News & Events
Open Forum
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Figuring Out Whether (and Why and How and to Whom) Institutions Matter
By Juan Diego Prieto, Ph.D. Candidate in Politics ~ UC Santa Cruz The enduring popularity of Donald Trump in the United States, the rise of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and the unwavering apologies for Nicolás Maduro and Daniel Ortega in Venezuela and Nicaragua are all, I believe, indicative of widespread mistrust and suspicion toward the…
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The Ebbs and Flows of a New Researcher in Oaxaca
By Candy Martínez, Ph.D. Candidate in Latin American & Latino Studies ~ UC Santa Cruz Going to Oaxaca to conduct field research has consisted of an exploration of different climates, altitudes, languages, tastes, sounds, and colors. Beyond the timeless Oaxacan landscapes filled with rolling green hills, resilient magueys, and ancient cacti, are the contemporary cultural…
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Chiapas, 2018: Aesthetics and Politics of Indigenous Autonomy
By T. J. Demos, Professor of History and Art and Visual Culture, Director of Center for Creative Ecologies ~ UC Santa Cruz How has Zapatismo—the militarized Indigenous Mayan formation based in the highlands of Chiapas—fared after more than a decade of self-declared autonomy? How has the movement survived a Mexican state witnessing growing devastations of…
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“If I Did Not Want to Come I Would Not Have Come:” Finding Resistance in the Archives
By Bristol Cave-LaCoste, Ph.D. Candidate in History and Designated Emphasis in Latin American & Latino Studies ~ UC Santa Cruz On June 30, 2018, tens of thousands of people across the United States gathered to protest the horrendous detention and separation of immigrant families, a practice accelerated under the Trump Administration. Over the previous weeks,…