Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies 2022

Participants gather during the Second March of Indigenous Women, Brazilia, Brazil, September 2021. (Photo by Ana Pessoa / Mídia NINJA.)

The Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies is published by the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Chair: Natalia Brizuela

Vice Chair: Julia Byrd

Program Coordinator: Janet Waggaman

Design and Layout: Greg Louden

Editor: Deborah Meacham

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Center for Latin American Studies or UC Berkeley.

Francia Márquez of Colombia, shown at an ecofeminist conference in December 2019. (Photo courtesy of GUE/NGL.)

Francia Márquez: The Land Defender Redefining Colombian Politics

By Ángela Castillo-Ardila and Valeria Ramírez-Castañeda  |  Examining the backstory of Colombia's Francia Márquez, who is making history as a candidate in Colombia's 2022 presidential elections.

Different practices around markets like this one in Mexico City can align with mediatized fears during an epidemic. (Photo by Bernardo Moreno Peniche.)

Holding Together: An Approach to Briggs’s Methods for the Study of Epidemics

By Bernardo Moreno Peniche | Using Charles Briggs' recent book Unlearning as a launching pad to discuss coloniality and notions of traditionality and modernity in approaches to public health and disease control.

Various eras of the Desagüe technology in northern Mexico City. (Photo by ArCaRa.)

Waterworks: Desiccation, Desedimentation, Writing

By  Alfonso Fierro | Looking at the work of Cristina Rivera Garza, author, translator, and critic, who created one of the first Hispanic creative writing programs in the U.S., alongside that of José Revueltas, in delving into what Rivera Garza calls "desedimentation" - unpacking the layers of literature.

Cristina Rivera Garza. (Photo by and © Marta Calvo.)

Breathing in Tandem: Notes on Co-Translating Cristina Rivera Garza’s Poetry

By Ilana Luna and Cheyla Samuelson | Discussing the work and creativity involved in their translation of some of the works of Cristina Rivera Garza, and of translation in general. Featuring their translation of her poem "THE SOUND."

Norma Martínez. (Ixcopincayotl iaxca Norma Martínez.)

A Modern-Day Nahua Artist from Chicontepec

By Abelardo de la Cruz | Celebrating the work of Nahua artist Norma Martínez, Abelardo de la Cruz looks at her life story and art, and she shares two of her paintings. Read in English | Leer en español | Xicpohua ica nahuatlahtolli

Memorial stones list the names and ages of the murdered and disappeared in El Ojo que Llora (The Eye That Cries), a monument in Lima. (Photo by Christiane Wilke.)

Memory Making in Contemporary Peru: El Santuario de La Hoyada

By Emily Fjaellen Thompson | Examining the ongoing efforts to preserve the memory of the victims of violence and human rights abuses through memorials and other public spaces and art in Ayacucho and other parts of Peru.

Lídio Karo in Nova Trairão. (Photo courtesy of Rosamaria Loures.)

Reviving Lídio’s Words: An Unexpected Collaboration in the Brazilian Amazon

By Ailén Vega, Honésio Dace Munduruku, and Rosamaria Loures | Collaborating with Lídio Karo, a Munduruku elder in the Brazilian Amazon and renowned keeper of origin stories and chants, who generously shared those memory songs with the three authors.

A chalkboard fills with messages of what being Latinx means to people at California State University, Fullerton, in 2019. (Photo by CUSF Photos.)

The Work of the Gender in Language Project

By Ben Papadopoulos | Describing the origins and progress of the Gender in Language Project, which seeks more neutral forms of expression in languages with gendered structures.