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Newsletter of the University of Kansas Center of Latin American Studies1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Suite 320 - Lawrence · KS · 66045 - 7574 · (785) 864-4213 · latamst@ku.edu · www.ku.edu/~latamst

Director: Elizabeth KuznesofAssociate Director: Peter HerlihyInterim Associate Director, Fall ‘08: Brent MetzOffice Manager: Judy FarmerEditors: Gillian Ford and Erin Adamson

Academic Year 2008-2009

CONTENTS

By Heather Wurtz

An Undergraduate InvestigatesReproductive Health Care inRural Peru

From the Director’s Desk

During the summer of 2007 I conducted asix week project in the department of Ayacucho,Peru. Through my research, I was able to learnabout customary birthing practices passed downthrough generations and the employment of thesepractices by the public health care system. I wasalso exposed to the relatively recent and stillevolving process of the institutionalization of birth inPeru as well as the roles and multifaceted effects ofvarious international, federal, and grassrootsorganizations. Within the past ten years some ofthese organizations have been extremely effective in

From the Field.............................................1 From the Director’s Desk............................1 New Miskitu Language Program...............2 Tinker Funds Student Research.................4 Documenting Mayan Language................6 Waggoner celebrates KU scholars..............7 Student News..............................................11 Brown-bag Meriendas...............................12 Hall Center Latin America Series............13 Master’s Graduate Students.......................13 Undergraduates Celebrate Graduation.....14 Faculty News..............................................15 Graduate Research Competition...............18 New Additions............................................20

(see Director’s Desk page 10)

(see From the Field page 8)

Latin AmericanistThe Kansas

Normally I use this space to talk aboutaccomplishments of the last year and changes infaculty at the Center. We have had importantcontinued accomplishments particularly in terms ofthe graduate program. These will be discussedelsewhere in the Latin Americanist. For this editionI think it is more important to discuss recent effortsto refocus the direction of the Center of LatinAmerican Studies to better support and reflectcurrent themes of student and faculty research atKU.

The Center of Latin American Studies isbusy redefining itself as a Center and alsosimultaneously working hard on the next USDETitle VI competition with proposals due in January2010. No doubt many of you have already beenasked to submit information on your publicationsand your teaching as part of that effort. You willalso have a number of opportunities to weigh in on

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Atlantic Nicaragua site of Miskitu language program

By Erin Adamson and Laura Herlihy

Five KU students accompanied Dr. LauraHerlihy to the Caribbean or Atlantic Coast ofNicaragua this July for the first session of a new KUstudy abroad program focused on indigenousMiskito language and culture. The 5-week programoffered two courses, “Introduction to SpokenMiskitu” and “History and Culture of the MiskitoCoast.” An Argentine student also joined theMiskitu language course.

The students lived in homestays in PuertoCabezas-Bilwi, a city of 50,000 people in a coastalregion that is a mix of Miskitu, Afro-Caribbean, andMestizo Nicaraguans. Herlihy set the program upwith the pluri-ethnic university URACCAN (TheUniversity of the Autonomous Regions of theCaribbean Coast of Nicaragua) through SashaMarley, who served as a guest professor at theCenter of Latin American Studies in Spring 2009.Marley is an anthropology professor atURACCAN and Director of the Center for theStudy of Multi-Ethnic Women (CEIIM)

Arriving there was like arriving in a differentcountry.

“You feel like you’re not in Nicaragua anymore,” said KU graduate student Jaime Pena, whoadded, “they even ask you for your passportarriving from Managua.”

The town is the capital of the North AtlanticAutonomous Region (RAAN) and is known bythree names, Puerto Cabezas in Spanish, Port inCentral American English, and Bilwi in Miskitu (aMisumalapan Macro-Chibchan language). The areahas a history and culture distinct from Pacific orcentral Nicaragua and Spanish-speaking mestizoshistorically were considered to be the enemy. Thecoast was a British protectorate during the colonialperiod and later was a center of US-ownedStandard Fruit Company production. Hostile inter-ethnic relations between costeños and mestizoswere re-lived during the Contra-Sandinista war,

when the US funded a Miskitu-based resistance tothe revolutionary Sandinista government during the1980’s.

Herlihy said the program, slated to berepeated in the 2009-2010 academic year, offersKU students the unique opportunity to learn aCentral American indigenous language in the largestindigenous city in Middle America, where Miskitu isthe language on the street. In addition,approximately 1,500 projects of non-governmentaland bi-national organizations operate in the region,making it an ideal location for students pursuingindependent study projects and academic research,Herlihy said.

Students enrolled in the course “Culture andHistory of the Miskito Coast” completed researchprojects. Stacey Burton, a LAS master’s studentfunded by a Tinker award, studied intra-familialviolence and focused on legal aspects of teen-pregnancy in the autonomous region. KU graduateTeresa Royston and undergraduate Justin Huntexamined the emerging Miskitu independencemovement. They learned that its leaders, in anattempt to gain control of the regional government,have given current government officials until the 18th

of October to step down from their posts. KUgraduate student (Business and LAS) Jaime Penastudied the problems of garbage removal in PuertoCabezas and, in a meeting with the town mayor,

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discussed the toxic practice of burning plastic refusein city streets.

Herlihy has conducted research along theAtlantic Coast of Central America since the 1990s.After completing her KU doctoral dissertation,“The Mermaid and the Lobster Diver: Gender andEthnic Identities Among the Rio Platano MiskituPeoples” (2002), Herlihy shifted her research fromHonduras to Nicaragua in 2004. She first taughtanthropology to graduate students at URACCAN,with support from a Fulbright grant and beganworking with Marley and other URACCANprofessors on a FORD Foundation project. Withfunding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation forAnthropological Research and the KU Hall Centerfor the Humanities in 2006-2007, Herlihy continuedworking with Marley and other URACCANprofessors to conduct oral histories of womenleaders. Herlihy’s current research, funded byFulbright-Hays, compares indigenous feminism intwo autonomy movements in Oaxaca, Mexico andon the Atlantic Nicaragua. In Nicaragua “tons ofwomen are NGO directors, government officials,and leaders of religious and political movements”she says, while the same is not true in the Zapoteccommunities that she studies in highland Oaxaca.

The Study Abroad group interacted withother students and scholars in Nicaragua. Afterlearning to converse in basic Miskitu sentences atthe end of the trip, the KU students joined a groupof Ohio State graduate students also studyingMiskitu language in Granada, Nicaragua. KUgraduate Chris White (Ph.D., History),accompanied by his Marshall University graduatestudents, also met them in Granada. In Bluefields,KU anthropology doctoral student Norberto BaldiSalas visited with the group. Norberto (funded by aLAS Stansifer Award) was studying the genetichistory of the indigenous Rama people that live inRAAS.

While on the Atlantic Coast, the grouptraveled to Corn Island, Bluefields, and PearlLagoon, all in the Creole-dominated South AtlanticAutonomous Region (RAAS). Perhaps the group’smost adventurous trip was their jaunt in motorizedcanoe up the Rio Coco, the international borderbetween Honduras and Nicaragua. “It was apolitically tumultuous time to be on the river” saidHerlihy. The Miskitu live in a bi-national (Hondurasand Nicaragua) homeland and normally cross theRio Coco without incident. After the Hondurancoup this summer, however, Honduras closed theborder with Nicaragua.

