BRANDEIS UNIVE SITY
LATIN
AMERICAN
AND LATINO
S U IE
Summer 2007
Newsletter
No.16
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
SENIOR WINS "PROJECT FOR PEACE" AWARD
Las Invenciones/Seiiores, adquirid mi pro­
ducto terciario/Sin mezcla de algodon ni de
sustancias lricteas; Os concedo un boton
para cambiar el mundo:/Adquirid el tri­
jizsico antes de arrepentirme!
Pablo Neruda (2000)
LALS major Jefferson Arak '07 has been awarded a $10,000 grant by
the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Foundation to develop a media lab in
Oaxaca, Mexico. It is one of one hundred Davis awards given nation­
ally to college students.
In 2005 Jeff received a Jane's Travel Grant to travel to Chiapas,
Mexico and interned with The Chiapas Media Project that works with
Zapatista communities teaching filmmaking. In 2006 he traveled to
Oaxaca to work at the 8th International CLACPI Indigenous Film Fes­
tival. These trips culminated in his video "Voice Through Film: A
Visual Study of the Chiapas Media Project and Its Influence in Chiapas
and Guerrero;" the video may be viewed in the Photo Album section of
our web site, www.brandeis.edu/departments/lals.
"In the last two years," Jeff said, "I've been struggling intellectually
with the implications of Westerners bringing this technology to in­
digenous communities. A lot of people see academics as separate from
activism or advocacy, but I think they share a common interest most of
the time. Social scientists are effectively positioned to help the people
they study change things about their lives. This is the kind of academic
I want to be."
As one reads news of the impact of Latin
America in global economies, or the rippling
effect of local politics south of the Rio
Grande, or the immigration debate here in
North America, it becomes increasingly evi­
dent that we need to raise awareness about
the cultures, histories, and peoples in this
part of the world. The dramatic growth of
students in LALS, now at its highest level in
forty-four years, is a hopeful sign. We look
forward to an increase in the diversity of
intellectual interests by our constituency.
The Program's charter of promoting
understanding of Latin American and Latino
issues is made possible thanks to the gen­
erosity of our donors. Their vision helps
foster new landscapes of tolerance and con­
certed efforts to face challenges in our
changing world. It is invigorating to learn
what some of our alumni are doing, veritable
emissaries of our mission. I am grateful to
Silvia Arrom for her mentoring and
friendship during my first year as chair of
the Program. Her wisdom and experience
after having run LALS for fourteen years
have eased my learning curve. Special
thanks also to Marilyn Brooks for all her
help. Faculty and students alike, we all look
forward to a productive academic year.
Javier Urcid
Jeff Arak on location in Mexico
LALS GRADUATES TWENTY ONE
LALS EVENTS AT BRANDEIS, 2006·07
The LALS Program extends congratulations to its grad­
uating seniors, the largest class in its history.
The LALS majors are:
Jefferson Arak, additional major in Anthropology;
highest honors in Latin American and Latino Studies;
highest honors in Anthropology; Betty and Harry S.
Shapiro Endowed Award in Anthropology; cum laude;
Carlos Barletta Vallarino, additional majors in Politics
and International and Global Studies; Pesha Black, high­
est honors in Latin American and Latino Studies; Phi Beta
Kappa; Presidential Scholar; summa cum laude; NaOJni
Caplan, additional major in African and Afro-American
Studies; Presidential Scholar; magna cum laude; Diana
Chiang, additional majors in Politics and International
and Global Studies; minors in Business and Spanish
Language and Literature; Sarah Farhadian, additional
major in Politics; minors in Spanish Language and
Literature and Legal Studies; magna cum laude; Amber
Gonzales, additional major in Politics; Kendra Harri­
son, additional majors in International and Global Studies
and Spanish Language and Literature; minor in Eco­
nomics; highest honors in Latin American and Latino
Studies; highest honors in Spanish Language and Lit­
erature; Phi Beta Kappa; Eli D. and Millie Goodstein
Prize in Spanish; summa cum laude; Emmajoy
Shulman-Kumin, additional major in Spanish Language
and Literature; honors in Latin American and Latino
Studies; cum laude; Rebecca Winkler, additional major
in Psychology; minor in Spanish Language and Liter­
ature; Phi Beta Kappa; Presidential Scholar; magna cum
laude.
