CLAS is home to several active working groups, comprised of UC Berkeley
faculty, staff, and students who gather regularly to discuss and
debate topics of mutual interest that cross disciplinary lines.
CLAS provides funds which may be used for photocopying materials,
transcription and printing, costs related to meetings, or visiting
speakers.
How
to propose a new working group
Current Working Groups at CLAS
Afro-Latino
Brazil:
Politics and Culture
Cuba
Identity and Power in Latin America
Latin
American History
Police,
Justice, and Public Security
In
the past, CLAS has supported working groups on a wide variety
of topics.
Those
groups have included:
Andean
Project
Bolivia
Border Discourses, Labor and
Education
Colombia
Colonial Mesoamerica
Colonial Studies
Education in Latin America
Latin
American Film
Latin
American Literature and Film Group
Politics
and Poetry
Religion
in Latin America
Rural
Mexico
Social
Movements and Neoliberalism in Latin America
Spanish and Portuguese Writing
Workshop
Thinking the Americas
Venezuela
Violence in Latin America
CURRENT WORKING GROUPS
Afro-Latino
Working Group
Currently the Afro-Latino Working Group is meeting to
discuss readings as
well as other professional development skills (for example,
mock oral
exams). If
you would like to participate, have questions or comments,
or
would like to join the e-mail list, please contact afrolatinogroup
[at]
berkeley.edu.
Contact:
Petra Rivera (petra_rivera(at)berkeley.edu)
Brazil:
Politics and Culture
The Brazil Politics and Culture Working Group serves
as a nexus for graduate students and faculty at Berkeley
who work on Brazil, are interested in the country,
or happen to be Brazilian. Members represent a wide
range of disciplines and departments, including History,
Geography, Sociology, Political Science and Physics.
The group meets twice a month at the Center for Latin
American Studies, and features presentations from
members on their work, invited guests and occasional
films or music.
Brazil:
Politics and Culture Working Group Website
Contact:
Benjamin
Lessing (lessing (at) berkeley.edu)
Cuba
The
University of California, Berkeley, Cuba Working Group
brings together faculty, staff and graduate students from across campus
whose research or educational
interests include a focus on Cuba. Ranging
from analyzing the Cuban health care system to its agricultural transformation,
the group addresses many contemporary and historical issues from
a variety of theoretical
perspectives. Its
objective is (1) to provide a forum for sharing research findings by UCB researchers, (2) to facilitate collaborative
research with Cuba scholars elsewhere. UC
Cuba Working Group is affiliated with the Multi-Campus Research Organization,
UC-Cuba Academic Initiative.
Contact: Laura Enriquez (enriquez@berkeley.edu)
Latin American History
The
Latin American History Working Group coordinates a colloquium
for scholars to present their latest research in a variety of
fields of interest especially, but not exclusively, to Latin American
historians. The colloquium provides a means for the presenters to receive
critical feedback on their works in progress in an informal and supportive atmosphere. Presenters
include scholars from within and beyond the Berkeley
community. The group meets once a month on
Friday afternoons.
Contacts:
Javier Cikota (jcikota(at)berkeley.edu>
German Vergara (gevergara(at)hotmail.com)
Lynsay Skiba (lynsayskiba(at)berkeley.edu)
Police,
Justice and Public Security
Police
lethality and corruption, ineffective judicial systems, and
the widespread rise of violent crime are some of the most
palpably important problems facing Latin America today. Researchers
on Latin America are increasingly recognizing both the centrality
of public security (and its absence) to issues of democratization,
economic development, and politics; as well as the crucial
role that judicial and police institutions play in providing
(or failing to provide) public security.
Contact: Benjamin
Lessing (lessing (at) berkeley.edu)
Identity and Power in Latin America
This working group engages with questions of power and identity in Latin America, past and present, with the explicit purpose of crossing disciplinary boundaries. How scholars define power has evolved over the years, from a non-negotiable entity to one mediated by practices of authority and contestation. We will examine this topic through the lens of critical social theory, including practice theory, post-structural Marxism, radical feminist critiques and queer theory. We will discuss the impact of such scholarship on our work and tease out points of connection and collaboration between fields grappling with similar problems.
Contact: Chelsea Blackmore (chelsea.blackmore (at) berkeley.edu),
Shaylih Muehlmann (smuehlmann (at) berkeley.edu)
PAST
WORKING GROUPS AT CLAS
Andean
Project
The
Andean Project is a collaboration of the Venezuela and Bolivia
Working Groups during the Fall semester of 2006. Our intention
is to provide a forum for students, professors and academics
to explore issue pertinent to Bolivia and Venezuela. We also
hope to evaluate connections and distinctions in the emergence
of popular movements and liberal governments that seek a
new role for the state and a more egalitarian social order
in South America. Components of our planned events will address
development, resources, gender, “race” and class
themes, in the context of the Andean region. The Project
also hopes to raise awareness about Andean region on the
U.C. Berkeley campus by hosting specialists to discuss current
events with a perspective from South America. Our bi-weekly
meetings will be led by group members who guide discussion
based on readings selected in advance, films, or their own
research. We have also invited government representatives
and in-country scholars to give public talks on Venezuela,
Bolivia and the region in general throughout the semester.
