44TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR
LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
DERBY & RATHBONE HALL, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
28-30 MARCH 2008
PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS
A.
B.
C.
General programme
Symposia programmes
Abstracts (received by 14.3.08)
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A.
GENERAL PROGRAMME
Friday 28 March
13.00 – 17.00
Registration (Derby & Rathbone Hall)
14.00 – 15.00
BLAR Editorial Board
15.00 – 15.30
Refreshments
15.30 – 16.30
SLAS Committee Meeting
16.30 – 17.30
SLAS Annual General Meeting
18.15 – 19.30
Plenary lecture by Dr Juan Ossio, Pontificia Universidad Católica del
Perú, Lima: ‘Ethnicity and Identity in Contemporary Peru: the Perspective
of a Historical Anthropologist’.
19.45 – 20.45
RILAS (Research Institute of Latin American Studies) Reception (Reading
Room, Derby & Rathbone Hall).
21.00 –
Buffet dinner (Roscoe & Gladstone Hall)
Saturday 29 March
7.45 – 8.45
Breakfast
8.30 – 9.15
Registration (Sir Alistair Pilkington Building, University Precinct)
8.45
Buses leave Halls for University Precinct
9.00 – 10.45
Registration (Sir Alistair Pilkington)
9.15 – 10.45
Symposia
10.45 – 11.15
Refreshments
11.15 – 12.45
Symposia
13.00 – 14.00
Lunch
Wine will be served in Room G 05 of the Latin American Studies Building,
courtesy of Liverpool University Press (see conference folders for details
of its Latin American/Hispanic series)
14.00 – 15.30
Symposia
15.30 – 16.00
Refreshments
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16.00 – 17.30
Symposia
17.45
Buses return to Halls
19.15 – 20.00
Wiley-Blackwell Reception/ Launch of SLAS Book Series
(Roscoe & Gladstone Hall)
20.00
Conference Dinner (Roscoe & Gladstone Hall), followed by disco from c.
21.30 until late
Sunday 30 March
7.45 – 8.45
Breakfast
8.45
Buses leave Halls for University Precinct
9.00 – 9.15
Registration (Sir Alistair Pilkington Building)
9.15 – 10.45
Symposia
10.45 – 11.15
Refreshments
11.15 – 12.45
Symposia
13.00 – 14.00
Lunch
13.30 – 14.00
SLAS Committee Meeting
14.15
Buses return to Halls
2
B.
SYMPOSIUM ROOMS
All symposia will be held in the Sir Alistair Pilkington Building:
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Room G.07
Room 101
Room 114A
Room 107
Room G.19
Room 122
Room 107
Room 101
Room 111
Room 107
Room 114A
Room 114
Room 111
Room G.19
Room 114A
Room 122
Room 114
Room G.19
Room 102
Room 102
Room 111
Room 102
Room 103
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SYMPOSIUM 1
INFORMAL EMPIRE IN LATIN AMERICA:
COMMERCE, CULTURE AND CAPITAL
Convenor: Matthew Brown (University of Bristol)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Session 1
Matthew Brown (University of Bristol)
Why Informal Empire?
David Rock (University of California at Santa Barbara)
Informal Empire and Postcolonialism
Charles Jones (University of Cambridge)
The Intimacies of Informal Empire
Louise Guenther (San Francisco State University)
Gendering Informal Empire
Colin Lewis (London School of Economics)
Returning to the Economics of Informal Empire
Session 2
Nicola Miller (University College London)
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Informal Empire
Peter Cain (Sheffield Hallam University)
Wider Reflections on Informal Empire
Jo Crow (University of Bristol)
Literature and Informal Empire
Rory Miller (University of Liverpool)
Looking again at Informal Empire
Alistair Hennessy (University of Warwick)
'An Anglo-Chinese Colony Flying the Spanish Flag' (Carlos Recur, 1879): The case of the
Philippines as part of Britain's informal empire
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SYMPOSIUM 2
WHO ARE YOU?
REPRESENTATIONS OF IDENTITY IN LATIN AMERICAN NARRATIVE
Convenor: Victoria Carpenter (University of Derby)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Session 1
José G. Vargas-Hernández (Instituto Tecnológico de Cd. Guzmán, Mexico)
Algunos mitos, estereotipos, realidades y retos de latinoamérica
Olga Real-Najarro (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, México)
Miguel Ángel Asturias / Sri Aurobindo: Two Cases of Encounter and Disencounter in
Cultural Understanding
Geraldine Lublin (University of Swansea)
Representing Identity in Welsh Patagonia: how to harmonise a diasporic consciousness with
patriotism
Kevin Smullin Brown (University College London)
A House of Friends: Héctor Azar, Bárbara Jacobs, and Joaquín Pardavé’s Lebanese of Mexico
Session 2
Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir (University of Iceland)
Identidad, género y etnicidad en la literatura costarricense
Victoria Carpenter (University of Derby)
Writing (to) Myself: Identity Conflict and Letter-Writing in Gustavo Sainz’s Obsesivos Días
Circulares (1969)
Dr. Lloyd H. Davies (University of Swansea)
History and Hysteria in Fernando del Paso’s Noticias del Imperio (1987)
5
SYMPOSIUM 3
TEACHING AND LEARNING MUSIC IN LATIN-AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
Convenors: Juan Pablo Correa and Fabián Hernández
(Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, México)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Session 1
José Luis Aróstegui (University of Granada), Teresa Mateiro (University of the Santa Catarina
State, Brazil), Gunnar Heiling (Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden)
Emerging Issues in Music Teacher Education in Latin America: Discussion of a Transnational
Evaluation Program
Mayra Analía Orozco (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Decontextualization of Musical Education Curricula in Mexico
Fabián Hernández and Juan Pablo Correa (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, México)
Changing professional music training in Mexico: Some reference points for the development of
new curricula
Session 2
Leonor Convers and Juan Sebastián Ochoa (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá)
A methodological approach to the study of traditional music in academic environments
Catalina Roldán (Universidad de Barcelona)
Professional pianists’ education in Bogotá: Towards the creation of a local school
Juan Pablo Correa (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, México)
Learning diary as a strategy to get musical analysis out of the classroom: An action research
project in a Mexican university
6
SYMPOSIUM 4
CURRENT POLITICAL PROCESSES IN LATIN AMERICA
Convenor: Gustavo Ernesto Emmerich (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Session 1
Gustavo Emmerich (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Mexico City)
A Democratic Audit of Mexico
Victor Figueroa Clark (London School of Economics)
Chile: Democracy and Perspectives
Natascha Adama (Ghent University, Belgium)
Venezuela, Suriname, Jamaica and Uruguay: The Relevance of Political Parties for
Democratization Then and Today
Session 2
Andrés Reyes Rodríguez (Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes)
Cambio político y calidad democrática en Aguascalientes, México 1995-2006
Cecilia Hernández Cruz (Universidad de Salamanca) y Luis Eduardo Medina Torres (Sistema
Nacional de Investigadores, México)
Elecciones, resultados y clientelismo político en México
Horacio Mackinlay (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)
Las organizaciones campesinas e indígenas mexicanas frente a la democracia: 3 modelos
organizativos
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SYMPOSIUM 5
POSITIVISM, MODERNITY AND SCIENCE IN LATIN AMERICA:
MYTHOLOGY AND REALITIES
Convenor: John Fisher (University of Liverpool)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Heloisa Domingues (MAST. Rio de Janeiro)
Paulo Carneiro and the Unesco: Positivist ideas in the project of the International Institute of the
Hylean Amazon
Ledesma, Ismael (Facultad de Estudios Superiores-Iztacala, UNAM)
El positivismo y los origenes de la biologia en Mexico
Natalia Priego (University of Liverpool)
Symbolism, solitude and modernity. Science and scientists in Porfirian Mexico
Ma. De la Paz Ramos (Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades.
UNAM)
Positivismo y modernidad. Su impacto en la enseñanza tecnica en el siglo XIX
Olga Real (Centro de Estudios Asiaticos. Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon)
Narratives of disease in Latin-American Literature: an Aurobindian perspective
Martha Eugenia Rodriguez and Federico Sandoval (Facultad de Medicina. UNAM)
La enseñanza clinica en Mexico al cambio de siglo, XIX al XX
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SYMPOSIUM 6
PLACE AND CULTURAL PRACTICES IN LATIN AMERICA
Convenors: Brenda Galvan-López (University of Newcastle),
Hettie Malcomson (University of Cambridge) and Ahtziri Molina (Universidad Veracruzana)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
Session 1
Susanna Rostas, (University of Cambridge)
Dancing a Sense of Place: the Concheros of Mexico City
Adam Kaasa, (London School of Economics)
Cinema space: the architecture of the movie house in Mexico
Brenda Galvan-López, (University of Newcastle)
Music and Dancing in Public Spaces of the Port of Veracruz (Mexico): Intangible Heritage(s) or
Souvenirs of the City?
Hettie Malcomson, (University of Cambridge)
Danzón in the Port of Veracruz
Session 2
Ahtziri Molina, (Universidad Veracruzana)
Xalapa: la Atenas o apenas Veracruzana (the Athens of or only just from Veracruz)
Jaime Hernandez, (University of Newcastle)
Cultural Expressions and Public Space in Informal Settlements (Popular Habitat) in Colombia
Melanie Lombard, (University of Sheffield)
Placemaking and Place Identity in Colonias Populares in Mexico
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SYMPOSIUM 7
LATIN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICIES BETWEEN
PRAGMATISM AND IDEOLOGY
Convenors: Gian Luca Gardini and Peter Lambert (University of Bath)
SUNDAY 30TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Gian Luca Gardini (University of Bath)
Latin American Foreign Policies between Pragmatism and Ideology: A Framework for Analysis.
Miriam Gomes Saraiva (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
South-south cooperation strategies in the framework of Brazilian foreign policy from 1993 to
2007.
Peter Lambert (University of Bath)
Dancing between Superpowers; Pragmatism and the Limits of Idealism, in Paraguayan foreign
policy
Andres Malamud (University of Lisbon)
Asymmetries and Social Cohesion in Mercosur
Gerard Van der Ree (Utrecht University)
Chile's international identity: enabling and constraining actorness towardsBolivia and Peru.
Diana Raby (University of Liverpool)
Venezuelan Foreign Policy under Chávez
Justin Vogler (Bradford University)
Three Crucial Steps along the Road to Chilean-Argentinean Defence Integration
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SYMPOSIUM 8
MASCULINITIES AND VIOLENCE IN LATIN AMERICAN CULTURES
Convenors: Chris Harris (University of Liverpool) and Amit Thakkar (University of Lancaster)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30
Astvaldur Astvaldsson (University of Liverpool)
In War and in Peace: Men of Violence in Salvadoran literature
James Knight (University of Liverpool)
La tesis de los cojones’: Violence, Masculinity and National Identity in Roque Dalton’s Las
historias prohibidas del pulgarcito
Amit Thakkar (University of Lancaster)
Masculinities of Underdevelopment: The ‘Reproductive Arena’ in Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s
Memorias del subdesarrollo
Chris Harris (University of Liverpool)
Rethinking the Novel of the Mexican Revolution: Hegemonic Masculinity and Political Violence
in Mariano Azuela’s Los de abajo
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SYMPOSIUM 9
THE BANALITY OF VIOLENCE IN LATIN AMERICA:
OLD AND NEW PATTERNS OF VIOLENCE, TERROR AND FEAR
Convenors: David Howard (University of Edinburgh), Mo Hume (University of Edinburgh)
and Ulrich Oslender (University of Glasgow)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
Session 1
Mo Hume (University of Glasgow)
The gendering of banality: notions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ violences in El Salvador
Polly Wilding (University of Leeds)
Gendered identities and everyday violence in Rio
Jelke Boesten (University of Leeds)
Sexual violence at the interface of war and peace: rape as consumption
Session 2
Ulrich Oslender (University of Glasgow)
The banality of forced displacement: terror, violence and regimes of representation in Colombia
Ashley Lebner, (University of Cambridge)
Immanent violence, intimate as usual: the Massacre of Eldorado dos Carajás as a ‘non-event’
David Howard (University of Edinburgh)
Routines of violence and urban governance in the Caribbean: a comparative analysis of Jamaica
and the Dominican Republic
12
SYMPOSIUM 10
CONTINENT IN REVOLT? ANALYSING THE PINK WAVE IN LATIN AMERICA
Convenors: Geraldine Lievesley (Manchester Metropolitan University) and
Steve Ludlam ( University of Sheffield)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
Session 1
Geraldine Lievesley (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Steve Ludlam (University of
Sheffield)
Latin America, the resistance returns.
Francisco Dominguez (Middlesex University)
The Latino – Americanisation of the politics of emancipation
Thomas Muhr (University of Bristol)
Counter – hegemonic globalisation: the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America
Session 2
Ernesto Vivares, Leonardo Diaz Echenique, and Javier Ozorio ( University of Bath, Universidad
Autonoma de Barcelona and Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza)
From chaos and decline towards fairer development: Argentina after the crisis in 2001
Patricio Silva (Leiden University)
The political economy of the Chilean Social Democratic Model, 1990 - 2007
David Close (Memorial University’s St John’s, Canada)
The first year of Daniel Ortega’s second term as President of Nicaragua: Tailoring the bespoke
state?
13
SYMPOSIUM 11
POPULAR MUSIC IN CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA
Convenor: Violeta Mayer (University of Liverpool)
SUNDAY 30TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Jorge Juárez Li, (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
Música y política en el Perú: una aproximación al rock subterráneo limeño desde la década de los
ochentas hasta principios de los noventas
Hazel Marsh, (University of East Anglia)
‘Ya cayó’: the APPO Movement and Resistance Music in Oaxaca, México, 2006-7
Alexei Michailowsky, (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais)
Black Rio: a Brazilian celebration of soul music and blackness
Ana Lessa, (University of Nottingham)
AIDS and music in Cazuza and Russo
Violeta Mayer, (University of Liverpool)
Pinochet’s Chile: Music in the mass media
14
SYMPOSIUM 12
RUPTURING PARADIGMS: CHALLENGING GENRE AND THE ‘EXHAUSTION
OF POLITICS’ IN CONTEMPORARY ARGENTINE CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS
Convenor: Chandra Morrison (University of Cambridge)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
Clara Garavelli, ( Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
On Urgency and Immediacy: The New Argentine Documentary”
Philippa Page, (University of Cambridge)
Challenging Televisual Realities: Re-Politicising Theatre and Cinema, as Genres, in
Contemporary Argentina”
Chandra Morrison, (University of Cambridge)
Do-It-Yourself: Stencil Art, Generational Media, and (A)Political Engagement in Buenos Aires
15
SYMPOSIUM 13
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN BASIC EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA AND
THE ROLE OF THE STATE
Convenors: María Guadalupe Perez, Horacio Pedroza (INEE, México) and
Germán Treviño (EDUCARE, AC)
Maria Balarin (University of Bath)
Educational inequalities in weak states: hegemony, policy and the role of education in Peru
Andres Sandoval-Hernandez (University of Bath)
A Theory of Scientific Method for the Study of the (in)equality of Educational Opportunities in
Latin America
Marianela Núñez Barboza (Centro de Cooperación Regional para la Educación de Personas
Jóvenes y Adultas en América Latina y el Caribe)
Is the Mexican State reducing or preserving educational inequalities?
