SPEAKERS: Christien Klaufus, CEDLA - UvA DISCUSSANT: Ilse van Liempt, Utrecht University DATE: 7 March 2025 In cases of heightened immigration to consolidating informal settlements, various dynamics come into play. On the one hand, traditions of mutual aid may foster a receptive attitude toward newcomers, as residents understand firsthand the challenges of starting a new life from scratch. On the other hand, given their own struggles to establish infrastructure and secure livelihoods, the host community may view newcomers as competitors seeking to benefit from their hard-earned gains. For immigrants, adjusting to a new community often involves navigating unfamiliar norms and facing prejudice or discrimination. As such, their strategies to “salir adelante” (move forward) tend to be shaped by mixed opportunities and setbacks. From an analytical standpoint, periods of significant transnational migration intensify a variety of visible and invisible borders and boundaries. This lecture examines how urban borderscapes structure both neighborhood space and the social fabric, focusing on informal settlements that exhibit enclave-like characteristics. Drawing on new research in Medellín, Colombia and San José, Costa Rica within a NWO-funded project, the lecture explores these boundaries and potential spaces for convergence, offering preliminary findings that illuminate how migrants respond to these challenges. See www.cedla.nl/urban-project  for more information on the project ‘Contesting Urban Bordescapes in Latin America: Investigating governance through b/ordering processes in self-help neighbourhoods’.

SPEAKER: Kirwin Shaffer, NIAS Fellow and Pennsylvania State University DATE: 14 February 2025 How did Latin American anarchists interpret and portray world events a hundred years ago? In the years following the Great War (later known as World War I), these anarchists critically analyzed the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of the League of Nations. They condemned the Treaty’s armistice for solely punishing the Central Powers' aggression while rewarding the Allies, who were neither forced to disarm nor to decolonize. Additionally, they opposed Latin American governments’ pursuit of representation in the League, criticized Socialists and Social Democrats for collaborating with nationalists and capitalists within it, and denounced the League’s International Labor Organization as a feckless capitalist instrument. Yet, anarchists also feared U.S. proposals to establish a rival League for the Americas to advance U.S. neocolonial policies in the hemisphere. In this lecture on a dynamic period in global history (1918–1922), Kirwin Shaffer will discuss how Latin American anarchists conveyed their interpretations of world events to their readers and followers. Analyzing global history from the ""periphery"" (Latin America) and ""bottom-up"" (working-class anarchists) challenges mainstream narratives and provides new insights into the impacts of imperialism on marginalized voices around the world.

Networking event for researchers organized by CEDLA-UvA On Friday, 17th January 2025, CEDLA-UvA hosted a networking event at Vox-Pop in Amsterdam to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The afternoon brought together researchers, NGO workers, journalists, and others interested in Latin America to discuss the region’s key challenges and opportunities. Discussions touched on current developments, the difficulties of doing research in and on Latin America, and ways to collaborate despite challenges like budget cuts. The open, interactive format encouraged participants to share experiences and explore solutions together. The event ended with a lively networking session, where new connections were made, and ideas for future projects were exchanged. It was a valuable moment to reflect, collaborate, and strengthen the community of Latin Americanists in the Netherlands.

Dr. Jaime Arocha - Departamento de Antropología / Grupo de Estudios Afrocolombianos, Universidad Nacional de Colombia 11 February 2011 Activity: CEDLA Lecture In the Pacific coast of Colombia, African captive men and women developed adaptations to the ecosystems in which they were forced to live during colonial times. In the course of time, these innovations have been a necessary and crucial element of environmental and social sustainability. Today this eco-social system is threatened by armed conflict and modernization, but public policy makers have not responded to safeguard them.

