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CERLAC Bulletins
Volume 7 (2009)
Issue 1: Access to Justice for Women Survivors of Violence in Latin America: Concepts, Paths and Outcomes by Stephanie David and Nadine Jubb
On April 30th, 2009, by Nadine Jubb, CERLAC Researcher, discussed the research project “Access to Justice for Women Survivors of Violence: A Comparative Study of Women’s Police Stations in Latin America", for which she is Regional Coordinator. Research for the project is being conducted in Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru; the project aims to generate proposals for the improvement of relevant public policy.
Volume 6 (2007)
Issue 1: Another Lost Decade: Privatization, neoliberalism and access to water in Buenos Aires, Argentina by Fernando Rouaux
On March 6, 2007, Fernando Rouaux discussed his research on the privatization of water in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this Brown Bag Seminar sponsored by CERLAC and York International, Fernando discussed the effects of privatization on communities in Greater Buenos Aires within the broader context of neoliberal policies and environmental injustice in Argentina.
Issue 2: Sugar, Migration and Oral History in Twentieth-Century Cuba
On Monday, October 22nd, 2007, Professor Gillian McGillivray from York University’s Glendon College History Department, and José Abreu, a visiting speaker from Cuba’s National Union of Writers and Artists, delivered a presentation that focused on the historical evolution of Cuba’s sugar industry and the various factors that have conditioned its continuous transformation. Report by Carlos Velásquez Carrillo.
Issue 3: Elusive Democracy: El Salvador and Oligarchical Consolidation 15 Years after the Peace Accords by Carlos Velásquez Carrillo
On November 6, 2007, Carlos Velásquez Carrillo discussed his research on oligarchical consolidation in El Salvador in a CERLAC Brown Bag Seminar.
Volume 5 (2006)
On January 18, 2006, CERLAC, the University Consortium on the Global South (UCGS), the Institute for Research in Sustainability (IRIS), and Amnesty International Canada hosted a panel discussion aimed at fostering dialogue about the ethical issues raised by the ongoing involvement of Canadian mining enterprises in the Global South. The panel brought together several perspectives and included Sarah Seck, a PhD candidate at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, Grahame Russell, of the NGO Rights Action, James Cooney, an executive with extraction company Placer Dome, and York Assistant Professor David Szablowski of York’s Law and Society Program. CERLAC Fellow Liisa North, Professor Emeritus of York’s Political Science Department, moderated the panel. Report by Sarah Blackie.
Issue 2: Undermining Democracy: Haiti, the Coup and the War on Haiti's Popular Movements
On February 22, 2006, Patrick Elie, Former Secretary of State for National Defence for the Haitian government and a founding member of S.O.S. (Sant Obsèvasyon Sitwayen- a citizens’ watchdog NGO), visited York University and spoke about the history of popular movements in Haiti and the degradation of democracy following the 2004 coup against Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Elie's talk, co-hosted by CERLAC and the Toronto Haiti Action Committee, was part of an awareness-raising speaking tour on the second anniversary of the coup that overthrew Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Report by Alex Goss.
Issue 3: Political Violence and the Guatemalan CICIACS by Simon Granovsky-Larsen
On March 7, 2006, Simon Granovsky-Larsen spoke about his research on the Commission for the Investigation of Clandestine Groups and Illegal Armed Organizations (CICIACS) in Guatemala. Simon discussed efforts to create the CICIACS commission, placing this process within the wider themes of peace accord non-implementation and post-war political violence.
Issue 4: Voices of the Victims: Their Proposals for Peace with Justice in Colombia
On October 19, 2006, CERLAC and KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives hosted speakers from the Movement of Victims of Human Rights Abuses in Colombia. Along with a youth spokesperson, Lilia Solano Ramirez, a human rights defender and founder of the movement, discussed the controversial paramilitary "demobilization" process in Colombia. The presenters described a highly questionable demobilization process that has placed the future of Colombia’s democracy in question. Report by Alison P. Bond.
Issue 5: The Securitization of Citizenship under Colombia's Democratic Security Policy
On November 7, 2006, Cristina Rojas, a CERLAC Visiting Scholar from Carleton University’s School of International Affairs, spoke about contemporary Colombian citizenship. Rojas discussed the current increase in authoritarianism, or social control, that includes the use of force which is becoming concentrated in the hands of private actors. She contrasted this trend with competing, progressive visions of citizenship in the country. Report by Cristina Rojas.
On November 14, 2006, CERLAC hosted a panel discussion featuring Dr. Richard Roman, CERLAC Associate Fellow and Sociology Professor Emeritus from the University of Toronto, Dr. Luisa Ortiz Perez of the NGO Nova in Mexico City, and Rogelio Cuevas Fuentes, a political refugee from Oaxaca. The panel addressed the ongoing political crisis in Oaxaca, Mexico which began as a teachers' strike in June 2006 and evolved into a state-wide social movement, organized under the rubric of the Oaxacan People’s Popular Assembly (APPO). Report by Carla Agatiello.
