CERLAC

GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS
 

Mykl Clovis (MES, Environmental Studies). Mykl’s research interests include integrated coastal zone management of small island states (particularly in the Caribbean).

Alison Crosby (PhD., Sociology) After conducting two years of doctoral fieldwork in Guatemala with funding from SSHRC, Alison completed her dissertation “A Moment of Truth? Towards Transformative Participation in Postwar Guatemala” in November 2002 and is now program manager with Inter Pares and Co-chair of the Americas Policy Group of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC).

David Timothy Duval (Ph.D., Environmental Studies). David is currently completing a PhD dissertation on return visits and transnational identities among members of the Eastern Caribbean community in Toronto. In July  2001, David became a lecturer at the University of Otago’s Centre for Tourism in New Zealand.

Ruth Sara Felder (MA, Political Science). Ruth completed her major research paper entitled “Argentina: the World Bank’s intervention and the re-configuration of the state during the 1990s.” She was accepted into York’s PhD programme in Political Science and continued her examination of the subject at the doctoral level in 2001.

Marco Fonseca (PhD, Social and Political Though). After completing his PhD, Marco is re-writing his thesis entitled “The Language of Human Rights in The Guatemalan Transition to Democracy.” It will be published as a book.

Gavin Fridell(PhD, Political Science)  continues his research on the political economy of Mexico and Central America, global political economy, and food politics.

Brígido Galván (MA, Music). As a student in Ethnomusicology, Brígido is primarily interested in the political economy of Latin American expressive cultures, in particular music and its direct impact on questions of difference (such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender).

Kathleen Gordon (PhD, Social Anthropology) conducted research on market vendors in the market town of Challapata in Bolivia. Kathleen is now writing her dissertation.

Eileen Harrington (MES, Environmental Studies). Lived in Paraguay for almost four years and worked as an environmental education volunteer with the US Peace Corps as well as for an outdoor education centre called Tierranuestra. She decided to enrol in the MES program and has focused her interests on community development and environmental education.

Nadine Elizabeth Jubb (PhD, Political Science) is currently completing her thesis on the relationships between the state, the women’s movement, and the donors involved in the Women’s and Children’s Police Stations of Nicaragua.

Tracey Lue (MES, Environmental Studies) returned from her research for the Temuco project in Chile and for her thesis: “Biodiversity Conservation and the Sustainability of Agriculture in Chile.”

Egla Judith Martinez-Salazar (PhD, Sociology). Elga’s diverse interests include critical approaches to development, anti-racism in Latin America, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, social movements from below, and the possibilities of race, ethnicity, and gender, and class frameworks in different areas of knowledge production.

Marie-Josée Massicotte (PhD, Political Science). After becoming the proud mother of Laura Bellemare-Massicotte on 10 January 2002, Marie-Josee has since July 2003 been hired for a tenure track position in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ottawa. She will teach courses in international and Latin American studies

Nicole Anne Noël (PhD, Social Anthropology). The Flower Industry and Agrarian Processes in Texcoco, Mexico, is the subject of Nicole’s PhD thesis. She plans to conduct research in the highlands of Ecuador, Central Mexico, and southwest Ontario in order to further her dissertation.

Scott Pearce (MA candidate, Political Science).  Scott worked as a Graduate Assistant at CERLAC during the 2001-02 academic year. His MRP examines the impact of Canadian oil investment on the conflict in Colombia.

Manuel Poitras (PhD, Political Science) completed his doctorate in February 2003, with the thesis: “Engineering Genomes, Engineering Societies: The Politics of Biotechnology in Mexico.” He is sessional Associate Professor at York in the International Development Studies (IDS) program for 2003-04.

Natasha Pravaz (PhD, Social Anthropology) defended her dissertation "Performing Mulatice: Hybridity as Identity in Brazil" in August 2002, and will begin her appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Wilfrid Laurier University in July 2003.

