Glasgow Latin American Research Network (GLARN)

Glasgow Latin American Research Network (GLARN) provides a forum for people from across the university and city to meet and share research and information relating to Latin America.

We aim to:

  • Give staff and students the opportunity to build networks with each other and with external partners
  • Provide a space in which people can share and discuss their research and interests
  • Act as a forum through which interdisciplinary collaboration can emerge
  • Encourage postgraduate students to work collaboratively across and within disciplines and situate their work within the wider field of Latin American Studies
  • Provide a forum for discussion of Latin America in Scotland

Convenor

Mailing list

To join our mailing list, please contact Dr Soledad Montanez

Events:

Workshop: Translating Jorge Consiglio by Charco Press, 5th February 2020

Wednesday 5th February 2020 - Translating Jorge Consiglio by Charco Press

This translation workshop will focus on the translation of Jorge Consiglio's work by Charco Press - https://charcopress.com/

Eamon McCarthy will lead a discussion in Spanish and English with Jorge Consiglio and Carolina Orloff.

Please contact Eamon.McCarthy@glagsow.ac.uk for further details. 

Seminar: Social Movements' Claims for Political Incorporation in Latin America

Title:  Social Movements' Claims for Political Incorporation in Latin America

Presenter: Federico M. Rossi

Date and location: Thursday 21st February at 3.30pm, Boyd Orr Building, Room 507 (LTC)

Abstract:

How has the sociopolitical arena expanded to include the interests of the poor and excluded strata of society in Latin America? In this talk, based on his acclaimed book The Poor’s Struggle for Political Incorporation, Federico Rossi argues that it was through contentious political dynamics that marginalized members of society claimed to be recognized. Protests, marches, pickets, strikes, and–sometimes–more violent methods have been part of the relational process of building and rebuilding institutions that modified the relationship of the ‘popular sectors’ with the state. These contentious dynamics pushed political elites to define a new “social question,” innovating in both social and repressive policies to deal with the claims of the poor for being (re)incorporated in the sociopolitical arena. The popular movement’s repertoire of strategies for social change has been associated with different types of movements in each historical period of Latin America. The labor and/or peasant movements, the main organizers of the popular sectors in their claim for well-being through reform or revolution, were in the liberal period (1870s–1930s) that preceded the first incorporation (1930s–1950s). In the second incorporation (2000s–2010s), a different type of movement emerged in response to the neoliberal period (1970s–2000s) as the central popular actor in the quest for stopping the exclusionary consequences of authoritarianism and neoliberalism while claiming for the re-incorporation of the popular sectors as citizens and wage earners. Putting poor people’s movements into the long-term perspective of societal transformations produced by neoliberalism, this book talk will present these dynamics of reincorporation into society as citizens and workers in Latin America.

Bio:

Federico M. Rossi, Visiting Professor at the Centre on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS) of the Scuola Normale Superiore (Italy), is a Research-Professor of Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) at the School of Politics and Government of the National University of San Martín (UNSAM), Buenos Aires.

Rossi is the author of The Poor’s Struggle for Political Incorporation: The Piquetero Movement in Argentina (Cambridge University Press – Contentious Politics Series, 2017), and La participación de las juventudes hoy (Prometeo, 2009). He is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), and the coeditor (with Marisa von Bülow) of Social Movement Dynamics: New Perspectives on Theory and Research from Latin America (Routledge – Mobilization Series, 2015), and (with Eduardo Silva) of Reshaping the Political Arena in Latin America: From Resisting Neoliberalism to the Second Incorporation (University of Pittsburgh Press – Latin American Series, 2018).

Rossi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and a Doctoral degree in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He has been Visiting Professor at Singapore Management University and the American University of Cairo, Global Visiting Scholar at New York University, Visiting Researcher at the Universidade de Brasília, and Postdoctoral Fellow at Tulane University and the European University Institute. He has just been awarded the prestigious Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers for 2020-2021.

Seminar: La mirada documental en la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea

Wednesday 13th February 2019 at 1pm in Hetherington 317

An AHGBI research seminar at the University of Glasgow, hosted by Dr Eamon McCarthy:

La mirada documental en la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea (Sergio Chejfec, Mario Levrero, Valeria Luiselli y Alejandro Zambra).

