CLAS Events > Fall Quarter 2005-06 Calendar

CLAS Mexican Studies Working Group

An Evening with Author XAVIER VELASCO

Xavier Velasco will discuss his novel Guardian Devil. Velasco won the Alfaguara Prize in 2003 for his book which follows the exploits of Violetta, an uncompromising 15-year-old girl who hops the Mexico-US border with $100,000 in stolen cash.  Rife with slang, pop culture references, and linguistic and cultural clashes between the US and the Hispanic world, the book has earned rave reviews and made Velasco a writer to watch. This event is co-sponsored with the Mexican Student Association. This talk will be given in Spanish. 

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Cooperatives: A Key Line of Agrarian Development in Cuba"

ARMANDO NOVA, Professor of Economics, Centro de Estudio de la Economía Cubana, Universidad de La Habana

Armando Nova has studied the cooperative sector in Cuban agriculture, farmers' markets in the post-1990 period and the sugar and citrus industries and their international linkages. This event is co-sponsored with the Stanford Center for International Development.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

A Reading from The Wake

MARGO GLANTZ, Tinker Visiting Professor, Latin American Studies, Stanford University

Introduced by GORDON BROTHERSTON, Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Stanford University

Professor Glantz will read in Spanish and English from her novel The Wake, winner of the 2005 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize. Margo Glantz is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Letters at the Universidad Nacional de Mexico. Glantz is also a journalist and literary critic. Glantz has written extensively on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Álvar Núñez, Cabeza de Cava, and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora. She is author of eleven novels, including the award-winning Las genealogías (1982) and Síndrome de naufragios (1984).

Latin American Politics Lecture Series

"Mexico 2006 Panel Study: Mexico's 2006 Presidential Campaign, with Lessons from 2000"

CHAPPELL LAWSON, Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professor Lawson's major interests are Latin American politics, Mexican politics, democratization, political communication, political behavior, and U.S. foreign policy. His current research focuses on the relationship between citizens' political skills and the quality of democracy across a range of countries. Professor Lawson's recent books include, Building the Fourth Estate: Democratization and Media Opening in Mexico (University of California Press, 2002) and Mexico's Pivotal Democratic Election (Stanford University Press, 2003), co-edited with Jorge Domínguez. Lawson received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1999. Talks in this series will be held about every six weeks on Tuesdays throughout the academic year.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

“Social and Economic Approaches to the Prevention of Violence in Colombia”

RODRIGO GUERRERO, President of Board, Vallenpaz

Introduced by JOSE MONTOYA, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

Vallenpaz is an NGO dedicated to working with agriculturalists in rural Colombia. Dr. Rodrigo Guerrero has an M.D. from the Universidad del Valle in Cali and both his master's of science in hygiene and Dr. P.H. from Harvard University. He has been a faculty member at Universidad del Valle since 1968, serving as dean of the Division of Health Sciences from 1972-75 and president from 1982-84. Guerrero was elected mayor of Cali, Colombia, from 1992-1994. He was regional advisor on health and violence for the Pan American Health Organization from 1995-1997. Dr. Guerrero is currently director of international programs at the Carvajal Foundation, an organization that sponsors innovative self-help programs to encourage urban redevelopment.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Human Rights, Democracy, and Reconciliation in Guatemala"

RIGOBERTA MENCHU, Nobel Peace Laureate

Introduced by TERRY KARL, Gildred Professor of Latin American Studies, Professor of Political Science, and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an internationally renowned advocate of democracy and indigenous rights. Born in 1959 and raised in the Quiché branch of the Mayan culture, Menchú was a leader in the indigenous resistance to massive military oppression in Guatemala. Her involvement in this resistance movement gave rise to threats upon her life which eventually forced her to live in exile. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. This event is co-sponsored with El Centro Chicano, the Office for Religious Life, and the Native American Cultural Center.

Film Series

Gypsies Without Tents

Directed by Iván Tziboulka and produced by Isabel Silva

An eloquent depiction of the Rom (Gypsies) living in Chile and their everyday struggle between tradition and assimilation. "What gypsies do is adapt. Even if we use cell phones, drive trucks, and live in a house, even if our kids play Nintendo, we don't stop being Gypsies." Chile, 2002. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Documentary, 62 min.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Solving Inequalities in North-South Environmental Negotiations: The Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility"

JIMENA ARENAS, Visiting Scholar, Latin American Studies, Stanford University

Ms. Arenas is a doctoral candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University. Arenas obtained her undergraduate degree in Spain from Complutense University and earned two master's degrees in Colombia from the Universidad de los Andes, one in journalism and the other in public administration. Arenas studied under a Fulbright scholarship at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government where she obtained a master's degree in public policy. Arenas has a background in television journalism. She has also worked for the Colombian Ministry of Environment.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

Poetry Reading

Prominent Chilean poet Waldo Rojas will read from his poems followed by commentary. This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Generation of 60s Poetry in Chile"

Introduced by MICHAEL PREDMORE, Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Stanford University

Prominent Chilean poet Waldo Rojas will give a lecture on the generation of 60s poets in Chile. This lecture will be given in Spanish. Written versions of the lecture will be available in English. This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Latin American Politics Lecture Series

"What Does Context Mean? A Longitudinal Exploration of Class, Ideology, and Partisanship in Brazil's 2002 Election"

BARRY AMES, Chair and Andrew Mellon Professor of Comparative Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

Ames received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. He specializes in comparative politics, Latin America, and organization theory. Ames is the author of The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil (University of Michigan Press, 2001). This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Political Science's Comparative Politics Workshop and the Center for Latin American Studies.

