years offering our program in interdisciplinary qualitative field methods, as well as Spanish and Quechua language classes, with a continued internship option in the Peruvian Andes. This year we offer our December-January intersession, a 3 week training program after which students may work and/or pursue their own research objectives in health, education, agriculture, social development, with municipal institutes and civic organizations, depending on acquired skills, demonstrated abilities and interests. Length of the post-training internship is adapted to students’ needs with respect to academic and professional requirements (usually extends from 2 to 10 months). The intensive field methods and language component is equivalent to 1 semester of university study; we provide participants with a qualitative letter of evaluation and grade.  Upon successful completion of the seminar students formally affiliate with the Center for Social Being as researchers and outreach workers.
The combined undergraduate and graduate level course is held at the center's rural base, an adobe lodge on an ecological ranch in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range of the Callejón de Huaylas, 7 hours northeast of Lima. Coursework provides in-depth orientation to theory and practice in field investigation that emphasizes methods in Participatory Action Research and Andean Ethnography centered on themes of Climate Change with respect to Ecology, Health, Education, Social Justice, Agrobiodiversity, Community Organization and related topics. Students have the opportunity to actively engage in ongoing projects and programs with Quechua communities to develop effective interactive field abilities and required language skills for placement in appropriate contexts to provide community support and research. In addition, the training seminar provides excursions to museums, archaeological sites, glacial lakes and hotsprings; optional recreational activities include hiking, mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, rock climbing and trekking. The training program tuition fee is $4000 US dollars that includes all in-country travel, food and accommodations at the rural center, and course materials. The program is under the direction of Applied Medical Anthropologist, Patricia J. Hammer, Ph.D., and Flor de María Barreto Tosi, Ecologist and Field Coordinator.

Program dates:

New Year InterSession         December 28th 2014 through January 17th 2015

For an application: phammer@wayna.rcp.net.pe
For further program information: www.socialwellbeing.org
Be sure to send us any questions you may have with regard to our 2015 field training programs in Peru.  
See our recent publication on Andean perspectives of Climate Change: http://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/patsa-puqun Patsa Puqun by Patricia J. Hammer, ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America, Spring 2014 Volume XIII, No. 3, Published by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University.

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CONFERENCES/CALL FOR PAPERS

  • MIDWEST WORKSHOP ON LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 3- 4, 2015
Theme:  “Negotiation and Law in Latin American History: New Connections?”
  
The Latin Americanist Historians at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – both faculty members and graduate students – hereby convene another Midwest Workshop on Latin American History on our campus for April 3-4, 2015. With this initiative we hope to revitalize an important venue for presenting fresh research and discussing pressing issues in our field that was successfully initiated with a series of annual workshops convened by the University of Chicago, Notre Dame University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for several years between 2002 and 2008. The University of Chicago again hosted the Workshop in 2013. Latin Americanist historians in the Midwest thus are adopting a format for advancing discussions and regional collaboration in our field that colleagues in other fields – most notably the historians of Russia and Eastern Europe – have employed with great benefit for decades. The research universities in the Midwest comprise one of the most dense and impressive cohorts of Latin Americanist history scholars and advanced graduate students anywhere outside of Latin America. It thus promises great scholarly gain and cost-effectiveness to strengthen the network among these specialists through annual workshops. The informal and friendly atmosphere at the workshops is especially conducive for the free flow of ideas. It also forms a wonderful training ground for advanced graduate students.

We envision a workshop with scholarly papers by both graduate students and faculty members from Big Ten universities, and other nearby research universities. We plan to hold about six panel sessions with 3-4 papers each, lasting from Friday morning to Saturday noon. Faculty members from participating institutions will serve as discussants for the panels. In keeping with the desired informality of the Workshop, the keynote event will be a panel discussion about the theme of the 2015 Workshop, held towards the end so that it can serve as a kind of wrap-up of our discussions. All panels will be plenary so that all participants will share knowledge of all discussions. Papers will be distributed among all participants at least two weeks before the event. The workshop will include session about Latin American and Caribbean History resources at the University of Illinois Library. This Library session will introduce the participants to Illinois’s renowned Latin American collection hoping to foster a discussion on research methods, sources, and archives.