Program participant Stacey Burton, a LAS master’s student,submitted this view of the ocean from Puerto Cabezas.

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Tinker Sends Students into the Field

Andrea Romero stands in one of the Costa Rican lowland tropical rainforest sites of her research on rodents.

The Center of Latin American Studies wasproud to send 18 KU graduate students to do fieldresearch in Latin America in the spring and summerof 2009 thanks to a prestigious grant from theTinker Foundation. The students were awarded atotal of $20,000 to help pay the expenses oftraveling to Latin American countries andconducting research.

The Center believes the opportunity tospend time in another country making contacts andlearning about conducting research is an invaluableopportunity for students, and often is a pivotalexperience for students that leads to a life-longinterest in conducting research in Latin America.One such student is Andrea Romero, a student inEcology and Evolutionary Biology, who usedTinker funding to travel to La Selva BiologicalStation in Costa Rica for her project “Effects ofForest Fragmentation on Small MammalCommunities in Lowland Tropical Rainforests.”

In her research report, Romero said thatthis project followed up on field research she beganin 2007. With her 2009 Tinker funding, shesurveyed several more forest fragments andtrapped rodents at six additional sites.

“The data are currently being analyzed todiscern patterns of community compositiondifferences based on forest patch size,” shereported.

Romero found the Tinker Grant was “veryhelpful” in conducting her research and the Tinkergrant allowed her to focus on a particular project ofinterest in Costa Rica.

A complete list of the outstanding graduatestudents funded by the 2009 Tinker Grant follows:

1. Emilia Barbosa, Spanish, Ph.D studentProject: Reaffirming Cultural Identities inGuatemala and Honduras - An Inquiry Into theContemporary Performance of Violence;Faculty Sponsor: Professor Yajaira Padilla, Spanish& Portuguese

2. Matias Beverinotti, Spanish Literature, M.A.student Project: Rascón Banda and the Use ofTheater as a Tool for Social Change; FacultySponsor: Professor Stuart Day, Spanish &Portuguese3. Stacey Burton, Latin American Studies, M.A.student Project: Violence Against IndigenousWomen: A Look Beyond Gender Identity; FacultySponsor: Professor Laura Herlihy, Latin AmericanStudies4. Ian Carrillo, Latin American Studies, M.A.student Project: Commercialized Microfinance inOaxaca, Mexico: Efficiency or Theft?; FacultySponsor: Professor Peter Herlihy, Geography5. Jessica Craig, Anthropology, Ph.D studentProject: The Veneration of Their Sacred Past:Evidence for the Ceremonial Reuse of AncestralBuildings and Monuments by the Ancient Maya of

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San Bartolo; Faculty Sponsor: Professor JohnHoopes, Anthropology6. Antoinette Egitto, Anthropology, Ph.Dstudent Project: Objects of Status and Power:Artifact Analysis From the Sites of La Manuda, LasFlores, and Nuevo Corinto; Faculty Sponsor:Professor John Hoopes, Anthropology7. Alberto Fonseca, Spanish & Portuguese,Ph.D student Project: Commercializing Crime:Narco-narratives and Markets in MexicanLiterature; Faculty Sponsor: Professor DannyAnderson, Spanish & Portuguese8. Ian Gowan, Spanish & Portuguese, Ph.Dstudent Project: Negotiating Family, Identity andNation in XXI Century Argentine Theatre andPerformance; Faculty Sponsor: Professor StuartDay, Spanish & Portuguese9. Andy Hilburn, Geography, Ph.D studentProject: Mapping the Subjectivities of WasteManagement and Agrarian Reform in the TehuacánValley, Puebla, Mexico; Faculty Sponsor: ProfessorPeter Herlihy, Geography10. Anne Justice, Anthropology, Ph.D studentProject: Origins and Genetic Structure ofMaya Populations of Central America; FacultySponsor: Professor Michael Crawford,Anthropology11. John Kelly, Geography, Ph.D studentProject: Village-level Control of NaturalResources in Post-PROCEDE Indigenous Mexico;Faculty Sponsor: Professor Peter Herlihy,Geography12. Arturo Meijide Lapido, Spanish &Portuguese, Ph.D student Project: AlonsoQuijano en el Callejón del Gato: Particularidades delas ficciones de asesinos en serie españolas; FacultySponsor: Professor Jorge Pérez, Spanish &Portuguese13. Andrew Norris, Geography, M.A. studentProject: Land Reform in the Peri-Urban Area ofGuanajuato; Faculty Sponsor: Professor PeterHerlihy, Geography14. Heather Putnam, Geography, Ph.D studentProject: Coffee in Context: Cooperatives, Accessto Alternative Markets, and Rural Development in

Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil; Faculty Sponsor:Professor Chris Brown, Geography15. Aida Ramos Viera, Geography, Ph.Dstudent Project: Forest Conservation Politics on aHuastec Indigenous Region at the Neoliberal LandReforms; Faculty Sponsor: Professor Peter Herlihy,Geography16. Lisa Rausch, Geography, Ph.D studentProject: Development Strategies on Brazil’sAmazon Frontier: Understanding Local Responsesto National and Regional Initiatives;Faculty Sponsor: Professor Chris Brown,Geography17. Andrea Romero, Ecology and EvolutionaryBiology, Ph.D studentProject: Effects of Forest Fragmentation on SmallMammal Communities in LowlandTropical Rainforests; Faculty Sponsor: ProfessorRobert Timm, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology18. Lena Withers, Latin American History, M.A.student Project: The Impact of U.S. ImmigrationPolicy on Mexico; Faculty Sponsor: ProfessorElizabeth Kuznesof, History

Heather Putnam, kneeling second from the left, with coffee farmers in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil.

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Documenting Mayan Language AquisitionBy Clifton Pye

For the past four years Clifton Pye of theKU Department of Linguistics has directed aNational Science Foundation sponsored projectdocumenting how children acquire three Mayanlanguages. The project focuses on the systematiccomparison of the acquisition of three nativeMaya languagues: Q’anjob’al spoken in SantaEulalia, Guatemala; Mam in San IldefonsoIxtahuacan, Guatemala; and Ch’ol in Tila,Mexico. The project is the first to document theacquisition of historically related languages in auniform fashion. The project goal is first todocument the acquisition of three endangeredMayan languages while children are still acquiringthem naturally, and second to compare theprocesses of language development with theprocesses of language change.

A project of this nature would not bepossible without the support of many individualsand institutions. The project requires trainingnative speakers of the languages in digitalrecording technology, video transfer methods andtranscription techniques. Many of the assistants inthe project only have a high school education, andyet they have performed wonders in mastering the

computer technology that the project requires.Advances in computer technology have enabled us tocommunicate via email throughout the year as well asto transfer the language transcriptions to the projectlaboratory at KU.

The project has benefited enormously fromthe participation of a number of students. PedroMateo, a doctoral candidate in KU Linguistics, hasplayed a key role in the recruitment and training of theproject members. Pedro is a native speaker ofQ’anjob’al from Santa Eulalia and he is writing adissertation based on the Q’anjob’al data collected inthe project. Pedro has also played a crucial role as acultural ambassador for the project. He has calmedlocal fears about kidnapping (a real concern inhighland Guatemala), and explained the necessity forthe strict transcription protocols to the other Mayanassistants. Along the way, he has enriched manyclasses at KU with his observations on his languageand culture.

