CERLAC

Globalization & Social Exclusion in the Americas
 

The goal of this proposed project was, while enriching the culture of York University, to improve collaborative policy and advocacy networks aimed at addressing issues of globalization and social exclusion, promoting civil society participation, and strengthening Canada’s role in the Americas.
 Globalization, as conceived in the proposal, is a multidimensional social process that promotes an unparalleled worldwide concentration of power and wealth, both within and across our societies. Social exclusion is the most pervasive impact of globalization on civil society as regions, countries, and social groups are excluded from meaningful economic, social, and cultural participation. It has multiple concrete expressions - among them: increasing poverty and inequity, growing labour informality and the erosion of workers' rights, gender inequality, differential access to health care and other basic services, and political disempowerment. The project's goals and philosophy were detailed in CERLAC's previous newsletter (Issue 27).

 In April 2000, CERLAC and the Americas Policy Group (APG) of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) co-submitted a letter of intent to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council's (SSHRCC) special program: the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) competition, outlining this proposed three-year project. The letter received a very positive assessment and was approved for the second stage of application.

With seed money from SSHRC and a York Incentive Grant, Ricardo Grinspun, Viviana Patroni, and Kim Pavan of CERLAC; Melissa MacLean and Karri Munn-Venn of APG; and Patty Barrera of Common Frontiers, collaboratively produced – with the active support of many others – a full proposal that was submitted in October 2000. In December, a response was received. The constructive comments of the CURA committee that scored the submission were generally favourable, while the external evaluations were unreservedly positive, including such statements as: “This is an outstanding proposal. One of the best that I have seen.”  However, the submission was not among the 15 awarded a grant; its score of 79 ranked just below the award threshold of 83. Re-submission of a revised proposal was not an option as the CURA program was temporarily discontinued.

Despite the disappointing outcome, the excellent collaborative effort strengthened the academic-civil society ties that underlie this initiative. CERLAC remains committed to work with international co-operation and civil society organizations, and to enrich our academic activities through these linkages.

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Community Development in Ecuador
 

This project focuses on the viability of small-scale family- and community-based enterprises in the context of neo-liberal structural adjustment policies in rural Ecuador. As reported in last year's newsletter, the field-based, SSHRCC-funded component of the research project was completed in April 2000. The follow-up continues with the support of an internal SSHRC small grant.

Principal investigator Professor Liisa L. North and John Cameron (Graduate Program in Political Science) are editing a book based on the research, with the participation of Louis Lefeber, Ricardo Grinspun, Tanya Korovkin (Fellow, Waterloo), Luciano Martinez (FLACSO-Ecuador), and Victor Breton (Universidad De Lleida, Spain).

Complementary to the Community Development in Ecuador project, and with support from that project, Luciano Martinez conducted a series of lengthy interviews with one of the leading figures of the agrarian reform struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. At some point in the future, this oral history of agrarian struggles may be expanded into a broader exploration of problems of rural development in that country.

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The Temuco Project
Supporting Sustainable Rural Development Practices in Southern Chile

 

Back from left to right: Luis Peralta, Project Coordinator in Chile; Fernando Peña, Director of Research of the Catholic University of Temuco (CUT), Ricardo Grinspun, Canadian Director of the Project; Ana Wanda Lado Rojas, Professor of CUT; Alan Simmons, Professor at York; Liisa North, Professor at York; Teresa Durán, Director of the School of Anthropology and of the Centre for Sociocultural Studies of CUT; Alejandra Roncallo, Project Coordinator in Canada. Front: Paul Escobar Bahamondes, Professor at CUT; Adalberto Salgado Leu, Professor at CUT; Leonel Moscoso Bastías, Professor at CUT; Angel Patitucci, Professor at CUT.  Photo by Benjamin Cornejo.

The York University-Catholic University of Temuco Linkage Project seeks to strengthen the recently-created Center for Sustainable Development as a teaching and research institution at the Catholic University of Temuco in Southern Chile.  The goal of this Center is to use innovative teaching methods and university research to develop human resources that can simultaneously alleviate rural poverty and gender inequity, while ensuring environmental sustainability. The Center works with an NGO, the Center for Education and Technology (CET), and the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development (CLADES, a Latin American NGO network), to achieve these goals. Their common objective is to improve the economic situation and viability of small rural producers in an environmentally sustainable way. By training practitioners and policy-makers, the Center will have a direct impact on the implementation of policies to improve the satisfaction of basic needs of the local Mapuche communities. In order to improve food security, CET/CLADES implement courses on crop diversification and rotation and on dissemination of appropriate technologies for increasing agricultural production. Small rural producers benefit directly through the promotion of sustainable production methods, their development as economic actors, and the effort to meet their basic human needs. For a more general introduction to the philosophy and goals of this project, see the article in CERLAC's previous newsletter (Issue 27) or visit its web site.

After considerable preparatory efforts, the implementation of the project commenced with the signing of a contract with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) in August 2000. There was significant advancement in all project activities in its inaugural year.

One focus of the project has been the establishment of a post-graduate diploma in rural development, an internet-based distance education program, based on an earlier program run by NGOs.  According to an agreement with CET and CLADES, the redesigned program will be launched at the Catholic University in 2002. It is anticipated that practitioners from throughout Latin America will continue to access this program.

During the first year of the project, most of the effort concentrated on the implementation of an innovative international Master's program in rural development and sustainable agriculture as a tutorial course over the internet.  The first cycle of the International Master's Program in Management of Rural Development and Sustainable Agriculture, which concluded in December 2000, was evaluated and re-designed.  The second cycle began in April 2001 with 39 students from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.