In order to facilitate informal discussions and networking and underscore the friendly atmosphere of the Workshop, we plan to offer two dinners and two lunches to all participants. Pending funding, we also hope to pay for two nights lodging for out-of-town participants. While faculty members from other universities will have to defray their own transportation expenses, we hope to pay a modest subsidy for graduate student transportation costs .

The overall theme we have chosen for the 2015 Workshop, “Negotiation and Law in Latin American History: New Connections?,” addresses central cutting-edge issues currently debated in Latin Americanist scholarship and is sufficiently capacious to allow most historians in the field to participate in the debate. Over the past few years, scholars in many subfields of Latin American history – from colonial ethnohistory to environmental and labor history of the twentieth century – have re-examined the role of law in defining the distribution of rights, obligations and resources among various ethnic/racial, gender, social, and regional stakeholders in the region’s polities over the past five-hundred years. Rather than focusing on the limited efficacy of many laws, as in earlier scholarship, scholars are now asking questions relating to the processes through which laws are adopted and the imaginaries, interests and enforcement strategies they bring to the fore. This new approach to legal history is closely linked to another approach now employed by many Latin American historians: as a consequence of the emphasis on the “agency” of diverse subaltern or popular groups, scholars are now exploring how institutions, power constellations, resource distributions, the ordering of space are shaped and reshaped through negotiations between different stakeholders. This approach has begun to alter our notions of socio-racial orders, political cultures, labor relations, the organization of social movements, and family structures, the articulation of national and regional identities through sport, music or food production, among other issues, from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. While the question of negotiation privileges non-state (“civil society”) interactions, the approach of legal history necessarily focuses on the interaction between subjects/citizens and the state.  Bringing these two approaches into conversation, thus will provide an especially fruitful field of related problems, from issues of taxation to family law, and from the formation of revolutionary coalitions to the contestation over environmental regulations.

Therefore, we welcome papers that discuss themes as diverse as, though not limited to:
  • Workers, labor and state
  • Slavery and emancipation
  • Space, imaginaries and citizenship
  • Social movements, sports, art and culture
  • Political culture and state Formation
  • National, regional and local identities
  • Memory and the construction of historical narratives
  • Family, law and immigration
  • Gender, race and ethnicity
  • Environmental and economic history
  • Religion, popular religiosity and the rise of anticlerical, secular traditions
We understand the global theme of the Workshop as a loose framework for the discussions, as an invitation to focus individual projects of the widest possible range in Latin American history onto this broadly conceived field of research issues.  It should not be seen as constraining participation to historians who view themselves as experts in either of the two approaches outlined above.

Submission of paper proposals: Please upload the title and a brief (200 words) abstract of paper proposals to the Workshop website, latamworkshop.com, no later than Monday, October 27, 2014. We will try to accommodate as many paper proposals as possible and will confirm participation by early December 2014.

The Steering Committee for the Workshop: Ryan Bean, Marilia Correa Kuyumjian, Silvia Escanilla Huerta, Nils Jacobsen, Elizabeth Quick, Antonio Sotomayor 

For more information go to : www.latamworkshop.com
  • ASSOCIATION OF ART HISTORIANS ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2015
Sainsbury Institute for Art, UEA, Norwich, UK
9 - 11 April 2015 - See more at: http://www.aah.org.uk/annual-conference#sthash.A6vmKEIc.dpuf

 Session: Navigating the Pacific: Latin America and Asia in conversation
Convenors: Kathryn Santner and Paul Merchant (University of Cambridge). Kathryn.santner@gmail.com and pm437@cam.ac.uk 
The critical role of Asia in the history of Latin American art has often been overlooked; recent scholarship has, however, begun to reassess this longstanding cultural engagement. This session will examine the significance of Asia–Latin America exchange from its earliest days via the Manila Galleon and Portuguese trade networks through to the present day. Iberian trade brought luxury goods – porcelain, lacquerware, folding screens, ivories, and inlaid furniture – to the Americas, where they were adapted and incorporated into local artistic practice, spawning new art forms like the biombo. The decline of the galleon trade after 1815 did not mark the end of this transpacific relationship; ensuing centuries brought successive waves of Asian immigrants to Latin America – notably the Chinese to Peru and the Japanese to Brazil. In the wake of this diaspora, artists have recently begun to explore Asian identity in Latin America, notably in several successful documentary and fiction film productions from the region. The presence, for the first time, of a Latin American pavilion at the Beijing Art Expo 2013 also points to the increasing recognition of a centuries-old dialogue in the visual arts. So too does the ‘Latin American Artists in Asia’ network, whose members practise in fields from sculpture to photography and digital art.
This session will cover a broad historical period, and adopt a variety of methodological approaches. Key issues to be considered include (post) national identity, materiality and its relationship to place, and the opportunities and complications offered by digital technologies.
Structure of the session: Papers will be 40 minutes in length (5 minutes set up, 30 minute paper and 5 minutes Q&A.
 Deadline for abstract submissions: 10 November 2014. Please see format guidelines attached.
 Notification of acceptance or rejection will be made by 20 November 2014.