The project is now in its final phase in whichwe are adding Spanish translations to the Mayantranscriptions and making the transcripts available inan internet archive <almaya.org>. More details aboutthe project can be found on-line at <pyersqr.org>.

KU doctoral student Pedro Mateo, right, worksin Guatemala.

Project team members, lead by ProfessorClifton Pye, fourth from the left.

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The Center of Latin American Studies,together with the Departments of AmericanStudies, History, Sociology, and Spanish &Portuguese, hosted the Seventeenth AnnualWaggoner Research Colloquium on November7, 2008. The Waggoner Research Colloquiumwas inaugurated in 1992 by Elizabeth Kuznesof,who has continued the tradition over the seventeenyear period. Latin Americanist faculty andgraduate students affiliated with the Center havegathered each fall semester to celebrate theongoing creation of knowledge about LatinAmerica by KU faculty. The format usuallyincludes an interdisciplinary panel on a particulartheme and is followed by a reception with wineand hors d’oeuvres. The fellowship amongcolleagues and graduate students is seen as acentral part of the event along with the scholarlyprogram. The interdisciplinary sponsorship is atestimony to KU’s continuing commitment tointernational education and its promotion ofinternational consciousness among students andfaculty. It also celebrates and carries on thelegacy left by George Waggoner, in whose honorthis Colloquium was founded.

Dr. Waggoner was Dean of the College ofLiberal Arts and Sciences from 1954, until 1975when he became the Associate Vice Chancellorfor Academic Affairs. During his tenure, Dr.Waggoner founded the College Honors Programand established educational ties with universities inthe Caribbean and in Central and South America.He was presciently concerned with internationalprograms and development and was instrumentalin bringing many of the key Latin Americanists toKU who have helped make our programsdistinguished. The Center was honored to haveBarbara Waggoner, Dr. Waggoner’s widow andcollaborator on many of his projects oninternational education, in attendance. Also inattendance was Dr. Charles Stansifer who wasDirector of Latin American Studies at KU from

1975 to 1990 and did much to strengthen theprogram, including being the first to successfullyapply for USDE Title VI funding for the Center.

This year brought together the talents ofinterdisciplinary international KU faculty to explore“US-Mexican Migrations: History, Representationsand Politics.” This focus represented something of adeparture from years past in that it introduced thetheme of US relations with Mexico (and byimplication with other Latin American countries) aswell as issues related to globalization, theobjectification of minorities, and representations ofthe “other” in politics. This panel testified to a certaincoming of age for Latino/a studies at KU, evidencedalso by the recent approval of an undergraduateminor in Latino/a Studies in the American Studiesdepartment, as well as the enormous success of“Nuestra América in the U.S.?,” last Spring’s Latino/a studies conference, brought about largely in thanksto the initiative of Marta Caminero-Santangelo(English).

This year’s panel continued Dr. Waggoner’stradition of promoting scholars and scholarship that isinternational in orientation, while seeking to affirm andto contest particular definitions of identity and culture.Sheyda Jahanbani (History), whose current projectseeks to historicize the origins of a global conceptionof poverty, started off the evening with “The MexicanMigrant and the Culture of Poverty.” She wasfollowed by Stuart Day (Spanish & Portuguese),whose main interest is contemporary Latin Americanliterature with a focus on theater and performance.He presented “The Woman Who Fell From the Sky:A Tarahumara Migrant in Kansas.” Tanya Golash-Boza (Sociology and American Studies) wrapped upthe event with, “The Impossible Choice: Family vs.Citizenship in Contemporary Immigration Policy.”Her work involves Latin American racial identities aswell as racial identities of Latinos and Latinas in theU.S. The event concluded with an elaboratereception that included wine.

Waggoner Colloquium celebrates KU scholarship

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the reformation of services and programs ofreproductive and sexual health care.

In the 1990’s Ayacucho was estimated tohave the third highest rates of maternal mortality inPeru. The management of obstetric emergenciesrequires proper facilities and training; themaintenance of maternal health requires accessibleand adequate health care resources and personnel.At the time, Ayacucho was lacking both.

Resources were indeed scarce andfacilities understaffed in Ayacucho, but even whenclinics improved and were available, women werenot choosing to go. There was a great dividebetween community members and healthprofessionals that was reinforced by a lack ofcommunication, lack of cultural sensitivity withinfacilities, and a deep sense of mistrust by thewomen of government run institutions. There wasa general attitude of disrespect within facilitiestoward Quechua women who were not activelyinvolved in the understanding or decision-makingconcerning their own health. Therefore, womenprefered to give birth in their houses, attended byparteras (‘traditional’ midwives). In many casesthe medical professionals at health clinics were noteven aware that many women were pregnant.Health professionals would have to go house tohouse at times to try to persuade women to come

to the clinic for prenatal appointments (Hilda BautistaVega, 2007: personal interview).

The majority of victims of maternal mortalityin Ayacucho were Quechua women from ruralcommunities of low socioeconomic status and withlittle education—many who would be described bythe World Health Organization as carrying the ‘tripleburden’ of productive, reproductive, and domesticlabor (PAHO 2006). Many opted to birth in avertical position with the use of a birthing rope(soga) suspended from the ceiling—a practiceutilized cross-culturally and which has been found todate back to early historical dates. Other customsincluded the presence of family members at birth, theingestion of teas and infusions to speed delivery andcalm anxiety, uterine massage, a blanketing method(susaka) to position the fetus, and the burial orburning of the placenta after the birth. Healthfacilities did not allow the option for women tochoose these reproductive practices nor did theyrespect the culture of the women. This resulted in anestimated 79% of women that chose to give birth intheir homes as opposed to going to health facilities(WHO 1998). Domicile births, although preferred bywomen, could potentially be very dangerous. Highrisk situations could ensue due to a lack of aseptictechniques and resources and the inability of theattendant to manage complications during and afterchildbirth.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s a varietyof initiatives were implemented. Although severalindicators may point to success as a direct result ofimproved facilities, I contend that although structuraland procedural reconstruction is a key component,there are several reasons for the decline of maternalmortality rates: the education and empowerment ofwomen through their active involvement in makingdecisions regarding their health (including theincorporation of community based practices),women’s improved relations with health care andorganizational workers via the supportive transitoryrole of local midwives (parteras) and theestablishment of health promoters, as well asimproved facilities and EmOC.

The testimonies I gathered were collected inthree communities and with the help of three differentorganizations. I primarily worked with the

(continued from From the Field page 1)

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organization Manuela Ramos at the House ofWell-being in the rural community of PampaCangallo, in the district of Los Morochucos. Iinterviewed organizational coordinators - aneconomist, lawyer, and an obstetriz ( comparableto a nurse-midwife) and women in the community.I participated in weekly meetings and educationalclasses with the health promoters at the House ofWell-being.

I also conducted interviews in San Jose deSecce, in the district of Santillana. I spoke withcoordinators from the organization of Salud SinLimites (Health Unlimited), health workers at thelocal clinic, and women in the community.Particularly targeted because of its violent past andimpoverished state, the community of San Jose deSecce helped establish a ‘culturally adequatebirthing room’ in the clinic. Although the work ofSalud Sin Limites ended in 2003, these reformscontinue in the community and have increased ratesof births attended by health professionals andimproving communication between communitymembers and health care workers.

