Faculty Voices: Recent Episodes
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
Faculty Voices is produced by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. Hear what Harvard faculty think about relevant topics that impact Latin America.
Chris Lombardo, Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies and Lecturer in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineeringat Harvard, is very active in the Harvard University Chapter of Engineers without Borders. He just came back from a trip to Los Sanchez Water Supply Project in the Dominican Republic, where he has been working for more than a decade.
Noreen Tuross, Landon T. Clay Research Professor of Scientific Archaeology at Harvard's Department of Evolutionary Biology, talks about her most recent project, "A Land of Art and Botanicals: Collaborative Research at the Cueva de las Manitas, Oaxaca, Mexico."
Alicia Yamin, Lecturer on Law and the Director of the Global Health and Rights Project at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, talks about Mexico's judicial reform plan, which makes all federal judges elected, rather than appointed positions. Yamin, who is also Adjunct Senior Lecturer on Health Policy and Management at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, considers this a threat to Mexican democracy.
Alisha Holland, a Professor in the Government Department at Harvard University, discusses the situation in Ecuador, an Andean country that faces multiple challenges from organized crime, as well as economic and energy crises.
Pablo Pérez Ramos, an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, discusses “Oasis of Mezcal," his work in a Oaxacan rural community where agave-growing is changing agricultural production patterns. It is at once an intensely local story and a reflection of worldwide challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation.
Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, talks about the findings of a new database for transitional justice: https://transitionaljusticedata.org/ You may find some of them surprising!
Ricardo Hausmann, the founder and Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School, was Minister of Planning of Venezuela (1992-1993). Here, he reflects on the crisis in his country following a disputed presidential election which most say was stolen by Venezuela's autocratic regime.
As protests rage in Venezuela and allegations of electoral fraud mount, Steve Levitsky, Professor of Government at Harvard University and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, discusses the challenging situation.
Christina Warinner, Professor of the Social Sciences in the Harvard Department of Anthropology and Sally Starling Seaver Associate Professor at the Radcliffe Institute, has uncovered lost stories about the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itza. With techniques like ancient DNA, isotopes and bioarchaeology, she and an international team of genetic scientists have made some startling discoveries that contradict the myth of sacrificed virgins—the offering of little boys, particularly twins.
Natalia Garbiras-Diaz, an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, examines peace processes in Colombia. She's particularly interested in the formation of citizens' and excombatants' attitude towards peace agreements and their role in stabilizing peace in post-conflict situations.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned April 25, clearing the way towards new elections. Dr. Louise Ivers, Harvard professor of global health and social medicine, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has devoted 21 years of her life to Haiti. Here, she talks about the current situation in the country and how it affects ordinary people.
Paulina Alberto, Harvard Professor of African and African American Studies and of History, discusses her work with Afro-Latin American lives, thought and politics, and why creating narratives about that history is important.
Michael Chu, faculty at Harvard Business School, talks on Faculty Voices about how businesses can be instrumental in providing goods and services to low-income and middle-class people in Latin America.
Thomas Bossert, Senior Lecturer. Emeritus in the Department of Global Health and Population of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, reflects on his career trajectory and the lessons he’s learned as a “traveling scholar” who has worked as a researcher, teacher and advisor in almost 80 countries around the world after starting as a Latin Americanist.
Steve Levitsky, the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard, discusses the recent landslide election of far-right Javier Milei as Argentina’s next president.
Daniel Nocera, the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, talks about a biofertilizer that has the potential to revolutionize world agriculture and save energy in the process.
Steven Levitsky, the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University, takes a deep look at Argentine elections, the recent October 22 run-off and the final elections November 19 with the incumbent party Sergio Massa facing off against the far-right candidate Javier Milei.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, a new faculty member in Harvard's History Department, looks at ethnic studies in the context of the Supreme Court's recent decision on affirmative action, as well as innovative digital humanities research, immigration justice and transnational migration from the Caribbean. His research and teaching focus on the history of Latinx people in the United States, the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, immigration and asylum law, publicly engaged humanities, and digital humanities. He is also the third Harvard senior faculty member dedicated to the teaching and scholarship of ethnicity, indigeneity, and migration.
Dr. Marcela del Carmen is the president of Massachusetts General Physicians and Vice President of Mass Gen Brigham. She is a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. And she's also an immigrant from Nicaragua. On this episode of Faculty Voices, we talk about her experience and the challenges to diversity and equity in the context of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Daniel Neafsey, Associate Professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of of Public Health, as well as Associate Director of the Broad (Brode) Institute's Genomic Center for Infectious Disease, talks about his work combatting malaria in Colombia and Guyana through cutting-edge technologies.
Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, discusses the 50th anniversary of the Sept. 11 coup in Chile and why the coup still matters.
Adriana Umaña-Taylor, the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, talks about her work with the Identity Project, applying developmental science to help reduce ethnic-racial disparities for adolescents both in Latinx communities in the United States and in Colombia.
Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, an anti-corruption crusader, was assassinated at gunpoint August 9, just two weeks before the country's elections. Alisha Holland, Associate Professor in Harvard’s Government Department who specializes in the Andean region, analyzes the horrific event and what it means for Ecuador.
Diane Davis, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism recently co-organized a two-day conference on water with Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico in Harvard's History of Science Department. The two—co-chairs of the Faculty Committee on Mexico at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies—brought together an unusual group of experts—from historians to hydrologists to border analysts and architects—to think about think about the challenges for water in Mexico and beyond in the context of climate change.
On the occasion of International Women’s History Month, Jennifer Alpert, a Lecturer in Harvard’s History and Literature program, discusses the representation of Latin American and Latinx women in film and television—ranging from Carmen Miranda to Encanto to the Gordita Chronicles. As a film scholar who worked on "From Latin America to Hollywood: Latino Film Culture in Los Angeles 1967–2017," aiming to increase Latin American/Latinx representation in popular media, she gives as an insider’s view on progress and setbacks in the depiction of women.
Emiliana Vegas, a professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focuses on improving educational opportunity in developing countries. She discusses learning loss caused by Covid-19 in Latin America and what we can do about it, as well as the challenges faced by teachers in a profession with declining prestige. And although it hasn’t caught on yet in Latin America, she takes a look at the innovative technology of micro-credentials and what it might mean for the region.
Dr. Steffany Chamut, an instructor in oral health policy and epidemiology at the Harvard Dental School, talks about her work with a collaborative project between an interdisciplinary team of public health experts from Harvard and Mexico to jointly combat the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (including obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay) arising from increased consumption of sugary snacks and beverages in both countries. Originally from Mexico, Dr. Chamut believes an important factor is integrating oral health into early childhood education.
What’s going on in Peru? Harvard’s Government Professor Steven Levitsky, who is also the director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the co-author of How Democracies Die, tells us of the many challenges the country faces after Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was ousted from office last week after an attempted self-coup. His Vice-President Dina Boluarte became the seventh president in six years and the first female Peruvian president in history.
World Cup: Daren Graves, Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Steve Ortega, an Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, like to call themselves “the Sports Profs.” They discuss the World Cup and the role of Latin American teams.
Marcia Castro, Andelot Professor of Demography at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is chair of the Brazil Studies Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). We're talking to her about the recent election in Brazil.
During Hispanic Heritage Month, Faculty Voices talked with Mayra Rivera Rivera, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies at Harvard University,. She discusses what it means to be Latinx with shared cultures and history of a colonial past.
After the October 2 first-round election, Brazilians will return to the polls October 30 to decide between left-leaning front-runner Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva "Lula" and the right-wing incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro. Sidney Chalhoub, a Brazilian social historian, is David and Peggy Rockefeller Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, discusses the Brazilian elections, the challenges the country faces and the very threat to Brazilian democracy.
Gonzalo Giribet, the director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and a Professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, talks about the museum’s many collections, including a considerable quantity from Latin America. He also discusses his fieldwork and how Harvard undergraduates in his class will have the opportunity to explore biodiversity in Bocas del Toro, Panama, for the first time since the pandemic.
Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies, tells us of an unusual collaboration with Pope Francis and of her new projects, including the Renaissance Project, which aims to make cultural initiatives a priority in cities around the world.
In the wake of Gustavo Petro’s August 7 inauguration, Alisha Holland, Associate Professor in Harvard’s Government Department who specializes in the Andean region, talks about the challenges facing the incoming left-leaning government. In a wide-ranging interview from Bogotá, she discusses his cabinet and such issues facing his government as land and police reform, security issues, health care and the environment.
Patricio del Real, Associate Professor of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, talks about his new book Constructing Latin America: Architecture, Politics and Race at the Museum of Modern Art. It’s the fascinating story of how race, gender, politics and even climate control formed the tapestry of Latin American modernist architecture and how it was projected through MOMA.
Alejandro de la Fuente, Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, brings us up to date on the situation in Cuba, looking at human rights, the economy and the staggering flow of Cubans from the island.
Ricardo Hausmann, the founder and Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School, talks about Latin America’s path to economic recovery. He examines a wide range of subjects, including the pandemic, global inflation, decarbonization and the impact of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine on Latin America.
Alisha Holland, Associate Professor in Harvard’s Government Department, looks at the upcoming Colombian elections on May 29.
Thomas B. F. Cummins is the new director of Dumbarton Oaks, a Harvard-owned research institution in Washington, D.C. A Harvard History of Art and Architecture professor and an expert on pre-Columbian and Latin American colonial art, he discusses future plans for Dumbarton Oaks and a recent conference there on the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.