Volume 4 (2005)
Issue 1: Chiapas Indigenous Women's Fair Trade Weaving Cooperatives
On February 8th, 2005, Pascuala Patishtan and Merit Ichin spoke about the work of the Indigenous women’s fair trade weaving cooperative Jolom Mayaetik and the non-governmental organization (NGO) K’inal Antzetik in their struggle for dignity, autonomy and survival in Chiapas, Mexico. The speakers were co-hosted by CERLAC, Women's Studies, the Business and Society Program, the Division of Social Science and the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York. Report by Caitlyn Vernon.
Issue 2: Security and Militarism in the Americas
On March 2, 2005, CERLAC and UCGS hosted a panel discussion on the social, political, and economic implications of militarism in Latin America. The panelists included Justin Podur, a journalist for Z-Net, Simon Helweg-Larsen, an MA candidate in Social and Political Thought, and Elena Cirkovic, a PhD candidate in Political Science. The panel focused on Venezuela, Guatemala and Peru, and reflected on the multiple ways in which militarism in the region – still very much a concern today in many parts of Latin America – has been employed to further elite economic and political interests, with immense social costs. Report by Gabriela Agatiello.
Volume 3 (2004)
Issue 1: HIV/AIDS, Violence and Women in Chiapas, Mexico
On October 4th, 2004, hosted by CERLAC and the Canadian Chiapanecas Justice for Women, Mexican doctor, journalist and social activist Dr. Margarita Aguilar Ruiz spoke about her novel “With Faith Eroded”, which charts the struggle for survival amidst the transmission of HIV/AIDS in Chiapas. Report by Caitlyn Vernon.
Issue 2: Confronting Power with Power: The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
As part of the Canadian Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Week of Action, Campaign Director Ray Rogers spoke at York University on October 21st, 2004. The Canadian speaking tour was organized and facilitated by Larry Wells of the Oakville and District Labour Council, in support of Coke workers in Colombia. They have filed a lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company and Colombian bottlers, charging that Coca-Cola’s bottlers in Colombia “contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders.” Report by Caitlyn Vernon.
Issue 3: Latin American Development Theories and Neoliberalism
On October 4th , 2004, CERLAC, the Division of Social Science, LACS, Founders College, IDS and UCGS at York University presented a talk by Cristobal Kay from the Institute of Social Research in the Netherlands. In his presentation, entitled "Latin American Development Theories and Neoliberalism," Kay critically analyzed the impact of neoliberalism on Latin American countries and discussed possible alternative theories and policies to address the pressing development needs of the region. Report by Gabriela Agatiello.
Issue 4: Venezuela Chooses its Future
On September 23rd , 2004, in a panel discussion sponsored by CERLAC, Sam Gindin (Political Science, York), Greg Albo (Political Science, York), María Paez Victor (Sociology, University of Toronto) and Nicolas Lopez (Ph.D. candidate, Political Science, York) reflected on the context and consequences of the recent referendum in Venezuela. Report by Shana Yael Shubs.
Issue 5: Culture and Politics in Social Movements: The Case of the 'Movimiento Autonomista' in Argentina
On November 2nd, 2004, visiting social activists Soledad Bordegaray, Graciela Monteagudo, Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein gave an insightful presentation of the Argentina Autonomista Project. Co-sponsored by CERLAC (York), the Transformative Learning Centre (OISE/UT), the LACS programme (York), Sociology (York), OPIRG (U of T), Politics (Ryerson), the Gindin Chair in Social Justice & Democracy (Ryerson) and the Centre for Social Justice, the presentations focused on a number of dynamic movements in Argentina and their ongoing resistance and struggles for autonomy. Report by Gabriela Agatiello.
Issue 6: America's Other War: Terrorizing Colombia by Doug Stokes
On November 9th, 2004, CERLAC Visiting Fellow Dr. Doug Stokes gave a presentation at York University on his new book, America’s Other War: Terrorizing Colombia. AMERICA’S OTHER WAR demonstrates that in Colombia the US has long supported a pervasive campaign of state violence directed against both armed insurgents and a wide range of completely unarmed progressive social forces. While the pretext may change from one decade to the next, the basic policies remain the same: maintain the pro-US Colombian state, protect US economic interests and preserve strategic access to oil.
Volume 2 (2003)
Issue 1: Why Canada Should Support Chávez by Maria Paez Victor
The legitimate and democratic government of Venezuela has been under attack by a wealthy and violent opposition that tried to overthrow it first with a military coup and then with a two-month lockout. The opposition controlled the main media and used it to relentlessly distort events and to advocate violence. The Government of Canada should have upheld the democratic government and institutions of Venezuela, and should not have treated the crisis as if it were a matter of "negotiating" with two equal entities. Canada could have a very significant, and much needed, role in supporting the democratic institutions and processes in this Hemisphere. This statement represents a contribution to the debate on Canadian foreign policy in the CERLAC Event « Conflict in Colombia, Crisis in Venezuela » of February 6, 2003.