The final site of my research wasHuamanga, the capital of Ayacucho, where theRegional Hospital of Ayacucho is located. I spokewith several health care professionals at thehospital and attended one shift at the obstetric unit.

I also interviewed women in the community,professors at the university, and medical students.In 2000, reforms were enacted in Ayacucho via theFoundations to Enhance Management ofMaternal Emergencies (FEMME) project, aprogram funded by the Peruvian Ministry of Healthand international donors (including USAID), whichfocused on improved medical training, augmentationof adequate resources, and the establishment ofculturally sensitive methods of treatment andprotocol. The reforms proved successful, accordingto data from the Regional Hospital, with a drasticreduction of the maternal mortality ratio (MMR)from 230+/100,000 women to 114/100,000women (RHA: 2007).

ConclusionThe endeavors of reform programs have

made significant improvements, resulting indecreased maternal deaths as well as theestablishment of more accessible and adequatehealth resources. I believe that some of the mostsuccessful and sustainable components of theseprograms include the education of women and theincreased, participatory role of women in thecommunities in the decisions regarding their ownhealth. Several of the challenges still facing maternalhealth care are indeed politico-economic at heart.Unequal distribution of resources and lack ofpolitical will for basic social needs must beaddressed on a national, and even international,scale. Peru is a magnificent country, full of diversityand beauty. In order to embrace all that it has tooffer, it must first give a voice to its most vulnerablemembers and protect the rights to a healthy life towhich we should all be entitled.

This article was excerpted from asubmission by Heather Wurtz. She graduatedwith Honors in Latin American Studies in 2009with an honors paper titled ‘ReproductiveHealth Care in Ayacucho, Peru: Healing SocialScars of a “Forgotten Department.”’ She beganstudies in nursing at the University of Kansas infall 2009.

Wurtz, at left, meets with women during herfieldwork in highland Peru.

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possible initiatives for the next proposal. The facultyof the Center of Latin American Studies has grownmore than three-fold since 1992 when I first becameDirector — from about 30 to about 102 currently.Much of that change was the effort to include facultyfrom professional schools as well as faculty in thesciences, both important to our new proposal. Thegraduate and undergraduate curriculums alsoexpanded to include courses offered by faculty innew areas. Recently our opportunities haveexpanded through the change of the IndigenousNations Study Program to the Global IndigenousNations Study Program, with John Hoopes asDirector. Similarly, changes in the EnvironmentalStudies program (now directed by Chris Brown) aswell as the grants on global climate change such asthe IGERT, which include Latin America offer newdirections. As a result, the Center as an entity seemsunwieldy in size and somewhat indeterminate in itspurposes beyond those of facilitating research andteaching of Latin America.

Therefore, to bring more focus to theseseemingly disparate threads, the core faculty hasdiscussed in several meetings the development ofthematically-focused research programs to facilitatecooperative faculty research as well as workshopsaround these topics. These programs were chosento reflect areas of current interest and strength in ourprogram and will support already existing and activeresearch clusters that distinguish KU scholarship.

We feel these programs will also providenew possibilities for collaboration among faculty andstudents as well as more focused and fresherdimensions of identity for the Center of LatinAmerican Studies. We are currently consideringthree programs: Environment, Climate Change andFood; Cultural Identity and Migration; and Politicsand Economy. Faculty will be invited to developprojects (involving three or more KU faculty) toorganize workshops, bring in speakers, developgrant applications, conduct research, or otheractivities that relate to one of the established themes.

Funds for these purposes will be budgeted in theUSDE Title VI grant. These programs hopefully willinvolve both faculty and students, and will also befocused on field activities in Latin America as wellas efforts to collaborate with other institutions andto develop workshops and publications. None ofthis is set in stone, of course, and no doubt changeswill be made in how all of this is handled. I welcomecomments and suggestions concerning these ideas,as well as the integration of curriculum into thisrubric.

Another aspect of change in Latin AmericanStudies is an increasing focus on Latin Americanmigration to the US and the challenges of thatmigration for K-16 education. The new LatinoStudies minor in American Studies, as well asfaculty at KU who focus on immigration, LatinoStudies and issues of globalization, are also atestament to this shift. Further enforcing thistendency is the fact that several Universities fundedfor Latin America (Title VI) in the last competitionspecifically listed Latin American immigration to theUS as a focus in their grants, which indicates thatUSDE is now allowing the use of Title VI funds forthat kind of initiative. In conjunction with that, theCenter of Latin American Studies held a K-16teaching workshop on Latin American immigrationto the U.S. Saturday, October 3, 2009.

As Director of Latin American Studies Ihope these innovations will strengthen our Centerand provide more ways for faculty to take part inand benefit from our existence. Please docommunicate any reactions (good or bad) to theseideas or thoughts about ways to improve them, aswell as other ideas not mentioned here.

Elizabeth Kuznesof

Center developing thematic research programs(continued from Director’s Desk page 1)

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Student News

Heather Putnam, a doctoral student ingeography, received a $2,500 Howard J.Baumgartel Peace and Justice Award for researchin Uganda. Graduate students in the College or theSchool of Business are eligible for the award, whichsupports research for a thesis or dissertation relatedto peace and justice. Putnam was nominated byJohn Christopher Brown, professor inenvironmental studies, for her thesis, “CertifiedPlaces: Improving Access to Coffee Certificationsas Rural Development Strategies.” Putnamconducted research for her thesis in Nicaragua andBrazil.

Putnam also received a $12,000 PruittDissertation Research Fellowship from the Societyof Women Geographers for 12 months of fieldworkin Uganda, beginning September 1. Finally, shereceived a $500 Kollmorgan Summer FieldResearch Grant from the Department of Geographyto supplement her work in Minas Gerais, Brazil, thissummer.

Norberto Baldi Salas (PhD student, Anthropology) iswinner of the $4,000 2009 Stansifer Fellowship forhis dissertation project “Bio-cultural Studies inCentral America.” His faculty sponsor is MichaelCrawford.The Fellowship honors KU Professor Emeritus ofHistory Charles Stansifer, whose research focusedon Central American countries and their relationswith the United States.

Anne Kraemer (PhD Student, Anthropology) andPedro Mateo (PhD Student, Linguistics) are the2009 Oppenheimer Scholarship Winners. Eachreceived $3,500.Anne’s project is entitled “Que Pasa Guatemala? SoMany NGOs and so Few Results.” Pedro’s is“Acquisition of Verb Complex Construction inQ’anjob’al (Maya).”

Stansifer History Fellowship awardedfor Central American anthropology

Oppenheimer Scholarship awarded to two scholars of Guatemala

Latin Americanist Geographer’sAwards Expand Study to Uganda

Cory Fischer-Hoffman, a 2008 graduate ofthe Latin American Studies Master’s program, hasbeen awarded the prestigious Outstanding ThesisAward by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciencesfor her thesis “Mision Madres del Barrio: ABolivarian Social Program Recognizing Houseworkand Creating a Caring Economy in Venezuela.” Shechose to donate the $500 award to the land-purchasing fund of the Autonomous Center for theIntercultural Creation of Appropriate Technologies(CACITA) in Oaxaca, Mexico, “as well as to mycompaneras in Venezuela who continue to organizedespite the fact that the state resources have not yettrickled down to them.”

Fischer-Hoffman is now Campaign Directorfor the Prometheus Radio Project based inPhiladelphia, PA.

