Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Spring - Fall 2016

Baby coffee plants growing tall
CLAS Chair Harley Shaiken walks on the Berkeley campus with Ricardo Falla. (Photo by Jim Block.)

COMMENT: Spring - Fall 2016

By Harley Shaiken | The CLAS Chair discusses the highlights of this issue of the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies.

Huge wooden trellises form the orchidarium at the renovated Medellín Botanical Gardens, Colombia. (Photo by SLClaasen.)

COLOMBIA: Building Places for Peace to Grow

By James Gerardo Lamb | How to build hope in a war-torn region where "every Colombian alive has suffered violence"? A profile of Colombian politican Sergio Fajardo's mission to restore peace to his country.

Author Lauren Withey with Colombian children after a peace march with a banner bearing the names of local victims of the conflict. (Photo courtesy of Lauren Withey.)

COLOMBIA: The Turbulent Path to Peace

By Lauren Withey | In October of 2016, Colombian citizens rejected a referendum to ratify a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. An exploration of the background and perspectives of both sides of the vote.

A former steel mill employee in front of a table of canned goods in a union-sponsored food bank in Granite City, Illinois. (Photo by Whitney Curtis for The New York Times.)

TPP & NAFTA: In Whose Interest? Inclusive Trade vs. Corporate Protectionism

By Harley Shaiken | A reorientation from "free trade vs. protectionism" to "inclusive trade vs. corporate protectionism," in which unbalanced trade agreements may lead to higher productivity, but also result in a polarized economy and an unequal society.

A statue of Justice holding her balanced scales and a sword. (Photo by Jesse Loughborough.)

LAW: Judicial Independence as a Political Virtue

By Javier Couso | Judicial independence is necessary to limit corruption and ensure a functioning constitutional democracy. An analysis of the characteristics of autonomous courts in Latin America.

Berta Cáceres sits on a rock in the middle of a river in the Río Blanco region of western Honduras in 2015. (Photo courtesy of the Goldman Environmental Prize.)

HONDURAS: Unquiet Waters

By Rosemary Joyce and Russell Sheptak | Civil society and human rights have been systematically dismantled in the wake of the 2009 military coup. A discussion the deaths of LGBTQ, women's rights, and environmental activists.

A photo emphasizes the massive urban sprawl of the Mexico City landscape. (Photo by Kasper Christensen.)

URBAN DESIGN: Working With the Lay of the Land

By René Davids80% of people in Latin America live in cities. An account of how the topographical settings and pre-Colombian use patterns of these cities have influenced modern urban infrastructure.

A page from El Salvador’s “Yellow Book,” with photos of civilians marked as potential targets for violence by the military. (Image courtesy of Angelina Snodgrass Godoy.)

EL SALVADOR: The Right to Truth

By Angelina Snodgrass Godoy | An overview of research in declassified archives, looking for information about people who were disappeared during the Salvadoran armed conflict, and how "recognition can come to constitute a form of reparation." 

An art project on genocide features Rafael Trujillo’s statement about the start of the killings of Haitians and that "this remedy will continue." (Photo courtesy of Paige Tripp.)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Bearing Witness to a Modern Genocide

By Edward PaulinoThe 1937 massacre of Dominicans of Haitian descent is arguably the largest mass murder in the Americas that targeted people of African descent in the 20th century. An exposition of the responsibility to respond to it as part of the Dominican diaspora.

A ceremony featuring AfroBrazilian women leaders in commemorating the abolition of the slave trade in Brazil’s senate chamber. (Photo courtesy of Senado Federal do Brasil.)

RACE & ETHNICITY: The Limits of Inclusion

By Tianna Paschel | An examination of the creation of Black political subjects in Colombia and Brazil and how Black social movements succeeded in changing legislation to recognize certain rights of Black communities, and questions how those political developments translate to real change on the ground.

A mural honors Gabriela Mistral with themes important to her: mother love and child care, but also death and economic justice. (Photo by Ricardo Hurtubia/Mural by Fernando Daza, 1970.)

POETRY: Beyond the Mythic Mistral

By Tara Phillips | 70 years ago, Gabriela Mistral won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Soledad Falabella sheds light on Mistral's mastery of poetic form and commitment to social and ethical causes.

“Pléyades.” - a timelapse photo shows ballet dancers as whirls of motion. (Photo by Hernán Piñera.)

POETRY: From Mistral's "La Bailerina"

PoetryLines from Gabriela Mistral's "La Bailerina," with a photo by Hernán Piñera.

An aerial view of a huge crowd of people in plaza in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as part of the 2006 “Cabildo del Millión” demonstration supporting autonomy for Santa Cruz within Bolivia. (Photo courtesy of the Comité Pro Santa Cruz.)

GOVERNMENT: Confronting the Center: Subnational Policy Challenges in Latin America

By Kent Eaton | Looking at various regional challenges to national authority in countries through Latin America.