Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2021 Congress

The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) held its 39th Congress in Vancouver, Canada, May 25-29, 2021. The theme of the Congress was: “Crisis global, desigualdades y centralidad de la vida.”

The Congress was held virtually with more than 6,000 registrants, 1271 attendees, and 4742 active participants.

UW-Madison was well-represented. A search in the official program showed the following participants among faculty, graduate students, and Honorary Fellows:

• Kata Beilin, LACIS Director, and Spanish and Portuguese Department
• Guillermina de Ferrari, Spanish and Portuguese Department
• Victor Goldgel-Carballo, Spanish and Portuguese Department
• Patrick Iber, History Department
• Erica Simmons, Political Science Department, International Studies
• Anju Reejhsinghani, Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Admin
• Lucila Polo, LACIS Honorary Fellow
• Diego A. Alegría Corona, English Department
• Gloria J. Morales Osorio, Spanish and Portuguese Department
• Ana Maria Ortiz Bernal, School of Human Ecology
• Amanda Pratt, English Department
• Alberto Vargas, LACIS Associate Director

Also presenting from the University of Wisconsin System:

• Natasha Borges Sugiyama, CLACS Director, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
• Antonio Paniagua Guzman, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
• Rusquin Chadez Ibarra, University of Wisconsin – Parkside
• Astrid Ochoa Campo, University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
• Kevin Anzzolin, University of Wisconsin – Stout

Presentations by UW-Madison LASA members:

Guillermina de Ferrari, Spanish and Portuguese Department
Author and Session Organizer of the panel Caribbean Arts of Survival: “Port-au-Prince, Public City: Street Art for the End of Times

Victor Goldgel-Carballo
Chair and presenter of the panel “Thinking Race in the 19th century: New Critical Approaches”

Gloria J. Morales Osorio
“Colecciones literarias nacionales en el siglo XX: maternidad, canon y lectores de la nación fragmentada”

Lucila Polo
The O’odham Nation, a people between borders: The new immigration policies and indigenous territory

Anju Reejhsinghani
“Damn Fools” and “Poor Bastards”: Legacies of Racism toward Afro-Latino Players on Calvin Griffith’s Minnesota Twins, 1961-1984

Alberto Vargas, Ana Maria Ortiz, Amanda Pratt
“Latin American Studies and Interdisciplinary Research and Teaching
on Psychedelics at A Big Ten University” as part of the panel: El Ver y Estar: pueblos originarios y prácticas psicotrópicas | Organized by Joseph Patteson (PhD UW Madison), now at Augustana University

Diego A. Alegría Corona
Pre-colonial landscapes: Helen maria Williams’ ‘Peru’ and Pablo Neruda’s ‘Alturas de Macchu Picchu’

Honorable Mentions in books and articles:

Honorable Mention
BEST BOOK IN SOCIAL SCIENCES – MELHOR LIVRO EM CIÊNCIAS SOCIAIS (SÉRGIO BUARQUE DE HOLANDA PRIZE) Presented by the Brazil section
Brian Wampler, Natasha Borges Sugiyama and Michael Touchton | Boise State University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Miami

Honorable Mention
BEST ARTICLE IN SOCIAL SCIENCES – Melhor Artigo em Ciências Sociais (Sérgio Buarque de Holanda prize) Presented by the Brazil section
Ian Carrillo (PhD University of Wisconsin – Madison) | University of Oklahoma
“Racialized Organizations and Color-Blind Racial Ideology in Brazil.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 7.1 (2020): 56-70

“If you participated in LASA and don’t see your name here, please let us know; the list came from the “Search” function in the virtual program” (lacis@lacis.wisc.edu).

Please note that the next Congress will take place in San Francisco May 4-7, and its theme will be “Polarización socioambiental y rivalidad entre grandes potencias/Environmental and social polarization and the rivalry between the great powers.” Kata Beilin, LACIS’ Faculty Director, is the Vice-President of the LASA 2022 planning committee.