SPEAKER: Cristina Aoki Inoue, Radboud University DATE: 23 February 2024 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE The triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution combined with global hunger and social inequality urge us to rethink justice. In this lecture, Cristina Aoki Inoue will discuss the concept of planetary justice in light of indigenous ways of knowing and being in the Amazon. She argues that listening to voices from many worlds could be one of the pathways to a safe and just planet for humans and the more than humans. The talk zooms in at the case of a company that wants to build the largest open-pit gold mine in the state of Pará (Belo Sun in Volta Grande do Xingu). In her qualitative analysis, Dr. Aoki Inoue includes a review of indigenous peoples´ consultation protocols and legal documents.

"Three challenges facing Brazil in the global economic transition: Financialization 2.0, in(fra)vestments, favelas" Professor Gary Dymski - Leeds University Business School Discussant: Dr Barbara Hogenboom (CEDLA) 22 March 2011 Activity: Globe Lecture Series Developing nations face huge challenges in the post-2008 global economy, as they attempt to not only sustain growth but to cope with the strategic adjustments being made by the US and the EU and their corporate leaderships. Brazil’s situation is especially precarious because of its population’s heightened expectations (“O Novo Brazil”), because of its growing export ties to the US, EU, and to China, and because its successes in reducing extreme poverty have now led to the challenge of invigorating its informal, lower-income communities. After tracing out the main lines and implications of the still-unfolding crisis in the US and the EU, we focus on three specific challenges for Brazil. The first involves contending with the post-crisis developments in financialization, both domestically and abroad; the second is how to manage investment so as to permit continued growth and also address the nation’s infrastructure deficit; and the third is to work out sustainable futures for Brazilian cities’ favelas and the people who live there. Of course, these three challenges are all the harder because they tied up in an interconnected series of knots. Gary Dymski is professor of economics at the University of California, Riverside. He received his B.A. in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975, and an MPA from Syracuse University in 1977. After a year at the Brookings Institution in 1985-86, he taught economics at the University of Southern California before joining the UCR faculty in 1991. He served as associate dean in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in 2001-02 and was founding director of the Center for Sustainable Suburban Development in 2002-03. From 2003 to 2009, Gary was the founding Executive Director of the University of California Center, Sacramento, a UC-wide center that introduced UC students to public service and connected UC researchers with California’s policy-making community. Gary has been a visiting scholar in universities and research centers in Brazil, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Greece, and India. His most recent books are Capture and Exclude: Developing Nations and the Poor in Global Finance (Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2007), co-edited with Amiya Bagchi, and Reimagining Growth: Toward a Renewal of the Idea of Development, co-edited with Silvana DePaula (Zed, London, 2005). Gary has published articles, chapters, and studies on banking, financial fragility, urban development, credit-market discrimination, the Latin American and Asian subprime financial crises, exploitation, housing finance, the subprime lending crisis, financial regulation, and economic policy. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Review of Applied Economics, Geoforum, and Econômica (Brazil).

SPEAKER: Fernando Valdivia, Editor Responsable del Informe Final ACTIVITY: CEDLA Lecture and Photo Exposition DATE: 21 February, 2020 Esta exposición destaca los hallazgos más importantes de la Comisión de la Verdad en Bolivia y reflexiona sobre el trabajo de este tipo de órgano desde la experiencia boliviana. La comisión recopiló documentación y testimonios que resultaron en más de 6000 expedientes, con el objetivo de esclarecer las graves violaciones de derechos humanos durante las dictaduras militares entre 1964 y 1982. En ello sobresale la desclasificación de documentación militar y policial relacionada a esa época. EXPO Opening “Ink & Blood: Historical Solidarity with Latin America” Combining material from the collections of KADOC and its partner institutions, this exhibition offers a unique insight into a dynamic era of Belgian solidarity with Latin America. During the opening of the exhibition there will be a panel discussion on the faces of historical and contemporary European solidarity with Latin America, led by professor emeritus Michiel Baud, and followed by drinks.

