Dear OLA friends,
We are excited to launch our first newsletter! We believe that now it is more important than ever to stay connected and have a platform that promotes the exchange of research, practices, and ideas during these difficult times. Thus, we bring you the first edition of OLA’s newsletter to share our latest work, events, and a few other news about Latin America.
We hope you enjoy it!
Best,
Directors Michael Cohen and Margarita Gutman
NEWS
EMERGENT TERRITORIES: URBAN VULNERABILITY AND DIGITAL SPACE. AUTONOMOUS CITY OF BUENOS AIRES
You can now access the report Emergent Territories: Urban Vulnerability and Digital Space. Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (2016-2018) written by OLA co-Director Margarita Gutman, Ileana Versace, Javier Nesprias, Julia Nesprias and Ximena Puppo. The study identifies and analyses the demands arising from non-compliance with the economic, social, and cultural rights enacted by the Constitution of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, as expressed by individuals or communities in a selection of platforms of the digital public space between 2016 and 2018.
The study has been part of a collaboration between the Office of the Public Defender of the City of Buenos Aires and the Observatory on Latin America (OLA), of The New School University in New York.
You can access the full report here.
OLA ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION AFRORESISTANCE
The Observatory on Latin America (OLA) is pleased to announce the recent partnership with the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center, also known as “AfroResistance,” to collaborate on the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the international project “The impacts of COVID-19 in the lives of Women and Girls of African descent in the Americas”.
AfroResistance is a community-based organization that works with African Descendent and Indigenous migrants from Latin American communities to address their diverse political, economic, and cultural needs. Because of OLA’s and AfroResitance’s long-standing commitment and interest in Latin American issues and the promotion of critical thinking and innovative research, both organizations have decided to collaborate within a research and education project focused on Latin America and the Caribbean.
INTERNATIONAL COURSE “STATE, POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA”
The international course “State, politics and democracy in Latin America” started on Monday, October 19th, with the first presentation from Colombia’s former president, Ernesto Samper. He was introduced by Brazilian jurist, professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and coordinator of the Latin American Council for Justice and Democracy, Carol Proner.
In his presentation, the former Colombian president addressed the topic of “Peace and Security in Latin America,” in which he first pointed out the achievements of the peace between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC–EP) to bring an end to the Colombian conflict. He perceived it as a significant accomplishment that the Latin American region could appropriate as a political alternative to address an armed conflict. This pacification mechanism should be based on bringing truth, justice, and reparation to provide reconciliation among all parts.
The international course “State, politics and democracy in Latin America” is organized by Grupo de Puebla, the Latin American Extension and Culture Program of Rio de Janeiro State University (Universidad del Estado de Río de Janeiro UERJ, Brazil), the Metropolitan University of the Education and Work (Universidad Metropolitana de la Educación y el Trabajo UMET, Argentina), the Observatory on Latin America and the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at The New School, in NYC.
RESEARCH
On October 29, to commemorate World Cities Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented summaries of 15 cases of city responses around the world worthy of global attention. One of these cases was the case of Villa 20 in Buenos Aires, a slum community of about 30,000 people which has been in a process of infrastructure and housing upgrading since 2016. The summary included some of the main findings from a research study carried out by the Observatory on Latin America of the New School in collaboration with the City Housing Institute (IVC) of Buenos Aires. The WHO summary can be found here.
RESEARCH WORK FROM HAVANA STUDIO (2018-2020)
OLA is proud to present students’ and faculty contributions to the Havana Studio research work. The studio comprehends an ongoing multiyear Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs research effort that produces analytic and socially-sensitive heritage surveys in synchrony with several Cuban institutions.
The surveys have the objective of quantifying the impact of the self-built architecture in Centro Habana and the historic townscape of Regla.
To see Havana’s research work, click here.
EVENTS
COURSE UPDATES:
HOW POPULAR FEMINISM CHALLENGES POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA
On October 26, the second class of the course “State, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America” was presented by Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity of the Nation in Argentina. During the session, the topic of how popular feminism challenges politics and democracy in Latin America was discussed by the ministers. The introduction was carried out by Pablo Gentili, Secretary of Educational Cooperation and Priority Actions of the Ministry of Education of Argentina. A summary of the class will be available soon.
UNITED STATES, CHINA AND LATIN AMERICA
The third class of the course will be presented by Dilma Rousseff, former president of Brazil, who will address the topic “United States, China and Latin America.” The introduction will be carried out by Marco Enríquez Ominami, founder of the Puebla Group. The class will be available on the platform on November 4th, 2020.
Tags: Announcement, News, Newsletter
