uNO Latin American Studies Program Hosts the 2013 Empire and Solidarity in the Americas Conference Next Week
Participants submitted paper proposals in September and selected proposals will be the center of focused discussion.
"The Sixth Anniversary Empire and Solidarity in the Americas Conference explores the meanings, forms, histories and futures of North-South solidarity in the Americas," reads a brochure from the conference. "What kinds of transnational ties have groups from both sides of the North-South divide established with each other? What kinds of strategies have they used and toward what ends? How have these political projects varied across time and space? In what ways have cross-border solidarities shaped and been shaped by political power?"
Steve Striffler, UNO professor of anthropology and geology and Doris Zemurray Stone Chair in Latin American Studies at UNO, has led coordination of the event, together with Aviva Chomsky, history professor at Salem State. Striffler and Chomsky together will lead a discussion on "Labor and Environmental Solidarity in the Age of Extractivism."
The term "exctractivism" refers to pulling as much as possible of a high-demand resource from a forested area in the shortest period possible and is often tied to allegations of exploitation.
Striffler, who taught at the University of Arkansas before arriving at UNO in 2008, earned his doctorate at the New School for Social Research and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Yale, University of North Carolina and Northwestern. His research focuses on Latin America and Latin American immigration into the U.S.
Striffler's first book, In the Shadows of State and Capital (Duke University Press, 2002), explored the history of the banana industry in South America and won two "Best Book" awards. As part of this research, he edited Banana Wars: Power, Production, and History in the Americas (Duke, 2003), and The Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Nation (Duke, 2009).
Striffler's second book, Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food (Yale University Press, 2005), examined the history of the poultry industry and Latin American immigration into the U.S. South. He is currently co-authoring "Solidarity: Cross-Border Alliances in the Making of the Americas," which explores the history of international solidarity between the U.S. and Latin America.
Other papers discussed at the conference will address extractivism and the changing landscapes of struggle and solidarity in Peru, gold rushing in El Salvador and struggles over mining in the age of Neo-Liberalism, the U.S. solidarity campaign with GM-Colombia Workers, climate bargaining and the struggle to slow global warming, reclaiming food systems through transnational environmental politics and the impacts of fair trade networks on coffee production in Latin America.
The Latin American and Caribbean Studies programs at the University of New Orleans offer courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in Spanish language, social sciences, humanities, business and science.
The Bachelor of Arts in International Studies concentration in Latin American and Caribbean Studies is designed to produce students with a broad and deep understanding of the history, culture, politics, and society of Latin America and the Caribbean region. The concentration prepares students for careers in international business, law, economic development, journalism, education, and social services. The Latin American and Caribbean Studies concentration also provides an excellent foundation for graduate work in Latin American and Caribbean Studies or within a particular social science discipline.
