Latin American Studies Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Latin American Studies, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Latin American Philosophy

Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (located in northeastern Guatemala) included intensive excavations of Structure X (a.k.a. Structure 104)-one of the largest pyramidal temples at this site. This research showed that the first major version of this building consisted of a three-terraced platform dated to the Middle Preclassic period (750-300 bc), which was part of an important complex, the so-called E-Group. Such groups constitute the oldest manifestation of monumental architecture in the Maya Lowlands. With time, Structure X was converted into a large pyramidal structure in which several burials were situated during the Classic period (ad 250-800), making it an important mausoleum with interments of important elite members of local society. One of these burials (no. 8) was discovered below the floor of the temple building located on top of the pyramid and was a richly equipped tomb. It is most likely the resting place of one of the Nakum kings reigning during the Early-Late Classic transition (c. ad 550-650). This tomb had 11 vessels, including beautiful examples of polychrome Maya ceramics (representing different supernatural beings), many marine materials, five stingray spines and other artefacts. The tomb chamber was also covered by a deposit consisting of several thousand flint flakes that most probably had some symbolic meaning. In this article we discuss ancient Maya burial customs as documented in Structure X and present it in a wider perspective. We also describe similar lithic deposits associated with some of the richest Lowland Maya tombs and present their meaning and symbolism. Resumen Las investigaciones recientes en el centro maya de Nakum (localizado en el Noreste de Guatemala) incluyeron excavaciones intensivas del Edificio X (también conocido como Edificio 104)-uno de los templos piramidales más grandes en este sitio. Los trabajos de investigación demostraron que la primera versión mayor de este edificio consistió en una plataforma de tres terrazas fechada para el período Preclásico Medio (750-300 a.C.), la que formaba parte de un complejo importante de edificaciones al que se denomina como tipo Grupo E. Este tipo de grupos constituyen la manifestación mas antigua de la arquitectura monumental en las Tierras Bajas Mayas. Con el tiempo, el Edificio X fue convertido en una piramide grande, en la cual durante el período Clásico (250-800 d.C.) fueron depositados varios entierros, lo que le convierte en un mausoleo importante que contiene sepulturas de los miembros de la elite local. Uno de estos entierros (No. 8) es una tumba con una rica

- by Contributions in New World Archaeology and +2
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- Religion, Latin American Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology

I propose a rich theoretical understanding on Afro-Latino student development based on critical race theory, culturally responsive pedagogy and practice. Addressing racial disparities is about engaging students thereby making their lives better. I believe that creating Afro-Latino pedagogy will create a community of practice in which inquiry is a cornerstone of continuous student self-redefinition through improvement in culturally responsive systems.
We need educators to get involved with Afro-Latino students, our history and the way we occupy space in the Americas in order to address this gap in education.

It has been argued that the first presidential campaign of Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina used a rhetoric of newness. Some political observers have said that as the “first women” to successfully run for the highest office in these countries, they were presented as the new faces of democracy. These observers argued that gender was not a determining factor in their electoral success, but the focus on this “first women” frame did generate heavily gendered criticisms of these two candidates. Negotiating Gendered Discourses addresses these views by asking how the gender factor is negotiated when women from the Southern Cone of Latin America run for high political office. In particular, Jane L. Christie examines how Bachelet and Fernández positioned themselves in relation to the numerous women-led social movements, and in doing so, reveals points of intersection between these contemporary political discourses and existing sources of female authority when negotiating complicated ideological debates about human rights, the economy, and women’s rights.

- by Jane L Christie
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- Social Movements, Latin American Studies, Women and Gender Studies
- by Francoise Martinez
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- Latin American Studies, Terminology, Historia, Latin America
- by Emilia Quiñones-Otal
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- Latin American Studies, Gender Studies, Performing Arts, Visual Arts

BARRIERA, Darío y DALLA CORTE, Gabriela (compiladores) Espacios de familia: ¿tejidos de lealtades o campos de confrontación? Tomo I, España y América, siglos XVI-XX Jitanjafora, México, marzo de 2003, 324 pp. (co-compilador) - ISBN 968-5709-02-5
Incluye trabajos de Jean-Paul Zúñiga, Santiago de Llobet Masachs, Estrella Figueres Valles, Andrea Reguera y los compiladores.