13/5/22, 15.30h Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor Activity: CEDLA Lecture Gema Kloppe-Santamaria , Assistant Professor of Latin American History at Loyola University Chicago Discussant: Prof. Wil Pansters, Utrecht University What were the political and cultural drivers that contributed to shaping Catholics’ understanding of violence as a legitimate means to defend their religious practices and beliefs in post-revolutionary Mexico? In this talk, Dr. Gema Santamaria will focus on the 1930s-1950s, a period marked by the end of the Cristero War (1927-1929) - Mexico’s armed conflict over the religious question - and the so-called détente between the Mexican state and the Catholic Church. Despite the Church’s official rejection of the use of violence amongst the faithful, during this period Catholics continued to engage in belligerent and violent forms of religious militancy in the name of Christ and religious freedom. This, she argues, reflects the weight that non-canonical understandings of martyrdom, sacrifice, and redemptive violence had in Catholics’ exercise of religion. Catholics’ aggressive defence of religious symbols and places, together with their attacks against individuals perceived as “polluting” or “impious”, show that moral and symbolic considerations were deeply intertwined with uncompromising political ideologies and long-term intra-community conflicts.

SPEAKER: Alan McPherson, Temple University ACTIVITY: TNI & CEDLA Event DATE: 6 March, 2020 ​ On September 21, 1976, a car bomb killed Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean ambassador to the United States, along with his colleague Ronni Moffitt. The murder shocked the world, especially because of its setting – in the heart of Washington DC. Based on interviews from three continents, never-before-used documents, and recently declassified sources that conclude that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet himself ordered the hit and then covered it up, Alan McPherson offers the full story of one of the Cold War’s most consequential assassinations. The Letelier car bomb forever changed counterterrorism and democracy. It also pointed to the underlying, century-long struggle between fascism and human rights in Latin America. In his lecture, Alan McPherson presents key findings of his latest book: Ghosts of Sheridan Circle (2019).

Implicaties voor onze relatie met de regio DATE: 4 June, 2020 ACTIVITY: NIMD, CEDLA, Impunity Watch, CNV internationaal De COVID-19 pandemie laat geen land bespaard en veroorzaakt ook een diepe crisis in Latijns-Amerika. De behaalde vooruitgang op het terrein van armoedebestrijding, rechten van vrouwen, arbeiders en inheemse groepen, milieubescherming en verantwoord ondernemerschap dreigen verloren te gaan. Bovendien maakt de coronacrisis pijnlijk zichtbaar dat zogenaamde ‘oude’ problemen nog heel actueel zijn. De Nederlandse overheid, het bedrijfsleven en maatschappelijke organisaties hebben juist ingezet op ondersteuning van de vooruitgang die Latijns-Amerika doormaakte. Dit roept belangrijke vragen op: hoe bedreigen corona en andere crises de ontwikkeling van Latijns-Amerika? Wat is er nodig om deze neerwaartse trend te keren? En wat betekent de coronacrisis voor de Nederlandse relatie met de regio? Latijns Amerika Debat Sprekers: o.a. Achraf Bouali, tweede kamerlid D66; Barbara Hogenboom, directeur CEDLA; Marit Maij, directeur CNV Internationaal; Joost de Vries, correspondent Volkskrant Latijns-Amerika; Marijke Zewuster, hoofd Emerging Markets & Commodity Research ABN AMRO.

SPEAKER: Florencia Roitstein y Andrés Thompson, ELLAS-Mujeres y Filantropía DATE: 20 November, 2023 ACTIVITY: CEDLA Lecture Estamos en un momento crítico de la historia latinoamericana. Las mujeres están liderando una nueva ola de movilización y de filantropía a lo largo de la región que comenzó en 2015 con la marcha histórica de “Ni una menos” en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Las mujeres se sienten más que nunca motivadas a compartir sus historias acerca de su papel en el activismo social. Ellas se están reencontrando y reapropiando de sus voces y sus vidas, y están asumiendo su responsabilidad por un futuro mejor. Estos movimientos han sido posibles gracias a las “donaciones” masivas de tiempo, capacidades, capital social y dinero de miles de mujeres. Este compromiso e involucramiento contrasta con la falta de apoyo de la filantropía institucionalizada y de los programas sociales corporativos. Las mujeres, que antes donaban silenciosamente, hoy coordinan protestas, escriben columnas de opinión en los medios sociales, hablan públicamente y se organizan para promover cambios sociales reales, adaptándose a los tiempos de la pandemia del Covid-19. Ellas no pueden “quedarse en casa”. En su conferencia, Florencia Roitstein y Andrés Thompson presentarán su nuevo libro con las historias de 23 mujeres latinoamericanas que son grandes ejemplos de movilización de recursos para el cambio social: La rebelión de lo cotidiano. Mujeres generosas que cambian América Latina. El libro puede descargarse gratuitamente aquí .