Adriana Premat (PhD, Social Anthropology) completed her fieldwork on urban agriculture in Havana, Cuba, and is currently writing her dissertation.

Alejandra Roncallo (PhD, Political Science) project administrator for the Temuco project until July 2003, and  continues to work towards a PhD that focuses on neoliberal restructuring, ‘new mining,’ and its impact on gender and ethnic relations.

Carla Rocha (MES, Environmental Studies and BL, Osgoode) has focused her research on intellectual property rights, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous peoples.

Frank F. Scherer (PhD, Social and Political Thought) completed a study of the nineteenth century Cuban philosopher, writer, and revolutionary, Jose Marti, exploring the notion of Cubanía. He also collaborated with the Caribbean Religions Project in 2000-01 (see Caribbean Religions Project article on page 12).

Yasmine Shamsie (PhD, Political Science) completed her doctorate with the dissertation “The politics of building democracies: Efforts by the OAS to promote democracy in Haiti (1990-98).” She then conducted post-doctoral research in 2002 on the impact of the OAS peace-building initiative and conflict management program in Guatemala, supported by a Human Security Post Doctorate Fellowship from the Canadian Consortium on Human Security. She will assume a tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor in Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University in July 2003.

Nancy Skinner (MA, Political Science). Nancy is researching Caribbean women in politics with particular emphasis placed on structural adjustment policies and their effects on Jamaican women.

Laura Suski (PhD, Social and Political Thought) is researching international development theory, and primarily, Frantz Fanon, Caribbean and African philosophy, slavery in the Caribbean, and issues in gender and development. Her dissertation topic focuses the analysis of the humanitarian impulse of international development

Ricardo Toledo (MES, Environmental Studies) was awarded a CIDA grant to research environmental economics in urban water use in 2001, focusing on water contamination in San Bartolo (Lima, Peru).

M. Gabriela Torres (PhD, Social Anthropology) is finalizing her dissertation paper “The Paper Trail of Counterinsurgency Plans: The Documented Design and Implementation of Political Violence and Terror 1976-84.”

Leandro Alexis Vergara Camus (PhD, Political Science) completed his Master’s thesis, entitled “Poder y hegemonía en la renovación de la izquierda latinoamericana: el caso del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional en México,” at the UNAM in 2001 and is currently conducting a comparative study of the EZLN in Mexico and the MST in Brazil for his doctoral dissertation.

LUCY LUCCISANO
Profile of a CERLAC Research Associate
 

In 1988, Lucy Luccisano took part in an alternative educational program in the Dominican Republic for Canadians interested in the socio-economic and political realities of the 'third world.' While saddened and angered by the poverty she witnessed, she was also inspired by local struggles for social justice. This experience led Lucy to her graduate work at York on structural inequalities in Latin America.

Lucy completed her Masters in Sociology in 1993 with the Major Research Paper: "Popular Peruvian Women's Collective Strategies." She pursued a PhD in the same program, with a particular focus on social inequality, social policy and gender and development. Her extensive fieldwork in Mexico City and Campeche, focusing on the impact of neo-liberal reforms on social policy in Mexico from 1995 to 2000, has resulted in a dissertation: "Mexican Anti-Poverty Programs and the Making of 'Responsible' Poor Citizens (1995-2000)" which she will defend this fall.

Lucy has been active in the CERLAC Brown Bag Seminar series and is a member of the Mexico Group. Her most recent publication, "Communal Kitchens in Peru and Mexico" appears in Krista Hunt and Christine Saulnier (eds.): Feminism(s) on the Edge of the Millennium. She remains deeply concerned about the growing levels of poverty and inequality worldwide and plans to continue her research on Latin American anti-poverty and gender programs. Lucy is now teaching in the Department of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University in the areas of social inequality, gender, and poverty.

Brown Bag Seminar Series

Co-ordinated in the 2000-2001 academic year by graduate assistant Katia Berdichevski (MA, Political Science), the series continues to expose Graduate Diploma Students as well as the broader CERLAC and York communities to a range of research relating to Latin America and Caribbean as well as their diasporas.
 

