Major conference to celebrate the diversity of Latin American studies and 50 years of scholarship
Research about urban life, colonial history and women’s health will be shared at a two-day event
Research about urban life, colonial history and women’s health will be shared at a conference about Latin America to be held at Birkbeck.
The international event is the fiftieth annual gathering of the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS) and is expected to attract 350 academics from across the world.
The vibrant programme of academic panels, social and cultural events will reflect the diversity of Latin American studies today.
Conference highlights
A wide range of events will take place throughout the two-day conference, including:
- Panel discussion: Fifty years of Latin American Studies in the UK: A retrospective
6:30pm, Wednesday 2 April, 6:30pm
Moderated by Professor James Dunkerley
Panellists: Professor Tony Kapcia, Professor John King, Professor Cathy McIlwaine, Professor David Preston, and Dr Rory Miller
- Book launch: Democracies and dictatorships in Latin America: emergence, survival and fall by Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Perez-Liñán
3:45pm-4:15pm, Thursday 3 April
- Keynote presentations: Turning Cortés and Moctezuma upside down by Professor Matthew Restall, of Pennsylvania State University
6:15pm, Thursday 3 April
Towards a political sociology of urban marginality by Professor Javier Auyero, of the University of Texas at Austin
6:15pm, Friday 4 April
A dozen members of Birkbeck staff are participating in the conference, which is convened by Dr Jasmine Gideon, of Birkbeck’s Department of Geography, Environment and Development Studies.
Dr Gideon said: “This conference will showcase the vibrant research within Latin American studies. It is also an opportunity for celebration as the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS) marks its fiftieth birthday. Much has changed in Latin America in the last half-century, and this conference will be a chance to explore the importance of these developments, including significant Latin American migration to London.”
Papers to be delivered by Birkbeck staff at the conference include:
- Why is sexual and reproductive health integral to the discussion of ‘women’s health’? The case of Brazil and Chile
Dr Jasmine Gideon, Dr Marianna Leite and Gabriela Alvarez Minte
- Spoken into presence: differential materialization, embodiment and subjectification in the Sepur Zarco hearings, Guatemala
Dr Silvia Posocco
- The regionalisation of agrarian struggle: La Via Campesina, ALBA and the road to ‘food sovereignty’
Rowan Lubbock
Timetable and registration
The conference arrivals desk will be open from the afternoon of Wednesday 2 April and a welcome reception will be held for early arrivals. The panels will run all day on Thursday 3 April and Friday 4 of April.
Whole conference rates are:
- £240 for non-members
- £215 for SLAS members
- £155 for students
- £125 for student members
Day rates, to attend on either 3 or 4 April, are:
- £145 for non-members
- £130 for members, £95 for students
- £75 for student members
Proceed to the registration form.
Photo, top right: Makeshift homes in the Chilean city of Valparaiso, 2013. Photographer: Gabriela Alvarez Minte