Emerging from a matrix of Old Left, Black Nationalist, and bohemian ideologies and institutions, African American artists and intellectuals in the 1960s coalesced to form the Black Arts Movement, the cultural wing of the Black Power... more

US Central Americans are destabilizing, reconceiving, and revitalizing the US Latina/o canon, and in doing so, they are forcing us to reconsider hegemonic ideas about Latinidad. The cultural production of Latinos/as of Central American descent has engaged in a critical denunciation of the violence that characterizes not only the history, but also the current situation, of the Central American isthmus. This essay examines the strategies used by US Central American poet William Archila and visual artist Alma Leiva to (re)construct the past and memorialize the victims of violence across Central America. I argue that Archila’s poetry collection The Art of Exile and Alma Leiva’s installation-photography series Celdas are examples of the “art of witness.” As such, their works play a key role in the reconstruction of Central American collective memory from the diaspora.

- by Marisel Moreno
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- American Literature, Latino/A Studies, Latin American Studies, American Studies
- by Hermann Hudde
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- Latin American Studies, Musicology, Nineteenth-Century Music, Venezuela

Entrevista a Elsa Drucaroff.

- by Revista Letral and +1
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- Latin American Studies, Literature, Argentina, Latin American literature
- by Cristina González
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- Latin American Studies, Visual Studies, Art History, Early Modern History

With two new publications, the Museum of Mormon History in Mexico has firmly established itself as a leading venue for the production of Mormon history in Mexico. The Spanish translation and English commentary on Part 1 of F. LaMond Tulllis's Mormons in Mexico is a significant contribution to both Spanish and English readers. This text, published through Deseret Book, makes a valuable resource available to Spanish speakers. It also offers an impressive correction of documentary errors in Tullis's interpretation and historical data. A second significant contribution to the literature on the same subject is a series of four articles available in Spanish or English by Fernando R. Gómez Páez (museum president). Read side by side, the translation of Tullis's book and this new selection of articles by the museum's president provide a worthwhile and balanced introduction to Mexican Mormon history. Readers will recognize that Mormon history in Mexico extends well beyond the colonies in Chihuahua and Sonora. The most interesting stories may very well come from central Mexico. Mexican Mormons now have a significant voice in the writing of their own Mormon histories.

- by Thomas W Murphy
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- Latin American Studies, Mexican Studies, Race and Racism, Political Science

En este trabajo indagamos las claves de la escritura que Servando Teresa de Mier propuso y desplegó en su obra Historia de la revolución de la Nueva España (1813) tendentes a construir una trama narrativa americana que editó documentos y perspectivas peninsulares sobre la capacidad de representación política americana. Más que defender una revolución institucional ante otra insurgente y popular, el mérito de Mier residió en proponer, inventar, un archivo americano o memoria colectiva americana que vinculó los tiempos de la conquista española con los tiempos políticos y vertiginosos inaugurados a partir de 1808 y ampliar ese discurso a fin de abarcar a todos los sectores “desprotegidos” de América.

Objective: Discrimination against nonnative speakers is widespread and largely socially acceptable. Nonnative speakers are evaluated negatively because accent is a sign that they belong to an outgroup and because understanding their speech requires unusual effort from listeners. The present research investigated intergroup bias, based on stronger support for hierarchical relations between groups (social dominance orientation [SDO]), as a predictor of hiring recommendations of nonnative speakers. Method: In an online experiment using an adaptation of the thin-slices methodology, 65 U.S. adults (54% women; 80% White; M age 35.91, range 18 – 67) heard a recording of a job applicant speaking with an Asian (Mandarin Chinese) or a Latino (Spanish) accent. Participants indicated how likely they would be to recommend hiring the speaker, answered questions about the text, and indicated how difficult it was to understand the applicant. Results: Independent of objective comprehension, participants high in SDO reported that it was more difficult to understand a Latino speaker than an Asian speaker. SDO predicted hiring recommendations of the speakers, but this relationship was mediated by the perception that nonnative speakers were difficult to understand. This effect was stronger for speakers from lower status groups (Latinos relative to Asians) and was not related to objective comprehension. Conclusions: These findings suggest a cycle of prejudice toward nonnative speakers: Not only do perceptions of difficulty in understanding cause prejudice toward them, but also prejudice toward low-status groups can lead to perceived difficulty in understanding members of these groups.

