Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Spring 2021

Brazil’s first Covid-19 vaccinations, February 2021. (Photo by Breno Esaki/Agência Saúde DF.)
Rosemary Joyce.

COMMENT: Spring 2021

By Rosemary Joyce | The CLAS Interim Chair for January-June 2021 comments on the Spring 2021 Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies.

A nurse puts a warm water-filled glove on a Covid-19 patient in Brazil,  April 2021. The phrase on the glove reads “May love prevail.” (Photo by Amanda Perobelli/REUTERS.)

COVID-19: Getting Supplies in the Right Hands

By Cassandra M. Sweet |  Examining the struggle to get pandemic supplies to caregivers in Latin America.

At a July 2021 inquiry on Brazil’s pandemic response, nameplates are replaced by updated numbers of the over 500,000 lives lost due to Covid-19. (Photo by Pedro França/Agência Senado.)

COVID-19: The International–Domestic Nexus of a Catastrophic Pandemic Response

By Carlos R.S. Milani and Tiago Nery | Looking at the national and transnational roots of Brazil's response to Covid-19.

Standing in front of police in riot gear, a masked mature couple with signs supports the campaign for a new constitution in Chile,  August 2020. (Photo by Paulo Slachevsky.)

COVID-19: Chile: A Health Crisis Within a Social Crisis

By Claudio A. Méndez | On the intersection of Chile's pandemic response, protests, and ongoing constitutional reform process.

A march after the assassination of Councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver,  Anderson Gomes, Rio de Janeiro, March 2018. (Photo by Mídia NINJA.)

RACE & IDENTITY: Legacies of Struggle: Reflecting on the AfroLatinx Voices Roundtable Series

By John A. Mundell | On the origins and initial steps of the new AfroLatinx Voices Series at CLAS.

Desks and a blackboard in a somewhat dilapidated Brazilian classroom. (Photo by Carlos Ramalhete.)

BRAZIL: The Struggle for Black Education in Salvador

By C. Darius Gordon | Recounting how the struggle for Black educational access in Brazil helped organize a community.

Railroad tracks in Veracruz, on which a train called La Bestia transported tens of thousands of Central American migrants each year. (Photo by Levi Vonk.)

MIGRACIÓN: Una mirada auto-etnográfica de la migración

Por Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj | Analizando migración desde la perspectiva de una etnógrafa que también es migrante. | With an introduction in English by Rosemary Joyce. 

A lexicon of Rarámuri words and their Spanish translation form a mural in Chihuahua, Mexico. (Photo by Malcolm K.)

LANGUAGE: Niahciz, I Will Arrive: A Song for the Future From the Past

By Everardo Reyes |  Reflecting on his experience learning Nahuatl and the connection and joy he found  in the process.

A farmer holds dried cacao beans ready for the market. (Photo courtesy of USAID_IMAGES.)

ARCHAEOLOGY: Chocolate’s Deep History in Latin America

By Rosemary Joyce | Presenting new findings about the early use of cacao throughout Latin America.

Cracked dry mud lines a dry riverbed in Amazonas, Brazil. (Photo by Hudsön.)

CLIMATE: The Changing Global Tropics: Hot Droughts in the Amazon

By Jeff Chambers, Clarissa Fontes, and Bruno Oliva Gimenez | The authors discuss the worrying trend of prolonged hot droughts in the Amazon rainforest.

A bright yellow hoverfly. (Photo by Rollin Coville.)

AGRICULTURE: Native Pollinators and the Avocado

By Gordon Frankie, Sara Witt, Ben Faber, and Rollin Coville | The authors discuss  work with the species that help pollinate the avocado.

From “Chaco”: soldiers in formation listen to a bolero de caballeria, a genre of Bolivian music played during the war to bid farewell to soldiers leaving for the front. (Image courtesy of Color_Monster, Pasto, and Murillo Cine.)

FILM: Remembering to Avoid Repeating

Diego Mondaca, translated by Deborah Meacham | Recounting the experience of creating the film “Chaco.”