María Guadalupe Pérez and Horacio Pedroza (INEE, México)
Inverse rationale on education: lower learning opportunities for those in most need.
The case of primary education in Mexico
Teresa Bracho (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica, CIDE),
Educational Gaps in the Mexican Educational system. An analysis of years of schooling and
income during 2000 and 2006.
Germán Treviño (EDUCARE, AC)
Is there a private school advantage in the education of the poor in Mexico? Evidence from a
national standardized test
16
SYMPOSIUM 14
BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA
Convenors: Paulina Ramirez (University of Birmingham) and
Rory Miller (University of Liverpool)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
David E. Hojman (University of Liverpool)
Chilean wine: Who is successful, who is not, and why?
Paulina Ramirez and Helen Rainbird (University of Birmingham)
Global value chains and development: skill formation and innovative capability in Chile
M. A. Carlos La Bandera T. y Enrique Villarreal (Universidad La Salle, Mexico)
Universidad La Salle Área de conocimiento y temática: Educación y Competitividad
Margarita Gomez Macias (Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Tijuana)
Impacto del mercado laboral migratorio hacia la frontera norte
Fabiola López-Gómez, (University of East Anglia)
Determinants of Outsourcing in the Mexican Manufacturing Industry
Rhys Jenkins (University of East Anglia)
The Dragon and the Condor: the growing Chinese involvement in Latin America
Jorge Niosi (Université du Québe) and Effie Kesidou (Manchester Metropolitan University
Business School)
The Software Industry in Latin America: A Potential Path for Development?
Markku Lehtonen, University of Sussex
Social sustainability of the Brazilian bioethanol: power relations in a centre-periphery perspective
Gregorio Perez Arrau and Elaine Eades
The mind behind the wine: managing knowledge workers in Chilean vineyards
17
SYMPOSIUM 15
MUSIC AND LITERATURE
Convenor: Nicholas Roberts (Durham University)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
Session 1
Carolina Orloff (Edinburgh University)
Finding rhythm in Julio Cortázar’s Los Premios
Nicholas Roberts (Durham University)
“La poesía es una palabra que se escucha con audífonos invisibles”: Solitude, Interiority, and the
Poetry of Music in the Writing of Julio Cortázar.
Aquiles Alencar-Brayner (The British Library)
‘The symphony of words: the role of music in the works of João Gilberto Noll’
Session 2
Caroline Rae (Cardiff University)
Carpentier's Musical Interractions and Influences
Katia Chornik (Open University)
Stirring the melting pot: debates on the origin, function and development of music in Alejo
Carpentier's novel Los pasos perdidos
Laiz Rubinger Chen (Nottingham University)
Oral poetry, songs of protest and the Brazilian literary canon: the case of Patativa do Assaré
18
SYMPOSIUM 16
CONSTRUCTING CONTEMPORARY MEXICO
Convenor: Ana Souto (Nottingham Trent University)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Ana Souto (Nottingham Trent University)
The double image of Mexico in 1929: modern but indigenous
Marisela Mendoza (Nottingham Trent University)
Felix Candela
Fidel Meraz (University of Nottingham)
New Architecture and Historic Restoration: Obstruction vs. Interdisciplinary Action
Guillermo Garma Montiel (Nottingham Trent University)
Globalisation in Mexican Architecture
19
SYMPOSIUM 17
CUBA’S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM AND OVERSEAS MEDICAL AID PROGRAMME
Convenor: Stephen Wilkinson (London Metropolitan University)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 - 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Michael Erisman, (Indiana State University)
An Overview of Cuba's Overseas Medical Aid Programs
John M. Kirk (Dalhousie University)
Cuban Medical Internationalism in Latin America since 1998
Margaret Blunden (London Metropolitan University)
Cuba’s International Medical Programme and South-South Cooperation
Gemma Salvetti (London School of Economics)
Cuba’s medical cooperation programme and its implications for health care at home and in the
ALBA countries
Robert Huish (Simon Fraser University)
Going where no doctor has gone before: How Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine may
redefine geographies of health care in the global south
20
SYMPOSIUM 18
LATIN AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS: AN INTRA-PERIPHERAL PERSPECTIVE
ON COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES AND IDEATIONAL TRENDS
Convenor: Rosalie Sitman (Tel Aviv University)
SUNDAY 30TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Matthias vom Hau (University of Manchester)
Unpacking the School: Nationalism and Education in Argentina, Mexico, and Peru
Patrick Barr-Melej (Ohio University)
Counterculture, Transnationalism, and National Projects: Chile and Latin America, 1960s-1970s
David E. Hojman (University of Liverpool)
Intergroup cooperation and rent allocation in colonial Spanish America: The roles of marriage
choice, identity re-invention, and networks in ‘melting-pot’ Chiloe
Ori Preuss (Tel Aviv University)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Luso-Hispano American Interaction in the Age of Empire
Hillel Eyal (Tel Aviv University)
The Limits of Creole Identity: Local Creoles vis-à-vis Spanish and Creole Immigrants in Late
Colonial Mexico City
Rosalie Sitman (Tel Aviv University)
From Babel (Argentina) to Babel (Chile): Border-crossings of a Transnational Cultural
Entrepreneur
21
SYMPOSIUM 19
VENEZUELA 1998-2008
Convenors: Diana Raby (University of Liverpool) and Thomas Muhr (University of Bristol)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45
Diana Raby (University of Liverpool)
Chavez at the Crossroads: the Debate over the Future of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela
Thomas Muhr (University of Bristol)
Social justice and Higher Education for All: a decade of policies and practices
22
SYMPOSIUM 20
SOCIAL CONFLICT AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE ANDEAN REGION:
THE CASE OF VENEZUELA
Convenor: Marco Larizza (University of Essex)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Session 1
Marco Larizza (University of Essex)
Agents of the “Bolivarian Revolution”: Police Violence in Venezuela from the Fourth to the
Fifth Republic (1989-2006)
Oliver Heath (University of Essex)
Economic voting and economic crisis in Venezuela (1993-2003)
Session 2
Rodolfo Magallanes (Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas)
Characterizations of Venezuelan Political Process: the case of Constitutional Reform
Angel Alvarez (Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas)
Dilemmas of Party Competition in Semidemocratic Regimes: Explaining the Puzzling Behavior
of the Venezuelan Political Opposition
23
SYMPOSIUM 21
GENDER AND RACE IN LATIN AMERICAN CULTURAL PRODUCTION
Convenor: Dr Thomas Phillips (University of Plymouth)
SUNDAY 30TH MARCH
9.15 – 10.45 & 11.15 – 12.45
Session 1
Sarah Bowskill (University of Swansea)
Malinche as you’ve never seen her before?: an analysis of Malinche by Laura Esquivel’
Jane Lavery (University of Southampton)
Boricua-Latina-Butta Pecan Mami-Hip hopper Angie Martínez: A Chameleon Artist
Session 2
Isolde Dyson (University of Toronto)
Other Sirens
Dr Thomas Phillips (University of Plymouth)
The Texto Ausente and Transculturation in Augusto Roa Bastos’s Late Fiction
24
SYMPOSIUM 22
COSMOPOLITAN CONDUITS
Convenor: Matthew E.S. Butler (University of Cambridge)
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
16.00 – 17.30
Stefanie Gänger (University of Cambridge)
The Global and the Local: Evolutionary Archaeology in Late-19th Century Peru and Chile
Carrie Gibson (University of Cambridge)
A return to empire: Santo Domingo's War of Reconquest 1808-09
Matthew E.S. Butler (University of Cambridge)
‘Our Saxon masters in zootechnical science’: The Collaborative Participation of the British in
Argentina’s Livestock Modernization, c.1860-1960
25
SYMPOSIUM 23
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CUBAN DEVELOPMENT SINCE 1990
FROM THE SPECIAL PERIOD TO BATTLE OF IDEAS
Convenors: Helen Yaffe and Diego Sánchez-Ancochea
Institute for the Study of the Americas
SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
14.00 – 15.30 & 16.00 – 17.30
Emily Morris (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
Reassessing economic policy-making in Cuba since 1990
Helen Yaffe, I(nstitute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
Enesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Cuba’s Battle of Ideas
Elisa Botella Rodríguez (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
Cuba’s Agrarian Development Model in the Context of Globalisation
Cuba’s exceptionalism? Globalisation and Small Countries in the Global Economy
Diego Sanchez-Ancochea (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
26
C.
SYMPOSIUM 1
ROUND-TABLE ON INFORMAL EMPIRE IN LATIN AMERICA
This panel will launch Informal Empire in Latin America: Commerce, Culture and Capital
(Blackwell/SLAS, 2008), the first imprint in Blackwell’s Society of Latin American Studies
interdisciplinary book series. Some of the contributors to the book (Matthew Brown, Louise
Guenther, Charles Jones, Colin Lewis and David Rock) will present summaries of their chapters.
Other contributors (Rory Miller, Peter Cain, Jo Crow, Alistair Hennessy and Nicola Miller) will
reflect upon the book’s approach and the ramifications of its conclusions for an understanding
of Latin America’s nineteenth century. They will identify an interdisciplinary research agenda for
taking the subject forward. Invited speakers will comment on the originality of the book’s
approach and the diversity of interpretations it advances.
The aims for the round-table sessions are threefold. Firstly, to assess the volume (which will be
formally launched later that evening); secondly to reflect on the approach that we adopted, its
place in the historiography, and to assess any conclusions for a future research agenda (if any);
and thirdly to encourage discussion with conference delegates around the themes and concepts
raised in the papers and in the book. We aim to run the sessions as ‘informally’ as possible with
presentations being brief and concise and as much time as possible dedicated to discussion.
There are no abstracts – copies of Informal Empire in Latin America will be on sale at the
conference.
27
SYMPOSIUM 2
WHO ARE YOU?
REPRESENTATIONS OF IDENTITY IN LATIN AMERICAN NARRATIVE
Session 1
Algunos mitos, estereotipos, realidades y retos de latinoamérica
José G. Vargas-Hernández (Instituto Tecnológico de Cd. Guzmán, Mexico)
La mayoría de los latinoamericanistas tratan a las naciones Latinoamericanas como si sólo fuera
un simple objeto de estudio, el cual tiene características similares. El propósito de este trabajo es
analizar algunos de los mitos, estereotipos, realidades y retos atribuidos a una de las más
importantes regiones del mundo, conocida como Latinoamérica. Latinoamérica ha sido
conceptualizada como una entidad homogénea, significando solamente las naciones actuales que
han recibido la herencia Ibérica como resultado de haber sido conquistadas y colonizadas por
España y Portugal. La mayor parte de los estudios sobre América Latina descuidan reconocer la
influencia de otras culturas de Europa del Norte y devalúan la fuerte herencia recibida de las
culturas indígenas o amerindias y los descendientes africanos.
Miguel Ángel Asturias / Sri Aurobindo: Two Cases of Encounter and Disencounter in
Cultural Understanding
Olga Real-Najarro (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, México)
Postcolonial, subaltern minority discourses raise new fundamental questions about historical
provenances, historical reinscription, political and social purposiveness, what the social and
narrative contract may be. The assertion of new ethnicities and the epistemological negotiation
around these specific questions of difference are part of wider debates, the role of culture and
history as generators of integration or disgregation. Sri Aurobindo and Miguel Ángel Asturias
conform two relevant cases of encounter, disencounter and reencounter with the cultural
tradition of their ancestors.
Miguel Ángel Asturias’ unprecedented interest in his ancestral homeland leads him to rediscover
Guatemala as a repository of Mayan culture. As the Quiché Indians, who relish puns and hidden
meanings, he writes on two levels simultaneously: the realistic, literal sense of the narrative, and
the underlying significance of the mystical and esoteric. Asturias bases his work on the
indigenous art and literature of Guatemala. He harmonizes the baroque style and requirements
of much Latin American literature with another level of significance wherein some of the
standard myths of antiquity are acted out. As Sri Aurobindo, he demonstrates the psychic truth
of myth and the urgent need modern man has for wholeness, a balance between spirit and
matter, reason and instinct, a return to the roots of the unveiled reality. Hombres de Maíz shows
this positive reconceptualization.
Sri Aurobindo, the controversial political revolutionary and mystical visionary, shows a similar
move. From the periphery to the center, and from the center to the periphery both authors
display a complex reaction towards the cultural heritage that conforms, significantly, their
academic breeding and personal experience. Hombres de Maíz and Savitri, A Legend and a Symbol
display the transformation from instrumental rationality to a dialogic episteme that reveals the
impact of the transition in their rationality and the renegotiation with their place of origin. The
focal point of the present work will be to unveil the dynamics of this transition in both authors,
28
and establish the underlying structure or subtext that informs their altered vision towards their
cultural heritage. From resistance to encounter, from rejection to the exploration of cultural cooperations and textual connections.
Representing Identity in Welsh Patagonia: how to harmonise a diasporic consciousness
with patriotism
Geraldine Lublin (University of Swansea)
This paper explores the diasporic elements emerging from the memoir of Carlos Luis Williams, a
Welsh descendant living in Patagonia in the second half of the twentieth century. Robin Cohen’s
characterisation of diasporic features (1997, 180) provides a theoretical starting point to analyse
how Chubut-born Williams perceives his links with Wales as homeland of his ancestors and how
he harmonises these perceptions with his overarching notion of Argentineness. Published in
1988, Puerto Madryn y el triunfo de mis Padres: El Amor projects a strong Welsh Patagonian
consciousness that is however presented as fully compatible with the patriotic feelings of the
author.
A House of Friends: Héctor Azar, Bárbara Jacobs, and Joaquín Pardavé’s Lebanese of
Mexico
Kevin Smullin Brown (University College London)
Héctor Azar’s Las tres primeras personas (1977) and Bárbara Jacobs Las hojas muertas (1987) are two
novels from the Lebanese community of Mexico about their history, their immigration patterns,
and their status within contemporary Mexico. They are overtly identified as novels by
descendants of Lebanese immigrants and about Lebanese immigrants. Representation of the
Lebanese of Mexico is not limited to works by members of the community, however. There is at
least one influential movie, El Baisano Jalil (1942), which tells the story of a Lebanese immigrant
family in Mexico, their commercial and social adventures, their linguistic challenges (hence the
title’s corruption of paisano), and the importance of family. The question is what pattern of
features is visible within the general form of the novels and within the film. How do the
Lebanese represent themselves and how are they represented within Mexico?
Session 2
Identidad, género y etnicidad en la literatura costarricense
Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir (University of Iceland)
En el contexto costarricense los sub-grupos étnicos estuvieron literalmente ausentes de la
literatura nacional hasta las últimas décadas, ya que no se les consideraban parte íntegra de la
sociedad ni tampoco se los veía como elemento política- o culturalmente perteneciente.