The LALS minors are:
Lauren Abramowitz, major in Health: Science, Society,
and Policy; additional minor in Anthropology; magna
cum laude; Daniel Duffy, major in Anthropology; cum
laude; Satarra Davis, major in Sociology; additional
minors in Education Studies and Social Justice and Social
Policy; The Dewey-Boyte Prize for the Scholarship and
Practice of Democracy; the Jacob and Bella Thurman
Award for Social Citizenship; Noah Foster, major in An­
thropology; additional minor in African and Afro­
American Studies; honors in Anthropology; Samantha
Levin, majors in International and Global Studies and
African and Afro-American Studies; the Rose ScWow
Award; Kevin Montgomery, major in Politics; additional
minor in Economics; Rebecca Pelfrey, major in Anthro­
pology; additional minor in Peace and Conflict Studies;
the Karpf-Hahn Peace Prize Award; Jordan Pollard,
major in Politics; Rachel Stampfer, majors in Anthro­
pology and International and Global Studies; additional
minors in Spanish Language and Literature and Envi­
ronmental Studies; cum laude; Anderson Thomas, ma­
jors in Sociology and African and Afro-American Stud­
ies; additional minor in Anthropology; Brady Wheatley,
majors in Anthropology and International and Global
Studies.
MAGDALENA BARRERA (Humanities, Stanford Uni­
versity): "Widows, Wild Girls, and Wayward Hens:
Music and Gender in 1930s Mexican America," Sep­
tember 12.
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"THE RICHNESS OF MEXICO" (Women's Studies
Research Center exhibit): "The Life and Times of Frida
KaWo," Elinor Gadon (WSRC), September 19; "Exhibit
Reception with Maddu Huacuja" (artist), September 27;
"Portraying Mexican Women through Art," panel with
Silvia Arrom (History), Roxanne Davila (ROCL), and
Louise Lopman (WSRC); "Celebrate Mexico," perform­
ance by Veronica Robles (musician), November 7.
TAMARA MELNICK (psychologist, Israel): "Scars,
Roots, and Hope: Latin American Emigrants in Israel,"
September 20.
ELIZABETH FERRY (Anthropology): "Rocks of Ages:
Mexican Minerals, Time, and the Concept of Resources,"
September 21.
JAMAICA KINCAID (author): A reading from her novel
See Now Then, October 5.
JACOB DANIELS '07 (2006 Jane's Travel Grant recip­
ient): "Propiedad de los Bolivianos: What the Nation­
alization of the Bolivian Gas Industry Means to Boliv­
ians," October 18.
NAOMI SCHIESEL (Anthropology, 2006 Jane's Travel
Grant recipient): "Theory Meets the Concrete: Designing
Research in an Urban Latino Enclave," October 23.
EMMETT PRICE (AAAS) and MARISOL NEGRON
(LALS/ROCL): "Where is the Love? Rapping About
Music, Community, and Society," October 24.
LUCIANO GARCiA LORENZO (Consejo Superior,
Madrid): 'El medico de su homa' y la Compaiiia Nacional
de Teatro Clasico, October 25.
ERICA WESTON '07 (2006 Jane's Travel Grant re­
cipient): "An Exploration of Public Health, Poverty, and
Nutrition: Amaranth and Empowering Women in Oaxaca,
Mexico," October 30.
SOL Y CANTO (concert): November 2.
BRANDEIS LffiRARY ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (exhibit): "Encounters in the New
World," November 16.
BETSY MARZAHN-RAMOS (Anthropology, 2006
Jane's Travel Grant recipient): "Material Culture and
SociallPolitical Identity in the Classic Period Maya
Hinterland," November 30.