Sophomore Jacquelyn Murdock received a HarleyS. Nelson scholarship spring 2009 for the Center ofLatin American Studies. Murdock, a double majorin Latin American Studies and EnvironmentalStudies, envisions a law career that allows her toadvocate for and defend the cultural and land rightsof indigenous people in Latin America. The Nelsonbrings a $1,200 scholarship to outstandingundergraduates in the College of Liberal Arts andSciences.

Winning Master’s Thesis Explores Recognition of Housework

Sophomore Wins Nelson Schloarship

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Meriendas are hosted by the Center of LatinAmerican Studies at 12 noon in 318 Bailey Hallevery Thursday throughout the fall and springsemesters. A presentation is offered by a KU orvisiting scholar, professor or student in a casualsetting open to the public. A simple lunch of riceand beans is provided, or those in attendanceare invited to bring their own lunch. For moreinformation on Meriendas and to find a schedulefor Fall 2008, see the Center’s website atwww.ku.edu/~latamst.

Sept. 11 “Coffee and Environmental Change inLatin America since 1970” Stuart McCook,History, University of Guelph, OntarioSept. 18 “20 Months in Rural Guatemala” AnneKraemer, PhD student, AnthropologySept. 25 “The Reconquest: The New Maya Slaveryin Mexico’s Paradise” Erika Sandoval, MAstudent, Latin American StudiesOct. 2 “Village-level Control of Water in Post-PROCEDE Indigenous Mexico”John Kelly, PhD student, GeographyOct. 9 “Finding Meaning in Chaos: An Ecological,Symbolic, and Material Investigation of ChronicIllness in a Maya Village” James Herynk, PhDstudent, AnthropologyOct. 23 “The Microfinance Movement in Oaxaca,Mexico: Institutional or Revolutionary?” IanCarillo, MA student, Latin American StudiesOct. 30 “Responding to the Human Costs of USBorder Policy: Local Activism in Arizona andKansas” Marta Caminero-Santangelo, EnglishNov. 6 “Searching for Pattens of Migration andDevelopment in North Mato Grosso State, Brazil”Lisa Rausch, PhD student, GeographyNov. 13 “Following the Money: Campaign Financein Brazil” Pedro dos Santos, PhD student, PoliticalScienceNov. 20 “Performing Affect: Filmic Representationsof Nicaraguan Immigrants in Costa Rica” MeganThorton, PhD student, Spanish and Portuguese

Dec. 4 “LISN Up! Shaping Public Discourse onImmigration” Ben Chappell, American Studies,KUJan.29 “Kansas and Latin America: The BusinessConnection” Melissa Birch, Business, KUFeb.5 “Low-income Immigrant Latinos inLawrence: A Social Service Agency’s Perspectiveand Work in the Community” Lydia León, CentroHispanoFeb. 12 “Communities in Resistance: A Semesterwith the Mexico Solidarity Network”Kerrie Emig, undergraduate student in LatinAmerican StudiesFeb.19 “Fatherly Love: The Intersection ofPaternalism, Development, and Containment in USPolicy toward Bolivia at the Onset of the ColdWar” Aaron Moulton, MA student, LatinAmerican StudiesFeb.26 “Salvadoran Elections and SocialMovement Work in 2009” Sally Birmingham andKansan-Salvadoran Solidarity ActionMar. 5 “Living in a Double Standard, Image VersusReality: Chilean Neoliberalism, Social Activism andthe Growing Social Divide” Eve Clark, PhDstudent, SociologyMar. 12 “Hong Kong, Kilometro 3, Golfito, CostaRica: Material Culture Found, and Lost?”donnaluckey, Architecture and Urban Planning, KUMar. 26 “La Universidad de Costa Rica y suinfluencia en la sociedad costarricense”Francisco Enriquez Solano, University of CostaRicaApril 2 “Usurpations and other Upsets: Land,Citizenship, Indigenous Identity and otherVenezuelan Musings, Nineteenth Century andOtherwise” Kim Morse, History, WashburnUniversityApril 9 “A River Runs through Them: Cross-BorderLabor Solidarity and Working Conditions in theMaquiladoras of Northern Mexico”Josie Nixon,MA student, AnthropologyApril 23 “Problems and Progress in ReconstructingMaya Ethnohistory: The K’iche’ Maya Case”Robert Carmack, Anthropology, SUNY-AlbanyApril 30 “Geographies of the Latin AmericanInternet” Barney Warf, Geography, KU

2008-2009 Merienda BrownBag Lecture Series

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2008-2009 Hall Center LatinAmerican Seminar SeriesThe Hall Center of the Humanities sponsorsongoing seminars that bring together facultyand graduate students from differentdepartments for interdisciplinary dialogue anddiscussion and to present research. Many of theseminars also invite visiting speakers from otherUS universities and from overseas. LatinAmerican Seminars take place on the fourthFriday of each month, from 3:30 until 5:00 p.m.Below is a list of the past Fall 2008 and Spring2009 Latin American Seminars. Please visitwww.hallcenter.ku.edu for more information onevents sponsored by the Hall Center.

Aug. 22 “Damming Sonora: Water, Agriculture, andEnvironmental Change in Northwest Mexico”Sterling Evans, History, Brandon University,ManitobaSept. 12 “The Dawn of ‘Sun Coffee’ in CentralAmerica: Technifications, Cold War Politics andEnvironmental Change, 1950-1990" StuartMcCook, History, University of GuelphSept. 26 “Travels with ‘An Island Called Home’:Returning to Jewish Cuba” Ruth Behar,Anthropology, University of MichiganOct. 24 “From Refugees to Domesticas: CultivatingCentral American Subjects in U.S. Media and Film”Yajaira Padilla, Spanish and Portuguese

Jan. 23 “Utopia 2012: Mayanism and the LongCount in Popular Imagination” John Hoopes,Anthropology and Global Indigenous NationsStudiesFeb. 27 “Colonial History in Transit: Mier, LasCasas, and the Construction of Political Identity”Santa Arias, Spanish and PortugueseMar. 27 “Un Enfoque Historico del Desarollo deCosta Rica” Francisco Enriquez Solano, Facultadde Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Costa RicaApr. 24 “Comparing Indigenous Politics in CostaRica, Nicaragua and Guatemala”Robert Carmack, Anthropology, SUNY-Albany

Shannon Gorres: Thesis defense Oct. 2008,“Garifuna Place-Making: Hope for the GuatemalanNation.”

Carola Ramirez Castello: Thesis defense Dec.2008, “Afro-Peruvian Identity and its Connectionwith the Land: The Guayabo-Chincha Case.”

Grant Blanchon: Thesis defense Dec. 2008,“Family, Work, and Migration: TransborderNetworking among Tlapanecs from La Montana.”

Cory Fischer-Hoffman: Thesis defense May2008, “Mision Madres del Barrio: A BolivarianSocial Program Recognizing Housework andCreating a Caring Economy in Venezuela.”

Aaron Moulton: Thesis defense April 2009,“Through the Lens of Pater-Americanism: AComparative Analysis of the EisenhowerAdministration’s Perception of Guatemala andBolivia, 1953 and 1954.”

Erika Sandoval: Thesis defense May 2009,“Extranjero en mi tierra (Stranger in MyHomeland): Migrant Realities in the Riviera Maya.”