CLAS Mexican Studies Working Group

El Proyecto Arqueológico Uxmal Yucatán México Visto desde la Perspectiva de los Trabajadores Mayas de la Región

JOSE HUCHIM, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia en Mexico, and DR. ISABEL HAWKINS, Space Sciences Laboratory, UC-Berkeley

Jose Huchim and Dr. Isabel Hawkins will present the Archeological Project Uxmal and the contribution of the Mayan community. The project includes a series of activities and field work carried out thanks to the efforts of the native peoples of the town of San Simón. Over the years, this Maya speaking community of approximately seventy families has become an integral part of the project. This event is sponsored by the Mexican Student Association and the Mexican Studies Group of the Center for Latin American Studies. This lecture will be given in Spanish.

Film Series

Testimony: The Maria Guardado Story

Directed by Randy Vasquez

Salvadoran political refugee, Maria Guardado, now living in Los Angeles, returns to her homeland and reminisces about repression, death squads, Archbishop Oscar Romero and her continuing work as a human rights activist in Los Angeles. El Salvador, 2001. In English and Spanish, with English subtitles. Documentary, 63 min.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Amores Perros and Crime in Mexico"

JOHN KRANIAUSKAS, University of London

Professor John Kraniauskas teaches at the University of London. He is a specialist in Latin American literary and cultural studies, with particular interests in relations between state and cultural forms. In 1992 and 1995 he was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and in 1996 at Duke University. ‘Amores perros’ is a Mexican work of urban neo-naturalism with all the populist scope and will-to-representativity of a moving three-panelled mural. In this talk, Kraniauskas will discuss each of the film’s three parts with a view to understanding their autonomous compositional principles and themes, as well as their specific articulation to the film’s narrative as a whole.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Machu Picchu: Peru's Metaphor for Itself"

TERESA PELLINEN-CHAVEZ, Ph.D. Candidate, Modern Thought and Literature, Ph.D. Minor, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University

Ms. Pellinen-Chavez specializes in tourism from the developed North to underdeveloped regions of South America. More specifically, Pellinen-Chavez focuses on the politics of uneven development between points of departure and tourist destinations as well as the politics that guide the ways that tourists experience their destinations. Pellinen-Chavez received her M.A. in Latin American Studies from UC Berkeley and her B.A. in Spanish Literature and Cultural Studies from the Evergreen State College.

CLAS Working Group on Education Policy in Latin America

MARIO TUEROS, Senior Specialist on Development of Small Enterprises and Cooperatives, Sub-Regional Office for Andean Countries, International Labour Office (ILO), Lima

Mr. Tueros, Stanford Ph.D. '91, will give a talk on training for small enterprise development (SED) in Latin America. Training for SED in Latin America has been growing widely since it was first explored in the 1980s. As small, individually-owned businesses continue to be a major source of employment in developing countries, SED has become a controversial arena with respect to its theoretical foundations and practical approaches. Mr. Tueros will discuss the present state of the art through a discussion of some representative national and regional programs, as well as possible future developments. Refreshments will be served. Please contact Brooke Weddle Ricalde, bricalde@stanford.edu with questions.

Latin American Politics Lecture Series

"Armed Clientelism: How Decentralization Complicated Colombia's Civil War"

KENT EATON, Associate Professor, Department of National Security, Naval Postgraduate School

Kent H. Eaton is an Associate Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he teaches courses on Latin American politics and economic development. His research and writing focuses on political and economic reforms in developing countries. He is the author of Politics Beyond the Capital: The Design of Subnational Institutions in South America (Stanford University Press, 2004) and Politicians and Economic Reform in New Democracies: Argentina and the Philippines in the 1990s (Penn State University Press, 2002). His current research examines the security implications of decentralization and the politics of police reform in Latin America.

Download Eaton's paper.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Queen for a Day: Transformistas, Misses and Mass Media in Venezuela"

MARCIA OCHOA, Assistant Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz

Introduced by PURNIMA MANKEKAR, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University

Marcia Ochoa received her Ph.D. in cultural and social anthropology from Stanford University. Ochoa's research focuses on Colombia and Venezuela, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, Latina/o studies, feminism, and queer theory.