ALLISON SHERRlLL (Anthropology, 2006 Jane's
Travel Grant recipient): "An Osteological Perspective on
Violence and Population Affinity in the Wari Empire
(Peru)," November 30.
MARJORIE AGOSfN (Spanish, Wellesley College):
Poetry reading, November 30.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN LATIN AMER­
ICA: STOP NOW (panel discussion): December 1.
DANIEL DUFFY '07: "Red de Comunicadores Boca de
Polen: An Indigenous Media Networking Organization in
Chiapas, Mexico," December 7.
MILLERY POLYNE (History, CUNY): "Remaining
Loyal to Race and Nation: Frederick Douglass and U.S.
Diplomatic Affairs in Santo Domingo and Haiti," January
26.
LUISA PIEMONTESE (Spanish, Southern Connecticut
State University): "Palos de ida y vuelta: dialogos musi­
cales entre Espana y Latinoamerica," February 6.
THOSE WITH VOICE (An Exploration of Indigenous
Communication in Mexico): Alexandra Halkin (founder
of The Chiapas Media Project and filmmaker) and Juan
Jose Garcia (filmmaker), February 12-13.
NEENA PATHAK '08 (2006 Jane's Travel Grant re­
cipient) and JOSHUA RUSSELL '06: "The Anatomy of
Solidarity: Zapatismo and the Ethics of Travel Activism,"
February 14.
MANUEL MENDEZ GUZMAN (human rights repre­
sentative, Chiapas, Mexico) and CORRY BANTON
(Study Abroad coordinator, Mexico Solidarity Network):
"Communities Confronting Globalization," February 28.
MARISOL NEGR6N (LALS/ROCL): "Latin American
Music in the U.S.: See How It Grows," March 21.
FAITH SMITH (AAAS/English) (panel discussion):
"Race and Ethnicity in the Classroom," March 22.
KENDRA HARRlSON '07 (2007 Jane's Travel Grant
recipient): "Transnational Dominican-American Identi­
ties: Interpretations from 'Home,'" March 28.
PESHA BLACK '07 (2007 Jane's Travel Grant recip­
ient): "Growing in the Spirit: Framing Pentecostalism in
Managua, Nicaragua," March 29.
FOUNDATION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MED­
ICAL RELIEF FOR CHILDREN, BRANDEIS CHAP­
TER: "There and Back Again: A Journey into the Health
of a Community in Alajuelita, Costa Rica," March 29.
NOAH FOSTER '07 (2007 Jane's Travel Grant re­
cipient): "Examining Development: Contextualizing Dam
Research in Guatemala City," April 12.
DANIEL SHARP (Music, Bowdoin College): "Perform­
ing the Migrants, Performing Home: Televised Nostalgia
in Northeast Brazil," April 16.
ELIZABETH COSSER '07 (2007 Jane's Travel Grant
recipient): "Caught in the Storm: How Multinational Cor­
porations Responded and Adapted During the 2001-02
Argentine Peso Crisis," April 23.
LOGAN JERGER '07 (2006 Jane's Travel Grant recip­
ient): "Gender, Sexuality, and Religion in Addressing
HIV/AIDS in Port-au-Prince, Haiti," April 25.
AMBER GONZALES '07: "My Study Abroad Exper­
ience in Nicaragua," March 13.
Films:
"ALAMBRISTA," September 25.
"QUILOMBO," November 1.
"ONCE THERE WAS A COUNTRY: REVISITING
HAITI," November 16.
"MAQUILAPOLIS (CITY OF FACTORIES)," Novem­
ber 30.
"THOSE WITH VOICE," February 12.
"MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET)," March 8.
"THE ROOTS OF MY HEART," March 15.
''THUNDER IN GUYANA," March 15.
JEFFERSON ARAK '07: "Artistic Expression in Film­
making," March 15.