Sarah Saffa: Thesis defense Aug. 2009, “In theWomb of the Earth: Sex in the Maya Cave Setting.”

Graduating Master’s Students

To full professor:Marta Caminero-Santangelo, EnglishDietrich Earnhart, EconomicsJonathan Mayhew, Spanish and Portuguese

To administration:Danny Anderson, Spanish and Portuguese, wasnamed interim provost for 2009-2010 academicyear.

Faculty Promotions Announced

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Filming a documentary about municipalrecycling in Buenos Aires, Argentina, learning aboutthe modern slavery many immigrant tomato pickersexperience in Florida, studying Central Americanarcheology, participating in a sister city delegation toEl Salvador.

These are just a few of the amazingexperiences the 2009 Latin American Studiesundergraduates participated in while at KU.

Members of the graduating class of 18gathered at the Center on April 24 to celebrate theiracademic achievements, but also the travel,volunteer and work experiences that have changedthem during their undergraduate years.

Meredith Van Natta, who will continue hereducation in the Latin American Studies departmentat the University of California, Berkeley, said herexperience participating in the KU delegation to ElPapaturro, El Salvador, was one of the experiencesthat broadened her perspective on the world.

Melissa Rogers, a co-major withEnvironmental Studies, lived in Buenos Aires in fall2008, studying at the Universidad AutonomaCatolica. In a filmmaking class, she and herclassmates created a short documentary examiningPortenos’ attitudes about recycling. Most are not inthe habit of using the brightly colored city recyclingbins, she found.

Clarice Amorim, who completed the minorin conjunction with an anthropology degree, willbegin the master’s program in Anthropology at KUin the fall. She completed an honor’s thesisexploring the slavery and inhumane working

conditions experienced by immigrant tomatopickers in Imokkalee, Florida. She becameinterested in the topic after participating in analternative winter break through EcumenicalChristian Ministries that took students to Imokkaleeto learn first-hand about the plight of workers.

Not all of the graduates’ projects arehighlighted in this story, but all of them deservecommendation for their hard work in the program.The department, and especially Professor AnitaHerzfeld, undergraduate advisor, salute theiraccomplishments. Following is a list of all ourgraduates:

MajorsMelissa RogersHyemin KimMeredith Van NattaHeather WurtzFernando YalukAndrew StanleyEmily StrindenL. Paige HoughtonBrad NelsonBradley SafarikAdam Benfer

MinorsClarice AmorimAnn GiesselKevin BrennanDan BelzJosiah EarleGenevieve DePriestJuliana Tran

Undergraduates Celebrate Graduation, New Horizons

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Faculty News

Danny Anderson, Professor in the Department ofSpanish and Portuguese, served as Vice Provost forAcademic Affairs in 2008-2009, and currently he isthe Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor.His most recent publication is “Misguided Idealismon a Mission of Mercy: Eleanore Wharton, U.S.Do-Gooder” in Mexico Reading the UnitedStates, edited by Linda Egan and Mary K. Long(Vanderbilt University Press, 2009).

Santa Arias, Associate Professor of Spanish andPortuguese, published Approaches to Teachingthe Writings of Bartolome de las Casas, a co-edited volume with Eyda Merediz, for the MLASeries Approaches to Teaching World Literature.She also published The Spatial Turn:Interdisciplinary Perspectives, a co-editedvolume with Barney Warf for Routledge. Aforthcoming 2009 book chapter is titled “Geografia,imperio e iglesia bajo la huella de la ilustracion: JuanIgnacio de Molina y los espacios del imaginariocartografico jesuita.” The editors are DavidSolodkow and Juan M. Vitulli.

Marta Caminero-Santangelo, who is currentlyserving as advisor for the new Latino/Latina Studiesminor and has also begun her term as Chair of theEnglish Department, received a SmithsonianFellowship to work on her current book project,“‘Illegal’: Narrating the Non-Nation,” whichexamines writing about undocumented immigrants inliterature and letters by U.S. Latino/as since theadvent of Operation Gatekeeper in 1994. She willbe in residence at the Smithsonian in the summer of2010. A short version of one chapter of her bookproject, “Central Americans in the City: Goldman,Tobar, and the Question of Panethnicity,” isforthcoming in LIT: Literature, Interpretation,Theory (Summer 2009). Caminero-Santangelo alsoco-edited a forcthcoming special issue ofAntípodas: Journal of Hispanic and GalicianStudies on literature about the Trujillo era in theDominican Republic. The special issue will include

her own article: “At the Intersection of Trauma andTestimonio: Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming ofBones.” Finally, Marta published a short article,“Responding to the Human Costs of USImmigration Policy: No More Deaths and the NewSanctuary Movement,” in Latino Studies.Greg Cushman, Assistant Professor ofInternational Environmental History, has presentedat a number of conferences in 2009. He presented“The Ecology of Liberation: Haiti, HumboldtianTravel, and Latin America’s First PostcolonialStates” at University of Texas, Austin, in April andat Lousiana State University’s interdisciplinarysymposium “Homage to Alexander von Humboldt:Transatlantic Reimagining of the Caribbean and theAmericas” in May. Also in April, he presented“Humboldtian Geopolitics and the Discovery ofHuman-Caused Climate Change in South America”for the International Conference on Climate andCultural Anxiety: Historical and Social Perspectives,at Colby College, Waterville, Maine.

Stuart Day, Associate Professor in Spanish andPortuguese, has produced recent research inchapters/articles on Federico Gamboa (“FedericoGamboa and the Performance of Power”); SabinaBerman (“Similia similibus curantur: La exhumaciónde lo real en Backyard de Sabina Berman”);Vicente Leñero (“Transposing Professions: VicenteLeñero and the Politics of the Press”); and a piecebased on interviews with Sabina Berman andJesusa Rodríguez (“It’s My National Stage Too:Sabina Berman and Jesusa Rodríguez as PublicIntellectuals”). This topic—public intellectuals inMexico—is the subject of an edition Day iscurrently working on with a colleague.

A 2007 book by Tamara Falicov, AssociateProfessor of Film and Media Studies, has beenselected as an “Outstanding Academic Title” by“Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.”The Cinematic Tango: Contemporary ArgentineFilm is one of 15 books listed in the Film category.An overview of the Argentine film industry,Falicov’s book includes a technical commentary on

(see Faculty News page 16)

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production and marketing within a four-periodhistorical framework. In the 1930s, Argentinaconsolidated studios, the star system, and printculture in a golden age that challenged Hollywood’smonopoly. Frequent clashes between pro- and anti-Axis censorship, Perónist nationalism, and militarydictatorship frequently plunged the industry intocrisis from the mid-1940s until after the Dirty Warin the late 70s and early 80s.

Tanya Golash-Boza, Assistant Professor inSociology and American Studies, published twoarticles in 2009 on the immigration industrialcomplex in Sociology Compass as well as anarticle on blackness in Peru in Latino ResearchReview. She spent the summer 2009 in Jamaica,interviewing people who have been deported fromthe United States. From there, she traveled toGuatemala, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, andback to Jamaica to talk to people who have beendeported from the US. Interviewees included bothpeople who were legal permanent residents of theUS and have been deported on criminal groundsand people who lived in the US withoutdocumentation and were deported for being out ofstatus. This research is funded by a Fulbright-HaysFaculty Research Abroad Award.

