When
students and colleagues were asked to share their impressions of Liisa
North, several themeskept recurring. Foremost was an admiration for her
“commitment” - to human rights and equitable development and, more basically,
to people in general.
Liisa’s strong social commitment began early,
when growing up in a part of rural Finland where, she says, “notions of
social hierarchy were completely foreign.” When she was nine her
family moved to Venezuela for two years and then to the Bronx in New York
City. These abrupt transitions gave her an understanding of the meaning
of culture: “each move meant learning a new ‘way of being.’” This trans-cultural
experience perhaps helps to explain Liisa’s later success in communicating
with people of such diverse backgrounds in different Latin American societies.
After her BA in French Literature at Boston
University, Liisa completed a Masters and a Ph.D. in Political Science
at UC Berkeley. Her Ph.D. dissertation on the origins and development of
the Peruvian Aprista Party established another of Liisa’s hallmarks—a dedication
to field work. For this project she traveled extensively in provincial
Peru to interview local party leaders because, as she says, “I don’t think
that you can understand what’s going on just by interviewing intellectuals
in capital cities.”
A history of field research has also resulted
in a rich supply of anecdotes. One colleague described Liisa brazenly confronting
“pistol-packing generals with questions not to their liking” during a project
in Peru. When questioned on this, Liisa first downplayed this characterization
of her experience, but then admitted having been nervous when a General
of questionable ethics offered to put her in contact with a close friend.
Fortunately, Liisa acted on her intuition and politely turned the opportunity
down: the General’s friend, it turns out, was none other than Vladimir
Montesinos.
Her Ph.D. completed, Liisa joined York’s
Department of Political Science. At York, she played an important role
in the creation of CERLAC. Louis Lefeber, the Centre’s founding director,
notes that “several young scholars contributed to [the Centre’s establishment],
but it is fair to say that Liisa’s input was among the most steadfast and
consistent.” Liisa cites as her motivation the sense of urgency generated
by political developments in Latin America at the time. She first met Louis
at an event to analyze and denounce the 1973 coup in Chile. The arrival
to York of exiled Chilean and Brazilian intellectuals, such as Herbet de
Souza, added further momentum.
Liisa has played a vital role at CERLAC
since its inception. She has brought the Centre, in Louis’ words, a “wide-spread
and well established set of Latin American personal and scholarly connections,”
and has promoted numerous joint projects with academic institutions in
the region. Liisa administrated the Training Program in the Analysis
of Andean Domestic Markets, co-sponsored by FLACSO-Ecuador (1981-84).
She co-directed a co-operative training project on Human Resources
for Innovative Development Planning in the Andean Region with the same
co-sponsor (1989-95), and she taught the first course of the York-accredited
M.A. program at URACCAN on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (1998). She
also served as CERLAC Director (1989-91) and is largely responsible for
the supervision of its documentation centre.
Liisa’s work has entailed close ties with
NGOs and direct engagement with foreign policy makers in Ottawa. In the
1980s, as an outspoken advocate for human rights in Central America, she
helped plan and contributed to five different “Roundtables” on the challenges
of finding a just peace in the countries of the isthmus. At the time, she
also wrote Bitter Grounds: The Roots of Revolt in El Salvador and
co-authored Between War and Peace in Central America: Choices for Canada.
As a former student affirmed, “Liisa is a scholar who believes that research
should advance knowledge, but that it should also contribute to the building
of a more just society.”
Liisa is equally committed to her students.
Many comment that she treats them as “equals” and goes out of her way to
promote their interests: “She has often co-authored articles with students
and research assistants, helping them to build publication records, rather
than simply mentioning their names in footnotes as many other scholars
have done.” Liisa immediately impressed a former student (now professor)
from Ecuador as a genuine pedagogue: “Here is a person who really knows
[my] country and has no problem in generously sharing her knowledge.”