Organisatie door NIMD, CEDLA, Impunity Watch, CNV internationaal De COVID-19 pandemie laat geen land bespaard en veroorzaakt ook een diepe crisis in Latijns-Amerika. De behaalde vooruitgang op het terrein van armoedebestrijding, rechten van vrouwen, arbeiders en inheemse groepen, milieubescherming en verantwoord ondernemerschap dreigen verloren te gaan. Bovendien maakt de coronacrisis pijnlijk zichtbaar dat zogenaamde ‘oude’ problemen nog heel actueel zijn. De Nederlandse overheid, het bedrijfsleven en maatschappelijke organisaties hebben juist ingezet op ondersteuning van de vooruitgang die Latijns-Amerika doormaakte. Dit roept belangrijke vragen op: hoe bedreigen corona en andere crises de ontwikkeling van Latijns-Amerika? Wat is er nodig om deze neerwaartse trend te keren? En wat betekent de coronacrisis voor de Nederlandse relatie met de regio? #LatijnsAmerikaDebat Sprekers: o.a. Achraf Bouali, tweede kamerlid D66; Barbara Hogenboom, directeur CEDLA; Marit Maij, directeur CNV Internationaal; Joost de Vries, correspondent Volkskrant Latijns-Amerika; Marijke Zewuster, hoofd Emerging Markets & Commodity Research ABN AMRO.

12 October 2021, 15:30-17:00 Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor CEDLA Lecture Speaker: Ruben Gonzalez Vicente , Universiteit Leiden This presentation explores the developmental footprint of China’s Belt and Road Initiative through a theoretical lens inspired by critical Caribbean thought. Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente will discuss how Sino-Caribbean relations remain shaped by epistemic dependency, structural imbalances, and a number of unresolved social issues relating to the postcolonial condition in former plantation societies. He argues that expectations deposited in the emerging ‘South-South’ link with China in Latin America and the Caribbean are easily overstated. Instead, the relation is characterized by China’s elitist business-centric approach to development, the eschewing of participatory approaches in Sino-Caribbean ventures, and the passive incorporation of the Caribbean into China’s global vision. The presentation is based on his work with Annita Montoute (University of the West Indies).

Webinar co-organized by CEDLA and the Embassy of Costa Rica in the Netherlands Keynote speaker: Luis Guillermo Solís, former President of Costa Rica and Interim director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, FIU Discussants: Prof. dr. Kees Koonings and Prof. dr. Dirk Kruijt, Utrecht University Chair: Prof. dr. Barbara Hogenboom, CEDLA — University of Amsterdam This lecture took place on 24th of September 2021 as part of the CEDLA Lecture Series. Costa Rica is one of the most stable democracies of the Western Hemisphere. Located in a region prone to political unrest, where military rule has been a historical constant, Costa Rica has been able to avert the maladies of authoritarianism and human rights violations due to a series of decisions made after reaching independence precisely 200 years ago, in 1821. Two are generally considered central to the country’s progress: an early adherence to public education, and the establishment of a universal, solidarity-driven, social security system. There is however a third, unique and unusual decision that laid the foundation of Costa Rica’s internal stability and international peace: the abolition of the armed forces as a permanent institution in 1948, at the end of the country’s last civil war. During this seminar, Luis Guillermo Solís, former president of Costa Rica (2014-2018), will discuss the short and long-term implications of this extraordinary measure. Professors Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt, specialists on the role of the military in a number of Latin American societies, will reflect on experiences and current challenges in other parts of the region. In a roundtable discussion they will discuss the wider effects and possibilities for demilitarization that the Costa Rican example sets for the region at large.