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
WOMEN CROSSING BORDERS: A SYMPOSTIJM ON
MUSIC AND JOURNEYS OF CREATION: Elizabeth
Ferry (Anthropology), Marisol Negron (LALS/ROCL),
Fernando Rosenberg (ROCL), Faith Smith, (AAAS/Eng­
lish), Ibrahim Sundiata (AAASlHistory), March 1-3.
FREE PLAY THEATRE COOPERATIVE: "Marisol,"
March 16-18.
BRADY WHEATLEY '07 (2007 Jane's Travel Grant
recipient): "Within and Without the System: Popular
Protest in Bolivia," March 21.
AHORA! celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month for the
tenth consecutive year, from September 20 through
October 19, with the theme "Breaking Borders: Hablando,
Pensando, Creciendo." Highlights of the month-long fes­
tival included the panel "Alambrista"; "Uncovering
Myths of U.S. Immigration"; "El Reventon! AHORA!'s
Official Kick-Off Party"; "Dancing Across Latin
America"; "Mi Casa Es Tu Casal"; "The Art of Being La­
3
tino"; "Are You Latino Enough?"; and the title event
which featured Nuyorican poets Jo-Jo and Anthony
Morales.
CARIBBEAN CONNEXION
The Caribbean COlmexion celebrated Caribbean Week
2007 in March. The week's theme was "Unity and Peace:
Embracing Our Identities." Events included "Feeling the
Vibes," an evening of poetry, the spoken word, and
musical and dance performance Caribbean style, and a
night called "It's Carnival!" featuring Caribbean music
hosted by DJ Illabash.
The reCIpIents for summer research are: Melanie
Kingsley (Anthropology), "In Search ofNito: Preliminary
Survey of Southeastern Guatemala"; Betsy Marzahn­
Ramos (Anthropology), "Style, Affiliation, and Regional
Political Dynamics: Small Classic Maya Sites in the
Usumacinta River Region"; Hannah Ramer '08, "Sus­
tainable Agriculture in the Intag Region of Ecuador"; and
Mrinalini Tankha (Anthropology), "Touring Money:
Uses and Meanings of Currencies in 21 51 Century Cuba."
STUDY ABROAD
Twenty-four Brandeis students studied in Latin Amer­
ica during 2006-07. They attended universities in Argen­
tina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
SENIOR WINS JANE'S ESSAY PRIZE
Pesha Black was awarded the 2007 Jane's Essay Prize
for "Growing in the Spirit: Framing Pentecostalism in
Managua, Nicaragua." The Essay Prize is given annually
for the best undergraduate research paper in any area of
Latin American, Caribbean, or Latino Studies.
2007 Jane's Travel Grant recipients pictured:
Mrinalini Tankha, Melanie Kingsley, Pesha Black,
Noah Foster, Brady Wheatley, Kendra Harrison, and
Betsy Marzahn-Ramos.
(Photo by Michael Lovett)
JANE'S FACULTY AWARDS
(Photo by Michael Lovett)
JANE'S TRAVEL GRANTS
Nine Jane's Travel Grants were awarded to under­
graduate and graduate students in 2006-07.
The recipients for research in Latin America and the
Caribbean during inter-semester break are: Pesha Black
'07, "Growing in the Spirit: Framing the Pentecostal
Increase in Managua, Nicaragua"; Elizabeth Cosser '07,
"Caught in the Storm: How Multinational Corporations
Responded and Adapted During the 2001-02 Argentine
Peso Crisis"; Noah Foster '07, "Researching the Xalala
Dam Project in Guatemala"; Kendra Harrison '07,
"Transnational Dominican-American Identities: Interpre­
tations from 'Home"'; and Brady Wheatley '07, "Within
and Without the System: Contemporary Social and
Political Movements of Bolivia."