Liisa has also helped to ease the cultural transition for visiting Latin
American students. As one student put it, “Professor North is the person
who can reduce the cultural shock foreign students experience when we arrive
at York University.”
In her teaching and scholarship alike, Liisa
encourages and exemplifies independent thought, eschewing ready-made and
universalizing orthodoxies in favour of open and rigorous empirical inquiry:
“I constantly encounter things that I cannot explain and as long as that
happens I know that I am not applying formulas.” This refusal to
toe an ideological line has perhaps alienated her from certain camps, but
has inspired many former students to be equally open-minded and critical.
Currently, Liisa is finalizing a research
project on “Community Development in the Context of Structural Adjustment
Programs: the Case of Ecuador,” conducted together with Louis Lefeber and
John Cameron (a PhD candidate). The project traces the effects of neoliberal
policies on co-operative and small family enterprises in two parishes of
highland Ecuador over a four-year period. This research contributed to
an article published by Liisa and John in the 2000 edition of the journal
World
Development (Vol.28, No.10), entitled “Grassroots-Based Rural Development
Strategies: Ecuador in Comparative Perspective.” Plans are afoot to compile
the final results of the project in a book under the title “Rural Progress,
Rural Decay” (published in July 2003, Kumarian Press). Liisa says
she has several other articles “in the works.”
Regarding her future plans, Liisa jokes:
“I haven’t decided what to do, other people have decided for me,” and lists
off three major projects in three different countries in which she has
been invited to get involved. Liisa’s passionate drive shows no signs of
waning. She continues to seek out work which will have a positive social
impact and is still “getting her feet muddy” conducting field research
which she says keeps her “intellectually honest.”
Tanya Korovkin, CERLAC Fellow and
Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University
of Waterloo, came to Canada in 1979 to pursue an MA in Political Science
at York. She then already held a degree from the Moscow State University
of the former USSR.
Her first research experience in the Americas,
which had a significant impact on the future emphasis of her work, dates
back to 1982-83. “As a PhD student, I was interested in political protest
and political mobilization. For my thesis, I was supposed to conduct fieldwork
on the Peruvian peasant movement. Instead, I ended up struggling with a
host of practical and theoretical questions related to the operation of
land-reform cooperatives.” In addition to her PhD. thesis, later transformed
into the book The Politics of Agricultural Cooperativism: Peru, 1969-1983,
published by UBC Press, this experience had another result: “a painful
realization of the futility of academic research on rural politics and
development, unrelated to local-level practical undertakings.”
In
the 1950s and 1960s, the so-called Indians were flogged, ripped off, and
converted by force or by cheating into peasants on the haciendas.
Twenty years later, the same people created an impressive alternative organizational
network.
In 1985, Tanya worked in Chile where land reform
cooperatives had been forcibly dissolved by the Pinochet government. There
she found that, in the aftermath of counter-reform and neoliberal economic
policies, “many small producers growing winter fruit for export …were doing
pretty well – apart from the fact of course that they were polluting everything
around them with chemicals. In other words, the social effects of economic
neoliberalism were certainly more complex than many of its supporters and
opponents were willing to admit.” This research resulted in three articles
(one co-authored with Polo Díaz), published in Canadian and American
journals, and in a Macmillan book on economic neoliberalism in Chile.
From 1993 to the present, Tanya has been
working in Ecuador. “I guess I stayed in Ecuador far too long, but it’s
hard to get out once you really get in.” There, she has been working mostly
with indigenous Andean communities. “This was hard, at the beginning. In
my experience, peasant or small agricultural producers didn’t really mind
having me around. Indigenous people often did... If my ego as an
academic and intellectual had been already heavily bruised in rural communities
of Peru and Chile, it was simply smashed in Ecuador’s indigenous communities.”
Eventually, this led Tanya to do “all kinds
of things” unrelated to her academic research: “It is good, though. Among
other things, it helps one to see communities from within. And what one
could see in Ecuadorean indigenous communities was really quite amazing.