 

NOTE – the talk will be in Spanish

Luz Horne is a Professor of Literature at the Humanities Department at Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires. She received her PhD in Spanish and Portuguese from Yale University (2005) and her “Licenciatura” in Philosophy from the University of Buenos Aires (1999). Before joining San Andrés (2010), she was an Assistant Professor at Cornell University (2006-2010) and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northwestern University (2005-06). Her main area of research is 20th and 21st century Brazilian and Spanish American literature and culture, with a special interest in the fields of film, visual culture, cultural studies and critical theory. She has published several articles in prestigious peer-reviewed academic journals and her book, Literaturas reales: Transformaciones del realismo en la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea, was published in 2012 by Beatriz Viterbo Editora (Argentina).

Seminar: Patriarchal State Violence: Nicaraguan Feminists/LGBT Activists Speak

Patriarchal State Violence: Nicaraguan Feminists/LGBT Activists Speak

 

Wednesday 28th November 2018, 5pm to 7pm

Glasgow University, Room 234, St Andrew’s Building,

20 Eldon St, Glasgow G3 6NH

Patriarchal State Violence Poster      

Film Screening: 26 April, Ayotzinapa Solidarity

A screening of the powerful documentary "Watch Them Die" (Temoris Grecko) with a short discussion, to stand in solidarity with the 43 Mexican students that were forcefully disappeared 43 months ago - and to show their families, friends and other Mexican activists fighting for the truth of the case to be revealed that they are not forgotten.

 
Thursday 26th April, 6-8 in Hetherington Building, room 131.

We hope you can join us in this act of solidarity with fellow students. Afterwards, we will of course be heading to the pub for a well-needed break from exam prep and international conflicts...

----- MORE INFO -----

On September the 26th 2014, a clash between the police and students from a rural school in Ayotzinapa, Mexico resulted with the forced disappearance of 43 students, in addition to nine deaths and several injured. Since then the families of the victims have been demanding justice for the students. To date no one has been prosecuted and the whereabouts of the 43 students are still unknown. 

Thursday April 26th marks the 43th month without the 43 missing students. Because of the symbolism of the date several solidarity actions are expected to happen in Mexico and abroad. 

As part of this international solidarity action the Glasgow University Solidarity will screen the documentary "Watch them die" by Temoris Grecko, which narrates how the Mexican army was involved on the events of September the 26th. A small discussion will be followed after the screening of the film. 

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQolfFfKWjU

Seminar: Regional cooperation for ecological sustainability, April 2018

Seminar & Reception: Regional cooperation for ecological sustainability: protecting migratory species in East Africa and South America

Wednesday, April 11th, 2018, 16-17.30h

Gilbert Scott Room 355

Description: Addressing transboundary environmental concerns poses particular challenges. While ecosystems do not function according to the political and legal boundaries drawn up by humans, those national borders, different legislations and at times varying political priorities and rivalries have a significant impact on how, and how effectively, transboundary environmental concerns are governed. This interdisciplinary seminar provides a platform for discussing the opportunities and challenges in regional environmental governance by focussing on the protection of migratory species, a group of organisms that elicits a unique set of international policies due to their wide ranging movements that occur across political boundaries. The seminar will examine migratory species from two angles. Dr Thomas Morrison (Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences) will present the ecological factors shaping the migration of animals and present some of the findings from his work on wildebeest and elephant migration in East Africa. Dr Karen Siegel (School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences) will then discuss the broader political context of the protection of migratory species and outline how networks of researchers, NGOs and government officials have promoted the conservation of migratory species in South America. This case study is part of her book Regional Environmental Cooperation in South America: Processes, Drivers and Constraints (Palgrave Macmillan, International Political Economy Series, 2017). To mark the publication of the book and to provide an opportunity for informal discussion and networking, the seminar will be followed by a wine reception.

