scholarly journals Deconstructing grand narratives in Applied Linguistics:

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Marco Túlio Urzêda-Freitas
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
American Scholar ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The Tropics

My objective in this paper is to present some contributions from queer praxiologies to the field of language education. More specifically, I propose an inquiring analysis of the constructs education, language, beliefs, and interaction, which still reproduce a variety of concepts rooted in modern/colonial grand narratives that have operated as grand narratives themselves within Applied Linguistics. Based on a range of critical studies carried out in Brazil, the queering of these four constructs enables the comprehension of language education as queer literacies practice, that is, as an activity mediated by a set of textual repertoires which may foster the construction of new meanings of gender, sexuality, and other identity categories in the classroom. As a Brazilian/Latin American scholar, I hope my reflections work as a subversive micro-narrative from the tropics, inspiring other dialogues and teaching performances that might turn language education into a transformative activity in different contexts around the globe.

Autonomy in Foreign Policy: A Latin American Contribution to International Relations Theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Cecilia Míguez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
American Contribution

Autonomy is a concept constantly referred to in Latin American foreign policy analysis, especially with respect to Argentina and Brazil. As great powers continue to exert effective control over peripheral economies and their political decision making, autonomy emerges as a possibility for self-determination in the areas where hegemonic powers’ economic, political, and cultural interferences are expressed. Although this is not a new concept, the quest for autonomy within the “global periphery”—and elsewhere too—still remains relevant. Helio Jaguaribe and Juan Carlos Puig’s theoretical approaches are fundamental epistemological contributions to international relations (IR), not only in South America (where the theoretical approach was first developed) but also to the wider IR field outside the mainstream scholarship. In line with global historical changes, autonomy took on some subsequent new meanings, which led to new and heterogeneous formulations that transformed, and in certain cases also contradicted, the very genesis of the idea of autonomy. As a result, the so-called autonomy “with adjectives” emerged within IR peripheral debates. The 21st century witnessed the rebirth of the concept amid the rise of multilateralism and the new Latin American regionalism, which brought its relational character to the fore. Some of the new approaches to autonomy, especially from Brazil, used the concept as a methodological tool to understand the historical evolution of the country’s foreign policy. As such, autonomy and its theoretical reflection remain central to the analyses and interpretations of the international relations of peripheral countries, and it is in this sense that the autonomy can be highlighted broadly as a Latin American contribution to IR discipline. The concept of autonomy has a unique and foundational content referred to the discussion of the asymmetries in the global order. Studying autonomy is critical to understanding peripheral countries’ problems and dynamics.

The History of Cacao and Its Diseases in the Americas

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (10) ◽  
pp. 1604-1619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge R. Díaz-Valderrama ◽  
Santos T. Leiva-Espinoza ◽  
M. Catherine Aime
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Breeding Programs ◽  
Center Of Origin ◽  
Republican Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Broom Disease ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Frosty Pod Rot

Cacao is a commodity crop from the tropics cultivated by about 6 million smallholder farmers. The tree, Theobroma cacao, originated in the Upper Amazon where it was domesticated ca. 5450 to 5300 B.P. From this center of origin, cacao was dispersed and cultivated in Mesoamerica as early as 3800 to 3000 B.P. After the European conquest of the Americas (the 1500s), cacao cultivation intensified in several loci, primarily Mesoamerica, Trinidad, Venezuela, and Ecuador. It was during the colonial period that cacao diseases began emerging as threats to production. One early example is the collapse of the cacao industry in Trinidad in the 1720s, attributed to an unknown disease referred to as the “blast”. Trinidad would resurface as a production center due to the discovery of the Trinitario genetic group, which is still widely used in breeding programs around the world. However, a resurgence of diseases like frosty pod rot during the republican period (the late 1800s and early 1900s) had profound impacts on other centers of Latin American production, especially in Venezuela and Ecuador, shifting the focus of cacao production southward, to Bahia, Brazil. Production in Bahia was, in turn, dramatically curtailed by the introduction of witches’ broom disease in the late 1980s. Today, most of the world’s cacao production occurs in West Africa and parts of Asia, where the primary Latin American diseases have not yet spread. In this review, we discuss the history of cacao cultivation in the Americas and how that history has been shaped by the emergence of diseases.

19th Century and Modernismo Poetry in Spanish America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ramón Ruisánchez Serra
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
American Poetry ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
Ruben Dario ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Latin American Poetry ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Andres Bello

The timeline of the long 19th century in Spanish America can be defined by different chronological benchmarks. While some historians mark its beginning with the expulsion of the Jesuits (1767) and the creation of the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata (1776), others set its beginnings with the wars of independence (1791–1822). Historians also disagree on its ending. Some choose the end of the Mexican Revolution (1917), while others push further to the foundation of the Partido Nacional Revolucionario in Mexico, in 1929. For this entry, it is preferable to signal the beginning and end of 19th century in Latin America with milestones more closely related to poetry: 1805–1916. The former marks the publication of the first issue of El Diario de México, where the creations of the local Arcadia appeared while the latter marks the death of Rubén Darío and the first edition of Ramón López Velarde’s La sangre devota. Even within these strict chronological limits, offering a panoramic view of the poetry written throughout the continent is difficult. Before the advanced printing technologies that allowed the first truly massive newspapers to circulate in Buenos Aires and Mexico City that would spawn the advent of literary Modernismo, it is nearly impossible to speak of poets of true Pan American stature. Andrés Bello (b. 1781–d. 1865) and José María Heredia (b. 1842–d. 1905) are the exception. These two poets exerted considerable influence as is evident in the importance that was granted to them in the first published anthology of Latin American Poetry, América poética 1846–1847, and even much later by Spanish philologist Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (b. 1856–d. 1912) in his four-volume anthology, Antología de poetas hispano-americanos publicada por la Real Academia Española 1893–1895. Generally, authors had considerable national and at times regional influence but rarely achieved continental recognition. Consequently, this disjointed geography leads to a very large number of critical studies dedicated to local spheres with very few satisfactorily going beyond the realm of the national. This absence reflects a period when the most pressing need was to create national differences.

scholarly journals Language Assessment Literacy: Implications for Language Teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Giraldo
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Assessment Literacy ◽  
Specific Language

Recently, the applied linguistics field has examined the knowledge, skills, and principles needed for assessment, defined as language assessment literacy. Two major issues in language assessment literacy have been addressed but not fully resolved—what exactly language assessment literacy is and how it differs among stakeholders (e.g., students and teachers). This reflective article reviews assessment literacy from general education experts and language education scholars and shows how the meaning of language assessment literacy has expanded. To add to the discussion of this construct, the article focuses on the specific language assessment literacy for language teachers and proposes a core list of assessment knowledge, skills, and principles for these stakeholders.

The Securitization of Language Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 859-863
Author(s):  
Kaushalya Perera ◽  
Sinfree Makoni
Keyword(s):  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This Forum article is a contribution to the development of a securitization perspective on language education. We construe securitization of applied linguistics as the tendency to align national goals for language education, including Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL) and foreign languages, with broader national and security agendas. Keeping in mind the impact of the World Wars I and II on securitizing language education, we illustrate the more recent impact of this due to 9/11 and the subsequent shifts in global geopolitics. Wepoint to the insidious connections that have been growing for decades between the defense sectors in various countries and regions and language education while drawing attention to the increased pace and intensity of it in current times. We conclude this piece by outlining the ethical challenges which the ongoing securitization of applied linguistics poses for applied linguists.

Applied linguistics in language education

System ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Education
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