Still in the 1950s and 1960s, the so-called Indians were flogged, ripped
off, and converted by force or by cheating into peasants on the haciendas.
Twenty years later, the same indigenous people created what looked like
an impressive alternative organizational network, rooted in their older
cultural institutions and tied by ‘love-hate’ relationships to the institutions
of the state.”
Tanya’s five articles on Ecuador, published
in US and UK journals and in Spanish in 2002, deal with different aspects
of this metamorphosis. Some are written from a political economy perspective,
while others incorporate the concepts of everyday resistance, ethnic culture,
and civil society. As a result of these projects under Tanya’s coordination,
collaborating NGOs published two small books in Spanish and Quechua on
the history of twelve indigenous communities.
In addition to her appointment in Waterloo,
Tanya has also worked as an instructor and academic co-ordinator in the
Trent-in-Ecuador Program, a year-abroad program for Canadian students interested
in field research and development work. “One of the most interesting episodes
in this connection was a small project on indigenous knowledge that we
conducted in an Amazonic community, in coordination with Pastaza’s Organization
of Indigenous Peoples (OPIP).” She has also worked with INSTRUCT, a CIDA-funded
project run by Trent University, on sustainable development in the watershed
of San Pablo Lake.
Her current research focuses on “the
most recent – and entirely unheroic - stage in the development of Ecuador’s
indigenous communities… the intrusion of labour- and capital-intensive
export flower companies - an Andean manifestation of the process of economic
globalization.” Employment of young community members on the flower plantations
is undermining family and community institutions that underpin indigenous
rural civil society; environmental and occupational health impacts are
also of concern. Tanya began her work on this subject with INSTRUCT, with
whom she organized training courses for flower company workers and initiated
a negotiation process between one of the flower companies and local social
actors. She was also recently awarded a SSHRCC grant for a project on the
social implications of export expansion in rural Ecuador.
Tanya's collaboration with - and her attention
to the concerns and priorities of - local people and organizations have
been appreciated. As former research collaborator Jorge León wrote,
“Her dedication and enthusiasm were equal to her material contribution,
faciliating the crystilization of [her collaborators’] dream… [and] inspiring
enthusiasm in the efforts of many.” Asked what motivates her in her work,
Tanya responds: “Increasingly, a desire to contribute to the solution of
local-level problems, and there are so many of them...” In fact, she has
contributed substantial knowledge toward addressing various problems faced
by some of the poorest and most marginalized people in Latin America. No
doubt she will continue to do so.
Maria-Inés
Arratia continues as Research Manager of Medical Anthropology
Projects and part-time instructor with the Department of Anthropology at
McMaster University. She is currently working on a research
project entitled Biography of an Aymara Woman.
Tanya Basok
is currently working on a SSHRC-funded research project entitled, “Between
Global Solidarity and Nationalism: Organized Labour's Discourses on Mexican
Migrant Workers in the U.S and Canada.”
Frank Birbalsingh,
full-time faculty member of the Department of English at York University,
was the editor of the recently published article “Selvon and Salkey: Makers
of Modern West Indian Literature.” At present, he is working on a
piece entitled “Neil Bissoondath and the Indo-Caribbean Diaspora.”
Judith Bernhard
recently received a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program award and Ryerson University’s
Sarwan Sahota Distinguished Scholar Award. She is presently involved
in a collaborative research effort addressing the issue of social cohesion
in international migration in a globalizing era.
R. Albert Berry
was awarded a Ford Foundation grant (2000-2002) to research The Evolution
of the Colombian Economy During the 1990s with Jaime Tenjo of Javeriana
University, Bogotá Colombia. His article, “Has Colombia Finally
Found an Agrarian Reform that Works?” will soon be submitted for publication.
Cathy Blacklock,
Assistant Profesor at the School of Public Policy and Administration at
Carleton University, recently completed one year as the Principal Researcher
with an IDRC project entitled The Status of Women’s Organizations in Post
Peace-Accord Guatemala.