Por razones demográficas conocidas, la costa Atlántica, en particular la provincia de Limón,
aparece como el trasfondo que más frecuentemente ofrece una plataforma apropiada para la
narrativa preocupada por la temática de la co-vivencia étnica en Costa Rica. Así resulta ser el
caso de la narrativa de la escritora activista Anacristina Rossi. Con sus novelas Limón Blues (2002)
y Limón Raggie (2007) la autora trata, de manera renovadora, además de la situación de la mujer, la
representabilidad étnica de la zona y las constantes transmutaciones culturales del Caribe
costarricense. Por medios de su narrativa la fuerza constructiva de la interculturalización o la
“transculturalción”, según Fernando Ortiz, surge como el tema principal y un elemento decisivo.
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La instrumentalidad de la mujer en la construcción de la identidad híbrida, no sólo de la zona
Atlántica sino de la nación en sí toma lugar central en sus textos. Particularmente interesante es
encontrar cómo Rossi interpreta la subalternidad compartida de los grupos étnicos marginales
como vehículo de entendimiento y comprensión mutuos, para así promover un cuestionamiento
de la identidad nacional costarricense.
Writing (to) Myself: Identity Conflict and Letter-Writing in Gustavo Sainz’s Obsesivos
Días Circulares (1969)
Victoria Carpenter (University of Derby)
The paper examines the letters that form a large part of the plot in Gustavo Sainz’s novel
Obsesivos Días Circulares (1969). The analysis focuses on the characters of the protagonist-writer
and two recipients, aiming to determine if the latter actually exist or if they are projections of the
protagonist’s character. The paper will also examine the circularity of the narrative to reveal the
process of (dis)integration of the protagonist in the multiplicity of narrative lines.
History and Hysteria in Fernando del Paso’s Noticias del Imperio (1987)
Lloyd H. Davies (University of Swansea)
The focus of Del Paso’s text is the French intervention in Mexico and the imperial rule (1864-67)
of Maximilian of Hapsburg and his wife Charlotte of Belgium. Following the execution of her
husband, Carlota (as she was known in Mexico) spent the remainder of her long life in Bouchout
Castle, Belgium (she died in 1927). This paper considers Del Paso’s portrait of Carlota as
spectacular female ‘other’, ‘la loca de la casa’, afflicted by hysteria, senility and old age. Carlota
seeks to resuscitate a past era – of which she is a living trace – and, in particular, its dominant
figure, Maximilian. Her unrestrained imagination reconstructs the past as fiesta delirante. In some
respects, she merely exaggerates New Historical trends but rather than concentrating on
historical ‘gaps’, she indulges in wholesale recreation, thereby defying the finality of any limit,
including that of death.
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SYMPOSIUM 3
TEACHING AND LEARNING MUSIC IN LATIN-AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
At the present time, music departments in Latin-American universities are confronted with
curricular reforms and international pressure for professional excellence and versatility. During
the past century, advances in general education affected mainly elementary school, leaving
further education in music behind. This means that, nowadays, inexperienced academic
communities are moving towards an urgent implementation of models that ensure balance
between holistic education, musicianship and the exigencies of a flexible labour market. In the
context of these new challenges, participants in this panel are invited to contribute to the LatinAmerican debate about the designing of FE curricula and teaching strategies, on musical theory,
musicology, composition and performance.
Session 1
Emerging Issues in Music Teacher Education in Latin America: Discussion of a
Transnational Evaluation Program
José Luis Aróstegui (University of Granada, Spain), Teresa Mateiro (University of the Santa
Catarina State, Brazil), Gunnar Heiling (Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden)
This paper will discuss a range of emerging issues arising out of a major evaluation of music
teacher education programs across Europe and Latin America. Funded by the EU, this
transnational evaluation project, conducted over 2005-2007, was designed to identify how the
notion of quality in music teacher education is interpreted and implemented across systems with
widely differing academic traditions and governance structures. By using case study research and
program analysis, in this presentation we will explore substantive issues specific to music teacher
education in Latin America, including disjuncture between music skills and pedagogical training
of teachers, contrast between technical and critical approaches in teacher education, tensions
across music genres and gap between initial education of music teachers and their professional
development.
Decontextualization of Musical Education Curricula in Mexico
Mayra Analía Orozco (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
This paper analyzes the problems that result from the social decontextualization of the curricula
for musical educators. It surveys two programmes currently offered by the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México and the Universidad de Colima. Documentary research together with the
analysis of interviews to graduated musical educators led to the exploration of four main issues:
academic experience of university professors, quality in theoretical-musical foundations, insertion
of professional educators in a wide and undervalued labour market, and disparity in graduate
profiles.
Changing professional music training in Mexico: Some reference points for the
development of new curricula
Fabián Hernández and Juan Pablo Correa (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, México)
This paper aims at exploring the curricular reform phenomenon in tertiary music education in
Mexico. It compares current curricular restructuring processes in different institutions. As a
result, it points out differences and similarities on both problem targeting and the responses to
31
those problems reflected on new curricula. This study offers elements for analyzing and
evaluating the pertinence and consistency of different restructuring approaches and new trends
in musical education, considering the latter as driving forces behind as well as consequences
from those reforming acts.
Where is high quality accreditation leading music programs in Colombia?
Juan Antonio Cuéllar (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá)
In March 2003 the first undergraduate program in arts in Colombia obtained its high quality
accreditation through the National Accreditation System held by the National Ministry of
Education. In 2004, the Voice program offered by Universidad de Antioquia obtained its
accreditation, and today there are six undergraduate programs in music with high quality
accreditation, plus three more in process to obtain it. This paper examines the relevance of the
accreditation model for music programs in Colombia, and its implications towards international
standards of higher education in music.
Session 2
A methodological approach to the study of traditional music in academic environments
Leonor Convers and Juan Sebastián Ochoa (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá)
As authors of Gaiteros y Tamboleros: Material to approach the study of the gaita music from San Jacinto,
Bolivar, (Colombia), we propose a methodology to study traditional music in academic contexts. By
taking part in the daily life of traditional musicians, we try to understand the way they think,
learn, make, and teach their music. As musicians educated in formal academies, and located in
“the border” (Mignolo, 2003), we analyze where traditional and academic ways of teaching and
learning music meet, and we try to find a balanced perspective where both of them complement
each other.
Professional pianists’ education in Bogotá: Towards the creation of a local school
Catalina Roldán (Universidad de Barcelona)
This paper analyzes the training of professional pianists in four nationally representative
educational programmes in Bogotá, Colombia. Considering the experience and opinion of
teachers and students, the author evaluates the extent to which the implemented pedagogical
models are a result of the preservation of certain tendencies related to European teaching
traditions. Adjustments made to these models in response to local needs are also explored, and
the emergence of local pedagogical trends is analyzed. Finally, on the basis of the present and
future conditions of the Colombian educative system, conclusions about the updating and
adaptation of these models are given.
Learning diary as a strategy to get musical analysis out of the classroom: An action
research project in a Mexican university
Juan Pablo Correa (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas)
This paper presents partial results of a qualitative research that is being carried on in a course of
musical analysis. Students were asked to keep a learning diary which was evaluated at the end of
the course by interview. This research was designed as a response to problems caused by a
curricular model that tends to compartmentalize the training of professional musicians, and
which seems to be a common practice in most of the Mexican professional schools of music.
32
Aimed at strengthening intrinsic motivation and meaningful learning, this strategy has shown
significant changes in both teaching and learning processes and outcomes.
33
SYMPOSIUM 4
CURRENT POLITICAL PROCESSES IN LATIN AMERICA
Session 1
A Democratic Audit of Mexico
Gustavo Emmerich (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)
To what extent is Mexico a democracy? To answer this question, a research team is conducting a
democratic audit of Mexico encompassing four broad dimensions: a) citizenship, law and rights;
b) representative and accountable government; c) civil society and popular participation; d)
democracy beyond the state. Its preliminary findings: while in the last few years Mexico has given
significant steps towards free elections and political liberties, there are still many obstacles to
furthering the country’s democracy. Among them: extreme social and economical inequality,
poor enforcement of the rule of law, doubts on the electoral system’s fairness, insufficient
accountability and governmental responsiveness, low popular participation, and concentration of
the electronic media ownership.
Chile: Democracy and Perspectives
Victor Figueroa Clark (London School of Economics)
Chile's model of 'restricted democracy' and a neoliberal economy is coming under increasing
strain. The current system is proving inadequate in dealing with the increasingly important
problems of inequality and lack of political representation. Although somewhat reformed, the
constitution and state institutions inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship block the
implementation of necessary changes to political and economic structures. Discontent is
growing, exacerbating tensions within and between the two main political coalitions, and feeding
growing social movements. Such developments must lead to the restructuring of Chilean politics,
either through profound alterations, or the collapse of the inherited model.
Venezuela, Suriname, Jamaica and Uruguay: The Relevance of Political Parties for
Democratization Then and Today
Natascha Adama (Ghent University, Belgium)
The postulate that two party systems are more stable is negated by political crises in Uruguay and
Jamaica in the 1960s and 1970s. Multi-party systems in Venezuela and Suriname by the same
token, led to fragmentation of the political landscape and profound leadership crises that
continues to determine society today. This paper assumes that two party systems have greater
propensity for political stability and proposes to explore 1) the relevance of party-systems for
democratization in general and 2) the role the party-systems in the aforementioned countries
played during and after the political crises.
Session 2
Cambio político y calidad democrática en Aguascalientes, México 1995-2006
Andrés Reyes Rodríguez (Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes)
Aguascalientes fue uno de los primeros estados mexicanos en experimentar alternancia política.
A finales de los años noventa el conservador Partido Acción Nacional ganó por vez primera la
34
presidencia municipal de la ciudad-capital, la mayoría del Congreso local y la gubernatura del
estado. Una realidad de gobiernos divididos motivó cambios en el sistema político, fricciones
entre distintos niveles de gobierno, y modificaciones en las expectativas que tiene la sociedad
tanto de la administración gubernamental como de los partidos. La ponencia concluye que tales
cambios fueron resultado de una reacción inmediata y no de un plan de acuerdos amplio,
variado y sistemático.
Elecciones, resultados y clientelismo político en México
Cecilia Hernández Cruz (Universidad de Salamanca) y Luis Eduardo Medina Torres (Sistema
Nacional de Investigadores, México)
El clientelismo sigue siendo característico del régimen político mexicano. Durante 2007 se
celebraron elecciones en quince estados de México. Esta ponencia revisa los resultados en los
comicios para elegir alcaldes en las capitales estatales, después de las impugnaciones presentadas
ante el órgano jurisdiccional nacional, ya que en ellos existió la posibilidad de la anulación de los
comicios como sucedió en el municipio de Yurécuaro, Michoacán. La ponencia estudia, también,
las prácticas clientelares que utilizaron los distintos partidos para obtener el triunfo en las
elecciones de alcaldes y propone un balance sobre la configuración de los partidos en el ámbito
subnacional.
Las organizaciones sociales campesinas e indígenas frente a la transición democrática
en México
Hubert C. de Grammont (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) y Horacio Mackinlay
(Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)
En este trabajo analizamos las relaciones que establecen las organizaciones campesinas e
indígenas mexicanas con los partidos políticos y el Estado. Para representar estas relaciones
adoptamos la idea de matriz socio-política, y definimos tres tipos de matrices: la primera es la
matriz “política”, en la cual las organizaciones sociales se supeditan a los partidos políticos; la
segunda es la matriz “social y política”, en la cual existe autonomía de acción entre las
organizaciones sociales y los partidos políticos y; la tercera, la matriz “social”, en la cual se
considera que sólo la acción a nivel de la sociedad civil organizada es portadora de cambio,
mientras que los partidos políticos no hacen más que reproducir las estructuras de poder
existentes. A la luz de estas matrices, analizamos la evolución de las organizaciones sociales en el
sector rural en términos históricos, con el objeto de concentrarnos en la década del 2000,
analizando los procesos que fortalecen y aquellos que frenan el desarrollo del proceso
democrático de México.
35
SYMPOSIUM 5
POSITIVISM, MODERNITY AND SCIENCE IN LATIN AMERICA: MYTHOLOGY
AND REALITIES
Session 1
Paulo Carneiro and the Unesco: Positivist ideas in the project of the International
Institute of the Hylean Amazon
Heloisa Maria Bertol Domingues (MAST-Rio de Janeiro)
The inclusion of the ‘s’ in the Unesco’s name revealed a positivist face. Sciences were seen as a
way to solve the problems caused by World War II. The Unesco most important project was to
integrate the different parts of the world through the knowledge that each of them could give to
the maintenance of peace and, consequently, to the overall “progress”. They believed in a world
without disputes, as stated by the Comtian positivism. Julian Huxley, the first General Director
of Unesco, was a positivist and a Darwinist.
El positivismo y los orígenes de la biología en México
Ismael Ledesma Mateos (UNAM) y Ana Barahona Echeverría (UNAM)
Partiendo de la consideración del positivismo como la filosofía más influyente en el ámbito
educativo mexicano, durante la parte final del siglo XIX y los inicios del XX, en el presente
trabajo se analiza su relación con los procesos que dieron origen al establecimiento de la biología
como ciencia en México.
Para ello, se parte de una revisión del impacto del positivismo en el desarrollo de las ciencias en
América Latina, para luego centrarse en la manera como el positivismo de Comte se introduce en
México por Gabino Barreda, asentándose en la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria (ENP),
encontrando posteriormente el rechazo de personajes influyentes en el ámbito intelectual y
políticos del régimen porfirial, tal como Justo Sierra, que se inclina por el positivismo en las
version de John Stuart Mill y Herbert Spencer, simpatizando a la vez con el darwinismo, tema
que propició amplios debates en el seno de la Sociedad Metodofila Gabino Barreda. Se revisa el
alejamiento del positivismo en la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria y el papel de Alfonso Herrera
Fernández, como factor de equilibrio entre los sectores proclives al positivismo y sus
adversarios en el plantel del que fue director, tiempo en el cual se mantuvo la orientación
positivista, pero desde la perspectiva de Sierra. En este contexto, se intenta mostrar como al
surgimiento de la Biología en México a principios del siglo XX, el pensamiento de Alfonso Luis
Herrera -principal introductor del darwinismo y personaje crucial en el proceso de
institucionalización de la Biología en México- se aparta del positivismo y toma como base de una
concepción propia aunque ligada al romanticismo alemán. De igual forma se pretende dar
evidencia de cómo la inercia producida por la educación positivista, fue determinante para la
orientación de la biología mexicana en su proceso de institucionalización posterior a la obra de
Alfonso L. Herrera, en un nuevo y complejo escenario donde coexiste la herencia positivista y el
rechazo al positivismo por José Vasconcelos y el Ateneo de la juventud, existiendo
reminiscencias del positivismo en la biología institucionalizada, tal como se muestra con las ideas
de Isaac Ochoterena .
36
Paulo de Berredo Carneiro, a Brazilian biochemist, presented to Unesco, in the preparatory
meetings, in 1946, a project to create the International Institute of Hylean Amazon (IIHA). It
would be the first experience of integration of the scientific works from different countries, in
this case the Amazonian countries (Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and the
three Guyanas). Sciences would play in the Amazon the role of putting both the forest and the
rivers at society’s service, which were seen as a part of nature. Paulo Carneiro was also a
positivist, from a line that valued the environment, as well as the men who lived in it.
The [scientific] rationalism would be the structuring factor of Unesco, as well as of the
International Institute of Hylean Amazon project. Here, sciences would be ahead of the political
projects for the society. The IIHA was seen as an opposition to the local nationalist movement,
and that was one of the reasons that determined its collapse.