Ana Isabel Gaytán Hernández
(MA, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores De Antropología Social, Guadalajara, México, & FES) presented Riesgo, Cuerpo, Trabajo Y Salud En Trabajadores Jitomateros de una Empresa Agro-exportadora on September 28, 2001. Doctor by profession and anthropologist at heart, Ana Isabel practices family medicine at the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social. She is interested in approaching health studies from an anthropological perspective as a way to understand conceptions and signifiers that people, with whom she relates daily and provides services, have about life, health, illness, and risks. Looking at the issue of pesticide intoxication on the job, she analyzes how structural elements characteristic of current economic and cultural globalization relate to workers’ personal conduct, and she shows how risk itself is a social construction.

Pablo Andrade (PhD candidate, Social & Political Thought) presented  An Up-Date on the Crisis in Ecuador on January 25, 2001.  Pablo provided an up-to-date analysis of the ongoing political and economic crisis in Ecuador, drawing from his dissertation research on “The Contradictions of Democracy and Development in Ecuador,” as well as from his firsthand observation of daily events over the last six months. His discussion emphasized recent political processes and the social and economic impacts of the ongoing dollarization of the Ecuadorean economy.

Sheila Gruner, (MES candidate, Environmental Studies) presented Colombia in Crisis - Video Presentation and Discussion on February 6, 2001.  This video – filmed by Shiela as part of her recent fieldwork in Colombia  - provides an overview of the complexities of the crisis in Colombia beyond & behind the 'drug war.'  In it, Daniel Garcia-Peña, former High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia, talks about the current war in Colombia, the armed actors involved, Plan Colombia and its effects on the Peace Process, and the related issues of the cocaine industry and internal displacement.

Yasmine Shamsie (PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Incorporating Civil Society Into Hemispheric Processes: Lessons From The OAS, The FTAA and The Summits Of The Americas on March 6, 2001.  This talk addressed how civil society views have been incorporated into the hemisphere's multilateral forums.  Yasmine questioned how inclusive these consultations have been and whether multilateral and civil society groups have been satisfied with the outcomes.

Gabriela Torres (PhD candidate, Social Anthropology) presented The Paper Trails Of Guatemala’s State-Sponsored Violence on March 15, 2001. From its multiple manifestations on paper, political violence in Guatemala was both performed for public consumption and integrated into a state informed by counterinsurgency doctrines that remade all citizens into probable insurgents. This session presented a preliminary analysis of the ways through which the documentation of violence during the 1970s and 1980s affects the workings of today’s Guatemalan state.

Nadine Jubb (PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Video and Discussion on Nicaragua: El Día Que Me Quieras on March 27, 2001. Nicaragua is one of four countries in Latin America with specialized police units to address violence against women and children. This one hour, award-winning documentary follows various cases brought to the Women's and Children’s Police Stations. Nadine Jubb, who is writing her dissertation on these Police Stations, led the discussion after the film.

Milton Hart (MES candidate, Environmental Studies) presented The American Media and Its Impact On The Jamaican Psyche on April 4, 2001.  For Milton “Jamaican traditional society, with its emphasis on communal living, has been rendered anti-progressive by the capitalist media. Those who do not align themselves with capitalistic ideals are viewed as vagrants or categorized with other derogatory labels. The media is quite potent, and most Jamaicans now conform to the philosophy that value is determined in the marketplace and that status is achieved by the acquisition of goods and property.”

Lucy Luccisano (PhD candidate, Sociology) presented Progresa: Mexican Poverty Alleviation Strategy 1997-2000 on April 18, 2001.  Based on her dissertation “Anti-poverty programmes and the Responsibilization of the Mexican Poor,” Lucy’s presentation examined the impact of globalization and neoliberal reform on social policy in Mexico from 1988 to 2000.