To register: Please e-mail Mary.Ryan@glasgow.ac.uk to register for this event

Seminar: Rivers with rights? Wednesday 6th February 2018

Rivers with rights? Social and environmental conflict in Colombia

Colombia has experienced one of the most protected civil conflicts in the world, lasting over fifty years and  resulting in a high death toll, widespread displacement, and deep social scars. On 27 September 2016, the Colombian Government signed an historic peace agreement with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC-EP), the main guerrilla group.  While the cessation of FARC-EP violence has brought with it great hope for peace, the complexity of the Colombian conflict and the persistence of a variety of legal and illegal armed groups also presents very real challenges. Instead of dissipating with the peace agreement the ‘humanitarian crisis has got worse’ for the citizens of the Chocó department (UMAIC, 2017), the poorest and most ethnically diverse region of the country. As one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, Chocó has attracted legal and illegal speculators who engage in extraction of natural resources. One of the most devastating of these has been gold mining which has caused widespread environmental destruction and displacement, particularly of riverine communities.  As a result of community activism,  the Colombian Constitutional Court passed a unique sentence  in 2017 which acknowledges ‘the inherent interdependency between the environment and communities ‘  of Chocó. Sentence T-622 specifically recognises the Atrato River as a bearer of rights alongside the recognition that communities’ identities and livelihoods cannot be separated from it.  This ruling has generated a new paradigm of rights in Colombia. Founded in the idea of a sustainable socio-environment, these have been expressed as ‘bio-cultural’ rights.  These rights are cornerstones for building sustainable and peaceful communities in the Atrato Basin and wider Chocó bio-region, but also ensure that the river too is a bearer of rights.

This public lecture features contributions from community leader Bernardino Mosquera Palacios, the Diocese of Choco Sterlin Londono Palacios, and Mauricio Cabrera Leal of WWF Colombia who will give an overview of the current situation in Chocó and the challenges and opportunities presented by the nascent peace process.

The event forms part of the Choco River Stories Glasgow workshop, which is bringing together activists and academics from Colombia with scholars and NGO representatives based in the UK in a two-day event (8-9th February 2018) at the University of Glasgow.

 

Please register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rivers-with-rights-social-and-environmental-conflict-in-colombia-tickets-42669360205 (for catering purposes). 

In association with ABColombia, SCIAF, and WWF Colombia.

N.B. Event in Spanish with translation

 

Choco Lecture poster

Film Screening: Monday 29th January 2018

Canción norteña: Los cumaná de coquimbo


A documentary film by Eileen Karmy & Martin Farias

Monday 29th January, 5.15

Andrew Stewart Cinema, University of Glasgow (Gilmorehill Campus)

 

The screening is free, but registration is required: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-of-northern-song-in-glasgow-tickets-41709691811

 

Northern Song Poster

Argentine Film Festival: 30th October - 20th November

Argentine Film Festival

 

Monday 30th October:         Kriptonita (Nicanor Loreti, 2015) - book via eventbrite

Monday 6th November:       Historias de cronopios y de famas (Julio Ludueña, 2013) - book via eventbrite

Monday 13th November:    Cassandra (Inés de Oliveira Cézar, 2012) - book via eventbrite

Monday 20th November:    Las viudas de los jueves (Marcelo Piñeyro, 2009) - book via eventbrite

 

Argentine Film Festival Info about films.

 

Screenings will take place in the Lecture Theatre in Kelvin Hall at 6pm.

All screenings are free but you are encouraged to book in advance via Eventbrite (search for “GLARN Argentine Film Festival” for all listings or click on links above).

 

Films (with English subtitles) kindly provided by Embassy of the Argentine Republic in the UK. http://midacc.org/en/

For further information, please contact: Dr Eamon McCarthy, Eamon.Mccarthy@glasgow.ac.uk

Conference: SLAS, 6th & 7th April 2017

GLARN will host the annual Society for Latin American Studies Conference on 6th & 7th April 2017.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/politics/slas2017/

Film Screening & Panel Discussion - 5th April 2017

Glasgow and Latin America: Ties Through Solidarity 

Screening of Nae pasarán (dir Felipe Bustos Sierra, 15 mins) and ¿Dónde están? (dir Jan Nimmo, 5 mins) followed by panel discussion chaired by Eamon McCarthy.

Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre, 1445 Argyle St, Glasgow G3 8AW

This event is free but please register in advance: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/glasgow-and-latin-america-ties-through-solidarity-tickets-33214645900

 

Workshop - Hidden water in Latin America - 28 March

Hidden Water in Latin America: Exploring the Guarani Aquifer System

 

Tuesday 28 March 2017, 2-5pm

Lilybank House, room 201

 

This workshop is jointly organised by the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance and the Glasgow Latin American Research Network.

 

The Guarani Aquifer System is shared by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. It has been estimated that it holds enough water to quench the world’s population thirst for the next 200 years. While some areas of the aquifer are still relatively unknown, much has happened since in the early nineties the scientific community decided to name the aquifer as the indigenous people living over a part of it. The Guarani Aquifer System has seen in the past two decades plenty of academic research, international projects, consultancies and even one of the few international agreements on transboundary aquifers. This workshop, jointly organised by the Glasgow Latin American Research Network and the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, will provide insights on these developments from a multidisciplinary perspective. Speakers either come from the region itself, or have worked extensively on the Guarani Aquifer System.

 

Speakers:

- Ricardo Hirata, Professor at the University of São Paulo and Vice-Director at CEPAS|USP;

- Karen Siegel, Research Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow;

- Francesco Sindico, Reader in International Environmental Law and Director SCELG.

 

Chair: Dr Mo Hume, Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow School of Social and Political Sciences

 

All welcome - Please register via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hidden-water-in-latin-america-exploring-the-guarani-aquifer-system-tickets-32349853282

Seminar (joint with Screen Seminars): Thurs 16 March 2017

Dr Deborah Shaw (Portsmouth), 'Considering Central American and Mexican migration films as transnational human rights films'.

Seminar begins at 5.30 in Gilmorehill Halls

Public Lecture: 7th November 2016

Challenges to Peace in Colombia

An evening with Colombian activists

 

Monday 7th November, 6.00 - 8.00pm

Yudowitz Lecture Theatre, Wolfson Medical School Building, University Ave, Glasgow G12 8QQ

 

The fragile process to end Colombia’s civil war has come to a crossroads after voters rejected the new peace deal. What are the barriers to peace moving forward, and how can Colombians overcome them?

 

SCIAF, GLARN and GHRN (Glasgow Human Rights Network) invite you to an evening with Colombian church leaders and civil society activists to discuss the challenges to peace in the country. Refreshments will be provided at a reception after the meeting.

 

This event will explore the next steps in Colombia’s bid for peace, and the challenge the society will face along the road. Over the course of the evening, we will hear contributions from SCIAF partners who have been active advocates for peace in Colombia.

 

Father Sterlin Londoño Palacios, Pastoral Director for Afro-descendent people will provide an overview of the current situation in the country. Bishop Barreto from Quibdó diocese in Chocó will describe the barriers to peace from the perspective of the Catholic Church, which has been closely involved in the peace process. Finally, Diego Melo from the NGO Tierra Digna will speak about economic development driven by multinational business interests, and how this impacts peace building and Colombia’s communities.

 

Who is SCIAF?

Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) is the official overseas aid and development charity of the Catholic Church in Scotland.  SCIAF’s vision is a world in which all people, especially the poor and the oppressed, can live life to the full. We run projects in 15 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, helping 280,000 people of all faiths and none to overcome hunger, poverty, war and natural disasters every year.

 

Context

On 27 September 2016, the Colombian Government, led by Nobel peace prize winner President Santos, signed a historic peace deal with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC-EP). The peace agreement was thought to bring to an end a 50 year conflict which had caused suffering to over 8 million victims.

But just a few weeks later, voters rejected the peace deal in a popular referendum, and drove the Colombian Government back to the negotiating table.

 

Everyone is welcome.  The talks will be followed by a wine reception.  If you would like to attend, please register on the Eventbrite site

Seminar: 1st November 2016

The politics of water in Mexico

 

Dr María Verónica Ibarra García, Instituto de Geografía at UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico with Dr Alejandra Peña, IMTA (Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua) and UNAM.