Issue 2: State Terror, Torture and Impunity in Chile and Elsewhere in Latin America
On October 30, 2002 in a panel discussion sponsored by CERLAC and Theatre at York, Dr. Judith Pilowski (Psychologist and member of the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture), Dr. Pilar Riaño (CERLAC Post Doctoral Fellow), and Carlos Torres (Centre for Social Justice), addressed the provocative themes of Ariel Dorfman’s play “Death and the Maiden.” Report by Christina Polzot and Marshall Beck.
Issue 3: From Primitive Socialism to Primitive Accumulation: Gangs, Violence, and Social Change in Urban Nicaragua 1997-2002 by Dennis Rodgers
On January 23, 2003, Dennis Rodgers, a lecturer in development studies in the London School of Economics, visited CERLAC and presented on his ethnographic study of the pandilla, or youth gang, phenomenon in contemporary Managua. He traced the emergence and evolution of the phenomenon, focusing on the role of gangs as social institutions and their multifarious ramifications for the constitution of social order in a wider context of urban poverty and social breakdown such as characterizes contemporary urban Nicaragua.
Issue 4: The PT in Power: Prospects for Change in Brazil
On January 14, 2003, CERLAC hosted a panel discussion exploring issues surrounding the taking of office, following his victory in Brazil's most recent presi-dential election, by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) of the Workers’ Party of Bra-zil (PT). Lula assumed office just two weeks before this event, on January 1, 2003. Of central concern to the discussion were the prospects for change under this new government in Brazil, a country characterized by striking socio-economic inequality, in light of the challenges and constraints confronting the new administration.
Issue 5: Dam the Environment: The Case Against Noranda's Porposed Aluminum Smelter in Patagonia, Chile
This article provides an overview of the issues covered in a March 6, 2003, event of the same title, co-sponsored by CERLAC and the Halifax Initiative, featuring Peter Hartmann of CODEFF- Aysén in Pata-gonia, Chile, who is also the Coordinator of the Citizens' Committee for the Defense of the Aysen Life Reserve and spokesperson for the Aysen Life Reserve Alliance. The Aysén region of Chile is thought to be one of the three least contaminated areas on the planet. Residents of the re-gion have declared Aysén a "Life Re-serve". Yet Noranda has proposed an aluminum smelter in the region that would produce more than 1.5 million tonnes of solid and gaseous waste per year.
Issue 6: Colombia in Conflict, Venezuela in Crisis
On Thursday, February 6th, 2003, a panel of four speakers expressed contrasting views on the current situation in Colombia and Venezuela, with a focus on Canadian foreign policy toward each. Two rep-resentatives of the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Jeanette Sautner and Michael Harvey, outlined Canadian foreign policy towards Venezuela and Colombia, respec-tively. Maria Paez Victor and Bill Fair-bairn, informed civil society actors, of-fered a critical perspective on government perceptions and policies vis-à-vis these troubled neighbouring states.
Issue 7: Reflections on the World Social Forum
On February 11, 2003, CERLAC hosted an event with Katheryn Palmateer and Carlos Torres who discussed their impressions of the World Social Forum. In the two pieces in this Bulletin the speakers summarize some of their observations.
Issue 8: History in the Making: The Perspective of the Participants by Marta Harnecker
On February 25, 2003, Marta Harnecker gave a presentation with the title of this bulletin. The event was co-sponsored by CERLAC and the Departments of Political Science and History at York. The text of this Bulletin is a transcription, edited for brevity, of that presentation, in which Marta discusses her work documenting the experiences of actors on the Left struggling for change in Latin America, with particular focus on the current context (Chávez, Gutierrez, and Lula).
Issue 9: El género, la ciudadanía y el desarrollo en Honduras por María Elena Méndez
El 19 de marzo, 2003, Horizons of Friendship y CERLAC invitaron a María Elena Méndez a York University para presentar su trabajo sobre el tema del género, la ciudadanía, y el desarrollo en Honduras. Esta publicación relata la presentación de Maria Elena y está dividido en dos secciones principales. La primera parte se trata del género y la partici-pación ciudadana. La segunda parte analiza el entorno económico y la biodiversidad de Honduras.
Issue 10: Crisis in Colombia: Making Connections and Making a Difference
“Crisis in Colombia: Making Connections and Making a Difference” was a one-day conference held at McMaster University, Hamilton on June 21, 2003, featuring presentations, four simultaneous workshop sessions, a panel discussion, a poetry reading, and opportunities for social activism.
Issue 11: Development Education in Nicaragua & Canada: Casa Canadiense
On September 17, 2003, Amanda Procter visited York University to report on the work of Casa Canadiense.