Based on an original definition of modern populism as “democratic illiberalism” and many years of meticulous research, Takis Pappas marshals extraordinary empirical evidence from Argentina, Greece, Peru, Italy, Venezuela, Ecuador,... more

- by Takis Pappas
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- History, European Studies, Latin American Studies, Comparative Politics
- by Marco Fonseca
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- Latin American Studies, Filosofía Política, Ciencia Politica, Guatemala

Table of contents and Introduction

- by Juan Poblete
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- Latin American Studies, Screen Comedy, Popular Culture, Humor

È uscito il volume A. Pascale, Ascesa e declino dell'impero statunitense, tomo 1 – Genesi di un regime elitario (dalle origini al 1945), La Città del Sole-L'AntiDiplomatico, Napoli 2022.
Il testo consta di 620 pagine ed è acquistabile al prezzo di 28 euro nelle migliori librerie e con uno sconto dai rivenditori online.
Di seguito un breve abstract, l'Indice, una presentazione dell'Autore e la bibliografia utilizzata.

- by Alessandro Pascale
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- History, American History, European Studies, Latin American Studies

This dissertation examines the participation of indigenous workers in the colonial mining industry of the Guanajuato-Michoacán region and the impact that this industry had on those workers and their communities of origin. In the present-day states of Guanajuato and Michoacán, Mexico, there existed a vibrant and lucrative mining economy throughout the colonial period (1521-1810). Michoacán’s mining industry produced a steady supply of copper and silver, and Guanajuato is best known for its extremely wealthy silver mines, especially after the mid-eighteenth century, when it became the world’s greatest producer of silver. The region’s mining industry created a very competitive labor market in which mine owners used different strategies to recruit and retain a labor force. Although mine owners paid many workers for their labor, the industry also relied on coerced forms of labor, including slavery, encomienda, repartimiento, and debt peonage.
Many scholars who have studied the economic significance of the mining industry in the region, and its impact on the world economy, have not adequately examined the composition of the labor force. Those who have studied the labor force have focused on particular mining centers, overlooking the regional context within which the mines operated. Miners competed with one another and with other industries for workers. This competition put considerable pressure on the region’s indigenous communities to provide the bulk of the labor force. Also, labor demands led many people to migrate, altering the demographic composition of the region. Using a regional history approach and ethnohistorical methodologies, the dissertation examines the nature of the labor institutions that were utilized to recruit workers to the mines, and the impact of the mining industry on indigenous workers and their communities. Ultimately, this dissertation uses a variety of original sources to highlight the important role that indigenous men and women played in the mining industry of Guanajuato, and the persistence of an indigenous identity in this mining town. My findings contribute to the fields of labor history, ethnohistory, and mining history.

Dating from the Reagan presidency’s ‘crusade for freedom’, democracy promotion has been a central pillar of US foreign policy. Whether claims by George H.W. Bush that ‘beyond containment lies democracy’, or by George W. Bush that intervention into the Middle East promoted a ‘march to freedom in the Muslim world’, the importance of democracy to US foreign policy should not be underestimated. Far from promoting democracy, however, critics suggest that it is merely rhetorical cover for intervention and control, thus serving US rather than
local interests. While not discarding these insights, this paper suggests that while democracy promotion may support US self-interests, so too does it uphold a US self-image by acting as an ideal around which Washington constructs its identity and worldview. Explored in relation to Latin America, it is argued that US democracy promotion enabled by authoritarian representations of Venezuela is central to both a US-authored Latin American identity and, in contrast, integral to challenging it. While Venezuela acts as the reverse image of freedomloving
United States and a democratically abiding Latin America, Caracas also challenges US democratic pre-eminence by extending the very notion of democracy and thereby demonstrates how both democracy and US influence more broadly are increasingly sites of contestation.

- by R. Guy Emerson
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- Latin American Studies, Democratization, U.S. Foreign Policy
- by Shawn Stein and +1
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- Sociology of Sport, Sport Psychology, Latin American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean History
- by Stefan Pohl-Valero and +1
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- History of Science and Technology, Latin American Studies, History of Public Health, Food History
- by Alice Ferguson
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- Latin American Studies, Football (soccer), Violence, Peru

Memoria gramentada de Cholito donde nos cuenta la historia de su familia que es su propia historia.