19/11/21, 15.30h Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor Julienne Weegels, CEDLA - ARTES, University of Amsterdam In 2018, massive protests shook Nicaragua and their repression was brutal. Over 300 people were killed in a ‘Clean-Up Operation’ that exposed militarized political policing and the formation of partisan, armed para-state groups. Over the course of the following months and years, more than 1.600 people have been imprisoned for expressing resistance and dissent. Tracing the trajectories of a number of these political prisoners through the Nicaraguan criminal justice system and, in some cases, back out, I explore distinct performances of the ‘law’ and hybrid state power. Provoking a sense of ontological insecurity among its subjects, acting outside of and manipulating the law point to the ‘force of law’ rather than the rule of law as pivotal to the exercise of power. This in turn informs protesters’ and (former) prisoners’ performances of state delegitimation - think of street and prison riots, but also more silent contestations - where conceptions of authority, justice and law are reimagined.

Speaker: Stefan Peters, Instituto CAPAZ (Bogotá) & University of Giessen 3 December 2021, 16.00-17.30 Venue: CEDLA - 2nd Floor Activity: CEDLA Lecture The Colombian peace process is at a crossroads. Although there is important progress, for example regarding transitional justice, various key issues for peace building continue to be unsolved. Moreover, we cannot speak of peace at all and rather we are observing a transformed violence. The talk will analyze the state of the peace process five years after the peace agreement and highlight important voids in both the agreement and implementation. It will close with recommendations that are crucial for building a lasting and sustainable peace in Colombia.

11/03/22, 15:30h Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor Organiser : CEDLA Lecture Speaker: Saskia P. Ruth-Lovell, Radboud University Nijmegen How does clientelism affect contemporary policymaking? To better understand and explain the relationship between clientelism and the quality of policy output in the case of Mexico, Saskia Ruth-Lovell analyses policy design and identifies ways to curb clientelism through the letter of the law. Building on insights from distributive politics and policy analysis, she discusses the results of elite interviews and qualitative content analysis of social policy legislation in Mexico from 1995-2018 . Based on research with Rodrigo Salazar Elena (FLACSO Mexico) and Louise Smink (Radboud University), she argues that policymakers and stakeholders need to formulate precise policy objectives, delimitate the scope and targets of a policy clearly, and establish independent implementation and monitoring mechanisms.

1/4/22, 15.30h Organiser: CEDLA Lecture Dr. Patricio Simonetto , University College London Unlike other countries where gender affirmation surgery access was restricted but still allowed under certain conditions, Argentina has prohibited any treatment that affected reproductive organs since 1967. Different legal codes have penalised people dressed as the “opposite sex” since the 1930s. This criminalisation has threatened trans people’s right to existence and made gender affirmation practices clandestine, expensive and dangerous. In this presentation, Dr. Patricio Simonetto analyses how male and female trans people challenged state restrictions by producing knowledge and homemade technologies to affirm their gender. He explores the history of a vast repertoire of medical and social practices, such as self-injected hormones or liquid industrial silicone. The presentation also explores how people have experimented with their bodies, performing them in living laboratories to affirm their gender beyond legal and medical control, and how this pushed them to precarious conditions. Finally, it addresses how activists have formulated an alternative body discourse that challenges the biotechnological promise of an alleged “correct body” as an undeniable trans future. Discussant: Dr. Eliza Steinbock , author of Shimmering Images : Trans Cinema, Embodiment, and the Aesthetics of Change (Duke University Press, 2019)