Film Series

Oscar Aleman: A Swinging Life

Directed by Hernan Gaffet

The legend of Oscar Alemán, the acclaimed Argentine musician, dancer, film actor, and eccentric has largely been forgotten by history, but he was a seminal figure in the history of the guitar in jazz, and of jazz in Europe and South America. Yet behind his dazzling musical ability and his flamboyant personality lies a story of personal tragedy and the will to carry on that took Alemán on an incredible trajectory. This homeless child rose to fame in South America and Europe, braving fascism, obscurity, and tragedy by the sheer force of his brassy personality, goofy sense of humor, and a breathtaking musical swing. This video recaptures the engrossing tale of a forgotten musical legend. Argentina, 2002. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Documentary, 104 min.

Bolívar House Lecture Series

Please note that CLAS will not hold a lecture this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

CLAS Law and Policy in Latin America Working Group

"Chavez's Revolution: Illiberal Democracy in Venezuela?"

ROGELIO PEREZ-PERDOMO, Dean of Universidad Metropolitana School of Law, Caracas, Venezuela, and Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School

MARINES FORNERINO-STEEVES, Fellow at the Humanities Center, Stanford University

Professor Rogelio Perez-Perdomo is a leading scholar of sociology of law in Latin America. Educated in Venezuela, France and USA, he has written extensively on the legal profession, on litigation, and recently has conducted comparative studies of governmental corruption. Marinés Fornerino-Steeves is an associate professor of political science at the Universidad Rafael Urdaneta in Maracaibo, Venezuela. She received a joint Ph.D. in public policy and political science from Indiana University in 2002.

Please contact Manuel Gomez (magom1@stanford.edu) with questions.

CLAS Working Group on Education Policy in Latin America

"Why did the college completion rates of Hispanic community college transfer students decrease in the early 1990s?"

TATIANA MELGUIZO, Affiliated Faculty, Center for Urban Education, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Tatiana Melguizo received a Ph.D. in Economics of Education from Stanford University and a M.A. in Social Policy from the London School of Economics.  Prior to joining USC, she worked as a Research Analyst at the SPHERE Institute.  Her recent research has been in higher education, focusing on the differences in educational outcomes and earnings by race/ethnicity and gender.  She has substantial experience in social policy and evaluation. 

Bolívar House Lecture Series

"Life in the Megalopolis: Mexico City and Sao Paulo"

LUCIA DE SA, Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Stanford University

Professor Sa teaches Brazilian and Spanish American literatures. She is the author of Rainforest Literatures: Amazonian Texts and Latin-American Culture (Minnesota University Press, 2004), and has published several articles on Brazilian poetry and fiction, Peruvian fiction, censorship in Brazil, and Brazilian popular culture.

Film Series

Bus 174

Directed by Jose Padilha

A powerful, award-winning examination of the tragic series of events that followed a desperate bus hijacking in Rio de Janeiro in 2000 that turned deadly when a SWAT team took evasive action against the hijacker. Brazil, 2003. In Portuguese, with English subtitles. Documentary, 122 min.

CLAS Mexican Studies Working Group

IFE (Instituto Federal Electoral de México)

A representative of the president of the IFE (Instituto Federal Electoral de México) will discuss next year’s elections.

CLAS Working Group on Education Policy in Latin America

Discussion Panel: Teacher Quality in Mexico

"In Search of Good Teachers: Patterns of Teacher Quality in Two Mexican States" by THOMAS F. LUSCHEI, Ph.D. Student, International Comparative Education, Stanford University

"Evaluation of "Carrera Magisterial," the National Teacher Incentive Program in Mexico" by LUCRECIA SANTIBAÑEZ, Associate Economist at RAND

Tom Luschei is a Ph.D. student in International Comparative Education at Stanford University. His interests include education in Latin America, teacher quality and teacher labor markets, and the economics of education. Prior to beginning his studies at Stanford, Tom was a bilingual teacher in Los Angeles and earned a master's degree in public policy at the University of Texas at Austin. While at Stanford, Tom has also earned a master's degree in economics. In January 2006, Tom will begin work as an assistant professor of education policy at Florida State University.

Lucrecia Santibañez (Ph.D. Education, Stanford University) is an associate economist at RAND. In August 2002 she received her Ph.D. in International and Comparative Education at Stanford University, and in 2001 she received an M.A. in Economics from the same institution. Her substantive areas of research include teacher and administrator labor markets, teacher effects on student achievement, and higher education. Her dissertation titled "Why we should care if teachers get A's: Impact on student achievement in Mexico," analyzed teacher characteristics in Mexico and how they are related to student achievement in public schools. She is also a co-leader of the scholarship team that will implement a new scholarship system for the nation of Qatar as part of RAND 's postsecondary education efforts there. She recently co-authored two papers commissioned by the World Bank on teacher incentives and teacher professional development in Mexico, a school leadership study funded by the Wallace Funds' Leaders Count Initiative, and a report on funding issues and participation rates in California community colleges.  

Refreshments will be served.