Symbolism, solitude and modernity. Science and scientists in Porfirian Mexico
Natalia Priego (University of Liverpool)
The frantic search of Mexico for ‘modernity’ and the identity of the ‘nation’ during the period
known as ‘Porfiriato’ has been an important part of the debate about national identity which in
the late-XIX and early-XX centuries suffered an infatuation with French culture and the attempt
to create a modern nation by means of industrialisation and scientific modernisation. The
concept of nation in Mexico is definitively linked with the search for a national ‘I’, and with the
struggle to overcome the solitude. Paradoxically, perhaps, this very quest forms a part of this
identity, whose symbolism dates back to pre-Hispanic times, and which seems to remain
inconclusive. This paper explores the process of transmission and embodiment of scientific ideas
beyond the conventional barriers of political historiography and anthropology, discussing
scientific discourses in the construction of national identities and their relationship with Mexican
culture during the late-XIX and early-XX centuries.
Session 2
Positivismo y modernidad. Su impacto en la enseñanza técnica en México en el siglo
XIX
María de la Paz Ramos Lara (UNAM)
El Positivismo se introdujo en México en el último tercio del siglo XIX y se reorganizó la
enseñanza técnica en función de este sistema filosófico. En la Escuela Nacional de Ingenieros, la
escuela de ingeniería más importante del país, la introducción del positivismo no produjo
cambios en su estructura académica, pues la idea de enseñar primero las matemáticas y la física y
dar mayor importancia a la observación era una tradición que provenía desde el siglo XVIII,
desde la creación del Colegio de Minería, el cual se transformó en la Escuela de Ingenieros
décadas más tarde. Donde influyó fue en el plano ideológico pues produjo un gran entusiasmo
por promover la ciencia, especialmente las ciencias físicas, que en los países industrializados se
habían convertido en la base de las nuevas industrias, como la eléctrica. La introducción del
positivismo en México se efectuó de manera simultánea a la puesta en marcha de nuevos
proyectos de modernización del país, algunos de los cuales implicaron la creación de nuevas
carreras de ingeniería, como la ingeniería mecánica y la ingeniería eléctrica, ambas estrechamente
vinculadas con el sector industrial y sustentadas en las ciencias físicas, las ciencias privilegiadas
por el Positivismo. Pero estas carreras fracasaron y en la ponencia mostraré que fue producto de
un contradicción entre lo que promovía el positivismo y la realidad económica del país que
dependía de la inversión extranjera para su modernización.
37
Narratives of disease in Latin-American Literature: an Aurobindian perspective
Olga Real (Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon)
The Latin-American literature of the XIX and XX Century displays a significant narrative of
disease: mental illness, palludism, and even paradigmatic cases of onchocerciasis are intertwined
in the novelistic text that acts as a witness and repository of ancestral knowledge. Examples of
popular wisdom, attitudes and practices are described along scientific elements belonging to
medical orthodoxy. Through the integration of popular practices, the literary narrative displays
an element of alterity and contrast between tradition and modernity, thus portraying the conflict
of national identity and its identification with either tradition or modernity, synonym of science
and advancement, as well as imperialism and imposition of modes of knowledge.
This work presents some of the popular practices described in literary texts, and the concept of
disease as it is perceived in the popular imaginary. The Aurobindian analysis will integrate a novel
cross-cultural perspective.
La enseñanza clínica en México al cambio de siglo, XIX al XX
Martha Eugenia Rodríguez (UNAM) y Federico Sandoval Olvera (UNAM)
Para la carrera de médico cirujano, la Escuela Nacional de Medicina impartió clases teóricas y
prácticas. Las primeras requerían de salones de clase y una biblioteca. Las prácticas se daban
dentro y fuera de la institución. En la Escuela se impartían en laboratorios y anfiteatros, mientras
que la enseñanza clínica se daba a la cabecera del enfermo, en múltiples hospitales que fungieron
como sedes alternas para consolidar la enseñanza.
La ponencia se dedicará al estudio de la enseñanza clínica, interna y externa, definida en 1905 por
el catedrático José Terrés como la ciencia que tiene por objeto estudiar a los enfermos para
establecer el origen del estado patológico y a su vez realizar el pronóstico, instituir el tratamiento,
evitar la transmisión de las enfermedades y establecer las bases de la patología. A través de la
clínica, el estudiante aprendía a realizar dos diagnósticos: el de la enfermedad y el del estado
patológico del paciente al que asistía. Fue así como se ejercitó para realizar un mejor
interrogatorio y reconocer las enfermedades en los pacientes, además de los diversos métodos de
exploración: percusión, auscultación y palpación. Por tanto, la clínica pasó a ser la parte aplicativa
de la medicina, lo que se hacía al lado del paciente con el fin de identificar y manejar
médicamente un problema de salud.
Para el análisis del tema se presentará información proveniente de los Hospitales de San Andrés,
Juárez y General, entre otros.
38
SYMPOSIUM 6
PLACE AND CULTURAL PRACTICES IN LATIN AMERICA
Session 1
Dancing a Sense of Place: the Concheros of Mexico City
Dr Susanna Rostas (University of Cambridge)
The concheros perform a circle dance in various locations in and around Mexico City. During
the course of the 20th century, awareness of the Aztec past has greatly increased and for the
Concheros, locations which for many years had only had 'a residual sense of continuity' (Nora),
have become once again settings in which memory is a real part of ritual life and linked to the
Aztec past. The paper examines how the Concheros create a sense of place for the dance within
the various locations in which they dance by means of a ritual cleansing whose physicality endures
for that dance.
Cinema space: the architecture of the movie house in Mexico
Adam Kaasa (London School of Economics)
Francisco Serrano's often overlooked 1937 architectural piece, Cine Encanto, seating over 4000
people, engages spectacular space with the practice of movie watching. In the first half of the
20th Century, Mexico City offered one of the largest concentrations of these scaled up movie
houses in the world, many of which fell into disrepair, or were destroyed in subsequent
earthquakes. Drawing from Soviet nationalist cinema, Nazi propaganda films and the 'Golden
Age' of Mexican cinema, this paper aims to articulate the relationship between the nationalist
project, the architecture of the movie house and the practice of 'going to the movies'.
Music and Dancing in Public Spaces of the Port of Veracruz (Mexico): Intangible
Heritage(s) or Souvenirs of the City?
Brenda Galvan-López (University of Newcastle)
This paper considers the interrelationship between tangible and intangible constructions of
heritage within historic centres, focusing on both the constituent elements of specific practices
and the public spaces in which they are produced, and on the ways in which various stakeholders
value and experience the production and consumption of intangible heritage. Public spaces,
festivities and dancing are explored in the historic centre of the Port of Veracruz (Mexico),
drawing on ethnographic fieldwork.
Danzón in the Port of Veracruz
Hettie Malcomson (University of Cambridge)
Of the music-dance forms performed in the Mexican Port of Veracruz, danzón predominates in
the Port’s central plaza. The processes leading to its predominance include rivalries, the
formation of danzón groups, the establishment of the Instituto Veracruzano de Cultura, a new
choreographic aesthetic, the municipalization of danzón musicians, and the positioning of
danzón as one of Veracruz’s tourist attractions. In this paper I explore the relationships between
space, the local state and danzón-event participants in the Port.
Session 2
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Xalapa: la Atenas o apenas Veracruzana (the Athens of or only just from Veracruz)
Ahtziri Molina (Universidad Veracruzana)
Xalapa has two faces: as 'the city of flowers' it is clearly associated with the city's idyllic natural
conditions; as the Athens of Veracruz, its part as an academic and cultural centre of the State of
Veracruz is accentuated. Xalapa has experienced periods of great cultural and artistic flourishing,
yet transformations to the city have impacted on its dynamism as a creative hub. Employing
social representation theory, I shall analyse the notion of Xalapa as a cultural and political capital
drawing on ethnographic data from Xalapa's own artistic community and Veracruz's cultural
sector.
Cultural Expressions and Public Space in Informal Settlements (Popular Habitat) in
Colombia
Jaime Hernandez (University of Newcastle)
Informal settlements (popular habitats), where much poverty can be found, are also the nest of
many interesting and imaginative ways to deal with everyday life; cultural expressions and placemaking are among them. This work in progress explores the relationship between public spaces
and cultural practices in popular habitats in Colombia. The people in these areas are developing
their own built environment through their ideas, initiatives and economic possibilities. The aim
of this study is to explore the social and cultural relationships with the built environment; in
other words, the public space outcome in relationship with the social and cultural local fabric.
Placemaking and Place Identity in Colonias Populares in Mexico
Melanie Lombard (University of Sheffield)
The paper will explore the relation between placemaking and place identity in colonias populares in
Mexico. Colonias populares, often considered to be marginalised in relation to the wider city, are
usually built informally by the residents’ placemaking activities, outside regulatory frameworks.
‘Placemaking’ signifies the ways that people transform the places in which they find themselves
into the place in which they live (Schneekloth and Shibley 1995). The paper will emphasise the
role of cultural practices in placemaking, including vernacular architecture, religious activities,
superstitious beliefs and social gatherings. Using findings, including solicited photographs, from
two case study neighbourhoods in Xalapa, Veracruz, the paper will explore how residents
experience placemaking and place identity.
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SYMPOSIUM 7
LATIN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICIES BETWEEN
PRAGMATISM AND IDEOLOGY
In recent years several Latin American countries have taken a more assertive stance in their
foreign policy at regional and international level, which some observers have seen as indicative of
greater regional solidarity and ideological commitment. However, closer inspection reveals a
significant degree of pragmatism in the international insertion strategy of many Latin American
countries, which undermines the rhetorical aims of regional solidarity. This panel examines this
trend through a number of case studies, assessing whether or not it is possible to detect a new
common trajectory in the international relations of Latin America. One of the expected
outcomes of the panel is a book proposal for a co-edited volume to be submitted to publishers
in summer 2008.
Latin American Foreign Policies between Pragmatism and Ideology: A Framework for
Analysis.
Gian Luca Gardini (University of Bath)
In recent years several Latin American countries have taken a more assertive stance in their
foreign policy. A combination of pragmatism and ideology characterises Latin American
approaches to international relations but, unlike in the past, the former element seems to prevail.
A pondered use of rhetoric toward both internal and international audiences is used as leverage
to extract benefits according to convenience and is accompanied by a strong awareness of
international constraints. Is this a permanent or contingent feature? What factors affect the mix
of pragmatism and ideology? This paper set a theoretical framework to answer these questions
focusing on 5 factors: objectives of foreign policy, country profile, audiences, stature of the
leaders, and historical and political context.
South-south cooperation strategies in the framework of Brazilian foreign policy from
1993 to 2007.
Miriam Gomes Saraiva (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
The aim of the paper is to analyse the South-South cooperation adopted by Brazilian foreign
policy between 1993 and 2007. On the one hand the article examines Brazilian foreign policy
towards South America: Mercosur and South American cooperation in broad terms, which is the
type of cooperation that the country considers the priority. On the other hand, reflects on
Brazilian cooperation with other emerging countries that belong to other continents, such as
South Africa, India, China, and Russia. The article is based on a framework that identifies a
medium power’s multilayered behavior in terms of external conditionality and autonomy margin.
Dancing between Superpowers; Pragmatism and the Limits of Idealism, in Paraguayan
foreign policy
Peter Lambert (University of Bath)
Since the late 19th century Paraguay’s foreign policy has historically been characterized by its
subordinate relation with its two powerful neighbours, Brazil and Argentina – often through a
pendulum policy - as well as its relationship with the US in the Cold War. During the 1990s
international constraints and domestic politics meant that Paraguayan policy was noninstitutionalized and reactive at best and non-existent at worst. Indeed policy was noticeable by
41
its absence. However, the recent combination of a stronger integrationist current in Mercosur,
tensions between Mercosur and the US, and a strong Paraguayan executive, might indicate new
opportunities available to Paraguay to increase its negotiating position and its presence through a
more idealistic discourse stressing regional integration and social cooperation.
Asymmetries and Social Cohesion in Mercosur
Andres Malamud (University of Lisbon)
Two concepts appear profusingly in the legal system of and general literature on Mercosur:
'asymmetries' and 'social cohesion'. This article traces the utilization of both concepts in order to
map the different meanings they are usually given. Through an extensive analysis of regional
norms, scholarly texts, and journalistic pieces, I show how these concepts are hardly ever
defined, contradictorily utilized, and usually misapplied. Most of the times, they are simply
transplanted from the European Union experience without any concern for either conceptual
consistency or empirical grasp. As rhetoric instruments rather than analytical tools, thus, these
concepts have led to policy sterilization rather than policy advocacy. Whatever the meaning of
the words, I contend, Mercosur asymmetries are not being solved and social cohesion is not
being advanced. Moreover, I argue that this is partly due to the very failure at conceptual
clarification.
Chile's international identity: enabling and constraining actorness towardsBolivia and
Peru
Gerard Van der Ree (Utrecht University)
Since the 1990s, the relations between Chile and its northern neighbours Peru and Bolivia have
been highly difficult and complex. This paper will analyse the ways in which national identities
(often complex and contradictory) have produced opportunities and constraints for Chile
towards its Andean neighbours. To this end, it will focus on the notion of 'international identity',
the ways it is constructed nationally, and the reactions it provokes abroad. In the case of Chile,
three main identities will be identified: neo-liberal, legalistic, and progressive. In complex and
contradictive ways, these international identities 'set the stage' for the interaction with Bolivia and
Peru.
Venezuelan Foreign Policy under Chávez
Diana Raby (University of Liverpool)
From the beginning, Chávez’ project of “Bolivarian Revolution” clearly implied a fundamental
reorientation of foreign policy. One of the new President’s first actions was to take measures to
revive OPEC (the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and to establish close
relations with Cuba, China and Iran. While insisting on the desire to maintain good relations with
the US, Chávez talked openly of his desire for a multi-polar world and for a strengthening of
Venezuelan sovereignty.
Within three years, Washington’s complicity in the short-lived anti-Chávez coup would be
embarrassingly clear, and US-Venezuelan relations became characterised by an unceasing war of
words. Venezuela’s ALBA project (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a regional unity and
development scheme diametrically opposed to the Washington-inspired ALCA or Free Trade
Area of the Americas) aroused further hostility from the Bush administration. Relations with
neighbouring Colombia, Washington’s closest ally in the region, were characterised by
intermittent tensions which finally boiled over in a threat of war in March 2008 after Colombian
42
forces invaded the territory of Venezuela’s ally Ecuador as part of Bogotá’s ongoing conflict with
the FARC guerrillas.
This paper will attempt to analyse the guiding principles and practice of Venezuelan foreign
policy since 1999 and its impact on the region, within the framework of ideology and
pragmatism..
Three Crucial Steps along the Road to Chilean-Argentinean Defence Integration.
Justin Vogler (Bradford University)
In the mid 1990s Chile and Argentina created durable institutional mechanisms to facilitate
security cooperation and foster mutual confidence between their respective armed forces. Close
collaboration during the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti further strengthened defence ties and
put the creation of permanent combined forces on the bilateral agenda. Since 2005 both
countries have been preparing a bi-national peacekeeping force which should be operational by
the end of 2008. This paper examines each of these steps towards defence integration and looks
at the objectives pursued by the military and civilian actors who have contributed to bilateral
rapprochement at each stage.