- by Daniel Torres
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- Latin American Studies, Memory Studies, Latin American literature, Diaspora Studies
- by Bryce Maxey
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- Latin American Studies, Renaissance Studies, Latin American literature, Epic poetry
- by Fernanda Molina
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- Latin American Studies, Gender Studies, Masculinities

(CRIES), a non-partisan think tank and network. He has authored several books both in Spanish and English, edited more than 30 collective volumes both in English and Spanish, and published more than 200 academic articles in Spanish, English, French, German and Russian. Established in 2010, the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS) is a campuswide initiative advancing and disseminating state-of-the-art research. The Center's faculty affiliates and partners are at the forefront of efforts to understand economic development, democratic governance, cultural diversity and change, peace and diplomacy, health, education and environmental well-being. CLALS generates high-quality, timely analysis on these and other issues in partnership with researchers and practitioners from AU and beyond. This paper is produced by CLALS as part of a project supported by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and the U.S. Department of State to analyze China's efforts to shape perceptions of its role in Latin America and the Caribbean. The project is led by CLALS Director Eric Hershberg. For more information, please visit the project page on our website.

FIELD: A Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism is pleased to announce the
launch of issue #15, “Learning Art and Resistance from the South”. This issue
was guest edited by Eva Marxen of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It
consists of a series of essays, interviews and other documents generated in
response to the exhibition Talking to Action: Art, Pedagogy and Activism in the
Americas. The exhibition, curated by Bill Kelley, Jr., was featured at the SAIC
Sullivan Galleries in 2018. As part of the exhibition the Sullivan Galleries
organized a number of public programs and events, from which the following
material was drawn. This issue of FIELD, like the exhibition which was its
catalyst, understands artistic practice and political praxis as interdependent and
mutually enriching. It locates an important nexus for these concerns in a range of
new artistic and cultural projects developed in Latin America over the past
decade. One of the primary focal points for the essays included here is the
ongoing struggle against neo-liberal capitalism. If we want to develop a deeper
understanding of the corrosive nature of neo-liberalism, and the forms of
resistance necessary to challenge it, we have much to learn from the Latin
American experience. One of the most important lessons it can offer us concerns
the generative nature of resistance itself. For the artists and collectives presented
in this issue of FIELD political resistance is not simply utilitarian, but rather,
constitutes a form of creative production that is capable of generating its own
unique forms of insight, and of re-shaping consciousness, and subjectivity, itself.
What emerges from these practices is not merely the epiphenomenal expression
of a naïve and spontaneous “actionism” but rather, a coherent pedagogical and
critical methodology from which new paradigms of both resistance and creation
can emerge. This issue of FIELD features bi-lingual translations in Spanish and
English. Contributors include Almudena Caso and Hannah Barco, David
Gutiérrez and Paulina E. Varas, Dignicraft and Ionit Behar, the Iconoclasistas
collective, Sandra de la Loza, Eduardo Molinari and Josh Rios, Red
Conceptualismos del Sur, Guillermo Rivera-Aguilera and Luis Jiménez, Mirliana
Ramírez-Pereira and Eva Marxen. FIELD is available on-line at: http://fieldjournal.
com/.

- by Eva Marxen and +10
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- Latin American Studies, Political Philosophy, Art Theory, Postcolonial Studies

Cuando en diciembre de 1983 retornó la democracia, el Ejército (y las FFAA en su conjunto) era la institución más denostada de la Argentina. La represión ilegal, el hundimiento económico y la guerra de Malvinas, es decir la dictadura, cubrían su nombre. El juicio a las Juntas y los alzamientos carapintadas parecieron extender esta sombra, como si nunca pudiera salir de ella.
Pero al mismo tiempo, el Ejército comenzó un sostenido proceso de reconversión. Tras décadas de haber sido un actor clave en la política argentina, tuvo que asumir un rol profesional, para el que fue creado. Y adaptarse a la lógica política y cultural del siglo XXI. Las misiones internacionales, el lugar de las mujeres militares, la memoria de las violaciones de los derechos humanos, la educación militar, los problemas salariales y las relaciones entre la vida castrense y familiar, son algunos de los ámbitos donde se vienen dando los principales cambios y desafíos.
Esta transformación profunda, con escasa visibilidad social, es la materia del excelente libro de Máximo Badaró. ¿Cómo piensa y siente un militar hoy? ¿Cuáles son sus intereses y preocupaciones? ¿Cuál es su relación con la democracia? Avalado por una exhaustiva investigación, y con una finísima capacidad de análisis, esta obra descubre que la convulsionada historia reciente de la Argentina tuvo un impacto singular en el Ejército actual.

