SPEAKERS: Robert Coates, Wageningen University DATE: 14 February 2020 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE The governance of hazardous urban environments has become a critical area for state intervention across Latin America and worldwide. Brazil is no exception, with significant flood and landslide disasters blighting many cities and especially those in the heavily urbanised Atlantic Forest biome. In this presentation, Robert Coates questions what hazardous urbanisation means for processes of citizenship building and the exercise of state power. Drawing on longstanding research in inland Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere, he asks why the failures of past urban engineering, population displacements, and environmental monitoring continue to justify the same interventions as solutions. And why is state citizenship without a reappraisal of urban nature likely to continue reproducing hazards and disasters?

DATE: 12-13 December 2019 ORGANIZATION: ACES-UvA conference in collaboration with CEDLA This conference brings together specialists from the humanities and social sciences to examine the “history-in-the-present” of contemporary Far Right movements and parties — ranging from populist to (neo)fascist — across various European and Latin American countries. It addresses the growth of Far Right movements, the rise of populism, and the crisis of liberal democracy in today’s societies worldwide, all set against the backdrop of Europe’s tragic twentieth-century history of political violence and totalitarianism.

SPEAKER: Dr. Sian Lazar. Department of Anthropology. Clare College (Cambridge, UK). DISCUSSANT: Prof. dr. Michiel Baud, CEDLA DATE: 15 November 2013 ACTIVITY: CEDLA Lecture Street demonstrations are a common form of political action across Latin America. In this paper, I explore several aspects of their symbolic and experiential force. I focus on ideas of physical and visual intertextuality and the role these play in shaping political agency. I approach this through an examination of the symbolic, aesthetic, and experiential politics of dances, parades, and demonstrations in Bolivia, suggesting that the similarities between these practices function as a form of citation, allowing each to draw upon the symbolic power and resonance of the others. I then turn to Argentina to consider the political and symbolic work carried out in demonstrations through visual – and potentially auditory – intertextuality across practices separated in time.

SPEAKERS: Dr. Rivke Jaffe. Department of Human Geography. Planning and International Development Studies. Universiteit van Amsterdam DISCUSSANT: Prof. dr. Kees Koonings, CEDLA & Utrecht University DATE: 25 October 2013 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE In inner-city neighbourhoods in Kingston, Jamaica, criminal “dons” have assumed a wide range of governmental functions, from providing security and resolving conflicts to administering welfare and collecting taxes. Rather than viewing these criminal actors as presiding over “parallel states,” it is more accurate to understand them as components of a hybrid state. Criminal organisations share control of urban spaces and populations with politicians, the police, and public officials. This talk explores the implications of this diversification of governmental actors for how residents of downtown Kingston experience and practise citizenship.

SPEAKER: Dr. Adrian H. Hearn, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney DISCUSSANT: Dr. Pitou van Dijck, CEDLA DATE: 13 September 2013 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE The rise of China, together with the global financial crisis, has prompted policymakers and economic advisers to reconsider the ideal balance between government intervention and market forces in global affairs. It has become evident that the state—particularly in developing countries—is once again assuming a more assertive role in economic management. At the same time, Cuba’s state-led economy is undergoing reforms aimed at fostering private entrepreneurship. China’s influence on Cuba’s reform process is considerable, extending from investment in the energy sector to financing for small businesses and the provision of wholesale supplies for emerging industries. This presentation explores how Cuba, with China’s support, is crafting a new and more effective model for blending state and market mechanisms to drive economic development.

SPEAKER: Gerardo Gonzalez, Consultores21 DISCUSSANT: Prof. Javier Corrales (Amherst College) DATE: 11 June 2013 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE Venezuela continues to be a deeply divided society. Political polarisation shapes the everyday experiences of most Venezuelans, and the April 2013 presidential elections produced an electoral map sharply split between the government and the opposition coalition, the Unidad . Since 2006, the government has promoted the creation of consejos comunales —neighbourhood-based elected councils responsible for carrying out local development projects with funding from the central government. While these more than 18,000 councils have encouraged citizen participation in local problem-solving, research suggests limited coordination between the councils and local authorities, as well as significant political polarisation within the councils themselves. In this lecture, Gerardo González will first present Venezuelans’ perceptions of key social, economic and political issues, shedding light on the sources and expressions of current polarisation. He will then examine the internal dynamics of the consejos comunales  and their significance for participatory politics, particularly in view of the forthcoming municipal elections. Gerardo González is a sociologist trained at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and holds a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies from CEDLA. His research focuses on public policy and civil society, survey studies and political ethnography. He has taught at the School of Sociology and the School of Geography at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, as well as in postgraduate programmes at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, IESA and Monteávila University. He currently works at Consultores21 , a Caracas-based think tank specialising in social and electoral analysis.

SPEAKERS: Leticia Merino, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) DATE: 22 March 2013 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE The challenges posed by climate change are closely tied to mitigation measures that operate within the complex nature of socio-ecological systems, characterised by multi-scale and nested interactions. Approaching climate change from a commons perspective shifts the assumptions that underpin conventional theories of collective action, as well as the scale at which actors, actions and policies are conceived. In Mexico, and in other Latin American countries, climate policies aimed at strengthening mitigation through forest conservation must recognise local rights and the long-standing experience of community-based forest management as key assets for polycentric climate governance. Recent research demonstrates clear positive links between local governance, community forestry economies, forest conservation and the maintenance of carbon stocks and carbon balance. However, these successful experiences are highly vulnerable to over-regulation and to the erosion of local incentives and rights—sometimes even as an unintended consequence of conservation and climate policies themselves. This lecture will focus on the Mexican case, where approximately 75% of forest cover is legally owned by local communities. The discussion will explore how forest rights are continually contested, as control is claimed by central governments, international conservation organisations, urban stakeholders and diverse corporations involved in forestry, agriculture and mining.

SPEAKER: Sergio Haro, Mexican journalist DATE: 27 September 2013 ACTIVITY: CEDLA LECTURE Mexican journalist Sergio Haro will share his personal experiences reporting in the midst of Mexico’s violent drug war. This event offers students, academics, professionals and anyone interested in journalism, violence and corruption in Latin America—and beyond—an opportunity to hear Sergio’s testimony and engage with him in a lively discussion about the dangerous yet crucial role of journalism.