43
SYMPOSIUM 8
MASCULINITIES AND VIOLENCE IN LATIN AMERICAN CULTURES
This is an exploratory and wide-ranging discussion of violence and masculinities in Latin
American cultures. Papers might be concerned with questions of masculinity in relation to the
representation of political violence, criminal violence, domestic violence and homophobia in a
wide range of texts and discourses, including literature, film, poetry, television etc. We hope that
resulting debates will engage with the following types of questions: Do Connell’s Gender and Power
(1987) and Masculinities (1995) offer us, as he claims in the preface to the latter, a ‘systematic
framework for the analysis of masculinities’? Which other frameworks – well-known or relatively
unknown – might better inform such analysis and engage critically with Connell’s work? These
questions are illustrative of the types of theoretical debates we would like to encourage but they
are by no means prescriptive.
In War and in Peace: Men of Violence in Salvadoran literature’
Astvaldur Astvaldsson (University of Liverpool)
Since Martínez’ coup and the following massacre of thousand of peasants, mostly Maya Indians
(1932), modern Salvadoran history has been marked by extreme violence, which has mostly been
perpetrated by men, local and foreign. And if, with the end of the Civil War and the signing of
the Peace Accords in 1992, hope was raised that a new, peaceful future lay ahead, reality has
turned out to be different: not only has violence continued to blight the daily existence of people
of all walks of life but it often also appears even more senseless than before. Not surprisingly,
then, portrayals of men of violence are central to the writings of many leading Salvadoran fiction
writers. Drawing on the work of two of El Salvador’s leading fiction writers, this paper will
examine how, in novels written and published during and after the Civil War, respectively, each
depicts particular types of ‘men of violence’ who have terrorised the nation for so long. Who are
these men, where do they come from, what motivates them? These are the kind of questions the
authors asked, but are there necessarily any obvious answers to be found?
‘La tesis de los cojones’: Violence, Masculinity and National Identity in Roque Dalton’s
Las historias prohibidas del pulgarcito
James Knight (University of Liverpool)
Roque Dalton (1935 – 1975) was one of Latin America’s most controversial writers. A radical
political activist, he participated in the early years of the armed struggle in El Salvador to
overthrow an oppressive military regime only to be executed by his revolutionary comrades.
This paper focuses on Dalton’s collage-novel Las historias prohobidas del pulgarcito (1972), which
presents a radically counter-hegemonic perspective on Salvadoran identity in its reassessment of
the nation’s turbulent past. Whilst it seeks to expose and denounce the violence meted out by the
dominant classes against the Salvadoran people since the Conquest, I discuss how the work also
promotes an image of Salvadoran identity based on a hegemonic masculinity rooted in violent
resistance. My analysis considers the context of the author’s position within a guerrilla
organisation attempting to radicalise the masses in opposition to a violent military regime. In this
light, Las historias can be seen to both reflect and perpetuate the image of the ‘murderous hero’
that, according to Connell, is the admired form of masculinity used by governments and other
agencies to mobilise support for war and recruit men into military service (Connell 1989). Thus,
by unwittingly replicating the militaristic gender models promoted by the government he was
attempting to destabilise, Dalton seems to have contributed to the generation of the cult of
44
violence that permeates many aspects of Salvadoran social relations, including those of the
guerrilla movement in which he was tragically murdered.
Masculinities of Underdevelopment: The ‘Reproductive Arena’ in Tomás Gutiérrez
Alea’s Memorias del subdesarrollo
Amit Thakkar (University of Lancaster)
The protagonist of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s film Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968) is a bourgeois
individual, Sergio, who chooses to stay in Cuba whilst his friends and family leave for Florida
following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Particularly unmoved by the departure
of his wife, Sergio’s bourgeois masculinity initially remains intact but a fling with a young aspiring
actress from a more humble background leads to accusations of rape and a demand for marriage
by her family. This, in turn, sends him into a flight from responsibility which mirrors his
relationship with a Revolution gathering increasing urgency and pace by the time of the Cuban
missile crisis. Through an examination of both form and content in the film, this paper will
examine the transformation in Sergio’s masculinity, in particular his movement from ‘hunter’ to
‘hunted’, as the unravelling of a ‘gender project’ within the theoretical framework provided by
R.W. Connell’s landmark work Masculinities (1995). The paper will therefore consider the
relevance to the film of a number of Connell’s concepts, particularly the concept of ‘the
reproductive arena’, but also ideas such as multiple masculinities, the body as an agent of social
change, institutional masculinity and hegemonic masculinity.
Rethinking the Novel of the Mexican Revolution: Hegemonic Masculinity and Political
Violence in Mariano Azuela’s Los de abajo
Chris Harris (University of Liverpool)
Mariano Azuela’s Los de abajo (1915) is perceived as the ‘classic’ novel of the Mexican Revolution.
As such, it portrays three key stages of the conflict: the opposition to Victoriano Huerta (Primera
parte); the split between Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza (Segunda parte), and the victory
of the carrancistas at the Battle of Celaya (Tercera parte). To date critical attention has focussed
upon various literary and historical aspects of this landmark text including the
regionalism/realism of the narrative, the articulation of authorial pessimism and, in relation to
these, on the complex narrative structure which is at one and the same time both linear and
circular. The purpose of this paper is, in simple terms, to add to our contemporary
understanding of this landmark text by exploring the different ways in which machismo and the
socio-cultural issues it raises find expression in the novel. To that end, Connell’s concept of
hegemonic masculinity is brought into the discussion and also under question. This key concept
in contemporary studies of men and masculinities has been glossed by a leading British
sociologist as ‘the most widely accepted form of being a man in any given society. In
contemporary context, this is the form of masculinity we refer to as “macho”: tough,
competitive, self-reliant, controlling, aggressive and fiercely heterosexual.’ Could we argue, then,
that Demetrio Macías and his villista followers are used by Azuela to embody a specifically
Mexican form of hegemonic masculinity? If so, what part does violence play in that culturally
determined ‘configuration of practices’ (Connell)? How is hegemonic masculinity related to its
counterpart: emphasised femininity? And where might Azuela and his readers stand in relation to
these particular gender identities?
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SYMPOSIUM 10
CONTINENT IN REVOLT? ANALYSING THE PINK WAVE IN LATIN AMERICA
Session 1
Latin America, the resistance returns.
Geraldine Lievesley (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Steve Ludlam (University of
Sheffield)
This paper discusses the contemporary political situation in Latin America, the political
alignments between states and their relations with the U.S. and introduces some problematic
issues that radical social democratic governments have to deal with. It will compare the varieties
of social democratic politics being pursued in different states, discuss the historical and rhetorical
boundaries between social democracy and socialism, consider their relationship with ‘populist’
traditions identified in Latin American politics and evaluate how effective ‘pink wave’
governments have been in empowering the poor, women and indigenous communities.
The Latino – Americanisation of the politics of emancipation
Francisco Dominguez (Middlesex University)
Contemporary social and political movements draw their inspiration and key principles of their
political identity from the thought and legacy of figures such as Martí, Zapata and Bolivar. These
individuals are recreated as the embodiment of the objectives being currently pursued. In a grand
historical perspective this new type of politics in the region is producing formidable results for
the emancipation of the nation and the ‘people’ and its chief characteristic is quintessentially
Latin American. This paper seeks to explore the reasons for the dialectical relationship that
contemporary movements for the emancipation of people and nation have with past events in
the region and the commonalities in their political outlook which may account for the
unprecedented levels of regional collaboration underway in the continent.
Counter – hegemonic globalisation: the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our
America
Thomas Muhr (University of Bristol)
Using a neo – Gramscian framework, I argue that the ALBA is a structure evolving from the
social contradictions inherent in hegemonic capitalist globalisation. ALBA is both a concrete,
systematic regionalisation project guided by the principles of solidarity, cooperation and
complementarity, and a powerful counter – hegemonic institutional idea and framework. This
paper considers Alba’s subregional, bi – and multinational and transnational dimensions as well
as its bottom – up, participatory democratic construction, involving state and non – state actors,
and its initiatives in the fields of education, health and energy.
Session 2
From chaos and decline towards fairer development: Argentina after the crisis in 2001
Ernesto Vivares (University of Bath), Leonardo Diaz Echenique (Universidad Autonoma de
Barcelona) and Javier Ozorio (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza)
46
In March 2002, in the wake of the Argentine economic meltdown, a conventional IMF recovery
and stabilisation plan was proposed. Argentina rejected the idea and six years later, its economy
has made an impressive comeback from chaos and decline. In June 2006, Argentina cancelled its
US $9.8bn debt facility with the IMF and the government began the renationalisation of its
privatised social security system. Now regarded as one of the leading countries in the region,
Argentina is pursuing social justice and economic sovereignty on the basis of an alternative
development strategy. This paper explores this strategy in the context of the country’s
participation in the construction of more substantive forms of democracy and social justice in
Latin America.
The political economy of the Chilean Social Democratic Model, 1990 - 2007
Patricio Silva (Leiden University)
Can the Chilean Concertación experience be considered as part of the ‘pink wave’. Those who
say no argue that Chile has become a bastion of neo-liberalism in the region and that the
principles and practices of the Chilean model are totally opposed to what should be expected
from progressive governments. In contrast, those who include the Chilean case in the 'pink
wave', point out that the Chilean model, without adopting leftist rhetoric, has implemented a
very progressive and successful social agenda. Poverty has been dramatically reduced while the
living standards of the popular sectors are among the highest in Latin America. This paper
assesses the political and ideological background to the Chilean model.
The first year of Daniel Ortega’s second term as President of Nicaragua: Tailoring the
bespoke state?
David Close (Memorial University’s St John’s, Canada)
Re-elected after three straight defeats but with only 38 per cent of the vote, Daniel Ortega
should have been a prudent president who consulted widely and worked with other parties.
Instead, Ortega set about changing Nicaragua’s political system to keep himself in power and
make his Sandinista National Liberation Front a hegemonic force. The paper describes what
Ortega has done, how he has done it and how his state restructuring compares with the project
of Chávez, Morales and Correa. Thus it asks if there is a new form of radical transformation that
follows electoral victory instead of a revolution?
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SYMPOSIUM 11
POPULAR MUSIC IN CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA
Música y política en el Perú: una aproximación al rock subterráneo limeño desde la
década de los ochentas hasta principios de los noventas
Jorge Juárez Li (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
La presente ponencia pretende mostrar cómo los jóvenes en la década de los ochentas y
principios de los noventas encontraron en la música rock un medio de expresión política y
además un motor para generar espacios alternativos en torno a identidades comunes y a
compromisos colectivos. Para ello haremos un recorrido histórico desde el nacimiento de la
subcultura punk, su influencia en la movida subterránea limeña de la década de los 80, y los
cambios que sufre durante los 90. Además se busca reflexionar acerca del carácter integrador y
movilizador que tiene la música en momentos de crisis social.
‘Ya cayó’: the APPO Movement and Resistance Music in Oaxaca, México, 2006-7
Hazel Marsh (University of East Anglia)
In 2006, a coalition of civil and political groups, the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca
(APPO), was formed in order to support 70,000 striking teachers and to demand the resignation
of Governor Ulises Ruíz. This paper examines the ways in which songs articulating the demands
and concerns of the APPO movement have entered into circulation despite severe official
repression.
Black Rio: a Brazilian celebration of soul music and blackness
Alexei Michailowsky (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) Belo Horizonte)
Dissatisfied with patterns of social and racial integration in force, black people of the Rio de
Janeiro suburbs looked at African Americans as role models during the seventies. The most
visible effect of their endeavour was a dance scene variously known as ‘soul power’, ‘black pau’,
‘bailes black’ or ‘black Rio’. In gatherings of thousands, they danced to American soul and funk
records spun by black or white local DJs. Approaches to this phenomenon, which bore little
relation to the Brazilian soul scene of the seventies, have varied ever since.
KEYWORDS: blackness; Brazilian culture; soul music; dance scene
AIDS and music in Cazuza and Russo
Ana Lessa (University of Nottingham)
For over 20 years HIV-Aids has been an issue of public concern around the world.
In this paper I shall argue that Cazuza and Russo, both composers/singers helped to expose the
problem of HIV-Aids to a wider public, and that some of their songs contributed to raising
awareness and spreading knowledge about the condition.
I will analyse how the situation has changed since the 90s in the Brazilian context, and how an
increasing number of artists have been contributing to challenging and changing society’s
perception, memory and way of engaging with one of the most threatening diseases of all times.
Pinochet’s Chile: Music in the mass media
48
Violeta Mayer (University of Liverpool)
This presentation will explore certain aspects of mass mediated popular music in the context of
the military regime that took place in Chile between 1973 and 1990. The musical content present
in mass media such as radio, television, and the press raises interesting questions regarding
musical practices in relation to the existing political system of a nation. For example, the meaning
and use of music, the tension between globally and locally produced music and its relationship to
the political context, or the understanding and ways of implementing censorship.
49
SYMPOSIUM 12
RUPTURING PARADIGMS: CHALLENGING GENRE AND THE ‘EXHAUSTION
OF POLITICS’ IN CONTEMPORARY ARGENTINE CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS
On Urgency and Immediacy: The New Argentine Documentary
Clara Garavelli (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
By virtue of its material form and content, contemporary documentary enacts an epistemological
problem where the representation of reality and the reality of representation are constantly
confronting each other. This is particularly evident in the documentary movement that emerged
in Argentina in direct response to the events of the early 2000s. Urgency and a sense of
immediacy formed a new and important component in their works, not only in relation to the
processes of production, distribution and consumption, but also as part of a raw aesthetic deeply
connected with the immediacy of the December 2001 events. On the basis of this approach, this
paper surveys, through a critical analysis of their key productions, how these groups of videoactivists have profound implications in the process of reconceptualising socio-political
interventions.
Challenging Televisual Realities: Re-Politicising Theatre and Cinema, as Genres, in
Contemporary Argentina
Philippa Page (University of Cambridge)
If one were to define a cultural institution -or medium- as paradigmatic of Argentine
postmodernity, it would more likely than not be television, a hyper-medium that functions as the
most prominent ‘Ideological State Apparatus’ of the times. This paper will examine how certain
plays and films make a direct challenge to television's cultural and ideological hegemony, by
revealing the manner in which it not only distorts reality, but informs a ‘society of spectacle’ in
which -to quote Jean Baudrillard- ‘[e]verything is sexual. Everything is political. Everything is
aesthetic’. What will be posited is that the preoccupation of these texts with television's role in
reshaping social relations -ultimately in dislocating the conceptual boundaries of the nationuncovers a latent anxiety regarding the socio-political function and specificity of theatre and
cinema as art forms, as negotiated over the boundaries each shares with television. Whilst theatre
and cinema transgress the boundaries of their own genres in order to adjust to regimes of
televisuality -to demonstrate what they can reveal about their cultural 'other' from within- their
political engagement ultimately depends on the reassertion of more conventional generic
specificities.