Paulo Daflon Barrozo (PhD candidate, Osgoode Law School) presented Civil Rights And Democracy In Contemporary Brazil on April 24, 2001. The notions of respect for individual rights and of the accountability of authority are central to the contemporary idea of democracy. This presentation proposed a critique of Brazilian democracy based on these notions and, in particular, regarding the role of the judiciary.

Morgan Poteet (MA candidate, Sociology) presented Latino Youths: Relocating Culture in Toronto on May 3, 2001.  Morgan’s presentation explored the reterritorialization of identity - the ongoing production of self and place through social and cultural practices - among Latino youths in Toronto. Specific attention was given to the ways in which cultural practices in hip-hop, rap, and break-dance are appropriated by these youths to express their identities and promote their ideals.

Olga Sanmiguel (DJur candidate, Osgoode Law School) presented Rosy or Thorny Trade? Colombia’s Export of Fresh-Cut Flowers: Cutting Legal Standards and Accumulating Environmental Degradation on May 8, 2001. International Financial Institutions and the Colombian government have categorized Colombia’s export of fresh-cut flowers as one of the greatest success stories of economic policies aimed to increase exports in the region. This seminar contested this belief and argued that the picture is not as rosy when one considers who has profited from and who has borne the costs of the “success.”

Kathleen Gordon (PhD candidate, Social Anthropology) presented Getting By on Market Trade in Bolivia on May 10, 2001.  Kathy discussed the household economic strategies of marketplace vendors who live in the regional market-town of Challapata, Oruro, Bolivia. These vendors market basic foodstuffs to local consumers.  Placing the analysis of these household reproduction strategies within a political-economic framework, Kathy paid special attention to the politics that emerge among market vendors ,and related the politics of vendors with the current political economic context of neoliberalism in Bolivia.

Mark Juhasz (MES) presented NAFTA and Environmental Policy in Mexico on October 10, 2001.  This seminar explored the impact of land reform under Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, and NAFTA on agrarian and environmental politics during the 1980s.  Mark addressed the legacy of the Salinas administration on Mexican environmental policy, with attention to the efforts of civil society organizations to develop participatory planning alternatives to the dominant model of agricultural modernization.

Frank F. Scherer (PhD candidate, Social and Political Thought) presented Sombras Chinas/Chinese Shadows - José Martí & the Return of the Oppressed on November 6, 2001.  This seminar explored the work of the renowned and celebrated Cuban writer and revolutionary hero, José Martí, focusing not so much on his “words” as on his silences.  The presentation drew attention to the absence of direct commentary on Cuba’s “Yellow Trade” in Marti’s work, and explored how this silence is to be interpreted in the context of Martí’s theories of race as well as his path-breaking conceptualization of “Our America.”

Scott Pearce (MA candidate, Political Science) presented The Peace Communities of War-torn Colombia on Nov. 15, 2001.  Scott spent ten months working with Peace Brigades International in Colombia, accompanying local human rights workers from the Peace Communities whose lives were threatened because of the work they were doing.  His presentation included a slide show and a first-hand account of the Peace Communities of San José de Apartado and Cacarica.

Ruth Hamill (PhD candidate, Social Anthropology) presented Poverty and the Jamaican Family on January 30, 2002.  This seminar was a screening and discussion of Ruth’s film, "The Head Cornerstone," which chronicles the struggles of an impoverished family in Jamaica.  The film examines the tensions and repercussions arising within an impoverished extended Jamaican family.

Andrés Yurjevic (Founder, CLADES; Chilean Director, York-Catholic University of Temuco Linkage Project) presented Promoting Sustainable Rural development in Latin America: The Experience of CLADES on April 24, 2002.  CLADES, a Latin American NGO network, works in cooperation with the Center for Sustainable Development at the Catholic University to improve the economic situation and viability of small rural producers in an environmentally sustainable way.  Andrés explored the experiences and challenges that CLADES faces as it pursues its work on agroecology and sustainable rural development.