Laura Herlihy, Ph.D., Lecturer in Latin AmericanStudies, traveled to Nicaragua in summer 2009 tocomplete the last two months of her Fulbright-Haysgrant, studying women’s struggles within theindigenous autonomy movement. In Nicaragua, sheled the first Latin American Studies Study Abroadprogram in Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi, focusing onindigenous and Afro-Caribbean language andculture. She published a chapter titled, “Afro-Indigenous Women and Autonomy” in the book ANicaraguan Journey: Memories from the Landof Sandino, edited by Luciano Baracco, AlgoraPress for 2009 or 2010 publication. She alsosubmitted, “Indigenous Women’s Struggle forPolitical Leadership: Nicaragua and MexicoCompared” to Bulletin of Latin AmericanResearch.

Anita Herzfeld, Professor of Latin AmericanStudies, published three journal articles in Spring2009: “La política lingüística y la planificaciónlingüística: del nacionalismo a la globalización” inDynamik romanischer Varietäten ausserhalbEuropas. Edited by Silke Janzen and HaralambosSymeonidis; “El Lunfardo histórico: el ‘lenguajeargentino del crimen’ a partir de la inmigraciónitaliana” in II Congreso Latinoamericano deAntropología: Antropología Latinoamericanogestando un nuevo futuro; and “Lengua eidentidad en una situación de contacto: el criollolimonense en Costa Rica” in Signo y Sena, Revistadel Instituto de Lingüística, University of BuenosAires. She also delivered papers at the University ofBuenos Aires, Argentina; the Mediterranean StudiesAssociation in Sardinia, Italy; the Latin AmericanStudies Conference in Rio de Janeiro; and theInternational Congress of Americanists in MexicoCity.

John Hoopes, Associate Professor ofAnthropology and Director of the GlobalIndigenous Nations Studies Department, wasawarded a $5,000 Kemper Fellowship forTeaching Excellence by a “surprise patrol” inAugust, 2008. The Kemper fellowships recognizeoutstanding teachers and advisers at KU asdetermined by a seven-member selectioncommittee. The awards were supported by a$650,000 in gifts from the William T. KemperFoundation (Commerce Bank, trustee) and$650,000 in matching funds from KU Endowment.

Jill Kuhnheim, Professor of Spanish andPortuguese, just finished a year as Acting Chair ofSpanish and Portuguese. She is currently workingon a book project on poetry and performance inLatin America and had two articles appear lastyear: “Performing Poetry, Race, and the Caribbean:Eusebia Cosmé and Luis Palés Matos.” Revistahispánica moderna 61.2 (2008) and “The Politicsof Form: Three Spanish American Poets and theSonnet.” Hispanic Review 76.4 (autumn 2008).

(continued from Faculty News page 15)

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Elizabeth Kuznesof, Professor of History andDirector of the Center of Latin American Studies, isthe proud recipient of the 2009 George and EleanorWoodyard International Educator Award. She wasthe 2008 Chair of the Conference of LatinAmerican History (AHA) Bolton-Johnson PrizeCommittee for Best Book on Latin AmericanHistory for 2007. She organized a session on “TheConstruction of Brazilian Citizenship: Slaves,Women, Children” for the Latin American StudiesAssociation Conference June 11-17, 2009 in Riode Janeiro, Brazil, where she presented the paper:“Civilizing o povo Brasileiro: The ‘termos de bemviver’ and other Elite Definitions of GoodCitizenship, 1808-1888.” She published “Laconstrucción del nacionalismo y la ciudadaníabrasileña en un Estado multirracial” (“TheConstruction of Brazilian Nationalism andCitizenship in a Multi-Racial Polity”) in VerenaStolcke & Alexandre Coello de la Rosa (eds.),Identidades ambivalentes en América Latina(siglos XVI-XXI), Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra,2008. She also published “History of Childhoodand Child Labor in Latin America” in The Worldof Child Labor: An Historical and RegionalSurvey, Hugh D. Hindman, Editor, ME Sharpe inMay 2009.

Brent Metz, Assistant Professor of Anthropology,was the principal editor for the volume TheCh’orti’ Maya, Past and Present, which waspublished by the University Florida Press in April2009. It has 20 chapters, two of which werewritten by Metz, and disciplines representedinclude linguistics/epigraphy, archeology,archeobotany, history, folklore, ethnobotany,sociology, and anthropology. Metz also presentedat a conference on violence in Guatemala inOctober 2008 and at LASA 2009 in Rio deJaneiro.

Antonio Simões spent the 2008-2009 academicyear working at West Point, New York. His bookPois não was published in September of 2008. InSpring of 2009 he published an article on thecontrasts of Spanish and Portuguese, in the

Portuguese Newsletter. In the summer of 2008, hedirected KU 2008 summer Study Abroad programin Barcelona, Spain. In the summer of 2009 hetaught at Middlebury College, Vermont. ProfessorSimões received the Cramer Award for research inSpring of 2008. He is currently working on differentareas of phonetics and phonology, with specialinterest in applications to literacy programs and facialgestures.

Paul Sneed conducted field work from May to July2009 in the favela, or squatter town, or Rocinha, inRio de Janeiro, Brazil for his book manuscript,Culture without Capital: Scavenging Modernityin a Brazilian Slum. The study comparesperformances of power in utopian spaces in Rocinhain the political, artistic, spiritual and cultural life of thefavela, such as strongholds of drug-traffickers, funkstreet dance parties, meetings of AlcoholicsAnonymous, services of a Pentecostal church andeducational activities of an NGO in Rocinha. In mid-June, Sneed served as session organizer, chair andpresenter for a panel titled “Organic Universities:Action Research and Latin American Society andCulture,” held at the international conference ofLASA in Rio.

Jorge Soberon, Professor of Ecology andEvolutionary Biology and Senior Scientist at theBiodiversity Institute, published the first of threevolumes of the work Capital Natural de Mexico:Estado Actual y Tendencias de los Ecosistemasdel Pais after four years of work on the project.Soberon was one of the three coordinators of thefirst volume, which is a description of the state ofknowledge of the biodiversity of Mexico, the fourthmost biodiverse country in the planet. The firstvolume includes chapters about the knowledge aboutthe distribution and functioning of ecosystems, thevery first list of the described species of Mexico(more than 70,000, in CD ROM), and also achapter about the documented indigenousknowledge in the major languages of Mexico (morethan 60) and about the status of legislation protectingit. In Fall 2009, and as a part of the IGERT project(see Faculty News page 19)

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By Erin AdamsonTo showcase the significant research being

done by Latin Americanist graduate students at theUniversity of Kansas, the Center of Latin AmericanStudies hosted the Latin Americanist GraduateResearch Competition on April 8, 2009.

At the PhD level, a first place prize of$300 was awarded to Jessica Craig(Anthropology) and a second place prize of $100was awarded to John Kelly (Geography). At theMaster’s level, a prize of $200 was awarded toErika Sandoval (Latin American Studies).

This year’s competition had four sessionsof original research presentations on LatinAmerica. The winners were selected by a panel offaculty judges, including Stuart Day (Spanish andPortuguese), Laura Herlihy (Latin AmericanStudies), and Jorge Soberon (Ecology andEvolutionary Biology).