4
Eight Brandeis faculty members received Jane's
Faculty Development Awards for summer research. They
are: Roxanne Davila (ROCL) for archival research;
Elizabeth Ferry (Anthropology) for archival research
and field work in Mexico; Charles Golden (Anthro­
pology) for field research in Guatemala; Raysa Mederos
(ROCL) for field work in Cuba; Fernando Rosenberg
(ROCL) to attend a conference in Argentina; Faith Smith
(AAASlEnglish) to attend a conference in Trinidad and
Tobago; Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS/History) to attend a
conference in Brazil; and Javier Urcid (Anthropology)
for field work in Mexico.
BACLA
The Boston Area Consortium on Latin America,
directed by Professor Silvia Arrom (History), consists of
nine colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston. It
serves as a means for faculty and students to commun­
icate and supplement their resources with those available
at other locations. The BACLA web site, listing the or­
ganization's history, faculty, and courses, may be ac­
cessed at http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu/bacla.
ESSAYS, THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
The following undergraduates wrote senior essays or
theses on Latin American or Latino topics: Jefferson
Arak (Anthropology), "Los Con Voz: Those With
Voice"; Pesha Black (LALS), "Growing in the Spirit:
Framing the Pentecostal Expansion in Managua,
Nicaragua"; Noah Foster (Anthropology), "Mapping
Indigenous Space: Traversing Power, Violence and
Identity Through a Hydroelectric Development Lens";
Kendra Harrison (ROCL), "Crossing Borders between
Reality and Fiction: Transnational Identity in Dominican­
American Literature": Misha Miller-Sisson (Anthropol­
ogy), "Towards an Archaeological Ethic in Relation to the
Maya"; Emmajoy Shulman-Kumin (LALS), "The
Representation of HigWand Andean Gender Ideologies
Through Economic, Familial, and Social Relations and
Exchange."
Four graduate students wrote their dissertations on
Latin American topics: Jennifer Perloff (Social Policy),
"Short-term Cessation from Drug Use and Treatment
Effectiveness in Puerto Rico"; Arelys Feliciano Sanchez
(Psychology), "Age and Cognitive Performance in Adult­
Onset Diabetes in a New England Puerto Rican Com­
munity"; Mark Seifert (Anthropology), "Guayarni Pro­
visioning in the Rural Caribbean of Panama: A Dia­
chronic Analysis of Market Forces and the Identification
ofIndigenous Microeconornies"; Joanna Marie Vartan­
ian (Social Policy), "Are There Gender Differences in the
Effects of a Managed Behavioral Health Care Carve-Out?
Evidence from Puerto Rico."
ETHICS CENTER FELLOWS
Ramon De Jesus '08 and Rachel
einbaum '08,
both LALS majors, were named as Ethics Center Student
Fellows for 2007. Ramon will spend this summer working
in Xela, Guatemala with Play for Peace, an organization
that connects groups from conflict areas through co­
operative play. Rachel will return to Xela for a second
summer to work for UTW, a coalition oflabor unions.
MURRAY FELLOWSHIP AWARDED
LALS major Maria Tapia '08 was one of eight recip­
ients of the newly-created Pauli Murray Fellowship,
named after a former professor in the American Studies
Department at Brandeis. The award funds a research pro­
ject to increase diversity and pluralism at Brandeis or in
the community.
FACULTY NOTES
Silvia Arrom (History) published "Mexican Laywomen
Spearhead a Catholic Revival: The Ladies of Charity,
1863-1910" in Religious Culture in Modern Mexico
(2007) and "Filantropia catolica y sociedad civil: los
voluntarios mexicanos de San Vicente de Paul, 1845­
1910" in Sociedad y Economia (2006). She presented a
paper on "New Perspectives on the Nineteenth Century:
The View from Mexico" in Santiago, Chile in June.
Elizabeth Ferry (Anthropology) published "Memory as
Wealth, History as Commerce: Uses of Patrimony in a
Central Mexican City" in Ethos: The Journal of
Psychological Anthropology (2006). She organized a
seminar on "The Politics of Resources and their
Temporalities" at the School of American Research, Santa
Fe and a conference on 'The Social Relations of Mexican
Commodities" at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies,
UC/San Diego. She presented papers in Milwaukee in
May, in Mexico City and Michoacan in November, and in
Albany in December.