 

Where: room 311 East Quad (Geography) 

When: Tuesday, 1 November ,  1-3pm 

 

Lunch will be served from 12.30. This is an opportunity to hear a paper about water politics in Mexico but also to engage in informal discussion with researchers from the UNAM, Mexico’s leading research institution. Dr Ibarra is a feminist political geographer who works on a range of subjects, including water politics, women’s political participation, feminist geographies and megaprojects.

Seminar: Tuesday 1st December 2015

2pm, 356 Gilbert Scott Building

 

Dr Indranil Chakrabarti (Department for International Development),

‘Brazil as a Foreign Policy and Development Actor’

 

Indranil Chakrabarti is the Development Counsellor at the British Embassy in Brasilia. He has an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics, and has worked for the UK government in India, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and now Brazil. Prior to this he worked in variety of roles in international development, including as an adviser to Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. This talk is a personal analysis and does not represent the views of the UK government. 

Film Screening: Wednesday 18th November 2015

5.15, Andrew Stewart Cinema, Gilmorehill Halls

Desaparecidos, dir. Carla Novi (88 mins)

¿Dónde están?, dir. Jan Nimmo (5 mins)

2015 is the Year of Mexico in the UK and this screening is intended to call attention to the disappearance of 43 Mexican students from the rural teacher’s college of Ayotzinapa on the 26th of September 2014. The films will be followed by Q&A with both directors.

Tickets are free but to reserve a seat, please go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-desaparecidos-donde-estan-tickets-19358977222

Open Meeting: Fri 19 Jun 2015

Communities affected by mining in Colombia

Ximena Gonzalez, Tierra Digna presented in conjunction with SCIAF

Postgraduate Workshop: Fri 5 Jun 2015

Returning from Fieldwork in Latin America

Workshop: Fri 13 Mar 2015

Memory, Truth & Justice in Latin America

  • Prof Cath Collins, University of Ulster
  • Dr Cara Levey, University College Cork
  • Prof Carl Lavery, University of Glasgow 

Seminar: Fri 12 Dec 2014

'Communitarian water provision in peri-urban areas: the case of Cochabamba Water Cooperatives

Francesca Minelli, University of Glasgow

Workshop: Mon 8 Dec 2014

My Body My Rights: A solidarity event with women and girls in El Salvador

  • Keynote speaker: Morena Herrera, Director of Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto (Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion) based in El Salvador
  • Vickie Knox, Co-Director of the Central American Women's Network (CAWN)
  • Naomi McAuliffe, Amnesty International UK

Seminar: Tue 11 Nov 2014

Contested mechanism of citizen participation: experience of consejos comunales in Caracas

Graham Martin, University of Cardiff

 AND

(Re)generating the city: Urban renovation and changes in urban governance in Bogotá, Colombia

Erich Hellmer, University of Glasgow

2014-15 Seminar Series: 3 Oct, 14 Nov, 13 Feb, 27 Mar

Creativity in Contemporary Latin American Culture

Co-organised with University of Edinburgh & sponsored by ILAS

For more details see: www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/literatures-languages-cultures/contemporary-latin-american-studies/events/creativity-latin-american-culture

Postgraduate workshop: 30 May 2014

Doing Fieldwork in Latin America

Seminar: 29 May 2014

Adventures and Misadventures in Fieldwork

Prof Judy Hellman, York University (Canada)

Seminar: 25 Apr 2014

Before the Body Count: Governance of Life and Death in Urban Brazil

Dr Graham Denyer Willis, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, Canada

Roundtable: 28 Mar 2014

War on Drugs: Lessons to be learnt from Latin America

  • Dr Gómez Arana, University of Glasgow
  • Dr Peter Watt, University of Sheffield
  • Shadi Whitburn, University of Glasgow 

Seminar: 21 Mar 2014

News from the students' protests in Venezuela: Is there such thing as an opposition?

Dr Jairo Lugo Ocanda, Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield 

Seminar: 28 Feb 2014

The Intractability of Venezuela's domestic political conflict

Prof Julia Buxton, School of Public Policy, Central European University, Budapest and Global Drug Policy Observatory, Swansea University 

Lecture: 1 Nov 2013

The marginal among the invisible: Women in the informal economy