Roger Thayer Stone Center For Latin American Studies

Tulane University

Venezuelan Ambassador Visits Tulane

November 20th, 2009

On November 19, the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) and the Department of Political Science at Tulane University sponsored a talk by Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States. Alvarez Herrera’s lecture was entitled “U.S. – Venezuelan Relations and a New Era for the Americas.” This event was hosted by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies.


Ambassador Alvarez Herrera speaks to Tulane Latinamericanists in the Greenleaf Conference Room.

See more photos at the Stone Center’s Flickr site.

Information on the Ambassador:

Bernardo Alvarez Herrera became Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States on January 27, 2003. On September 11, 2008, he was recalled to Caracas and was appointed the head of Venezuela's delegation to UNASUR (Union of South American Nations). He was later appointed president of the Bank of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas). Less than a year later, on June 26, 2009, Ambassador Alvarez became the first foreign ambassador in U.S. diplomatic history to be reinstated by Washington (along with his U.S. counterpart in Caracas) as both the Chavez and Obama administrations moved to normalize relations. He currently serves as the Dean of the Latin American diplomatic corps in Washington, having served longer in his post than any of his regional counterparts.

Previous to his post as ambassador, Mr. Alvarez held various public positions including Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Deputy to the National Congress, Vice Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee and Chairman of the Energy and Mines Committee, Executive Secretary of the Working Group on Political Reforms of the Presidential Commission for the Reform of the State and Chief of the Research and Development Division at the Venezuelan Institute of Foreign Trade.

In the international area he has held positions as Representative of Venezuela and Member of the Executive Committee to the U.S. Energy Council, Principal Coordinator for Venezuela in the Cooperation Agreement on Energy with the United States, and Head of the Venezuelan Delegation to the Ministerial Conferences of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

He has taught at the School of Political and Administrative studies of the Universidad Central de Venezuela and at the Superior School of the Venezuelan Air Force as has been an Academic Advisor at the Institute of Higher Studies on National Defense. Ambassador Alvarez holds a degree in Political Science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and a Master's degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, England.

LATEST SITE UPDATES

NEWS

EVENTS

MEDIA

More

Upcoming Events

Rethinking State-Society Relations in Contemporary Latin America

View Full Event Description

The emergence, crisis, and collapse of neoliberalism gave way to new types of political regimes that set themselves the task of redefining state-society relationships to promote more socially inclusive polities. The accomplishments and shortcomings of those processes need yet to be evaluated, particularly from an encompassing, historically-informed perspective that is not afraid of challenging established assumptions and mainstream understandings of Latin America to do justice to current developments. What are the continuities/ discontinuities in terms of state-society linkages that the various processes of change experienced since the return to democracy introduced in the Latin American landscape? Is Latin America moving towards a more democratic and inclusive society? What is the nature of the new patterns of state-society interaction? Have they drastically altered the legacy of populism, bureaucratic-authoritarianism, and neoliberalism?, in which specific ways? Are emerging regimes promoting new patterns of exclusion or novel forms of authoritarianism?

A group of scholars from different disciplines, country expertise drawn from Latin America, the US and Europe will meet on May 24th at Tulane University to debate empirically and theoretically informed articles that address these questions.

SCHEDULE
10:00 AM-10:15 AM – Introduction and welcoming

10:15 AM-10.45 AM – Justice and politics: the dialogic alternative by Roberto Gargarella

10:45 AM-11:15 AM – The political economy of post-neoliberal Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay development regimes by Christopher Wylde

11:15 AM-11:45 AM – The impact of taxes and social spending on inequality and poverty in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru: a synthesis of results by Nora Lustig, George Gray-Molina, Sean Higgins, Miguel Jaramillo, Wilson Jiménez, Veronica Paz, Claudiney Pereira, Carola Pessino, John Scott, and Ernesto Yañez

12:00 PM -1:30 PM – LUNCH

1:45 PM -2:15 PM – Participatory developments and democratic representation in South America by Leonardo Avritzer and Enrique Peruzzotti

2:15 PM -2:45 PM – The second wave of incorporation and territorialized politics in Argentina and Brazil by Federico M. Rossi

2:45 PM -3:15 PM – Indigenous-state relations in Ecuador and Bolivia: challenges and opportunities by Roberta Rice