Volume 1 (2002)
Issue 1: Land Reform and Indigenous Rights in Guatemala
In an October 10, 2002, visit to York, Alfredo Ché - the Mayan-Q’eqchi’ leader of CNOC (the National Coordinating body of Guatemalan Campesino Organizations) - spoke of the efforts of indigenous peasants in rural Guatemala to overcome historic and continuing discrimination and injustice. He gave special attention to the latest institutional threat to their well-being: Plan Puebla Panama. Report by Christina Polzot.
Issue 2: Enrique Oltuski’s Life in the Cuban Revolution
On October 17, York hosted a high-ranking Minister of the Cuban government and one of the leading figures of the Cuban revolutionary struggle of the 1950’s - a man recently denied a visa to the US because considered a “terrorist” by the Bush administration. Enrique Oltuski, speaking the day before his 72nd birthday, came to plug his newly published book: “Vida Clandestina: My Life in the Cuban Revolution.” Report by Alison Beatch and Marshall Beck.
Issue 3: Chile: Human Rights and the Transition To Democracy
On September 30, 2002, Viviana Díaz - a prominent, long-time Chilean political activist - presented a chilling account of injustice, impunity, and government failure in the case of the countless people who were tortured and disappeared under the Pinochet dictatorship. Report by Christina Polzot and Marshall Beck.
Issue 4: Coffee with Justice in Guatemala
Leocadio Juracan and Julian Marcelo, delegates of Guatemala’s Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) and members of the El Paraiso Cooperative, spoke at York on October 22, 2002, on the crippling impact on many Guatemlans of the ongoing crisis in international coffee markets. The crisis was put into the longer-term context of traditionally expliotative labour relations in coffee production in Guatemala, and the efforts of peasants and workers to build more socially and environmentally sustainable alternatives. Report by Aileen Cowan.
Working Papers
Eating Your Words: Examining, Deconstructing and Decolonizing the Word Cannibal. Leah Stewart. February 2010.
Rural Markets, Revolutionary Souls, and Rebellious Women in Cold War Guatemala.
Carlota McAllister. May 2005.
Louis Lefeber and Thomas Vietorisz. August 2004.
Rural Land Conflicts and Human Rights Violations in Ecuador.
Liisa L. North, Wade Kit, and Rob Koep. June 2003.
Re-thinking Remittances: Social and Political Dimensions of Individual and Collective Remittances.
Luin Goldring. February 2003.
Fair Trade and the International Moral Economy: Within and Against the Market. Gavin Fridell. January 2003.
Fueling War: The Impact of Canadian Oil Investment on the Conflict in Colombia. Scott Pearce. November 2002.
Nadine Jubb. July 2001.
Reclaiming African Religions in Trinidad: The Orisha and Spiritual Baptist Faiths Today.
Dr. Frances Henry. June 2001.
Unions and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): The Canadian and Mexican Experiences.
Cirila Quintero Ramírez. April 2001.
Guatemala's Peace Accords in a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Gus Van Harten. May 2000.
From Hastings Street to Medellin: Canada and Issues in Inter-American NarcoTrafficking.
Jim Rochlin. December, 1999.
Weak Weapons, Strong Weapons? Hidden Resistance and Political Protest in Highland Ecuador.
Tanya Korovkin. November 1999.
Democratization and Popular Women's Organizations.
Cathy Blacklock. January 1999.
The Diasporic Mo(ve)ment: Indentureship and Indo-Caribbean Identity.
Sean Lokaisingh-Meighoo. September, 1998.
Congregationalism and Afro-Guianese Autonomy.
Juanita De Barros. July, 1998.
Sanfancón: Orientalism, Confuscianism and the Construction of Chineseness in Cuba, 1847-1997.
Frank F. Scherer. July, 1998.
Agricultural Policies and Rural Development in Ecuador: A Critique of Establishmentarian Policies.
Louis Lefeber. March 1998.
Structural Adjustment in Mexico and the Dog That Didn't Bark.
Judith Adler Hellman. April 1997.
Alison Crosby. May 1996.
Somos de la Tierra - Land and the Guatemala Refugee Return.
Brian Egan. May 1996.
Thomas Legler. May 1996.
Guatemalan Refugees and Returnees: Local Geography and Maya Identity. Catherine L. Nolin Hanlon. February 1996.
Changing Agrarian Institutions: Interpreting the Contradictions.
Kirsten Appendini. January 1996.
Trade, Employment and the Rural Economy.
Louis Lefeber. December 1995.
Barbara Hogenboom. September 1995.
Mexican Meltdown: NAFTA, Democracy and the Peso.
Maxwell A. Cameron. September 1995.
Indigenous Ecology and the Politics of Linkage in Mexican Social Movements.
David Carruthers. September 1995.
Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Mexican Authoritarianism.
Judith Teichman. September 1995.
Development Paths at a Crossroads: Peru in Light of the East Asian Experience. Maxwell A. Cameron and Liisa L. North. July 1995.