Mark Hostetler (PhD candidate, Geography) presented Participatory Natural Resource Management in Caribbean Nicaragua: Past Experience and Future Efforts on October 11, 2000. In 1997, as part of his MA research in Simon Fraser University, Mark worked at CAMP-Lab in the Pearl Lagoon on the Southern Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Mark discussed the experiences of CAMP-Lab, a participatory action research project whose goal is the assisting of local natural resources management (see page 8).

Miguel Gonzalez (PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Development and Regional Autonomy: Community-Based Social Movements and the Dry Canal Project in the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast on May 17, 2001.  Beginning with a video produced by the Coalition for Nicaragua, Miguel’s presentation explored the response of the Rama indigenous people and the Afro-Caribbean community of Monkey Point in the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua to the Dry Canal Project.

Noah Zerbe (PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Biotechnology and Rural Development: Promise and Peril for Southern Africa on October 25, 2001.  Drawing primarily from the Zimbabwean and South African cases, Noah examined the impact of recent biotechnological advances on agriculture in Southern Africa.  Particular attention was given to the promises and dangers of agricultural biotechnology for farmers in Southern Africa, the implications of international agreements such as the GATT/WTO  and the Convention on Biological Diversity for agriculture in  Southern Africa, and African alternatives to intellectual property rights in biotechnology.

David Szablowski (DJur candidate, Osgoode Law School) presented Negotiating Re-settlement - Transnational Mining in Peru on November 22, 2002.  This seminar examined the impact of the World Bank Operational Directive 4.30 on Involuntary Resettlement and its regulatory influence upon the corporate-community relations relating to the development of a Canadian-owned mining megaproject in the Peruvian Andes.

Hepzibah Muñoz (MA & PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Neoliberalism in Rural Mexico on Februray 28, 2002.  This presentation explored the politics of economic restructuring in rural Mexico that accompanied economic liberalisation and agrarian reform, within the conceptual framework of historical materialism, as outlined in the works of Antonio Gramsci and Robert Cox.

Sally Humphries (CERLAC Associate Fellow, Associate Prof. Sociology/Anthropology, University of Guelph) presented Participatory Research and Plant Breeding: An Experience with Hillside Farmers in Honduras on March 7, 2002.  Dr. Humphries discussed the progress of a farmer-researcher program in Honduras that she has been involved with for almost a decade.  The scale and reach of the program have expanded considerably, enabling hundreds of resource-poor farmers located in some of the most impoverished regions of Honduras to improve the management of their plots and increase their food supply and family income.

Christine McKenzie (MA candidate, Faculty of Environmental Studies) and Bernice Kozak (PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Participatory Methodologies for Sustainability in Nicaragua on March 28, 2002.  Based on their experience with the Coastal Areas Monitoring Project (CAMP-Lab) in the Pearl Lagoon basin of Nicaragua, Christine and Bernice explored the potential and limitations of employing participatory methods to address issues of environmental sustainability at the local level.

Tanya Korovkin (CERLAC Fellow, Associate Prof. Political Science, University of Waterloo) presented Corporate Expansion and Indigenous Communities in Rural Ecuador on April 4, 2002.  Dr. Korovkin’s presentation dealt with the recent expansion of traditional and non-traditional exports in Ecuador: oil in the Amazon and cut flowers in the highlands. The discussion focused on the social effects of this expansion and on the prospects for negotiation between communal organizations and companies.

John Cameron (PhD candidate, Political Science) and George Niksic (PhD candidate, Political Science) presented Decentralization & Democracy in Ecuador & South Africa on April 25th, 2002. Decentralization is being promoted around the globe by the World Bank and some development agencies as part of a series of so-called "second generation reforms" intended to make governments more efficient and more responsive to citizen demands.  In their explorations of municipal government in Ecuador and South Africa, respectively, John and George emphasized the overriding significance of local context in determining the success of initiatives to make local governments more democratic and more effective as agents of human development.

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