John Buttrick
is currently working for the Minister of Finance and Planning in Jamaica.
He has also spent time working for the Jamaican Statistical Institute,
the Planning Institute of Jamaica, and the Health Ministry of Jamaica.
Michael F. Czerny is presently the Coordinator
of the African Jesuit AIDS Network, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Andrea Davis
is an Assistant Professor with the Caribeean Studies Division of Social
Science at York University, and Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean
Studies Programme (LACS). See Andrea Davis’ Profile
in this newsletter.
Juanita De Barros
was a DuBois-Mandela-Rodney Fellow at the Center for Afroamerican and African
Studies of the University of Michigan during the 2001-2002 academic year.
She is currently working on an edited volume of essays on crime and punishment
in the Caribbean in cooperation with David Trotman.
Claudio V. Duran
continues to pursue his research on ideology and propaganda in the Chilean
Press, and recently completed a book of poems entitled Limoneros y Arcangelos
(Lemon Trees and Archangels).
Maria Luisa de
Villa is working on a three-year project based mainly in Mexico
involving large-scale artworks on homemade paper and collaborative work
with indigenous communities. She is also coordinating a Canada-Mexico international
art exhibition that is touring galleries in both countries. In 2000, she
received her Master’s in Visual Arts from UNAM, Mexico. Her thesis examined
Guadelupan iconography in Mexican culture.
Carol B. Duncan
was honored with the 2002 Women and Minority Lecturer of the Year award
from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She
completed one year (July 2001-July 2002) as a Wabash Center Teaching Scholar
and is now working on a follow-up research project funded by Lilly Endowment
Inc.
Frances Henry
recently completed a SSHRCC-funded project on African Religions in Trinidad
which culminated in a book, Reclaiming African Religion in Trinidad:
The Orisha and Spiritual Baptist Faiths. She continues to teach Caribbean
Anthropology at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad, every second
semester. She recently received a grant from the Centres of Excellence,
Metropolis, in support of her study of racist discourse in television news.
Fernando García
Argañarás continues as Chair of Political Science
at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Bolivia. In 2000 he tought
postgraduate courses at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolivar in
La Paz and the Centre for Postgraduate Studies (CESU) in Cochabamba. He
is completing his first novel, set in 19th century Mexico.
Luin Goldring
was on leave until June 2000. Since then, she has published pieces on gender
and citizenship. Her article on “The Mexican State and Transmigrant Organizations:
Negotiating the Boundaries of Membership and Participation in the Mexican
Nation” was published in the Latin American Research Review in 2002.
Judith Adler Hellman
continues her work on North-South migration, women and north in the third
word, and the Mexican political system. She also continues as Editor of
CJLACS (see article on page 1).
John Kirk
received the Scotiabank/Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
Award for Excellence in Internationalization for his project in Cuba, “Learning–and
Practicing–International Development: The Dalhousie University Collaborative
Project in Cuba.” He is currently the editor of a book series
entitled “Contemporary Cuba,” published by the University Press of Florida.
Kathryn Kopinak
is currently editing an anthology on the social costs of industrial and
urban growth in Northern Mexico. She recently finished a term as Visiting
Environmental Research Fellow at the Center for US-Mexican Studies.
Tanya Korovkin
is currently the Principal Researcher in two projects. For details, see
the Profile on Tanya in this newsletter.
Louis Lefeber
continues to work with Liisa North on co-authoring and editing a book on
the political economy and development of Ecuador. In 2000, he also published
"Classical vs. Neoclassical Economic Thought in Historical Perspective:
The Interpretation of Processes of Economic Growth and Development" in
the journal History of Political Thought.
Thomas Legler
recently produced reports and articles concerning the 2 July 2000 Mexican
elections and an article in the Journal of Inter-American Studies and World
Affairs entitled “The OAS Democratic Solidarity Paradigm: The Question
of Leadership.”