Nibaldo Galleguillos, Ricardo Grinspun and Richard Roman. January 1995.
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CERLAC Colloquia Papers
Conference held at York University, March 15-16, 2007. Report prepared by Marshall Beck. December 2007.
They Came in Ships: Imperialism, Migration and Asian Diasporas in the 19th Century
The Seventh Jagan Lecture, presented at York University on October 20, 2007, by Walton Look Lai. November 2007.
Sweet & Sour Sauce: Sexual Politics in Jamaican Dancehall Culture
The Sixth Jagan Lecture, presented at York University on October 22, 2005, by Carolyn Cooper. November 2007.
Cuernavaca Declaration on Migration and Development, 2005
A workshop titled "Problems and Challenges of Migration and Development in the Americas" held in Cuernavaca, Mexico April 7-9, 2005.
The Disappearing Island; Haiti, History, and the Hemisphere
The Fifth Jagan Lecture and the Third Michael Baptista Lecture presented at York University on March 20, 2004 by J. Michael Dash. April 2004.
A workshop held at York University, on February 5th, 2004. Report prepared by Gavin Fridell and Vivian Jimenez. April 2004.
Language and the Politics of Ethnicity in the Caribbean
The Fourth Annual Jagan Lecture presented at York University on March 2, 2002 by George Lamming. April 2004.
Race, Class and Ethnicity: A Caribbean Interpretation
The Third Annual Jagan Lecture presented at York University on March 3, 2001 by Lloyd Best. April 2004.
International Migration in the Americas: Emerging Issues
Conference held at York University September 19-20, 2003. Report prepared by Paola Bohórquez and Susan Spronk. March 2004.
Globalization and Social Movements: A Brazilian Perspective
A public lecture by João Pedro Stedile of the MST (Landless Workers Movement) of Brazil. January 2004.
Latin America and the Caribbean after September 11: Poverty, Crisis, and Insecurity
Workshop held at York University February 8, 2002. Report prepared by Aileen Cowan. March 2003.
Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America: Community Rights and Corporate Responsibility.
Conference held at York University May 9-11, 2002. January 2003.
Colombia: Internal Displacement and Humanitarian Crisis 2001.
Michael Baptista Lecture by Amanda Romero-Medina, held at York University Wednesday the 23rd of May, 2001. July 2002.
Violence and Peace-Building in Colombia
Conference Held at York University May 24-25, 2001
Report prepared by Sabine Neidhardt and Sheila Simpkins. January 2002
The Moral Challenges of Globalization: Principles for Human Development.
Speech Presented at York University by Dr. Oscar Arias. April 1999.
A Report on the Workshop Proceedings by Tom Legler and Carlos Torres. October 1997.
Issues and Challenges Facing the Canadian and South American Systems of Higher Education.
A Report on the Institute of Univeristy Management and Leadership (IGIU). Rapporteur's Report by Yasmine Shamsie and Merike Blofield. December 1995.
Mexico after NAFTA: A Public Forum for Social and Labour Activists on the Current Mexican Crisis.
Rapporteur's Report by Stephen Rotter and Ruth Abramson. June 1995.
Critical Perspectives on North American Integration.
Rapporteur's Report by Robert J. Kreklewich and Viviana Patroni. May 1992.
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Baptista Prizewinning Essays
2008 Winners
The Publicness of Melodrama in the Cuban Special Period
Nicholas Balaisis. PhD programme, Communication and Culture. 2008 Graduate Baptista Prize. July 2009.
Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST)
Laura Landertinger. Sociology and Philosophy. 2008 Undergraduate Baptista Prize. July 2009.
2007 Winners
Cuban Raperas: A Feminist Revolution within the Revolution
Talia Wooldridge. MA Candidate, Ethnomusicology. 2007 Graduate Baptista Prize. May 2008.
Contesting Victimhood: Indigenous Women and Violence in Chiapas, Mexico
Kate Sheese. Individualized Studies. 2007 Undergraduate Baptista Prize. May 2008.
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CERLAC Occasional Papers
Women and Policing in Latin America: An Annotated Bibliography
Nadine Jubb and Wânia Pasinato Izumino. February 2002.
Women and Policing in Latin America: A Revised Background Paper
Nadine Jubb and Wânia Pasinato Izumino. February 2002.
Mujeres y servicios policiales en América Latina: Un documento de referencia revisado
Nadine Jubb and Wânia Pasinato Izumino. February 2002.
Directions in Ethnohistorical Research on the Inca State and Economy.
Chris Beyers. February 2001.
The United Nations in El Salvador: The Promise and Dilemmas of an Integrated Approach to Peace.
Stephen Baranyi and Liisa L. North. January 1996.
Bice Maiguashca. June 1994.
Indians, Peasants, and the State: The Growth of a Community Movement in the Ecuadorean Andes.
Tanya Korovkin. November 1992.
North American Integration: Interplay of World Order, State and Production.