One-day seminar organized by Social and Cultural Anthropology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and CEDLA 29 September 2022 Audience: Master students and researchers Leiden, UvA, VU, UU Amount: around 50 participants (to be confirmed soon) Form: Hybrid For decades, various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have faced persistent economic challenges, such as chronic inflation, hyperinflation, and far-reaching economic constraints due to international trading sanctions and closed borders related to geopolitical interests and global energy markets. These regional economic precarities have pushed both lower and middle-class communities in Latin America and the Caribbean to look for alternatives when they see again their income evaporate and empty ATMs. The recent Covid-19 crisis has once more revealed how unexpected economic backlashes, tied to overlapping health and (geo)political crises, further exacerbate existing economic and social inequalities in the region. At the same time, we are facing an enormous growth of new digital solutions for day-to-day economic exchange and trade in Latin America. One of the most widespread recent trends associated to digital economies is bitcoin and other global cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum, or local criptomonedas, such as el petro in Venezuela. The premises of freedom, decentralization, autonomy, self-learning, and resistance –renewed promises deriving from the invention of the blockchain– has increasingly attracted many Latin American and Caribbean communities (Pinheiro and Vasen 2021).

Speaker: Carolina Maurity Frossard (CEDLA-UvA & VU), Kees Koonings (CEDLA-UvA & UU), Imke Harbers (Political Science-UvA) and others. 9 December 2022 Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor Activity: This seminar – hosted by CEDLA – was part of the project "It’s Election Year Everywhere: The Digital Politics of Elections and Electioneering Amongst Brazilians Abroad ", made possible by a Global Digital Cultures Seed Grant.

22 November 2022, 15:30-17:00 Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor Organizadores: CEDLA & PBI Ponente: Andrea Torres, co-directora de la Fundación Nydia Erika Bautista (FNEB) En colaboración con Peace Brigades International tendremos una charla de la abogada y activista colombiana Andrea Torres quien es también co-directora de la Fundación Nydia Erika Bautista (FNEB). La FNEB está conformada en su mayoría por mujeres familiares de desaparecidos en Colombia y es una pieza fundamental para la representación legal, visibilidad y apoyo a las víctimas de desaparecimiento forzado, violencia sexual y brutalidad policial en el país. Andrea Torres representa a víctimas en varios casos, tanto en la justicia ordinaria como en el sistema de justicia transicional (JEP), donde la mayoría de los acusados son miembros de la fuerza pública. La FNEB logró que el desaparecimiento forzado fuera incluido como crimen de lesa humanidad en los Acuerdos de Paz del 2016. Detuvo la expansión del Puerto de Buenaventura –de los más importantes del país—en el Estero de San Antonio dónde hay indicaciones de cuerpos de desaparecidos que fueron arrojados ahí. Acompañan a víctimas de abuso policial y desaparecimiento en el marco del Paro Nacional del 2021. Torres nos contará sobre los diversos procesos y dificultades que tiene ella como activista y su organización para traer justicia a las víctimas de desaparecimiento forzado. Seguido de la charla queremos invitarles a visitar la exposición SOS Colombia con arte gráfico producido el año pasado durante las protestas en Colombia y continuar la conversación con una copa de vino.

Speaker: Henyo Barretto (University of Brasilia) and Adriana Ramos (Climate Observatory) 17 March 2023, 16.00-17.30 Venue: CEDLA, Roetersstraat 33 | 1018 WB Amsterdam - 2nd Floor Activity: CEDLA Lecture The lecture will propose an understanding of recent transformations in Brazilian socio-environmental policy and arena, with an emphasis on the social effects of national development projects on territorial (and other) rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities. It will be an attempt to understand the country’s recent political context based, in part, on the production of the commissions of the Brazilian Association of Anthropology (ABA), understood as a peculiar site of knowledge production and political advocacy. Evidences from the documents show that the assaults against the environmental legislation and the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities are not a recent phenomenon in Brazil. A tentative assessment of the prospects of these trends under the new Lula administration will be sketched by way of conclusion. Henyo T. Barretto Filho is professor at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Brasília, Brazil and was coordinator of Indigenous Affairs Commission of the Brazilian Association of Anthropology (ABA). Adriana Ramos is journalist and activist, former coordinator of the Socioenvironmental Policy and Law Program of the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), and is currently member of the Coordination of the Civil Society Organizations’ coalition Climate Observatory.