As the first of many other planned activities to support the Catholic University's commitment to curriculum development, a one-week seminar on participatory research was given by Professor Sally Humphries of the University of Guelph. Thirty academics from the Catholic University participated.

The training and research component of the project was initiated in 2001 by Tracey Lue, a Master's of Environmental Studies student at York, after a six-month visit to Temuco.  Tracey worked with both the university as well as the NGO partner, conducting interviews with local academics and indigenous communities regarding biodiversity.  The experience enriched both Tracey's work and the university, where the research stimulated critical debate.  Other Canadian students are planned to do field research in Temuco in the near future.

CERLAC co-authored and co-ordinated the documentation that launched the project (such as the agreement and detailed work plans); hired a project co-ordinator and financial assistant; established administrative and financial procedures; and organized a team of faculty and graduate students working on rural development issues in Latin America (the Rural Community Development Group).  The group communicates through an electronic list, and through regular meetings to discuss common priorities and ongoing activities. The outcomes of project events have been disseminated among regional NGOs, whose staff were invited to participate in a variety of project activities, including the workshop given by Sally Humphries.  The on-going realization of project goals has been greatly aided by favourable institutional conditions, including an excellent collaborative working spirit and open channels of communication between the Chilean and Canadian partners.  The Catholic University and York University have provided solid institutional support.

Barely two years old, it is already clear that this project is serving as a strategic component of the Center for Sustainable Development and the Catholic University of Temuco.  The project enhances the academic capacity of the Center, contributing to its influence within and outside of the Catholic University. It has provided CERLAC the opportunity to continue its work on rural development and supports the work of a number of faculty members and graduate students engaged in relevant research.

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Salvadorans & Guatemalans in Toronto

The preliminary findings of this SSHRCC-funded project, co-directed by Alan Simmons and Jean Turner (University of Guelph) during 1997 - 2000, reveal that Salvadoran and Guatemalan families, most of whom came to Canada in the context of civil war and violence in their home countries in the 1980s and early 1990s, face serious challenges. These challenges arise from trauma and family separations during the move, and the risks of higher unemployment and prejudice in Canada.

This study draws attention to adaptive strategies developed by families and by communities to address these challenges.  Draft reports are in progress and will be available by late 2001.

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GENDER EQUITY & INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION:
Curriculum Development for Human Resource Training in Chile

This initiative formally commenced in 1998 when CERLAC and the Centre for Feminist Research (CFR) were awarded a York Incentive Grant to develop a project, jointly with the Intercultural Education Consortium for Southern Andean Integration and Development - Chile (CEIDIS), aimed at developing gender-sensitive adult education for migrant indigenous women in the northern border zone area of Arica, Chile.

In 2000, the main Chilean collaborator, Mané Arratia (CERLAC Fellow and Executive Director, CEIDIS-Chile), re-located to Ontario and assumed a place on the Canadian team. Marieta Ortega  (Professor of Anthropology and Researcher, University of Tarapacá, Chile) replaced Mané as project leader in the Chilean partner institution. Viviana Patroni (Director, CERLAC) coordinated efforts at York University with the support of CFR and the Faculty of Education.

A working group of faculty and graduate students met in CERLAC on a number of occasions throughout the year to discuss the initiative.  Largely as a consequence, in February 2001, under the leadership of Viviana Patroni, a Letter of Intent for the funding of the project, "Curriculum Development for Training Human Resources in Gender Equity and Intercultural Education" was submitted to the UPCD Program Tier 2 competition. In early June 2001, the applicant partners were informed of their success and invited to participate in the next stage of the application, a full proposal to the Tier 2 competition by the end of August 2001.  After extensive consultations between the institutional partners involved, including travel by project leaders between Canada and Chile, the proposal was submitted. Both the Letter of Intent and the project proposal were undertaken as a joint effort by CERLAC and CEIDIS, the partner institution in Chile. In the Spring of 2002 the applicants were informed that, by a narrow margin, the proposal had not been approved. The applicants are considering appealing this decision and will continue to seek alternative sources of funding.

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The "Latino" Youth Project
By Alan Simmons

After three years of activity under lead researcher Alan Simmons, the Latino Youth Project, funded by the Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigrant Settlement (CERIS), concluded July 1, 2000. Findings showed that participating Toronto youths were deeply concerned about the negative stereotyping of Latin Americans and Latinos (those of Latin American origin born and living in North America) and were involved in various personal and collective actions to develop and promote new positive "Latino" identities.  The study was conducted with the participation of 50 youths in focus groups and another 180 interviewed individually. Expected follow-up activities include further dissemination of project findings, addressing negative stereotyping through activities with youth and their families, and a comparative study with research done elsewhere in Canada.

The following three analytic papers, authored by Alan Simmons, resulted from the project, building on one another as the analysis unfolded: "Violence and Safety: Latin American Youth in Toronto" (with Luis Carrillos), "Home and Heart: Identity Politics Among  'Latino' Youths in Toronto," and "Cultural Identity Among 'Latino’ Youths in Toronto." All were presented as conference papers in different venues.

Research Assistants prepared the following papers for their own professional and academic work related to the project:  Brígido Galván: "Racial Soundscapes and Toronto's Latino Hip Hop: Culture, Music, and the Challenges of Multiculturalism;" Blanca Serrano: "Latin American Youth Asserting Their Culture: Challenges and Conflicts," and Gabriela Torres: "Constructing 'Youth Cultures’ in Toronto: The Use of  Lived experience with Violence in the Production of New Identities in a  Canadian 'Space,’” "Schools as Primary Sites for Integration into Canadian  Society," and "Asserting a Viable ‘Space’ for Belonging in Canada: An  Exploration of Latin American Youth Discourses - Part I."