Robert J. Kreklewich. April 1991.
Industrialization, Employment and Crisis in Contemporary Latin America.
Carlos Larrea. April 1991.
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CERLAC Reports
The Remittance Sending Practices of Haitians and Jamaicans in Canada.
Report by Alan Simmons, Dwaine Plaza and Victor Piché. October 2005.
Major Institutional Linkages of CERLAC in Latin America and the Caribbean.Report, 2nd Edition
Compiled by Liisa North with the assistance of Christina Polzot. April 2003.
Compiled by Alejandra Roncallo. November 1998
The 1994 Presidential and Congressional Elections in Mexico.
A report by official Canadian observers, Nibaldo Galleguillos, Richard King, Barry Levitt, Lucy Luccissano and Teresa Healy. June 1996.
Major Institutional Linkages of CERLAC in Latin America and the Caribbean.Report
Compiled by Liisa North and Ruth Abramson. April 1996.
Research Capacity for Canadian Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean Report.
Prepared for the Department of External Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) by Ricardo Grinspun, Louis Lefeber, Liisa North and Yasmine Shamsie. April 1996.
The 1994 Presidential and Congressional Elections in Mexico
Nibaldo H. Galleguillos, Richard King, Barry Levitt, Lucy Luccissano & Teresa Healy. 1996.
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Books and monographs by CERLAC Fellows and Associates
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Blazing Cane: Sugar Communities, Class, and State Formation in Cuba, 1868-1959 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009)
By Gillian McGillivray
McGillivray examines the development of social classes linked to sugar production, and their contribution to the formation and transformation of the state, from the first Cuban Revolution for Independence in 1868 through the Cuban Revolution of 1959. She describes how cane burning became a powerful way for farmers, workers, and revolutionaries to commit sabotage, take control of the harvest season, improve working conditions, protest political repression, attack colonialism and imperialism, nationalize sugarmills, and, ultimately, acquire greater political and economic power. Not limiting her analysis to the island, McGillivray shows that twentieth-century Cuban history reflected broader trends in the Western Hemisphere, from modernity to popular nationalism to Cold War repression. |
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“Gillian McGillivray offers a new and original understanding of the history of Cuba from the mid-nineteenth century to Castro’s Cuban revolution by reading that history from the perspective of two sugar communities. She stresses the agency of workers in sugar communities, who asserted demands and engaged with, as they helped shape, the rhetoric of the state and state formation. Blazing Cane is an important contribution to modern Cuban history, and a compelling case for the impossibility of separating the local from the national and transnational in any study.”
- William E. French, author of A Peaceful and Working People: Manners, Morals, and Class Formation in Northern Mexico
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Iniciativas endógenas de desarrollo local en la Sierra ecuatoriana
Por Liisa North y Luciano Martinez
¿Pueden los mercados no-agrícolas servir a las necesidades de los pequeños productores rurales? ¿Pueden estos mercados, facilitar la diversificación económica y la reducción de la pobreza? En este fascinante estudio que resume cerca de veinte años de investigación sobre la industria rural de los jeans en Pelileo. Luciano Martínez y Liisa North identifican los antecedentes históricos y dimensiones contemporáneas de una experiencia social única, que contrasta con la decadencia de las economías rurales en Latinoamérica, causada por las políticas neoliberales. |
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. "Los autores muestran cómo los pequeños empresarios rurales pueden jugar un rol dinamizador cuando tienen acceso a tierra, educación y oportunidades en el mercado doméstico. Esto demuestra tanto innovación tecnológica como social. Se concluye que las políticas públicas orientadas a una diversificación rural, en condiciones que permitan el acceso a bienes productivos y servicios adecuados a las poblaciones rurales, son la clave para asegurar procesos de desarrollo en el campo ecuatoriano." - Ricardo Grinspun, Department of Economics and CERLAC, York University
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Blood and Capital: The Paramilitarization of Colombia By Jasmin Hristov Hristov examines the complexities, dynamics, and contradictions of present-day armed conflict in Colombia. She conducts an in-depth inquiry into the restructuring of the state’s coercive apparatus and the phenomenon of paramilitarism by looking at its military, political, and legal dimensions. Hristov demonstrates how various interrelated forms of violence by state forces, paramilitary groups, and organized crime are instrumental to the process of capital accumulation by the local elite as well as the exercise of political power by foreign enterprises. She addresses, as well, issues of forced displacement, proletarianization of peasants, concentration of landownership, growth in urban and rural poverty, and human rights violations in relation to the use of legal means and extralegal armed force by local dominant groups and foreign companies. |
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. "A searing indictment of accumulation at the expense of indigenous peoples, peasants, Afro-colombians, and the working poor...this powerful book is essential reading for all who wish to understand contemporary Colombia, and for all who care about human rights and global justice." - David Mcnally, Professor of Political Science, York University and author of Another World Is Possible: Globalization and Anti-Capitalism "This original and illuminating book will be essential reading for students and scholars seeking to better understand the roots of extreme violence in Colombia and why it has been so difficult to end the widespread killings, abductions and use of torture in that country." -Alan Simmons, Senior Scholar, Department of Sociology, and CERLAC, York University Read the review in Quill & Quire Read the review in Agencia Prensa Rural (In Spanish only)
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The World of Mexican Migrants. The Rock and the Hard Place
By Judith Adler Hellman