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IN THE MARKET

  •        Assistant Professor Latin American Political Economy- University at Albany SUNY                                    

The Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY, invites applications for a tenure track assistant professor appointment in the political economy of Latin America. We seek candidates who employ an interdisciplinary perspective to study the impact of structural forces on the socio-economic and political development of the region, including how transnationalism and globalization have restructured hemispheric relations. We are especially interested in candidates who specialize in any of the following: social movements, the state, neoliberal restructuring, and decoloniality.

A Ph.D. in a social sciences field (political science, economics, anthropology, sociology and cognate fields, including American Studies and Latin American Studies) is required. We seek candidates with an active research profile who show promise of developing an outstanding publication record, and who have a demonstrated commitment to undergraduate education. The successful candidate will be expected to teach the core graduate theory course. Applications from women, people of color, and individuals from other historically under-represented groups are specifically encouraged.

Please submit a letter of interest, which should address your ability to instruct a culturally diverse student population, a curriculum curriculum vitae, statements on teaching and research and three letters of reference. Review of applications will begin on November 1, 2014 and continue until position is filled. The doctoral degree must be from a university accredited by the U.S. Department of Education or an internationally recognized accrediting organization.
           
Submit materials electronically via Interview Exchange at the following URL [HR will provide the link when this position is posted]

Information on the Department of Latin America, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies can be obtained at its website: http://www.albany.edu/lacs.

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OUTREACH



  • ·         CHAI WAI SERIES

MIGRANTS, IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES

Chai Wai is Hindi for "tea or something like that" and is the name of our brand new event series at the International and Area Studies Library at UIUC. Chai Wai events give the campus community an opportunity for enlightened conversation on important global issues. The conversation will be informed and guided by a moderator and 3-4 experts or stakeholders in the issue at hand.

For our first Chai Wai event we will explore the issue of Migrants, Immigrants and Refugees, with a panel that includes a seasoned scholar, activists, and a student with a compelling story to share. Come bring your own thoughts, questions and ideas and enjoy free tea and refreshments!


  • CLACS/Lemann Cinema Series

 

  •  2014 HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

The Many Shades of Brown

Join us as we celebrate Hispanic Month, explore the topic and current issue of colorism within the Latino community and celebrate the experiences of al Latinos including Mexicans, South Americans, Central Americans and Caribbean Latinos.  We have compiled a calendar of events and speakers that will touch on this issue from various perspectives. Some of the events would like to highlight are below:

  • Richard Villegas: Story-sick: Storytelling Surgery and Other Remedies – Thursday, October 9 @ 6pm, La Casa Cultural Latina 104
  • Movie Screening: Unfreedom, Friday, October 10 @ 1pm, La Casa Cultural Latina 104
The mission of La Casa Cultural Latina is to promote a welcoming and dynamic atmosphere through the development of educational, cultural, socio-political, and social programs that lead to greater recruitment, retention, advancement, and empowerment of Latina/o students. La Casa engages current and future leaders through mentorship, civic engagement, and the promotion of social advocacy.

Co-sponsors: Latina/Latino Studies Department, University UMCA, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Diversity & Social Justice Education, Illini Union, CU Immigration Forum, Channing-Murray Foundation, Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of UC, UC Friends Meeting

Some of the events throughout the month are paid for in part by the Student Cultural Programming Fee.

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IN THE NEWS


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LIKE US IN FACEBOOK

CLACS AT UIUC

 







 

Angelina Cotler, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
201 International Studies Building
910 S. Fifth Street
Champaign, IL 61820
Ph: (217) 333-8419
Fax: (217): 244-7333
www.clacs.illinois.edu

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