Charles Golden (Anthropology) co-authored "Border
Problems: Recent Archaeological Research Along the
Usumacinta River" in The PARI Journal (2006), "La
Tecnica and El Kinel: Mounds and Monuments Upriver
from Yaxchilan" in Mexicon (2006), and En el reino de
Pajaro Jaguar: Reconocimiento Arqueol6gico en el area
sur de la sierra del Lacand6n, Peten (2006). He presented
papers in Cambridge, Austin, Guatemala, and Puerto
Rico.
Marisol Negron (LALS//ROCL) spoke on "Mixing It
Up: Mapping Identities Through Art" at the Weatherhead
Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in
February.
Fernando Rosenberg (ROCL) published "Afecto y
politica de la cosmopolis latinoamericana" in Revista
Iberoamericana (2006) and "Skirting the Law, Staging
Justice" in e-misferica's "Issue on Performance and the
Law" (2006) that he co-edited. He presented papers on
"Rights, Appropriation, and Practicing the Human in
Latin America" at the Performance Studies International
Conference in London in June; "CorpolicaslBody Politics
in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class, and Gender"
in Buenos Aires in June; and "Thinking Justice: Literature
and the Law in Latin America" at Dartmouth in No­
vember.
Faith Smith (AAASlEnglish) published "Can Anything
Good Come Out of Cedros? Nation Language in 19 th _
Century Trinidad" in Shibboleths: Journal of Compar­
ative Theory (2007). She presented a paper on "Descartes,
De Horse, De Laurence: Reading Signs in Early 20 th _
Century Jamaica" at the Caribbean Studies Association in
Brazil in May.
Ibrahim Sundiata (AAASlHistory) presented a paper on
"Race Relations in the U.S. and Brazil: The Question of
Divergence" at the Caribbean Studies Association in
Brazil in May.
Eva Thorne (Politics) is the principal investigator of a
Ford Foundation grant on Afro-Latin land rights. She
conveyed thirty participants from the U.S. and Latin
5
America who met in Progresso, Honduras in March to
review the state of Afro-Latin and indigenous relations
around collective and communal land rights.
Javier Urcid (Anthropology) published "El legado 01­
meca: continuidad y cambio cultural en el Sur de Vera­
cruz" in Arqueologia (2006), "Antigiiedad y distribuci6n
del ritual de los Voladores" in Arqueologia Mexicana
(2006), "A Zapotec Carved Bone" in the Princeton Uni­
versity Library Chronicle (2006), and "Sobre unos
antiguos graniceros Zapotecos" in Acervos (2006). He
spoke on "An Ancient Story of Creation from San Pedro
Jaltepetongo" at Tulane in February.
ALUMNI NOTES
Sabrina Assayag Victor '08 recently returned from a
year in Israel and South Africa. She worked at the
Association of Rape Crisis Center of Israel providing
legal and development assistance; in South Africa she
offered free legal counseling to central African refugees
seeking asylum in Cape Town.
Ramon Barquin III '96 is currently working on his
Ph.D. He is the author of management texts and is writing
two books about Cuba.
Kim Coughlin Tellez '85 is a part-time sixth grade
teacher at a dual language charter school in California.
She is also an insurance agent working mostly with the
Spanish-speaking community.
Alex Dupuy (M.A. '76) is the chair of the Sociology De­
partment at Wesleyan University. He is the author of the
article "Haiti Election 2006: A Pyrrhic Victory for Rene
Preval?" in Latin American Perspectives (2006) and the
book The Prophet and Power: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the
International Community, and Haiti (2006).
Susannah Glusker '62 organized an exhibit for the
centennial of the birth of her mother, "Anita Brenner: Los
idolos, los altares y el arte de Mexico" and helped pro­
duce the catalog for the exhibit, "Anita Brenner: vision de
una epoca. " She completed editing her mother's journals
for publication by the University of Texas Press.