Widely praised as a splendid addition to the literature on the great wave of post–1970 immigration from Mexico—as a result of which an estimated 6 million undocumented Mexican migrants now live in the United States—The World of Mexican Migrants, by acclaimed author Judith Adler Hellman, takes us into the lives of those who, no longer able to eke out even a modest living in their homeland, have traveled north to find jobs. |
"A sympathetic, wide-ranging portrait of the lives of Mexicans on both sides of the border." --Kirkus Reviews . "[Hellman] skillfully allows the immigrants to express their experiences through some of their own words....An outstanding book." --Choice . "Hellman's extraordinarily wide-ranging and painstaking field research not only puts a human face on the abstractions of large-scale Mexican migration to the United States; her work helps the reader understand the big policy issues raised by this population movement." --Wayne A. Cornelius, director, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies . "This wonderful book gives us a vivid ground-level view of the experiences of Mexican migrants as they maneuver to survive." --Frances Fox Piven. . Listed as one of Choice Magazine's "Outstanding Academic Titles" for 2008. . Read the Y-File article: "Professor's book named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title" Read the review in Cambridge Journals Read the review in The Americas
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Transnational Law and Local Struggles: Mining Communities and the World Bank By David Szablowski
Szablowski examines how conflicts between mining companies and local communities have emerged worldwide as an urgent and intractable problem that has stimulated competing regulatory efforts at local, national, and global scales. The book is centered on a rich case study of a conflict between a Canadian-owned mining project in Peru and local Andean indigenous communities.
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Organizing The Transnational: Labour, Politics and Social Change By Luin Goldring and Sailaja Krishnamurti
Migrants to Canada often maintain or develop transnational ties and identities that link them to their homeland or a homeland-based group. Focusing on Asian and Latin American migrants, Organizing the Transnational attempts to articulate a cultural politics of transnationalism, rather than focusing separately on economic, or political, or social issues.
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Whose Canada?: Continental Integration, Fortress North America, and the Corporate Agenda By Ricardo Grinspun and Yasmine Shamise
Questions and concerns regarding Canada's relationship with the United States loom larger than ever since 9/11. Contributors provide a comprehensive analysis of the legacy of free trade and the challenges that deepening bilateral integration presents for Canadian sovereignty and public policy autonomy. In response to the question Whose Canada?, the authors share their skepticism about corporate Canada's continental agenda and the results of Ottawa's cozying up to Washington, arguing forcefully that Canada's future must be shaped by its citizens, not its elites.
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Etnicidad y nación. El desarrollo de la autonomía de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua (1987-2007) By Miguel González, Pierre Frühling and Hans Petter Buvollen
Importante obra acerca del desarrollo de la autonomía de la costa atlántica nicaragüense, será presentado hoy. El libro está prologado por Edelberto Torres-Rivas y constituye una investigación rigurosa del tema étnico.
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Fair Trade Coffee: The prospects and pitfalls of market-driven social justice By Gavin Fridell
Using fair trade groups in Mexico and Canada as case studies, Fridell examines fair trade coffee at both the global and local level, assessing it as a development project and locating it within political and development theory. In addition, Fridell provides in-depth historical analysis of fair trade coffee in the context of global trade, and compares it to a variety of post-war development projects within the coffee industry.
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The Rama People: Struggling for Land and Culture By Miguel González, Svein Jentoft, Diala López and Arja Koskinen
The Rama are roughly 1,500 to 2,000 people living in scattered communities on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua in areas that comprise some of the country's richest natural environment. Their land and resources are subjected to heavy external exploitation and the survival of their unique culture is at stake. This book tells the story of the Rama people's struggle for the rights to their own land a culture.
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Community Rights and Corporate Responsibility: Canadian Mining and Oil Companies in Latin America Edited by Liisa North, Timothy David Clark, and Viviana Patroni
This collection, the most comprehensive in the English-language to date, investigates conflicts between the communities affected by mining and their advocates on one side, and the transnational mining companies supported by the local state and the Canadian government on the other, looking at cases in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Contributors address the related sustainable development, community, corporate, legal, and social issues.
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Tortillas and Tomatoes. Mexican Transmigrant Harvesters in Canada. By Tanya Basok
Based on interviews with Leamington greenhouse growers and migrant Mexican workers, Tanya Basok offers a timely analysis of why the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program is needed. She argues that while Mexican workers do not necessarily constitute cheap labour for Canadian growers, they are vital for the survival of some agricultural sectors because they are always available for work, even on holidays and weekends, or when exhausted, sick, or injured. |
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Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail By Deborah Barndt
Follows a corporate tomato from a Mexican field through the United States to a Canadian table, examining in its wake the dynamic relationship between production and consumption, work and technology, health and environment, bio-diversity and cultural diversity...