3:15 PM-3:30 PM – COFFEE BREAK

3:30 PM -4:00 PM – Gender, power, and women's political inclusion in Argentina and Chile by Susan Franceschet

4:00 PM -4:30 PM – Viral politics, the post-liberal imaginary and #Yosoy132 in Mexico by Benjamín Arditi

Summer K-12 Teacher Institute - Exploring Brazil: A Window into the Language & Culture of a Country on the Rise

View Full Event Description

The University of Georgia, Tulane University, and Vanderbilt University will collaborate to offer a Summer Institute on Brazilian Culture and Portuguese Language. K-12 educators of any discipline and grade-level are welcome to apply to attend this 4 day institute. The goal of this institute is to encourage and promote the teaching of Portuguese and the culture of Brazil through film, literature, service learning, and technology in any K-12 classroom. The institute will focus on the language, history, and geography of Brazil. Sessions will include Portuguese language instruction and participants will explore the culture, history, and geography of Brazil. Film screenings and other presentations will be incorporated into the institute to highlight contemporary and engaging cultural content for the K-12 classroom. During the week, educators will work in teams to develop interdisciplinary units that address applicable state learning standards, which they will bring back to their schools to teach and share with colleagues. Educators may receive a certificate of completion for 20 hours of professional development if desired.

Sponsored in part through a Portuguese Flagship Program at the University of Georgia and through a Title VI U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center grant on Latin America awarded to Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies.

Registration Information Below:

  • Base Registration ($50) includes all materials, parking and registration to entire program with no meals or housing included. You are responsible for making your own housing and dining accommodations.
  • Registration with Base Housing ($150) includes everything above as well as breakfast and lunch, and a double room on campus in dormitory housing.
  • Registration with Private Housing ($225) includes everything above and assures a private room and bath in dormitory housing.
  • Add $50 to registration if interested in receiving Georgia Department of Education approved Professional Learning Units (PLUs)

For more information contact:

Denise Woltering (Tulane University), 504.862.3143, dwolteri@tulane.edu
Kathleen Schmaltz (University of Georgia), 706.583.0388, schmaltz@uga.edu
Claire Gonzalez (Vanderbilt University), 615.343.1837, claire.p.gonzalez@vanderbilt.edu

Two-week Public Service summer program in Ecuador

View Full Event Description

Center for Public Service: International Programs
Ecuador: Tropical Field Biology and Conservation
Chocó Rainforest, Ecuador | Tentative dates: August 9 – August 23, 2013

Application deadline: January 28, 2013
Deadline extended!

All majors are welcome to apply to spend two weeks in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Ecuador: Tropical Field Biology and Conservation gives students the opportunity to apply the theory and knowledge they have acquired in the classroom to the real world. Students will travel with Dr. Karubian and Dr. Duraes to Ecuador for a two-week intensive field course. While on the course, students will experience first-hand the challenges and rewards of conducting field research and implementing conservation activities in tropical environments. These activities will take place within a context of community engagement based on active collaboration and interaction with Ecuadorian local residents in a variety of contexts.

For more information, click here to visit the Center for Public Service’s page on this program.

Call for Papers: Radical Caribbeans

View Full Event Description

Read the official Call for Papers here.

We welcome papers that address any facet of the Caribbean radicalis and radical approaches to Caribbean identity, culture and social practices. Papers may focus on one country or invoke comparative strategies of any regions contained in the greater Caribbean, beyond the confines of the Caribbean sea, northeast of the Florida straits and into the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and south, along the Atlantic coast, past Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Papers may be in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese, though English is preferred.

If you are interested in participating, please send a 250 word abstract as an attachment to either of the email addresses listed below by June 15th, 2013. Include the title of your paper, your name (and the names of any co-presenters), institutional affiliation, phone number, mailing and email address. Papers for presentation should be no more than than 20 minutes and may be considered for publication. If submitting a panel for consideration, please include a top sheet with panel title, participant names and a brief abstract of the panel topic in addition to the individual paper proposals.
Notification of acceptance to the conference will be made by July 5, 2013.
For more information on the conference, location and arrangements, visit the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute website for updates at cuba.tulane.edu.

Submit abstracts by June 15 to:
lopez_AT_tulane.edu
icaballe_AT_tulane.edu