Temma Kaplan '64 is the director of Women's Studies
and professor of History at SUNY/Stony Brook. She
published a chapter on "Gender, Chaos, and Authority in
Revolutionary Times" in Sex in Revolution: Gender,
Politics, and Power in Modern Mexico (2006).
Jason Kohn '01 won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for
"Manda Bala" (2006), his documentary on corruption in
Brazil. The film was screened at Brandeis in March.
Peggy Levitt '80 is chair and associate professor in the
Sociology Department at Wellesley College. Her most
recent book is God Needs No Passport (2007). She wrote
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"Life, Liberty, and The Folks Back Home" and "The
Global in the Local" for The Boston Globe in May and
"l,Dios Ha MuertoT' and "Transnational Problems Need
Translational Solutions" for The Huffington Post in June.
She appeared on "On Point" on NPR radio to discuss
"Immigration in America, Now" in May.
Roberto Marquez '66, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of
Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Mt. Holyoke
College, published Puerto Rican Poetry: An Anthology
from Aboriginal to Contemporary Times (2007).
Amelia Marquez de Perez (ph.D. '96) is the coordinator
of the Unit for Monitoring, Evaluation and Strategic
Issues at the United Nations Development Programme in
Panama. She was the coordinator of Panama's Teclmical
Group for the follow-up of the Millennium Development
Goals during 2006.
Amy Palman Price '84 is the executive director of
SENG, Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted. One of
the goals of the national organization is to further develop
its multicultural outreach services.
Yaser Robles '93 is a doctoral student in the Department
of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies at
SUNY/Albany. He did research and interned at The
College Board Government Relations Office in Albany
during the summer and will teach Cultures of Latin Amer­
ica at Albany in the fall.
Luis Rubio (M.A. '73, Ph.D. '78) is the general director
of the Centro de Investigaci6n para el Desarrollo in
Mexico. He published "Las reiiidas elecciones de
Mexico" in Foreign Affairs (2006) and is the co-author of
Mexico: Democracia Inejicaz/lneffective Democracy
(2006) and "Getting Mexico on Track" in The Christian
Science Monitor in July.
Ruben G. Rumbaut (M.A. '73, Ph.D. '78) is professor of
Sociology at UC/lrvine. He published "On the Past and
Future of American Immigration and Ethnic History: A
Sociologist's Reflections on a Silver Jubilee" in the
Journal of American Ethnic History (2006). He co­
authored "'If That Is Heaven, We Would Rather Go To
Hell': Contextualizing U.S.-Cuba Relations" in Societies
Without Borders (2007).
Yanina Seltzer '05 works at the Inter-American Bank in
Washington, D. C.
Lynn Stephen (Ph.D. '87) is Distinguished Professor of
Anthropology at the University of Oregon. She published
a chapter on "Rural Women's Grassroots Activism, 1980­
2000: Refrarning the Nation from Below" in Sex in
Revolution: Gender, Politics, and Power in Modern
Mexico (2006) and Transborder Lives: Indigenous
Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon (2007).
Deborah Waller Meyers '93 published "The u.s. Needs
Immigrant Labor: Unauthorized Immigrants Are Only a
Symptom of an Outdated System" in Americas Quarterly
(2007). She is directing a project for the Migration Policy
Institute involving offering seminars to senior leaders in
ministries in the Mexican government.
Jo Ann Wexler '69 is the co-author of Viva Oaxaca, a
guidebook about the city where she spends half the year.
Her website is www.si-oaxaca.com.
NEW FACULTY MEMBER
The LALS Program welcomes assistant professor
Patricia Tovar to Brandeis and to our faculty. Professor
Tovar received her undergraduate degree at the Pontifical
Catholic University of Peru and her doctorate at the
University of Maryland. Her primary research interest is
in international trade, with emphasis on political economy
and trade policy.