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Co-edited by CERLAC Fellow, with contributions from various CERLAC Graduate Associates JUST DOING IT Popular Collective Action in the Americas Edited by Gene Desfor, Deborah Barndt, Barbara Rahder
How marginalized groups and individuals battle to gain some measure of control of their lives.
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Latest Project Publication of CERLAC's Carribean Religions Project:
NATION DANCE: Religion, Identity, and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean Edited by Patrick Taylor
Addresses the interplay of diverse spiritual, religious and cultural traditions across the Caribbean.
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Urban Teacher Education and Teaching: Innovative Practices for Diversity and Social Justice Edited by R. Patrick Solomon and Dia N. R. Dekayi
Illuminates the most pressing challenges faced by urban schools, teachers, teacher candidates and teacher training programs. It goes beyond traditional discourses in teacher education to focus on diversity, social justice, democratic schooling, and community building.
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Community Power and Grassroots Democracy: The Transformation of Social Life. Editors: Michael Kaufman and Haroldo Dilla Alfonso. CERLAC and Centro de Estudios sobre América. 1997. Zed Books Ltd. London, U.K. and International Development Research Centre (IDRC), P.O. Box 8500, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1G 3H9. (Available from CERLAC)
Economic Integration in the Americas. Editors: C. Paraskevopoulos, R. Grinspun and G. Eaton. 1996. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 8 Lansdown Place, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 2HV, U.K.
Economic Integration and Public Policy in the European Union. Editors: C. Paraskevopoulos, R. Grinspun and T. Georgakopoulos. 1996. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 8 Lansdown Place, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 2HV, Aldershot, U.K.
International Migration and Human Rights in North America: The Impact of Free Trade and Restructuring. Editor: Alan B. Simmons, 1996. Centre for Migration Studies, 209 Flagg Place, Staten Island, NY, 10304-1199.
The Politics of Regional Conflict: Central America, Southern Africa and the Middle East. Editors: W. Thom Workman and Luis Mesa Delmonte. 1995. Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., 180 Bloor St.W., Ste 402, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2V6.
A Report on Reforming the Organization of American States to Support Democratization in the Hemisphere: A Canadian Perspective. Liisa North and Yasmine Shamsie (CERLAC) and George Wright (FOCAL) 1995. (Available from CERLAC)
Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy towards Latin America. Editor: James Rochlin, 1994. The University of British Columbia Press, 6344 Memorial Road, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 1W5.
Historia y Región en el Ecuador: 1830-1930. Editor: Juan Maiguashca. FLACSO-CERLAC Project, Volume IV, 1994. Corporación Editora Nacional, Roca 230 y Tamayo, Apartado Postal 17-12-00886, Quito, Ecuador. (Available from CERLAC)
The Political Economy of North American Free Trade. Editors: Ricardo Grinspun and Maxwell Cameron. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993. St.Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10010.
Popular Participation and Development: A Bibliography on Africa and Latin America. Hugh Dow and Jonathan Barker. Published jointly by CERLAC and the Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, 1992. (Available from CERLAC)
Forging Identities and Patterns of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Editors: Harry P. Diaz, Joanna W.A. Rummens, Patrick D.M. Taylor. CALACS- ACELAC/CERLAC. 1991. Canadian Scholars Press Inc, 180 Bloor St.W., Ste 402, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2V6. (Available from CERLAC)
La Cuestión Regional y el Poder. Editor: Rafael Quintero. FLACSO-CERLAC Project, Volume III, 1991. Corporación Editora Nacional, Roca 230 y Tamayo, Apartado Postal 17-12-00886, Quito, Ecuador. (Available from CERLAC)
Between War and Peace in Central America: Choices for Canada. Editor: Liisa North. CAPA and Between-the-Lines, 1990. 720 Bathurst Street, Suite 404, Toronto, M5S 2R5.
The National Unified School in Allende's Chile: The Role of Education in the Destruction of a Revolution. Joseph P. Farrell. 1986. CERLAC and the University of British Columbia Press, 6344 Memorial Road, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5.
Clase y Región en el Agro Ecuatoriano. Editor: Miguel Murmis. FLACSO-CERLAC Project, Volume II, 1986. Corporacion Editora Nacional, Corporacion Editora Nacional, Roca 230 y Tamayo, Apartado Postal 17-12-00886, Quito, Ecuador.
La Economía Politica del Ecuador: Campo, Región, Nación. Editor: Louis Lefeber. FLACSO-CERLAC Project, Volume I, 1985. Corporacion Editora Nacional, Roca 230 y Tamayo, Apartado Postal 17-12-00886, Quito, Ecuador.
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