The complex legacy of Mexico's ethnic past and geographic location have shaped the country and its culture. In Music in Mexico, Alejandro L. Madrid uses extensive fieldwork, interviews with performers, eyewitness accounts of performances, and vivid illustrations to guide students through modern-day music practices. Applying three themes-ethnic identity, migration, and media influences-the text explores the music that Mexicans grow up listening to and shows how these traditions are the result of long-standing transnational dialogues. Packaged with a 40-minute audio CD containing musical examples, the text features numerous listening activities that engage students with the music.

During the 1990s and 2000s, a policy known as Education with Community Participation (EDUCO) not only became the cornerstone of education reform in El Salvador but also became a global education policy, one which is known for decentralizing to rural families the responsibility for hiring and firing teachers. As is shown in this paper, its rise to fame was not only a product of the particular political-economic context in which it was borne, but was also a product of the impact evaluations produced by the World Bank, which served as the evidence base through which this and other international institutions could legitimately promote the neoliberal model of community involvement represented by EDUCO. Problematically, however, a reappraisal of these impact evaluations reveals, first, that their findings and conclusions around significant effects were not warranted and, second, that the entire impact evaluation enterprise is fundamentally flawed due to the financial-political-intellectual complex out of which these studies emerged and back into which they fed as they were used to advocate for market-oriented policy solutions around the world. Thus, in addition to explaining the reform dynamics that gave rise to EDUCO, this paper (a) systematically reviews the findings and limitations of each of the six impact studies that constitute the international knowledge base around this policy, (b) reconsiders what we can reasonably claim to know about EDUCO, (c) reflects on the national and international implications of the critical review presented here, and (d) remarks on the shortcomings of—and the alternatives to—impact evaluations as a
means to produce policy-relevant findings.

- by D. Brent Edwards Jr.
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- Latin American Studies, Education, Knowledge Management, Globalization

Diálogos Judiciales en el Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos es una obra académica que refleja el resultado de una deliberación entre jueces, investigadores, académicos y litigantes sobre las relaciones entre la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y los tribunales internos de los Estados parte del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos. Ese diálogo sobre el diálogo se desarrolla en torno a las condiciones y características generales de la interacción judicial en escenarios de pluralismo constitucional y constitucionalismo multinivel. Del mismo modo, los capítulos de este libro dan cuenta de los resultados concretos de la cooperación entre los tribunales nacionales e internacionales para la protección de la libertad de expresión, la independencia judicial, los derechos políticos, las personas migrantes yen situación de discapacidad. En definitiva, se trata de una publicación que anima a continuar la conversación sobre la mejor manera de proteger efectivamente los derechos humanos de quienes habitan el continente americano.

- by Rebeka Leite Costa
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- History, Latin American Studies, Papal History, Independencias América Latina

Brazil has endured multiple political, economic, and environmental crises-and now the COVID-19 pandemic-which have drawn social inequalities into razor sharp relief. This contribution analyzes the resilience of rural families facing these crises in southern Bahia. These families have benefited from various redistributive policies over the years, including redistributive land reforms (RLRs), conditional cash transfers (CCTs), and recent emergency aid (EA) payments related to the pandemic. Each (re)distributive approach involves different notions of distributive justice informed by competing background theories of "the good, " which hold implications for concepts of resilience. Drawing on long-term research with RLR communities in Bahia, this article considers the gains achieved by different redistributive programs. Families who acquired land through RLR projects appear more resilient, especially in the face of crisis.

- by Jonathan DeVore
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- Social Movements, Latin American Studies, Anthropology, Ethics