GUESTS: Rede Cerrado, ISPN and APIB DATE: 11 March 2024 ACTIVITY: DIALOGUES WITH CIVIL SOCIETY (NALACS) LANGUAGE: Portuguese with English translation Have you ever heard of the Brazilian Cerrado? It’s a unique but not very well-known biome of stunning natural beauty, home to many plants, animals and peoples, but under increasing threat from agricultural expansion. During this dialogue, the indigenous leaders Dinamam Tuxá and Eliane Xunakalo, together with the traditional peoples’ leadership of Lourdes Nascimento and Samuel – the general coordinator and the advisor for the Cerrado Network, respectively – will tell their personal stories about this the critical relevance and the challenges taking place in the biome. The guests will approach the current reality faced by the Cerrado Peoples in their territory and the vital importance of this land for their lives and for the conservation of biodiversity and halting climate change. They will share their perspectives about the protection of nature and their cultures from and the need to tackle the increasing threats of rapid soy expansion for animal feed and livestock production over their lands. The Netherlands is one of the main importers of this soy produced in the Cerrado, as the country is an important trading route and end-user of soy for feed in the intensive Dutch livestock industry. The European Union recently adopted a new regulation to curb Europe’s deforestation footprint – an important step forward, but will it help to combat the destruction of Cerrado’s natural habitats? In this dialogue session, we will learn more about the reality of the Cerrado and its local peoples, and jointly explore strategies and solutions to protect the Cerrado, to save their lands as well as our collective future.

Lirio Gutiérrez Rivera, Universidad Nacional de Colombia 22 September Activity: CEDLA lecture Women’s agency in Latin America has been largely understood within feminist projects that seek emancipation, gender rights, and transformation of gender relations. This makes sense in a region with the highest levels of gender inequality on the planet. However, explaining women’s agency from this viewpoint rooted in the liberal tradition limits our understanding of other forms of agency occurring in the region and that go unnoticed. In this lecture, Lirio Gutiérrez Rivera discusses other forms of women’s agency in Latin America drawing conceptually on Mahmood’s (2001) seminal work on agency. She focuses on women community leaders in low-income urban neighborhoods in Medellín, Colombia, characterized by violence and the presence of criminal gangs. Women community leaders display a capacity to respond in high-risk urban settings based on care and on their ability to produce territory. In doing so, women community leaders reweave the social fabric of their neighborhoods and ascribe a political dimension to care that is not framed within feminist projects of emancipation or transformation. ​ About the picture: Guache Aranjuez in Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia, 2016 | Street art graffiti, Street mural, Street art

SPEAKER: Lucas Poy, VU Amsterdam DISCUSSANT: Michiel Baud, CEDLA - UvA DATE: 5 April TIME: 15.30-17.00, followed by drinks and snacks ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE His campaign videos, featuring a chainsaw as a symbol of his promise to cut state expenses, captured global attention. Since his inauguration as Argentina’s president in December 2023, Javier Milei has lived up to his promise, implementing neoliberal reforms, layoffs, and privatizations. Venturing into historical comparisons, Milei claimed that he wants to restore Argentina to its past glory, asserting that it was ‘the richest country in the world’ in the early 20th century. He refers to a period when Argentina was governed by an oligarchic regime that combined liberal economic policies with fraudulent electoral practices. The claim that Argentina experienced a ‘golden age’ under such liberal governments remains more than dubious. The prosperity was certainly not experienced by the mass of workers who tirelessly contributed to the export boom in rural settings, nor by those who worked in factories and dwelled in tenement houses in the big cities. It was even less golden for the indigenous population, systematically displaced and subjected to violence. In this lecture, Dr. Lucas Poy provides an overview of Argentina during the years of the ‘orden conservador’ (1880-1916), focusing on the main weaknesses of the export boom, the working and living conditions of the working class, and their struggles for labour and democratic rights.