Do-It-Yourself: Stencil Art, Generational Media, and (A)Political Engagement in
Buenos Aires
Chandra Morrison (University of Cambridge)
As a Do-It-Yourself medium characterized by anonymity, easy (re)production, and individual
expression, stencil art provides an (alternative) forum for societal conversations, visually manifest
within the physical cityscape. Buenos Aires’ contemporary stencilling movement consolidated
during 2002-2003 as an artistic expression of middle class youth, responding to a sensed need to
‘producir’ in wake of Argentina’s 2001 Crisis. Giving way to artistic experimentation, stencilling
has since transformed into a fashionable subculture; moreover, the genre can be seen as a
generational mode of expression, often utilising humour and absurdity to embody generationally
50
experienced societal paradoxes. Considering the genre’s implicit confrontation to paradigms of
Art and authority, this paper will explore notions of stencilling as a ‘generational medium’, and
what this reveals about potentially reconceptualised attitudes towards (a)political engagement and
societal participation.
51
SYMPOSIUM 13
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN BASIC EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA AND
THE ROLE OF THE STATE
Educational inequalities in weak states: hegemony, policy and the role of education in
Peru
Maria Balarin (University of Bath)
This presentation will draw on the theory of weak states to explore some of the ways in which
policy making processes might contribute to the prevalence of educational inequalities in the
Latin American region. In particular, the paper will focus on the importance of political
processes of interest articulation and mobilization to show how educational inequalities,
particularly between the private and public sectors, can be partly explained by reference to the
lack of hegemonic projects having education as a central aim. Reflections will be offered on the
extent to which such problems are being deepened amid the neoliberal re-structuring of the state
that is widespread in the region. The presentation will draw from research carried out into
processes of education policy making in Peru.
A Theory of Scientific Method for the Study of the (in)equality of Educational
Opportunities in Latin America
Andres Sandoval-Hernandez (University of Bath)
One of the main objectives of the research on educational effectiveness in Latin America is to
contribute to providing quality education for all students; regardless their social, economic and
cultural background. And one of the most recurrent critiques to this research programme
concerns its lack of theory. Therefore this paper, based on the Haig’s Abductive Theory of
Scientific Method, proposes a theory of method for School Effectiveness Research that
assembles a complex of specific strategies and methods that are used in the detection of
empirical phenomena and the subsequent construction of explanatory theories. It is alleged that
the design of successful policy strategies to increase the quality of education with equal
opportunities for all will be possible only if it has a sound theoretical background.
Is the Mexican State reducing or preserving educational inequalities?
Marianela Núñez Barboza (Centro de Cooperación Regional para la Educación de Personas
Jóvenes y Adultas en América Latina y el Caribe – CREFAL)
The role of the State in some areas of public education is more related to preserving educational
inequalities than to reducing them. In order to illustrate this argument I will analyze the
educational services provided to youngsters and adults who drop out of the regular educational
system in Mexico. These services are provided in flexible school timetables and curriculum is
adapted to adults and youngsters needs. However, they do not seem to guarantee educational
achievements. In addition to this, they lack social recognition, which has a negative impact on
job and other educational opportunities for the people that graduate from them.
Inverse rationale on education: lower learning opportunities for those in most need.
The case of primary education in Mexico
María Guadalupe Pérez and Horacio Pedroza (INEE, México)
52
Learning opportunities are composed by schools resources and processes that promote students’
learning and development. In this paper we explore how these opportunities vary across
different types of primary education provided in Mexico.
Using data collected from a large scale study carried out in 2006, we found that the Mexican
educational system structures unequal learning opportunities. Schools that assist students in most
need are precisely those with most limited resources, lower professional development for
teachers, and instructional practices that do not tend to promote students’ learning a
development. These findings point out the need to reverse the rationale of educational policy in
Mexico, guaranteeing valuable learning opportunities for disadvantaged population.
Educational Gaps in the Mexican Educational system. An analysis of years of schooling
and income during 2000 and 2006.
Teresa Bracho (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE), México)
In this paper I argue that efforts to increase access and completion of basic education in Mexico
seem to be effective. More children and youngsters who belong to the lowest income deciles are
completing primary and secondary education. However this behaviour is not mirrored on middle
and higher education. The gap between the highest and lowest deciles of youngsters that studied
middle or higher education is still very high. In the lowest decile only 14 percent of the 20-24
year population had studied middle or higher education in 2006, while in the highest decile this
figure rose to 54 percent. These inequalities might have a negative influence in life opportunities
for those in most need.
Is there a private school advantage in the education of the poor in Mexico? Evidence
from a national standardized test.
Germán Treviño, (EDUCARE, AC)
In Mexico, private schools have been the sphere of wealthy families who can afford the high
tuition fees that the sector demands. However, there is now some indication that middle-income
families and the poor have started to opt for enrolling their children in affordable private
schools. There is no evidence that there is a private school advantage, especially in the affordable
private schools now being chosen by the poor. In this presentation, I examine if there is indeed a
private school advantage for the poor in Mexico at the elementary and lower-secondary
education level.
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SYMPOSIUM 14
BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA
Chilean wine: Who is successful, who is not, and why?
David E. Hojman (University of Liverpool)
This paper identifies some of the success stories (we name names), and some of the problems,
failures, or ‘basket cases’ (no names because of legal reasons), among Chilean wine companies.
We explore the reasons in each case. We deal first with how to define success, which is not a
trivial question. Different indicators yield different lists of the ‘most successful’. In order to
avoid arbitrary selection by the paper’s author, several lists were compiled, and the view was
taken that the really successful companies are those appearing in at least two or more lists.
When looking at possible success indicators there is also the need to separate ‘inputs’ (such as
publicity expenditure) from ‘outputs’ (for example, awards in international competitions).
However, sometimes this distinction is not straightforward (‘outputs’ could also be ‘inputs’), in
the presence of complexity or econometrics’ endogeneity or simultaneity. Some ‘outputs’ may
be more important than others. Reasons for success and failure range from the more or less
obvious to the highly esoteric: the wrong name, connection to wine tourism, policy towards its
skilled workers, distribution difficulties, the weight of tradition, scale economies, financial
muscle, exceptional leadership, participation in networks and clusters, and so on. Both failure
and success (and in particular a company’s optimal expansion path) are firm-specific. We also
identified the presence of a ‘winner’s curse’ affecting small companies which win prestigious
awards in international events. The paper also sheds some light upon other, more general
questions which it does not address directly.
Global value chains and development: skill formation and innovative capability in Chile
Paulina Ramirez and Helen Rainbird (University of Birmingham)
Debates on the industrialisation of Third World countries in the 1960s and 1970s focussed on
their subordinate position in the global economy, the role of multinational companies in their
economies and the problem of land ownership. Land reform, nationalisation and import
substitution were seen as the means of fostering national development (Gwynne & Kay Eds.,
2004). Although globalisation is a contested concept, there is recognition that since the 1990s
there has been a proliferation of new organisational forms for the international organisation of
productive and innovative activities, global production networks (GPN), facilitated by the
growth of information and communication technologies alongside the de-regulation and
liberalisation of economic activity. These new organisational forms involve complex intra and
inter-firm international networks as well as cooperative agreements between firms and public
institutions such as universities and R&D organisations (Dunning 1997, Dicken 1992, Borrus et
al 2000). A significant feature of these international intra- and inter-firm networks is that they
have developed into important vehicles for international knowledge diffusion and have provided
opportunities for local capability formation in emerging economies (Ernst and Kim 2002, Michie
2002).
54
This paper aims to bring together three bodies of literature which are normally separate. The first
relates to the growth of GPNs and their role in the development of local capability formation in
emerging economies, including the ability of local sub-contractors, suppliers and service
providers to develop innovative activities. To date few studies exist on the process of capability
formation in emerging economies (Ernst and Kim 2002) or the role of GPNs in the building of
national innovation systems in developing countries. The second relates to national innovation
systems (Lundvall 1992, Nelson 1993) defined as all those national organisations and institutions
and the relationship between them that affect the innovative capability of a nation, which has
rarely focused on workforce skills. The third is the varieties of capitalism literature (Crouch and
Streeck 1997, Hall and Soskice 2001) and studies of national business systems which identify the
relationships between social institutions, interest organisations, the quality of workforce skills
and work organisation (Whitley, 2000).
There are a number of questions which are raised by bringing together these three bodies of
literature. The first concerns the role of global production networks (GPNs) not just in
transferring technology, but in developing national innovative capabilities in national firms and
host country institutions. The second relates to the relationship between multinational
companies, their subsidiaries and national companies influence the development of technology.
The third focuses on the nature of the relationship between these firms and national institutions
responsible for science, technology and workforce skill development. The paper reports on a
literature review which has been conducted as a preliminary scoping activity for a research
project on Latin America.
Universidad La Salle Área de conocimiento y temática: Educación y Competitividad
M. A. Carlos La Bandera T. y Enrique Villarreal (Universidad La Salle, Mexico)
Because of globalization companies should increase competence, which is affected as they lose
capital when they retire their old CEOs carrying away their experiences. At the same time,
medical science tries to maintain retirees in good health. These two tendencies create a paradox.
In order to solve it and keep intellectual capital of enterprise, a training model of new principals
is proposed taking advantage of the experience of high level retirees that also will improve their
value for good of society. In this work, present a general look about the context of the problem
and the focus proposed.
Impacto del mercado laboral migratorio hacia la frontera norte
Margarita Gomez Macias (Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Tijuana)
La magnitud e intensidad del fenómeno migratorio de México a Estados Unidos aumenta de
manera progresiva, que provoca la pérdida sistemática de su población en edad productiva Casi
la mitad de los emigrantes en el mundo son mujeres y más de la mitad viven en países
desarrollados. Tres cuartas partes de los migrantes están concentrados solamente en 28 países, y
1 de 5 viven en los Estados Unidos. (2005).
55
El envió de Remesas es un beneficio que México a evaluado en las ultimas administraciones
federales, uno de cada diez hogares mexicanos dependen de ellas.
Los mexicanos conforman cerca de 16 por ciento de la población ocupada en el sector de
extracción, el cual incluye a la agricultura y cerca de 10 por ciento de los trabajadores en el área
de transformación. Otras ocupaciones con una creciente presencia relativa de trabajadores
mexicanos fueron; servicios, construcción y transporte así como la de obreros y trabajadores
especializados.
La frontera Norte de Mexico se considera un trampolín de oportunidades en el objetivo del
cruce fronterizo por esta ciudad., creando modelos de empleo especializados- temporales para
este tipo de personas que estan solo de paso en esta frontera. Un ejemplo seria La Maquiladora
de componentes electronicos de origen asiatico en su mayoria, asi como el telemercadeo de
multiples servicios con enfoque de globalización.
Determinants of Outsourcing in the Mexican Manufacturing Industry
Fabiola López-Gómez (University of East Anglia)
Outsourcing is not a new phenomenon; it has been practiced by numerous firms over the last
two decades. However, there is still limited firm-level empirical evidence, particularly in
developing countries. Previous papers analyzing the firm’s decision to outsource have focused
on the buyer’s position and have been developed and tested in developed countries Antras and
Helpman (2004); Tomiura (2005); Diaz-Mora (2005), Girma and Görg (2004), Görg, Hanley and
Strobl (2004).
Thus, the existing empirical and theoretical evidence help us understand only one side of the
story. This study aims to complement the research in the area by analyzing outsourcing from the
subcontractor’s stand point in the Mexican manufacturing sector. Particularly we want to show
the outsourcing trends in the Manufacturing sector and to examine which firm level
characteristics such as firm size, ownership, productivity, etc., are particularly related with the
firm’s decision to engage in outsourcing activities as a subcontractor.
The research uses firm-level survey covering 54 manufacturing activities at a four-digit level in
Mexico in 1992, 1999 and 2001. An important characteristic of the survey is that it includes a
question regarding outsourcing practices (both contracting out and being subcontracted by other
firm). Outsourcing is measured as the ratio of the income received by a firm for performing
other firm’s production to total revenues.
Our results show that outsourcing ratio is higher in the textile, apparel, leather, electric and
electronic equipment, transport equipment and parts and precision equipment industries. Finally,
large firms and exporting firms tend to engage more in outsourcing activities.
The Dragon and the Condor: the growing Chinese involvement in Latin America
Rhys Jenkins (University of East Anglia)
56
The last decade has seen the rapid growth in economic relations between China and Latin
America. This was initially driven by a boom in Latin American exports to China. More recently
Chinese firms have greatly increased their exports to the region so that import growth is now
outstripping exports. Although lagging a long way behind their trading activities, Chinese firms
are now also beginning to invest in Latin America, while some Brazilian and Mexican companies
have made investments in China. The paper documents these trends and analyses the main
drivers of expanding bilateral economic links. It also considers some of the problems posed by
China’s increased presence for Latin American governments and business.
The Software Industry in Latin America: A Potential Path for Development?
Jorge Niosi (Université du Québe) and Effie Kesidou (Manchester Metropolitan University
Business School)
Over the last twenty years, the software industry has become one of the major global industries.
From its origins in the United States, it is now a major services activity in all industrial nations,
and in a certain number of developing countries. Everywhere its share of GDP increases and the
international trade of software and related services grows at two-digit rates. More important for
developing countries, the activity is now delocalizing itself from the more affluent OECD
countries towards other ones where salaries of computer scientists, engineers, programmers, and
technical employees are lower and large pools of them are available. New players have emerged,
and surprisingly enough some developing countries rest among them. India represents the most
prominent example of a less developed country that managed to enter international software
markets and export more than 70 per cent of its sales.
Could software be an opportunity for Latin American countries as well? The aim of this paper is
to examine a number of LA countries, which have developed a software industry, and analyse
the factors that may enable (or constrain) them, from participating dynamically in global software
markets. In particular, we examine several issues (in four large -Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico,
- and two small - Costa Rica and Uruguay - LA countries) including the main characteristics of
the LA software industry and the role of national policy in the creation of such an industry.
Social sustainability of the Brazilian bioethanol: power relations in a centre-periphery
perspective
Markku Lehtonen (University of Sussex)
While the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability have received plenty of
attention in biofuel policies and assessment, only recently has the social ‘pillar’ gained increasing
attention as demonstrated by debates over the dilemmas such as food vs. fuel and large vs. smallscale biofuel production. This paper argues for greater attention to power relations when
assessing biofuel policies. A centre-periphery framework is applied for examining power relations
in the Brazilian sugar and alcohol sector since the launching of the country’s transport biofuel
programme, Proálcool, in 1975. Particular attention is paid to the country’s poor Northeast,
today responsible for a small fraction of the country’s bioethanol, but highly dependent on its
sugar and alcohol sector for employment and economic output. The analysis demonstrates the
pervasive role of unequal and rigid power relations in shaping Proálcool’s social impacts. The
57
small sugar elite in the Northeast has increased its power and protected itself against market
instability by diversifying its activity, while the benefits have failed to trickle down to the poorest
in the sugarcane zone in the Northeast coast. The recent and on-going entry of new players in
the Brazilian biofuel scene may provide opportunities of breaking the old power structures and
creating space for more pro-poor policies, notably through international sustainability
certification. Any such schemes must, however, be designed carefully to avoid capture by the
regional elites, and counteract the present tendencies towards further concentration of power – a
danger particularly acute in the development of 2nd generation biofuels.
