TUCLA Conference

The Tulane Undergraduate Conference on Latin America (TUCLAS) is taking place this Saturday. We in the Stone Center for Latin American Studies are proud of our smart, talented, and dedicated Senior majors. And their presentations represent the culmination of a scholarly endeavor that started for many of them some 3-plus years ago. If you get the chance, come by and check it out. The event is taking place in Jones Hall in rooms 102 and 108. There are three sessions with two panels in each session. The first session starts at 9am. The provisional schedule is as follows:

VII Annual Tulane Undergraduate Conference
on Latin America (TUCLA)
Saturday Nov. 21, 2009 Jones Hall 102 and 108


Session I 9:00-10:45

Theme of Exchange
Panel Title: Contact High: Cultural Perspectives on the Global, the Local and the Spaces In-Between
Jessie Hawkins, “Gringo Shaman: The Commercialization of Shamanism in Peru”
Ashley Coleman, “Los de atrás vienen con ellos: Sonic Politics, Cultural Resistance, and a New Space for a Puerto Rico Libre in Calle 13’s Reggaeton”
Lana Butner, “Grey Area: The Façade of Racial Homogeneity in Costa Rica”
Aaron Feingold, “Breaking the Habitus: Mizik Rasin and Haitian Grassroots Agency”
Discussant: Prof. Mauro Porto, Department of Communication

Theme of Creativity
Panel Title: Democracy as a Work in Progress: Rethinking Representation in Latin America
Michael Murray, “Corruption: The Myth and Mystery of the Chilean Exception”
Ashley Rhodes, “The 2009 Democratic Disruption in Honduras: Delegative Democracy or Dangerous Precedent?”
Allison Bakamjian, “Chile’s ‘Penguin Revolution’: Student Responses to Incomplete Democracy”
Brenna Horan, “Human Rights Advocacy in Authoritarian Chile: The Critical Role of the Catholic Church (1976-1990)”
Discussant: TBA

Session II 11:00-12:30

Theme of Encounter
Panel Title: Entre lo público y lo privado: Recent Trends in Environmental and Economic Policy
Annalisa Cravens, "The Mexican Environmental Condition: Policy Enforcement, Industry and Infrastructure"
John Coffee, “The Role of the State in the Creation and Growth of Brazilian Ethanol Production”
Robin Baxley, “Microfinance: A Viable Means of Development Even in Times of Crisis?”
Discussant: TBA

Theme of Nation
Panel Title: Knowledge and Other Dangerous Things: The Politics of Literacy in Contemporary Latin America
Meredith Soniat du Fossat, “Cuban Literary Production during the Special Period.”
Lauren Elliot, “The Word is our Weapon: Reading the Zapatistas through Paulo Freire and bell hooks”
Christine Sweeney, “Politics to Pupils: The Role of Governments in the Classroom in Argentina”
Discussant: Prof. Rebecca Atencio, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Lunch Break 12:30-1:15

Session III 1:15-2:30

Theme of Identity
Panel Title: Beyond Tolerance: Gender, Sexuality and Power in Latin American Society
Annie Robinson, “Transvestite Visibility in Buenos Aires: Progressive Port or Machista Metropolis?”
Ereeni Roulakis, “Intertwining Realities: A Holistic Feminist Vision for Aymara Rural Migrants”
Kelsey Torres, “Larger than Life: Honor and Shame in the Argentine Tango”
Discussant: Prof. Elizabeth Manley, Department of History, Xavier University

Theme of Welfare
Panel Title: Cultural Prescriptions: State Responsibility in Health Care and Human Rights
Chelsea Cipriano, “Wronged: The Government's Role in the Lives of Guatemalan Street Children”
Amy Brown, “Milagro o Muerte: The Fate of Pregnant Women in Rural Peru”
Phillippa Chadd, “Morality in the Way of Care: The State Response to HIV/AIDS in Argentina”
Discussant: Prof. Laura Murphy, School of Public Health