The
goal of the Bolivia Working group is three-fold: to examine
contemporary popular movements in Bolivia, their historical
roots and to contextualize Bolivia in the emergence of a “new
left” in South America; provide a forum for students
and professors to share their current research on Bolivia;
and coordinate efforts with the Venezuela Working Group,
and through the Andean Project raise awareness of the region
in the U.C. Berkeley community. Major research themes include:
the election of Evo Morales and the role of the state; misperceptions
and inaccuracies in the western press; changes to the roles
of indigenous groups within the multi-ethnic society; natural
resources and development: oil, gas, water, and coca; comparisons
between Bolivia and other Latin American countries; antagonism
with the United States and other relations with Bolivia and
the Andean region; the emergence of new popular movements
which reject the Washington Consensus and embrace the pursuit
of new political and economic models.
The
goal of the Bolivia Working group is three-fold: to examine
contemporary popular movements in Bolivia, their historical
roots and to contextualize Bolivia in the emergence of a “new
left” in South America; provide a forum for students
and professors to share their current research on Bolivia;
and coordinate efforts with the Venezuela Working Group,
and through the Andean Project raise awareness of the region
in the U.C. Berkeley community. Major research themes include:
the election of Evo Morales and the role of the state; misperceptions
and inaccuracies in the western press; changes to the roles
of indigenous groups within the multi-ethnic society; natural
resources and development: oil, gas, water, and coca; comparisons
between Bolivia and other Latin American countries; antagonism
with the United States and other relations with Bolivia and
the Andean region; the emergence of new popular movements
which reject the Washington Consensus and embrace the pursuit
of new political and economic models.
Border
Discourse, Labor and Education
This
working group brings together a variety of disciplinary themes
and ideas including anthropology, education, economics, linguistics
and sociology. The project examines emerging international
and domestic perspectives of and about discursive practices
of Mexicano communities in California. A central question
for the working group includes understanding the implications
of official immigration and language policies on local discursive
practices and in particular, pedagogical efforts in California
schools.
Colombia
The Colombia Working Group connects Berkeley researchers
who are currently
conducting or wish to conduct research in Colombia. For
the past four years
the Group has organized a wide variety of campus lectures,
film
presentations, and informal lunches with leading Colombian
film directors,
politicians, and artists. The group meets regularly to encourage
scholarship in Colombia and facilitate both undergraduate
and postgraduate
research throughout the country. Members of CWG also inform
each other of
current news and debates in Colombia through its listserve.
Colonial
Mesoamerica
This
group aims to provide an interdisciplinary framework for
both faculty and graduate students at Berkeley to study the
social and cultural impact of "negotiation" between
autochtonous traditions in Mesoamerica and Hispano-Catholic
cultural tenets on the forging of colonial society in the
aftermath of the Spanish conquest. Major themes include:
the reformulation of indigenous and Castas' cultural identity;
the role of Church institutions such as the cofradías
in the religious transformations within the newly-established
early-colonial order, and the restructuring of the Indian
and non-Indian domains under the Spanish colonial yoke.
Colonial
Studies
The
Colonial Studies Working Group provides space for interdisciplinary
work on the colonial period in Latin America, from the 16th
century through the postcolonial present day. Among the topics
intrinsically related to colonial studies, topics of discusssion
include race, Indian peoples, and gender studies. The working
group also covers a range of Latin American countries: Peru,
Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina and the Caribbean. Members of
the working group include both faculty and students at Berkeley,
with other faculty from nearby institutions involved as well.
Education
in Latin America
The
Education in Latin America working group will bring together
scholars and students at Berkeley whose research and professional
work deals with education in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The group will meet regularly to discuss and present our
research (or plans for research), and encourage scholarship
on education in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Latin
American Film
The
Latin American Film Working Group serves as a forum for approaching
the study of films from the region. The group will meet approximately
every two weeks for a film screening and discussion. In the
interest of creating as democratic and participatory a group
as possible, members will decide by consensus the topics
and themes to be addressed in meetings and, accordingly,
the films to be shown. In addition to screenings, the group
will co-sponsor film events on campus and work towards developing
a diverse library of Latin American film to be housed at
CLAS. Of course, students from any disciplinary background
are welcome to attend and participate.
Latin
American Literature and Film Group
"The Latin American Literature & Film
Working Group, sponsored by the Center for Latin American
Studies, is an opportunity for graduate students and
faculty to come together and discuss different approaches
to researching an array of literary and media-studies
topics. Narrations of daily life and history in Latin
America can include fiction, non-fiction, written word,
photography, film, video, theater, performance, speaking,
song, illustration, prose, or poetry, and research on
all forms of storytelling is welcome. With a core group
of students in the Humanities and Social Sciences, scholars
from other disciplines are encouraged to join our group.