The mind behind the wine: managing knowledge workers in Chilean vineyards.
Gregorio Perez Arrau and Elaine Eades (University of Liverpool)
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the concept of "knowledge workers" in the
management arena as a whole and, specifically, in the HRM literature. In general, the term refers
to a particular type of worker who is engaged mainly in intellectual work which is of significant
value. It has been suggested that they possess the most important knowledge in the organisation
and, therefore, that the outcome of their work has a critical impact in the firm's performance and
innovation. They are frequently identified as the major source of a firm's competitive advantage.
Whilst this source of competitive advantage cannot be copied (as in a process, or equipment) it
can voluntarily withhold knowledge or effort, and can of course leave the organisation
altogether. The intellectual nature and the strategic importance of their work have led to claims
that knowledge workers have to be managed in a very flexible and autonomous way, and that
they need to work in a creative and participative environment. Additionally, organisations have
to make an extraordinary effort to attract, motivate and retain them as they are a scarce resource
in the labour market and may show only fragile loyalty to their organisation. This 'special way'
has challenged traditional forms of management. Currently, much of the research on knowledge
workers has been conducted in the context of developed countries, while the situation of
developing countries is rarely addressed. Thus, one of the limitations of the current research is
that is does not explain how knowledge workers are and behave, and how they are managed by
organisations in a different national cultural context.
The Chilean economy has been recognised as one of the most solid and stable in Latin America,
with a consolidated export-oriented industry base. In the last twenty years, the wine industry has
become one of the most successful business sectors, and has also gained international
recognition for the quality of its wines. As the oenologists are at the core of the creative and
productive process, there is a very strong case for them to be labelled as 'knowledge workers".
However, the question that we ask is to what extent they are managed and treated as
(theoretically) knowledge workers should be. Moreover, considering the claims that Chilean
labour relations are characterised by an authoritarian approach, with large "power - distance" and
distrust, the question also arises as to how Chilean "knowledge workers" actually operate
effectively in that national employee relations context.
This paper aims to explore the reality of knowledge workers in the Chilean cultural environment,
including a description of the most common human resources policies and practices applied by
58
firms. The investigation is based on 15 interviews with oenologists from a range of different
Chilean vineyards.
59
SYMPOSIUM 15
MUSIC AND LITERATURE
Session 1
Finding rhythm in Julio Cortázar’s Los Premios
Carolina Orloff (Edinburgh University)
Superficially, Julio Cortázar’s Los Premios is a novel with a rather neat structure. It is divided into
45 numbered chapters, where the action is recounted by an extradiegetic third-person narrator.
At irregular intervals, there are also nine chapters in italics, which appear based around the
meditations of one of the characters, Persio, and increasingly mingled in a curious kind of free
indirect discourse with the reflections of the narrator. It is principally in and around those nine
chapters that the concept of rhythm is explicitly discussed. In effect, the problems of rhythm
contaminate the whole novel – before, perhaps, justifying it.
“La poesía es una palabra que se escucha con audífonos invisibles”: Solitude, Interiority,
and the Poetry of Music in the Writing of Julio Cortázar.
Nicholas Roberts (Durham University)
Music plays a central role in Cortázar’s work as a discourse capable of offering a way beyond the
problematics of language. In ‘Soledad de la música’ (1941) Cortázar couches the claims he makes
for music in terms which align it with poetry, an alignment which ‘Para escuchar con audífonos’
(1984) repeats and extends. Yet the effect of this later gloss is to call into question the coherence
and nature of Cortázar’s claims for and conception of music, not least in the ethical impasse
implied by the persistent focus in these essays on solitude and the interiority of the musical
experience.
The symphony of words: the role of music in the works of João Gilberto Noll
Aquiles Alencar-Brayner (The British Library)
When commenting on his literary production, the Brazilian writer João Gilberto Noll has
stressed the major role played by music in his narratives. The aim of this paper is to present the
correlation between music and narrative in Noll’s work from two different perspectives: Noll’s
alliterative use of words which help generate the rhythmic flow of his novels; and the role of
sound as a tool for interpersonal communication both between characters in the novel as well as
between the narrator and his readers.
Session 2
Carpentier's Musical Interractions and Influences
Caroline Rae (Cardiff University)
During his years of creative apprenticeship in the 1920s and 1930s, Carpentier was closely
involved with members of the musical, as well as literary, avant-garde, wrote a vast body of
music criticism, and engaged in a number of musical collaborations with composers in both Paris
and Havana. These activities subsequently fed his literary writings, where music plays a central
role both as narrative theme and structural device. This paper will consider Carpentier’s musical
60
activities in terms of their influence on his literary writings and assess musico-literary interaction
as a creative stimulus for the composers with whom Carpentier came into contact. (100 words)
Stirring the melting pot: debates on the origin, function and development of music in
Alejo Carpentier's novel Los pasos perdidos
Katia Chornik (Open University)
The central chapters of Carpentier's novel Los pasos perdidos contain dense debates on the
origin of music and its relation with spoken language. These are generated by a puzzling
encounter between the protagonist (a composer and musicologist) and a 'primitive' indigenous
community in South America. This paper examines the conflicting conceptions of 'the civilised'
and 'the primitive' in relation to two main strands: Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory and the
writings of the German historian and philosopher Oswald Spengler. It attempts to demonstrate
that Carpentier challenges various opposing theories on the origin, function and historical
development of music.
Oral poetry, songs of protest and the Brazilian literary canon: the case of Patativa do
Assaré
Rubinger Chen Laiz (Nottingham University)
Patativa do Assaré (1909-2002), a popular/oral poet and semiliterate poor peasant, is the face
and voice of the oppressed people of the Brazilian Northeast. That region’s hinterland is the
cradle of folk music, popular literature and oral tradition. Patativa’s work has achieved an
unusual degree of cultural prominence in Brazil. However, there are specific political and sociohistorical reasons for the insertion of his work in a particular literary canon, that of ‘the
oppressed’, which leads to the conclusion that the issue of literary worth is indeed not more than
a façade.
61
SYMPOSIUM 16
CONSTRUCTING CONTEMPORARY MEXICO
The double image of Mexico in 1929: modern but indigenous
Ana Souto (Nottingham Trent University)
In 1929 Mexico participated in the Ibero-American Exhibition held in Seville. For this occasion,
Mexico produced a Neo-Indigenous building which undermined the Spanish role in the
construction of its identity by emphasising the pre-Cortesian heritage. In 1929 in Mexico City
architects chose either Functionalism or Art Nouveau in order to emphasise the modernisation
of the country. This paper unfolds the double image with which Mexico wanted to portray itself
in 1929: one for the ‘others’, by using a recognisable iconography (pre-Hispanic); and another for
itself, for internal consumption (as a modern country).
Felix Candela
Marisela Mendoza (Nottingham Trent University)
Felix Candela’s phenomena in the scenario of modern architecture broke the conventional
stylistic expressions of the time in Mexico, Latin America and the rest of the world. The
architecture of Felix Candela seemed to challenge the dominant expression of the modern style
which he found not only unpractical but oppressive. Candela’s architecture is an allegory to the
freedom of mind that he experienced as a refugee in Mexico after escaping from a concentration
camp under Franco’s fascist regime. This paper discusses some of Felix Candela’s most relevant
work seen through the eyes of those who worked and lived close to him. This paper also
reflects on the relevance of the relationship between the political, social and identity issues that
represented the leitmotif of Candela’s work.
New Architecture and Historic Restoration: Obstruction vs. Interdisciplinary Action
Fidel Meraz (University of Nottingham)
The paper presents the lack of suitable interaction between architectural design and conservation
in Mexico, in the context of culturally significant architecture and in detriment of this heritage.
The different language in the conjunction of these two disciplines means divergent intentions
regarding monuments. The paper describes the problem analysing the formative background and
attitudes of conservation architects and designers; presents the obstacles to a desirable
communication between them; and, schematising paths toward solutions regarding educational
aspects and work organization, it gives some conclusions to offer both specialists a role in
conservation processes.
Globalisation in Mexican Architecture
Guillermo Garma Montiel (Nottingham Trent University)
Architecture has always been considered to embody and reflect the political, economic and
cultural values of its time and context. During the second half of the C 20th, the establishment of
a globally interconnected world changed our understanding of nation and state, time and space,
and identity and architecture. In this paper I intend to highlight and explore the effects of
globalisation in the development of Mexican identity and architecture; the 80s and 90s were
times of profound financial crises, political upheavals and cultural changes in Mexico, all of
which found its way into the architectural scene of Mexico City.
62
SYMPOSIUM 17
CUBA’S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM AND OVERSEAS MEDICAL AID PROGRAMME
An Overview of Cuba's Overseas Medical Aid Programs
Michael Erisman (Indiana State University)
The basic descriptive elements of the presentation will: 1) survey the evolution of Cuba's
overseas medical aid programs from their inception to the contemporary period; 2) delineate the
organizational and logistical aspects of such programs; and 3) compare the scope of Cuba's
programs to that of other countries (e.g., the United States).
The analytical elements of the presentation will focus upon probing the relationship between
Cuba's medical aid programs and the larger contours of Cuban foreign policy, the basic goal
being to explore the nature and dynamics of the contribution(s) that Cuba's medical aid
programs can make to the achievement of some of its key foreign policy interests (e.g., the
acquisition and utilization of "soft power", challenging Washington's neoliberal agenda,
promoting greater South/South cooperation and integration).
Cuban Medical Internationalism in Latin America since 1998
John M. Kirk (Dalhousie University)
While Cuba has provided humanitarian support to the region since 1960, it is only since the
devastation of Hurricane Mitch in Central America that it has employed this approach as a major
plank of its foreign policy. This paper examines the key aspects of Cuban medical
internationalism in Latin America, analyzing in the particular the impact of "Operation Miracle"
and the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina. A secondary goal is an analysis of Cuban motives
for this extraordinary programme of humanitarian support for the region.
Cuba’s International Medical Programme and South-South Cooperation
Margaret Blunden, (London Metropolitan University)
Cuba’s medical assistance abroad, starting in Algeria in 1963 long preceded the 1990s, when the
idea of south-south cooperation started to influence the field of development studies. The
advantages claimed for South-South cooperation include the view that poor nations are more
likely to find appropriate, low-cost and sustainable approaches to development in other
developing countries, rather than from the rich north, a relationship that may evoke neo-colonial
reflexes. The success of Cuba’s international medical programmes may owe much to
commonality of historical experience, and it may be that the cultural affinities between Cuba and
Africa, the Caribbean and Latin American have been more important as success factors than
ideological concepts of socialist solidarity. This paper explores what light the experience of
Cuban international medical programmes since the 1960s throws on the strengths and
weaknesses of south-south cooperation as a development strategy
Cuba’s medical cooperation programme and its implications for health care at home and
in the ALBA countries
Gemma Salvetti (London School of Economics)
This study considers the implications of the current medical cooperation programme between
Cuba and Venezuela on the Cuban health system within the context of a wider socio-economic
regional integration plan for Latin-America (ALBA). The aim of this programme is establishing
63
a free and universal health-care system in the nations joining ALBA taking the Cuban health
system as a model. Cuba allocate doctors to international health missions to help in establishing
new health systems and community-based medical schools offering effective alternatives to the
shortage of human resources in ALBA countries. The paper asks how efficient is this system in
delivering its stated objectives? And, what are the consequences for the Cuban medical service at
home?
Going where no doctor has gone before: How Cuba's Latin American School of
Medicine may redefine geographies of health care in the global south
Robert Huish (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
My research discusses the appropriateness of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM)
for the needs of communities in states, such as Ecuador, that have endured structural
adjustments to their public health sectors. I look at ELAM's pedagogy and the professional
experiences of its graduates. While ELAM does a tremendous job in building institutional ethics
of compassion and service for marginalized communities, broader challenges in the field hinder
the expansion of community-orientated primary care within Ecuador's current system. I explore
the formation of ethics, the challenges in the field, and the capacity for ELAM graduates to
organize against neoliberal forces, rather than give in to them.
64
SYMPOSIUM 18
LATIN AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS: AN INTRA-PERIPHERAL PERSPECTIVE
ON COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES AND IDEATIONAL TRENDS
Unpacking the School: Nationalism and Education in Argentina, Mexico, and Peru
Matthias vom Hau (University of Manchester)
This paper examines trajectories of nationalism in 20th century Argentina, Mexico, and Peru
through the analytical lens of schooling. In particular, I focus on the role of textbooks and
teachers in the construction of nationhood. I argue that textbooks reveal state ideologies of
national identity and history, and that textbooks serve to diffuse these ideologies among the
broader population. In turn, teachers’ use of textbooks and their worldviews provide a window
for understanding how state ideologies were received, appropriated, and reworked within society.
During the late 19th century, all three countries witnessed the prevalence of liberal nationalism,
which conceived of the nation as a political community and emphasized the spread of
“civilization” for achieving national unity. For the 20th century, textbook analysis reveals countryspecific transitions towards popular nationalism, which portrayed the masses as “true” national
subject and propelled a more essentialist, cultural understanding of national identity. As oral
testimonies of teachers indicate, in Mexico under Cárdenas (1934-1940), teachers tended to
embrace textbooks that promoted a popular national culture. By contrast, teachers in Argentina
under Perón (1946-1955) and in Peru under Velasco (1968-1975) were largely opposed to the
popular nationalism expressed in new textbook editions.
Counterculture, Transnationalism, and National Projects: Chile and Latin America,
1960s-1970s
Patrick Barr-Melej (Ohio University)
This paper, in general terms, would focus on transnational cultural (re)production in Latin
America during the 1960s and early 1970s, emphasizing the development of countercultural
youth currents in the region. More specifically, it would pay greatest attention to Chile but
remain firmly rooted in a transnational Latin American perspective, addressing the emergence of
a generational cultural phenomenon—in and through music and more general aesthetic
sensibilities—that transcended borders and crossed class lines during the period under
consideration. Although counterculture is traditionally seen as an aspect of Latin American
cultural life that simply was imported from the “developed world” by youths with money to
spare, it nevertheless became Latin American, in a broader sense, as many young Latin Americans
of all social classes developed their own matrices of transnational generational identity and
heterodox cultural expression that were clearly countercultural. In the Chilean context,
transnational countercultural sensibilities and practices clashed with Salvador Allende’s very
national and nationalist (culturally and otherwise) “vía chilena al socialismo.” In music, for instance,
great tension developed between the countercultural transnationalism of rock and the heavily
folkloric Nueva Canción Chilena, which was promoted by Allende’s Popular Unity government
and, commercially speaking, by the record label of the Community Youth, the Discoteca del
Cantar Popular, or DICAP.
Intergroup cooperation and rent allocation in colonial Spanish America: The roles of
marriage choice, identity re-invention, and networks in ‘melting-pot’ Chiloe
David E. Hojman (University of Liverpool)
65
In colonial Chiloe, Southern Chile, extreme geographical isolation and special historical
circumstances helped to generate informal, self-supporting arrangements for peaceful intergroup
cooperation. This was unprecedented in the post-medieval Hispanic world. Emigration to
Chiloe had offered unique opportunities for self re-invention. The elite or encomendero class
tended to use marriage choices mostly to start ‘melting-pot’ families, which combined ‘Old
Christian’ and ‘New Christian’ surnames. Some were secret descendants of Jewish converts, to
whom emigration to the New World was forbidden. Rent seeking by ‘melting-pot’ families was
particularly successful. These families gained privileged access to Indian labour and state lands.