Américo Mendoza–Mori, an interdisciplinary scholar trained in literary, linguistic and cultural studies who teaches in Harvard’s Committee on Ethnicity, Migration and Rights, discusses his plans to promote Quechua, as well as Latinx studies at Harvard. He talks about two of his popular courses “Indigeneity and Latinidad” and a course that looks at Latinx representation in the media and arts. That’s something very familiar to him, he observes, since he was a cultural consultant on Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, discusses how Latin America has been a protagonist in the development of human rights law, not just a victim of global politics. And as war wages in the Ukraine, she gives us her thoughts on how international law has virtually put an end to what she calls “aggressive interstate wars” in Latin America.
Abortion is no longer a crime in Colombia. Alicia Yamin, who heads up Harvard’s Global Health and Rights Project, discusses the hemispheric impact of the recent Colombian Constitutional Court decision to decriminalize abortion in that country.
Michael Starnbach, a professor of microbiology at Harvard Medical School and member of the DRCLAS Executive Committee, works on the very timely subject of infectious diseases. He has fostered medical collaborations with Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly with Cuba and Argentina.
Laura Alfaro, the Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, served as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica from 2010-2012. She reflects on the upcoming elections on February 6, with an unprecedented 25 candidates.
Steven Levitsky, director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the co-author of How Democracies Die, discusses what the election of leftist Gabriel Boric means for Chile and democracy.
This Faculty Voices includes topics such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and identity-based discrimination and harassment. Some of this content may be difficult for some listeners.
Sabi Ardalan, director of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, discusses the critical situation of asylum seekers at the southern border between the United States and Mexico. This is the first of a two-part series on immigration and asylum with Harvard faculty.
María Luisa Parra, Senior Preceptor in Spanish in Harvard’s Romance Languages and Literatures Department, tells us why Hispanic Heritage Month is important. She also discusses teaching Spanish to Latinx students and the other courses she has developed to promote Latino culture. And what terms does she prefer—Hispanic, Latino/a, Latinx or Latine? Listen to find out!
Resources:
https://sintesis.com.mx/hidalgo/2019/03/03/agua-apan-grupo-modelo/
https://agua.org.mx/academicos-dicen-la-planta-modelo-en-hidalgo-tanto-halagan-dejara-pueblos-sin-agua-sinembargo/
https://hidalgo.quadratin.com.mx/principal/desatienden-orden-federal-de-suspender-obras-del-grupo-modelo/
Laura Alfaro, Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and former Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica, reflects on why the current crisis in Nicaragua with its draconian human rights abuses should matter to the region and the world
Paul Farmer, chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, looks at why some countries have lots of vaccines and others don’t...and our responsibility to improve the inequal situation.
Gabriela Soto-Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University, discusses how food insecurity and the challenges of food distribution in the pandemic have underscored already existing inequities.
Steve Levitsky, Harvard Professor in the Government Department and director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, discusses the upcoming June 6 Peruvian elections. It’s a hot contest between Keiko Fujimori on the right and Pedro Castillo on the left.
Resources:
Leading Education Through COVID-19: Upholding the Right to Education
Leading Educational Change During a Pandemic: Reflections of Hope and Possibility
Una calamidad educativa Aprendizaje y enseñanza durante la pandemia de COVID-19
Alisha Holland, Associate Professor in the Harvard Government Department, looks at the implications of the April 11 elections in Ecuador.
Eleven million Africans were forcibly sent to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. Two out of every three came to Latin America and the Caribbean. Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics at Harvard, discusses how Afro-descendent mobilization has brought change to the region in the last twenty years. De la Fuente, who is also director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvars’s Hutchin Center, points to a transformative wave—particularly in Latin American constitutions—that now recognizes Afro-descendents as integral members of pluricultural nations. That recognition has led to “concrete and measurable opportunities.” But there’s still a long way to go.
Jocelyn Viterna, Harvard Professor of Sociology and director of undergraduate studies in the sociology department, discusses the February 28 Salvadoran elections. The results of these elections for the legislative body and mayoral offices are likely to determine the course of the country for years to come. Viterna, the author of Women in War: The Micro-processes of Mobilization in El Salvador, has worked and researched in El Salvador for 25 years.
Doris Sommer, Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies, discusses the relationship between the humanities and democracies, as well as the dire implications of budget cuts for the humanities both in the United States and Latin America.
Yanilda María González, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of Authoritarian Police in Democracy: Contested Security in Latin America discusses policing, state violence and citizenship in democracy. Looking at issues of race and class, she shows how ordinary democratic politics in unequal societies can perpetuate authoritarian policing.
Marcia Castro, Andelot Professor of Demography at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, takes a look at the challenges Brazil—long a world leader in immunizations—faces with the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Mariano Siskind, Harvard Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Comparative Literatures, reflects on the political, social, and cultural implications of famed soccer star Diego Maradona’s life and death.
This Fall has been a busy season for democracy, from elections in Bolivia (and the United States) to a resounding vote for a new Chilean constitution. Steve Levitsky, director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and co-author of How Democracies Die, puts it all in context in this podcast.
Davíd Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, and June Carolyn Erlick, Editor-in-Chief, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America discuss Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).