Undergraduates, visiting scholars, and drop-in guests
are welcome.
Politics
and Poetry
Politics
and Poetry seeks to rethink the effect of market-driven programs
on culture, and then focus on ways in which so-called "high
culture" offers challenges to neoliberal regimes, posing
questions in an otherwise 'tame' environment of consensus,
lacking in conflict or debate. Focusing on poetry as a generic
form that generally evades the market, the group asks what
poetry can do in a historical moment often characterized
by a global sheen of sameness and nondifferentiation of values.
Religion
in Latin America
The
Religion in Latin America working group provides a setting
for faculty and students to discuss religion in the Americas
across disciplines. The working group addresses issues
of religious history and change in all Latin American countries,
as well as transnational religious movements related to Latin
America (including Latinos/Latinas in the United States).
Topics may range from pre-Columbian religions to the role
of religion in current Latin American politics, and readings
will represent the various disciplinary approaches to the
study of religion.
The
working group meets biweekly to discuss shared readings. The
group will also provide a space for working group members,
as well as other invited guest lecturers, to present their
research to a critical audience. The group’s ultimate
goals are to create a space where the academic study of religion
can be discussed openly and critically, and to foster a collaborative
environment where research resources can be shared.
Rural
Mexico
The
Rural Mexico Working Group works to give students opportunities
to analyze the transformation of rural Mexico in recent years.
Areas of special concentration include the ongoing violence
in Chiapas and the continuing influence of the Zapatista
rebellion. Roundtable sessions include students, faculty
and representatives of non-governmental organizations in
ongoing discussions aimed at constructing a new theoretical
framework for understanding the effects of globalization
on rural areas.
Social
Movements and Neoliberalism in Latin America
A
variety of social and political movements have developed
in response to neoliberal policies in Latin America. This
working group will analyze the different political and collective
action strategies employed by workers and indigenous groups.
It will also examine how the new agenda being put forth by
the various social movements is affecting institutions and
political life in Latin America. The goal of the working
group is to compare ongoing research to create a broader
framework through which these movements can be understood.
Spanish
and Portuguese Writing Group
This
group has several equally important objectives: to discuss
the craft of critical writing; to create a regular, supportive
and interrogating arena for the discussion of graduate student
research; and to bring to the group the wisdom and technical
advice of accomplished writers in Spanish and Portuguese.
Thinking
the Americas
The
Working Group on the Americas deals with research that considers
the Americas as a cultural and geopolitical entity from an
interdisciplinary perspective, and also in considering the
impact of Latino culture in the United States. While primarily
focused on the humanities, participants have been drawn from
such varied fields as architecture, public health and urban
planning.
Venezuela
The
Venezuela Working Group provides a space for students and
faculty interested in a closer examination of the rapidly
changing political and social situation of Venezuela. Focusing
on the impacts and implications of the self-proclaimed Bolivarian
Revolution of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the VWG meets
bi-weekly for discussion and sponsers speakers, film screenings,
and readings. The group hopes to stimulate increased
scholarship on Venezuela and provide support for researchers
working on Venezuela.
Violence
and the Americas
This
is a long-term working group on phenomena classified under
the rubric of violence, through an exploration of conceptual
tools and fieldwork data (mostly our own) from North,
South and Central America. Our immediate aim is to produce
papers and dissertation chapters related to the working group
theme. In order to do this, we seek to problematize violence,
examining the conditions of possibility for something to
be identified as violence, and then how it is understood
and used as term in the particular. Some of our questions
are: How is violence conceptually deployed by academics,
policy makers and the media? What truth discourses circulate?
How do they change in time? Why do they take a given form
over another at specific historical junctures? How is violence
related to power? In our approach to these questions, readings
have included Arendt, Bourdieu, and Foucault, along with
recent scholarship in anthropology and sociology, and our
own current writings.
Working
Group Proposals
Proposals for new working groups or renewed support should
include the following information:
- One-page description of the project (can be the same as
last year, please just include any changes)
- A one page description of the activities you have carried
out in the past year (For renewal requests only)
- Activities
planned for 2008-2009;
- Names and background information on any returning members/new
members already identified (department, research interests,
expected graduation date)
- The name of a faculty advisor.
- Amount of funding requested and the categories of expense.
Please note that the maximum support will be $500 and that
food/refreshments may make up no more than $150 of your proposed
budget.
- Contact information for the group leader (email and telephone)
and participants (email)
Please send completed applications to:
Sara Lamson at slamson (at) berkeley.edu
Center for Latin American Studies
University of California, Berkeley
2334 Bowditch St.
Berkeley CA 94720
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