Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Spring 2011

Michelle Bachelet teaches a class at Berkeley as Harley Shaiken looks on,  April 2011. (Photo by Brittany Gabel.)

COMMENT: Spring 2011

By Harley Shaiken |  Introducing the Spring 2011 issue of the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies and commenting on the fall semester.

Women’s rights leaders dressed in local traditional styles greet Michelle Bachelet in Panama,  April 2011. (Photo by Fernando Bocanegra/UN Women.)

WOMEN'S RIGHTS: UNiting Women Around the Globe

By Gowri Vijayakumar |  Describing her challenging new role, Michelle Bachelet talks about being the Executive Director of UN Women during her visit to Berkeley.

Participants at the 2011 U.S. – Mexico Futures Forum. (Photo by Jim Block.)

U.S. - MEXICO FUTURES FORUM: Global Crisis, Bilateral Response

By Brian Palmer-Rubin | Celebrating its 10th year, the U.S–Mexico Futures Forum provides an ongoing venue for high-level discussions among important players from both countries. The focus this year is on climate change, security and the rise of China.

Soldiers transport a 14-year-old U.S. citizen accused of four beheadings in the streets in Mexico. (Photo by Antonio Sierra/Associated Press.)

U.S. - MEXICO FUTURES FORUM, SECURITY: Attacking the Roots of Insecurity

By Ben Lessing | Exploring policy responses to Mexico’s security crisis at the U.S.–Mexico Futures Forum with the former mayor of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo, and Shannon O’Neil of the Council on Foreign Relations.

A small American flag with "Made in China" stamped on its staff at a July 4th parade in Harrisonburg, Virginia. (Photo by Brent Finnegan.)

U.S. - MEXICO FUTURES FORUM, CHINA: Can Eagles Fly With Dragons: China, Mexico and the U.S.

By Julie Michelle Klinger | Confronting similar challenges in the face of China’s rise, what should Mexico and the United States do? Clyde Prestowitz and Enrique Dussel Peters outline the issues and the strategies available to both countries at the U.S.–Mexico Futures Forum.

The crew of a U.S. Coast Guard ship measures the effects of climate change on the ice pack in the Arctic Sea. (Photo by Kathryn Hansen / NASA.)

U.S. - MEXICO FUTURES FORUM, CLIMATE: Reversing the Tides of Apathy

By Christian E. Casillas | Combating climate change needs to be framed so that individuals and states take action to address the looming crisis. Panelists Luis Alfonso de Alba, Steve Weisman and Robert Collier contribute to the debate at the U.S.–Mexico Futures Forum.

Fernando Botero “The Kiss of Judas” (El beso de Judas)  2011, oil on canvas, 55” x 63” From his series “Via Crucis:  The Passion of the Christ.” (Painting by and © Fernando Botero, image courtesy of The Marlborough Gallery, New York.)

BOTERO: The Passion of Fernando Botero

By Fernando Botero, translation by Beatriz Manz | Interviewing the renowned artist about his latest works around the "Via Crucis."

A man is silhouetted against the water as he fishes in the watershed of Belo Monte, site of a controversial dam project in Brazil.. (Photo by Bruno Abreu.)

ENVIRONMENT: Save the Trees to Save the Forest

By Robert Collier | Analyzing the state of play for climate change initiatives in the Americas with journalist Robert Collier.

Mario Irarrázabal’s sculpture shows, emerging from the ground, the fingertips of a hand in search of liberty, Madrid. (Photo by Camilo Rueda López. )

HUMAN RIGHTS: No Safe Haven: Ending Impunity Through Universal Jurisdiction

By Krystel Abi Habib and Celeste Kauffman | Providing an impassioned defense of the principal of universal jurisdiction with path-breaking Judge Baltasar Garzón.

Two entries on a page from the Guatemalan military’s dossier of the disappeared, with photos and brief descriptions.  The penciled code “300” indicates execution. (Photo courtesy of Kate Doyle.)

HUMAN RIGHTS: Chasing Terror's Paper Trail

By Sarah Krupp | Tracking the perpetrators of genocide and human rights abuses, Kate Doyle leads the work of sifting through declassified records.

A banner reads "No more" at a 2011 mass demonstration against violence in Mexico City. (Photo by Damaris Vilchis.)

MEXICO: Reclaiming Mexico's Democracy

By Tara Buss | Examining the paradoxes that have caused the emergence of democracy in Mexico to be overshadowed by the grim brutality of the drug war, with journalist, scholar and human rights advocate Sergio Aguayo.

Janice Perlman sits among a crowd of residents at the Conjunto de Quitungo Housing Project, 1973. (Photo courtesy of Janice Perlman.)

BRAZIL: Becoming Gente in Rio's Favela

By Wendy Muse Sinek | Returning to Rio after 30 years, researcher Janice Perlman looks at the favelas to see how things have changed for those who participated in her seminal 1968 study of urban poverty in Brazil.

Pascual, shown from the back against a Mexican landscape and featured in “Those Who Remain,” lives with his wife  in a remote region of Puebla and has three children in the United States. (Photo courtesy of Fundación BBVA Bancomer.)

FILM: The Presence of Absence

By Anthony Fontes | Reviewing “Those Who Remain,” Anthony Fontes looks at a documentary about the loved ones migrants leave behind in in Mexico.

A bootleg DVD cover reads "Censurada": the attempt to censor “Presumed Guilty” helped catapult the film to national prominence. (Photo courtesy of Layda Negrete and Roberto Hernández.)

FILM: No Such Thing as Bad Publicity

By Roberto Hernández | Describing the long and winding road filmmakers Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete had to travel to bring their award-winning documentary “Presumed Guilty” to a Mexican audience.

In a photo from a political rally, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his successor, Dilma Rousseff, both represent the Worker's Party (PT). (Photo by Andre Penner/Associated Press.)

BRAZIL: Answering the Call

By Marcel Paret | Analyzing the working conditions and labor union activity of Brazilian telemarketers with professor Ruy Braga.

The beach at Miramar, looking north from Rudy Hermando Ramos’s 1957 Chevrolet, Havana, May 20, 1998. (Photo by Alex Harris.)

PHOTOGRAPHY: Cuba Through the Windshield

Photos by Alex Harris | Juxtaposing Cuba and the United States through the windshields of the island’s archetypal 1950s American cars in the photography of Alex Harris.