LALS FACULTY
The following faculty members helped guide the Pro­
gram during the past year, serving as advisers for students
interested in their fields of expertise: Silvia Arrom
(History), Roxanne Davila (ROCL), Elizabeth Ferry (An­
thropology), Ricardo Godoy (SID), Charles Golden
(Anthropology), Donald Hindley (Politics), James
Mandrell (ROCL), Marisol Negron (LALSIROCL), Lucia
Reyes (ROCL), Wellington Nyangoni (AAAS), Angela
Perez-Mejia (ROCL), Fernando Rosenberg (ROCL),
Laurence Simon (SID), Faith Smith (AAAS/English),
Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS/History), Eva Thorne (Politics),
Patricia Tovar (Economics), Javier Urcid (Anthropology)
IN MEMORIAM
LALS mourns the death of Professor Denah Lida, pro­
fessor emeritus in ROCL. She taught at Brandeis from
1955-1986 and was instrumental in founding the Latin
American Studies Program in 1964, now renamed the
Latin American and Latino Studies Program. We remem­
ber her with gratitude for her support and enthusiasm for
our Program.
THE 2008 NEWSLETTER
Do you have professional information to share about
your work that is related to Latin America or Latinos in
the U.S.? Send your information to: Marilyn Brooks,
LALS administrator and newsletter editor: Brandeis
University, LALS/MS 036, Waltham, MA 02454; fax:
781-736-2293; e-mail: MBrooks@brandeis.edu.
Faculty, students, and friends at the LALS luncheon on May 3.
(Photo by Michael Lovett)
7
LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINO STUDIES COURSES OFFERED DURING 2006-07
Fall
AAAS 126b
AMST 169a
ANTH 131b
ANTH 156b
ENG 126b
COML 108a
HIST 71a
HIST 115a
POL 131b
POL 144a
SOC 122a
SPAN 109b
SPAN Illb
SPAN 161a
SPAN 1Mb
SPAN 193b
Spring
AAAS 123b
AAAS 133b
ANTH 147b
ANTH 153a
ECON 26a
FA24b
HIST 71b
HIST 173b
POL 128a
POL 132b
POL 144b
SPAN 108a
SPAN 109b
SPAN 140a
SPAN 163b
SPAN 196a
Nyangoni
Political Economy of the Third World
Ethnicity and Race in the U.S.
Dave
Latin America in Ethnographic Perspective (counted as LALS 100a)
Ferry
Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems
Ferry
Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
Smith
Creating New History & Identities Beyond the Nation: Transnational Female Voices in the U.S.
Reyes
Latin American History, Pre-Conquest to 1870
Arrom
History of Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
Sundiata
Social Movements in Latin America
Thome
Latin American Politics I
Hindley
Sociology of American Immigration
Kim
Introduction to Hispanic Cultural Studies
Mandrell
Introduction to Latin American Literature
Rosenberg
Latinalo Popular Culture
Negron
Art and Revolution in Latin America
Davila
Topics in Hispanic Cinema: Mexican Movies from A-Z
Mandrell
Third World Ideologies
Literature of the Caribbean
Rise of Mesoamerican Civilization
Writing Systems and Scribal Traditions
Latin America's Economy
Twentieth Century and Contemporary Latin American Art
Latin American History: 1870 to the Present
Latin American Women: Heroines, Icons, and History
The Power of Revolution: State Violence and Popular Instugency in the Third World
Political Economy of Latin America (counted as LALS 100a)
Latin American Politics II
Spanish for Bilingual Students
Introduction to Hispanic Cultural Studies
Hispanic Poetry of the 20 th Century
The Latin American Boom and Beyond
Latino Literatures and Film
Newsletter Editor: Marilyn Brooks
Latin American and Latino Studies
Olin-Sang 2181MS 036
Brandeis University
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02454
Nyangoni
Smith
Golden
Urcid
Tovar
Enriquez
Arrom
Arrom
Thaxton
Thome
Hindley
Davila
Mandrell
Rosenberg
Davila
Negron