Paul Lovejoy was
made Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History in January, 2001.
He continues to serve as Director of the York/UNESCO Nigerian Hinterland
Project, and as Director of the Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African
Diaspora.
Laura Macdonald
has served as Director of the Centre on North American Politics and Society
at Carleton University since August 2000. Her current projects include
preparation of a Conference on Federalism and Trans-Border Integration
in North America, and a SSHRC-funded research project entitled "Borders
and Bodies: Canadian and U.S. Immigration and Border Control Policies in
the New North America.”
David Murray
was recently made Assistant Professor with the Department of Anthropology
at York University and published his first book, Opacity: Masculinity,
Sexuality, and the ‘Problem’ of Identity in Martinique. His current
project involves an examination of the impact of globalization and transnational
`gay' identity discourses on local constructions of gender and sexuality
in Barbados.
Jorge Nef
has been a Visiting Professor with the Institute of International Studies
at the University of Chile since 1999, and is currently involved in an
IDRC rural technology project in Chile.
Liisa North
is a member of the implementation team for CERLAC’s Sustainable Rural Development
in Chile Project and has various publications forthcoming. See Liisa’s
Profile in this newsletter.
Viviana Patroni
continued as Director of CERLAC through 2002. See Director’s
Message in this newsletter.
Linda Peake
became the Managing Editor of Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist
Geography in 2001, and sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Social
and Cultural Geography . She is co-editing a reader on feminist perspectives
in political geography, and is working on a number of articles, including
a piece entitled, “A Case Study in Transnational Feminism: the Guyanese
Women’s Development Programme of Red Thread.”
Cecilia Rocha
was one of the coordinators for the Workshop in Food Security held as part
of the First World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, January 25-30, 2001.
She is currently organizing a “data bank” for sharing successful and failed
experiences in food-security initiatives.
James F. Rochlin
is involved in a SSHRC-funded research project entitled, “Plan Colombia
and the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).” Earlier research recently
culminated in the publication of his book, Vanguard Revolutionaries in
Latin America: Peru, Colombia and Mexico.
Richard Roman’s
current research initiatives include: the formation and transformation
of the Mexican working class in the twentieth century; workers and trade
union responses to neoliberalism and economic transformation in the Americas;
and maquilas, NAFTA and the new industrial geography of labour relations
in Mexico.
Judith Rudakoff
worked with septuagenarian Cuban/American choreographer and revolutionary
Lorna Burdsall, to produce a book of her memoirs entitled Not Just a Footnote:
Dancing from Connecticut to Revolutionary Cuba in 2002. Her most
recent playwriting project is an adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard,
transplanted from Russia 1900 to Cuba 2000.
Sandra R. Schecter,
Associate Profesor with the Faculty of Education at York, completed a two
year SSHRC-funded research project investigating situational learning in
2001. She has since been working on a collaborative publication entitled
Learning, Teaching, and Community.
Anneke Rummens
is working on various research projects concerning youth, immigrants, community,
and mental health.
Frans J. Schreyer,
professor with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University
of Guelph, is in the process of submitting research proposals to return
to Mexico for further research.
Patrick Solomon
was awarded The Mico Teachers’ College Millennium Award for service of
distinction regionally, nationally and internationally in the 20th Century,
2000. He was also a special guest presenter at The Third Annual Henry Cornwell
Distinguished Scholar Lecture at Lincoln University. His The Erosion of
democracy in education: From critique to possibilities (An edited book
with J.P. Portelli) was published by Detselig Enterprises, Calgary,
in May 2001.
Patrick Taylor
was recently awarded the Faculty of Arts Internationalization Pilot Project
(York University) and a significant grant from the Ford Foundation in support
of the Caribbean Religions
Project, which proceeds apace; he is currently co-editing (with Frederick
I. Case) the Enyclopedia of Caribbean Religions. The project’s most recent
publication, Nation Dance, is highlighted in an article
in this newsletter.