Sociology professor Tanya Maria Golash-Boza gave the faculty research keynotepresentation, “Age of Exile: Deportees in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean” at a luncheonattended by competition participants, their facultyadvisors, and other KU affiliates. The GraduateResearch Competition is sponsored by the PeterStouse Fund, Department of Geography, and theCenter of Latin American Studies.

Session One: Migration, Poverty, and Micro-Finance

Commercializing Microfinance in Oaxaca:Efficiency or Exploitation?Ian R. Carrillo, MA Student, Center of LatinAmerican Studies

Afro-Mexican Immigrants and ChangingPerceptions of RaceAriane Tulloch, MA Student, Department ofAnthropology

The Reconquest: The New Maya Slavery inMexico’s ParadiseErika Sandoval, MA Student, Center of LatinAmerican Studies

Session Two: Population History, MayaCeremonies, and Language

The Genetic History and Population Dynamics ofthe Rama Indians from the Caribbean Coast ofNicaraguaNorberto Baldi and Phillip Melton, PhDStudents, Department of Anthropology

The Veneration of Their Sacred Past: Evidence forthe Ceremonial Reuse of Ancestral Buildings andMonuments by the Ancient Maya of San Bartolo,GuatemalaJessica H. Craig, PhD Student, Department ofAnthropology

Acquisition of the Suffix –on in Q’anjob’al (Maya)Pedro Mateo, PhD Student, Department ofLinguistics

Session Three: Politics, Community andReligion

Ciudadania e Identidad entre los Miskitu de Sisin,Region Autonoma del Atlantico NorteSasha Marley Matamoros, Social ScienceProfessor, Autonomous University of theAutonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast ofNicaragua (URACCAN)

Os Evangelicos and Political Power in BrazilPedro dos Santos, PhD Student, Department ofPolitical Science

Community Engagement with the NeoliberalizedState in Mexico: The Case of WaterJohn H. Kelly, PhD Student, Department ofGeography

Students Compete for Research Recognition

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Faculty Keynote Presentation – Age of Exile:Deportees in Latin America and the CaribbeanProfessor Tanya Maria Golash-Boza,Department of Sociology

Session Four: Environment, Conservation, andGarbage

Mapping Amazonian Dark Earths using SatelliteImagery: What I did WrongJonathan B. Thayn, PhD Student, Department ofGeography

Neoliberal Land Reforms, Forest ConservationPolicies, and Traditional Forest Management at theHuasteca Region of San Luis Potosi, MexicoAida Ramos Viera, PhD Student, Department ofGeography

Landfills, Dumps and Tiraderos Clandestinos: SolidWaste Management in Rural Southern MexicoAndy Hilburn, PhD Student, Department ofGeography

(continued from Faculty News page 17)

of KU, Soberon will also be teaching a course withfield work in Mexico on the impacts of climatechange to campesino communities in the highlands ofMichoacan.

Jessica Vasquez, Assistant Professor of Sociology,settled into her second year here at KU Sociologyby teaching SOC 310 Methods and SOC 536Sociology of Latinos in the US for both Fall andSpring terms. In Fall 2009 she will be instructing theLatinos undergraduate course and a graduateseminar on the Sociology of Race. She is revisingher book manuscript on Mexican American multi-generational families and their racial identityformation and integration trajectories. This year shehad a co-co-authored article on racial authenticityaccepted to Ethnic and Racial Studies (look for itin the November 2009 issue) and a solo authoredarticle on the intersections of race and gender amongthird generation Mexican Americans accepted toSociological Perspectives (forthcoming 2010).

This year Marta Vicente, Associate Professor ofHistory and Women, Gender and SexualityStudies, has been working on her book manuscriptPlaying Maria: Constructing Sex and Genderin Early Modern Spain as well as on an articletitled “Pornography and the Spanish Inquisition:The Reading of an Eighteenth-CenturyPornographic Best-Seller.” Two of her articles justcame out in 2009: “Fashion, Race and CottonTextiles in Colonial Spanish America,” in TheSpinning World: A Global History of CottonTextile, 1200-1850 ed. by G. Riello and P.Parthasarathi (Oxford University Press) and“Successful Mystics and Failed Mystics: TeachingTeresa of Avila in the Women’s StudiesClassroom,” Approaches to Teaching Teresa ofÁvila and the Spanish Mystics ed., Alison Weber(MLA Publishing).

William I. Woods, Professor of Geography,continued his research into the dark earths, orTerra Preitas, in the Brazilian Amazon, and alsoconducted research on dark earths in Costa Ricaand Nicaragua in January, 2009. He presented“Costa Rica’s Anthropogenic Tierras Negras?” atthe Conference of Latin Americanist GeographersMeeting, January 9, in Granada, Nicaragua. Hewas an editor of the book Amazonian Dark Earths:Wim Sombroek’s Vision and published otherarticles on the subject.Ketty Wong-Cruz, Assistant Professor of Music,was invited by the Ministry of Culture of Ecuadorto present a conference on Ecuadorian popularmusic in the First International Colloquium ofMusicology on December 2008. In 2009, shepresented a two-week seminar and workshop onEthnomusicology at the University of Cuenca,Ecuador. She also presented two conferencepapers on Ecuadorian national identity, one in theHawaii International Conference on Arts andHumanities (January), and the other in the LatinAmerican Studies Association Conference in Riode Janeiro (June). Her article “The Song of theNational Soul: The Ecuadorian Pasillo in theTwentieth Century” has been accepted forpublication in the Latin American Music Review.

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New Additions

Proud parents Professor Tamara Falicov,Media and Film Studies, and StephenSteigman announce the birth of IlanRaul Falicov Steigman. Ilan(pronounced e-LAHN) was bornJanuary 30, 2009, at 8 lbs, 3 oz, and 19¾ inches.Above, a 5-month- old Ilan weighing16 lbs. 12 oz. poses on his mom’s lap.He’s an incredibly happy and healthyboy, and loves the outdoors andspending lots of active time with hisparents. Ilan is named after Stephen’slate grandfather Ira Kersh, and Tamara’slate father Raul Falicov.

Paul Sneed, Assistant Professor of Spanishand Portuguese, welcomed his son Cael Sneed on July 25, 2008. The familycelebrated Cael’s first birthday this summer inBelém do Pará, in the North of Brazil, atHabib’s Lanchonete. Cael likes açaí, thepurple fruit of the Amazon, with no sugar.

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Why give to the Center of Latin American Studies?By giving to CLAS, you contribute to Latin American academic activities, community outreach, specialguests and cultural events and student research like that described in the preceding pages of our newsletter.

The Center of Latin American Studies

• Supports the development of new courses about Latin America, faculty and student research travelfor study of Latin American languages and research topics.

• Promotes knowledge of Latin America through academic conferences, seminars, weekly brownbagMerienda lectures, cultural performances, museum exhibits and cultural celebrations.

• Organizes teacher workshops to help Kansas educators incorporate Latin American languages andcultures into their classroom curriculum.

Donations to the Center of Latin American Studies may be used for:• Undergraduate or graduate study abroad scholarships• Research or conference travel for students and faculty• Public programs such as conferences, lectures, exhibits and performances• The Latin Americanist Newsletter

If you wish to make a donation, please contact us at: Center of Latin American Studies, The University of Kansas Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Suite 320 Lawrence, KS 66045-7574

Your gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Thank you for your support!

University of KansasCenter of Latin American Studies1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Suite 320Lawrence, KS 66045-7574

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