Informal, self-supporting, ‘stateless’, and secret (or very discreet) mechanisms for enforcing
intergroup cooperation emerged. This paper uses econometric analysis of data from sources
never used before, to examine whether individuals were aware of ‘New’ / ’Old Christian’
surname differences between groups, how they responded to this awareness, and how the system
rewarded or punished their responses. The results may offer interesting insights into
contemporary Chile.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Luso-Hispano American Interaction in the Age of
Empire
Ori Preuss (Tel Aviv University)
National identification among the Latin American Elites has been shaped by three kinds of
encounters: external encounters with the West, internal encounters with the “people”, and a
third kind of encounters across national borders but within the subcontinent. This paper aims to
shed some light on these largely unexplored intra-peripheral encounters by focusing on the
growing interaction between Brazil and its Spanish-speaking neighbours around the turn of the
nineteenth century. During that time of internationalism and imperialism Brazilian men of state
and letters came to perceive themselves, and their nation, as forming part of a Latin America that
was neither entirely anarchical, weak and barbaric, nor fully ordered, vigorous and advanced.
The Limits of Creole Identity: Local Creoles vis-à-vis Spanish and Creole Immigrants in
Late Colonial Mexico City
Hillel Eyal (Tel Aviv University)
Creole identity throughout colonial Spanish America was partly shaped by creoles’ antagonistic
relations with Spanish immigrants, who had displaced the former from positions of power and
wealth. While historians have usually looked at the intellectual manifestations of creole identity,
this paper tackles its social dimensions by comparing Mexico City creoles’ reaction to Spanish
immigrants and to creoles immigrants from elsewhere in Spanish America. It suggests that
Spanish American immigrants in Mexico City did not necessarily share similar socio-economic
characteristics with host creoles, and to a large extent, remained ‘outsiders’ despite their
designation as creoles. Local creoles’ hostility towards Spaniards was in some ways paralleled by
their hostility towards non-native creoles. Consequently, local identity militated against a more
inclusive creole identity based on American birth.
From Babel (Argentina) to Babel (Chile): Border-crossings of a Transnational Cultural
Entrepreneur
Rosalie Sitman (Tel Aviv University)
Situated at the crossroads between personal itineraries and collective cultural projects of
intellectuals from different Latin American nations, the literary reviews that proliferated during
the first half of the 20th century throughout the continent provided spaces for the encounter and
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propagation of competing political and aesthetic trends and ideas, as well as for the formulation
of alternative critical discourses at momentous historical junctures. At once witness and
protagonist, product and producer of texts and contexts, their pages constitute eloquent
historical documents for tracing the trajectories of intellectual networks that actively contributed
to the consolidation of cultural fields throughout Latin America. This paper will explore the
pivotal role played, in this context, by the Jewish Argentine editor Samuel Glusberg and the
literary review Babel, as they travelled across the Andes, from Argentina to Chile, and from one
political and cultural context to another, and what happened to them in the course of this
relocation.
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SYMPOSIUM 19
VENEZUELA 1998-2008
Chavez at the Crossroads: the Debate over the Future of the Bolivarian revolution in
Venezuela
Diana Raby (University of Liverpool)
On 2 December 2007 Venezuelans voted in a referendum on constitutional reform, and for the
first time in nine years President Hugo Chavez and his supporters lost a popular vote, albeit by a
very small margin. The immediate significance of this was apparent in the crestfallen faces of
chavistas in the barrios, the rejoicing in wealthy areas of Caracas and the smug declarations
emanating from Western governments and the international media.
But the referendum defeat had two further consequences of potentially greater significance: it
confirmed the democratic character of the process, and it provoked a searching and long
overdue debate among its supporters, both in Venezuela and abroad, about the revolution’s
characteristics, deficiencies and prospects. This paper will attempt to summarise and assess the
first three months of this crucial debate.
Social justice and Higher Education For All: a decade of policies and practices.
Thomas Muhr (University of Bristol)
The 1999 Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela newly introduced the right to
social justice, which includes the right to free state-provided education at all levels, including
higher education. The Higher Education For All (HEFA) strategy assumes a key role in national
development and is supported by a comprehensive set of educational as well as other crosssectoral social policies and programmes. Guided by Marxist-rooted distributive justice, HEFA
forms part of the government’s political, economic, social and cultural human rights agenda.
One of the institutions that operationalise HEFA is the municipalised Bolivarian University of
Venezuela (UBV). ‘Municipalization’ is a “quality with equity” strategy that combines a counterhegemonic notion of ‘quality’ with the immersion of HE in concrete contextual geographies; the
former refers to the social relevance of HE, above all with respect to active social citizenship,
and the latter to the creation of about 2000 HE spaces in the entire territory since 2003, thus
contributing to transforming the historical geographies of inequality into a socio-territorial
equilibrium. The temporal analysis of the social justice policies and practices concludes with a
case study of UBV’s potential to contribute to the generation of “citizen power” as one of the
defining elements of Venezuela’s “revolutionary democracy” and 21st Century Socialism.
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SYMPOSIUM 21
GENDER AND RACE IN LATIN AMERICAN CULTURAL PRODUCTION
Session 1
Malinche as you’ve never seen her before?: an analysis of Malinche by Laura Esquivel
Sarah Bowskill (Swansea University)
This paper considers the extent to which Esquivel’s portrayal of Malinalli in her 2006 novel,
Malinche, represents a significant departure from previous representations of La Malinche.
Esquivel’s novel will be compared to the accounts of Hernán Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo
and the writings of Octavio Paz and chicana authors. Particular attention will be paid to how the
novel attempts to create a more positive gender and racial identity for the historically much
maligned protagonist and a more positive account of the origins of Mexican national identity.
Boricua-Latina-Butta Pecan Mami-Hip hopper Angie Martínez: A Chameleon Artist
Jane Lavery (The University of Southampton)
Despite the testosterone-fuelled culture of the Hip Hop world, latina female hip hop artists are
gaining increasingly global visibility. Hip hopper Bronx born Puerto Rican Angie Martínez
displays a feminist consciousness, yet occupies an ambivalent position by using her lyrics to
speak out against violence and misogyny yet also promoting them. Whilst her music works as an
expression of women’s self-empowerment, it also reinforces a capitalist economic ideology.
Martínez, who occupies the interstices between the African-American, Puerto Rican and US
Latino within the paradigm of globalised Latinidad, sways between multiple subject positions as
Butta Pecan mami, musician and actress.
Session 2
Other Sirens
Isolde Dyson (University of Toronto Scarborough)
In my paper I will be examining narrative structure and language in a novel that focuses, in part,
on the lives of mulato/a transsexuals: Sirena Selena vestida de pena (2000) by Afro Hispanic writer
Mayra Santos-Febres (Puerto Rico, 1966- ).
Additionally, my analysis will place her novel in the context of other narrations that express,
implicitly or explicitly, consciously or unconsciously, alternative realities of sexual and/or racial
otherness. My intention is to explore certain disparities between manifestations of otherness:
when, on one hand, they might be used as a distancing technique in which the text is fixed at a
distance from the reader/viewer, or when these manifestations are more fluid points of
intersection between the reader and the narrator(s).
The Texto Ausente and Transculturation in Augusto Roa Bastos’s Late Fiction
Thomas Phillips (University of Plymouth)
Paraguay is the only officially bilingual Latin American state. Spanish is co-official with the
indigenous language Guaraní, and over 40% of Paraguay’s population speak no Spanish. As a
result, throughout his career Augusto Roa Bastos struggled with the issue of how best to
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represent this culture. In so doing he developed the concept of the texto ausente. In this paper I
examine how, in his late fiction, Roa Bastos coped with the linguistic issues raised, and also how
his own exile and the novel’s status as an essentially metropolitan art form affected his
expression of both personal and national identity.
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SYMPOSIUM 22
COSMOPOLITAN CONDUITS
The Global and the Local: Evolutionary Archaeology in Late-19th Century Peru and
Chile
Stefanie Gänger (University of Cambridge)
The paper seeks to understand the reception of evolutionism in late-19thcentury Peru and Chile.
It analyses the local political and intellectual circumstances that shaped the encounter with this
scientific model and ideology and interprets it through the entangled situation of both countries.
The focus is on debates between the 1870s and the first decade of the 20th century. Within both
the international scientific community of the Americanist Congresses as well as within the local
context of their own national academia, Peruvian and Chilean scholars ranked the pre-Hispanic
past of the ethnic groups within their nations on a hierarchical line progressing from
Barbarianism to Civilisation. The past of ethnic tribes subject to Inca rule, shared by both
countries, was attributed a particular prestige while that of the tribes in the Peruvian Amazon or
in the Southern regions of Chile were regarded as inferior. Long-standing narratives, the present
relation with the respective indigenous group as well as conceptualisations of the national
identity shaped this discourse as much as the categories introduced by the global discourse of
evolutionary thought.
A return to empire: Santo Domingo's War of Reconquest 1808-09
Carrie Gibson (University of Cambridge)
This paper will examine the idea of progress and its relation to the War of Reconquest in Santo
Domingo 1808-09. This war saw creole loyalists wage a successful battle against French rule in
order to demand a return to Spain's empire. It fell at a key moment between the success of its
neighbour, Saint-Domingue, in establishing itself as the republic of Haiti in 1804, and later
independence movements in the rest of Latin America. By 1808, the Spanish side of the island
had been not only occupied by the French since 1795, but also invaded by the Haitians after
successive attempts to unite the whole island under the banner of liberation and abolition.
However, these reforms failed to last. The situation was further complicated by the fact that
Spain was fighting for its own survival against Napoleon, and could not be depended upon. But
rather than engaging with forms of "progress" arising out of Enlightenment ideas or Haitian
realities, the complicated context of the situation in Santo Domingo gave rise to a specific notion
that progress - and survival - was to be found in the old order.
‘Our Saxon masters in zootechnical science’: The Collaborative Participation of the
British in Argentina’s Livestock Modernization, c.1860-1960
Matthew E.S. Butler (University of Cambridge)
Recent scholarship has rightly stressed the importance of modern managerial and technological
innovations to Argentina’s pastoral economy during its era of export-led growth. Increasing
productivity rather than increasing inputs better explains the Argentine estancias’ dynamism and
ability to produce efficiently and competitively a diverse array of value-added staples for export.
Pedigree livestock biotechnology—particularly British—was integral to this sector’s
modernization, especially in regards to the eventual dominance of British beef breeds. In the late
19th century most Argentine estancieros saw Britain’s agriculture at the pinnacle of modern,
scientific practice. British methods, institutions, and actual animals served as the template for
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this modernizing effort. Scholars have acknowledged British inspiration, but have done little to
explicate the role of Britons in this technology transfer process once underway. The possibility
of British breeders individually or collectively promoting their specific breeds, animals, and
methods has not been considered. Primary sources suggest a collaborative, cosmopolitan
relationship of empowerment and mutual opportunity with Argentines still remaining front and
center, yet British agency, especially in regards to adroit self-promotion, being critical to
pathways and outcomes. Importing British expertise and pedigree breeding animals was a multidecade process which resulted in continual contact between Argentines and Britons. British
influence was most pronounced after Argentina’s stockbreeding had reached a degree of
maturation after 1900. Indeed, after Argentina had closed the technology gap and achieved a
degree of pedigree ‘mastery’ this transatlantic exchange continued with only some diminution
into the post-WWII years. Anglo-Argentine breeder interchange was characterized by an elitecentric, gentlemanly dynamic in which relevant institutions were transferred and subsequently
interacted: agricultural and breed-specific organizations reciprocated visits and liaisons over
many decades, secured reciprocity agreements, and established traditions and rituals. Of
particular note was the custom of British elite breeders adjudicating prizes as judges at the
Sociedad Rural Argentina’s annual Palermo livestock show—an event of tremendous societal
prominence. These associations empowered estancieros by providing not only productive
efficiency but a whole constellation of symbols evoking modern progress and gentlemanly
refinement; elite Argentines fashioned these toward their own national identity ends.
Commensurate with these cross-directional flows in people, animals, and ideas was cultural
interchange and social gathering. The milieu of the agricultural estate and animal show-ring was
a central feature of Anglo-Argentine cultural relations for roughly a century.
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SYMPOSIUM 23
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CUBAN DEVELOPMENT SINCE 1990
FROM THE SPECIAL PERIOD TO BATTLE OF IDEAS
Reassessing economic policy-making in Cuba since 1990
Emily Morris (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
The Cuban policy of economic "adjustment" has been widely perceived as simply a rejection of
economic "transition" inspired by ideological conservatism. However, it has been more than
that. First, far from resisting change, Cuban policymakers have engineered a profound
transformation of the structure of the economy and system of economic management. Second,
Cuba's "ad-hoc" process of reform has not been the outcome of the arbitrary preferences of a
small elite, but an "evolutionary" process of debate, trial and error under changing circumstances.
And third, Cuba’s economic performance has been more positive than expected, warranting a
reassessment of conventional assumptions about Cuba and “transition” more generally.
Enesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Cuba’s Battle of Ideas
Helen Yaffe (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
In Cuba, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s radical political economy has been associated with the vitality
of the Revolution. For example, the decisive pull back from the ‘market socialism’ of Eastern
Europe in the mid-1980s saw a return to Guevara’s ideas about socialist consciousness, while the
pragmatic reforms introduced to tackle the economic crisis of the 1990s was conceded as a move
in the opposite direction. Since 2000, gradual material recovery has been accompanied by a
campaign of political regeneration, known as the Battle of Ideas. This has invoked a return to
Guevara’s approach to socialist construction once again. This paper will examine the enduring
legacy of Guevara’s political and economic contribution in Cuba and its contemporary
implications.
Cuba’s Agrarian Development Model in the Context of Globalisation
Elisa Botella Rodríguez (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
Cuba might represent an exception within the current debates surrounding rural development
and globalisation. While most of Latin American countries adopted in the 90’s neoliberal or
neostructuralist patterns of agrarian development, Cuba developed sustainable agriculture to face
the harsh crisis that followed the demise of the Soviet Bloc. Cuba’s sustainable agriculture is now
evolving towards diversity and efficiency while achieving interesting results for rural and urban
development. This paper discusses the causes and consequences of the adoption of the new
agricultural model. It focuses on two questions. To what extent does the exceptionality of
Cuba’s shift to organics rest on the need to counteract the crisis? Second, could Cuba’s agrarian
model become an alternative when designing rural development policies worldwide?
Cuba’s exceptionalism? Globalisation and Small Countries in the Global Economy
Diego Sanchez-Ancochea (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London)
Most research on the impact of globalization in small Latin American countries treat Cuba as an
exception. This paper revises this claim by comparing Cuba’s reaction to the shock of 1989 with
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the way other small countries reacted to the debt crisis of 1982 and to the process of
globalization that deepened in the 1990s. While the US blockage and the socialist system create
significant differences, the paper shows that Cuba shares many similarities in its responses to
crisis and globalization with neighbouring countries.
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