Moving from Latin America to Germany: Culture shock and challenges faced by a geoscientist family

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liseth Perez ◽  
Matthias Bücker
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Culture Shock ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Gender Disparity ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Cultural Shock ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Multiple Challenges

<p>Geoscientists are often highly mobile, making them attractive candidates for academic positions. Nevertheless, changing your country of residency can be very challenging, and such challenges are amplified if one has small children, and especially if both parents are active researchers. We are both geoscientists, with specialties in paleolimnology and geophysics, and have a 2-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. We are originally from Guatemala and Germany, and our children were born in Mexico, where we worked for seven years before moving to Germany.</p><p>Culture shock is often expected to be severe when moving from Europe to a developing country, like Mexico or Guatemala. In our case, however, we experienced serious cultural shock when we moved from Latin America to Germany. It became apparent that conditions were harsh for couples that try to live equitably at home and at work, and attempt not to neglect either family life or science. We identified multiple challenges in our daily life, such as: (1) the well-known lack of sufficient childcare options in Germany, (2) cultural differences at work, such as family-“unfriendly” scheduling of important meetings, (3) a lack of flexibility with respect to financial support for families whose members participate in professional symposia or fieldwork, and  (4) policies of granting institutions that sometimes, unintentionally, preclude family-friendly work in academic research.</p><p>Our personal experiences may help to elucidate why the gender disparity in science is larger in wealthy, central European countries such as Germany (28.0% female researchers, UNESCO 2018) than in many Latin American countries, such as Mexico (33.0%) and Guatemala (53.2%). By identifying key issues, we hope to improve the situation for parent researchers - both female and male. Changes will be required of universities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe that intend to improve the quality of research and teaching at their institutions by attracting young, talented, international scientists. We acknowledge that every case is different, but encourage universities that are building strong programs through internationalization of the faculty to consider the needs of families of incoming foreign researchers, and actively support dual-career professional couples.</p>

scholarly journals History and Memory of Dissident Sexualities from Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-89
Author(s):  
Benito Bisso Schmidt ◽  
Rubens Mascarenhas Neto
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Global South ◽  
First Year ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
General Profile

This article focuses on Red Latinoamericana de Archivos, Museos, Acervos y Investigadores LGBTQIA+ (AMAI LGBTQIA+), a network composed of researchers and institutions related to LGBTQIA+ memory in Latin America, founded in 2019. First, the authors analyse the network’s creation arising from the discontent of some participants of the June 2019 Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections (ALMS) Conference, in Berlin, who felt bothered by the lack of attention given to subaltern perspectives on LGBTQIA+ history and memory. Next, the authors describe and analyse the network’s first year of activities communicated through its Facebook group. Multiple challenges arose from creating a network with members from different national origins, languages, and identities, especially considering the conservative political contexts of several Latin American countries and the social distancing measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, the authors present a general profile of the network’s members and a map of partner institutions. Finally, the article points out some challenges to the network’s continuity and its desire to render Latin America more visible in the broader panorama of global LGBTQIA+ history. The authors conclude by highlighting the importance of AMAI LGBTQIA+ in stimulating further discussions about the participation of global-south researchers and perspectives on global queer history initiatives.

scholarly journals Killing Two Birds with One Stone?

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-180
Author(s):  
Soledad Escobar Villegas ◽  
Santiago Pérez-Nievas ◽  
Guillermo Cordero
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Gender Disparity ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
The Eu

This article analyses the descriptive representation of immigrant-origin women in two local Spanish elections. On the basis of the influence of political opportunity structures and the role played by political parties, we quantify their presence on party lists and their degree of success in becoming councilwomen. Using the APREPINM database we compare their levels of representation across different immigrant-origin minorities and the degree of gender disparity within each group. Our results show that women originating from the EU and Latin America benefit from greater access to party lists than their male counterparts and their female peers from other groups. But when it comes to being elected as councilwomen, only Latin-American women maintain this comparative advantage.

Doing Courts Justice? Studying Judicial Politics in Latin America

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Kapiszewski ◽  
Matthew M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
Key Questions

The past decade has brought an unprecedented boom in the study of courts as political actors in Latin America. We examine the extraordinary diversity of academic research on judicial politics in the region, identifying the key questions, findings, and theoretical debates in the literature, highlighting important conceptual disjunctions, and critiquing the research methods scholars of judicial politics in Latin America have employed in their work. We close by suggesting new avenues of inquiry to help advance the collective effort to understand the roles courts play in Latin American politics.

scholarly journals An Attorney's Perspective on Emerging New Venture Opportunities for Petroleum Projects in Latin America

1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 270
Author(s):  
Jay G. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
New Venture ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
Potential Risks

This article discusses the potential for new opportunities in the petroleum industry in Latin American countries. The author states that investment in Latin American petroleum projects is required in order to meet energy needs and environmental requirements. After surveying the history, politics and investment climate in Latin America, the author discusses the investment opportunities that have arisen in Latin America as well as the potential risks associated with these investments. He then discusses environmental concerns and other recent developments that impact on petroleum investments. The author examines key issues arising out of petroleum agreements between investors and Latin American governments and outlines the various petroleum agreements currently in use. To conclude, the author discusses the role of legal advisors in assisting clients in making successful investments in Latin American petroleum projects.

scholarly journals La categoría de género y la educación superior: Una mirada a América latina desde Colombia

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Gabriela Castellanos Llanos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Educación Superior ◽  
Educacion Superior ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
America Latina

Resumen: Después de una breve contextualizaciónsobre los avances y difi cultades de trabajar con laperspectiva de género en la investigación y la docenciaen la educación superior, se indaga sobre la categoríamisma de género y las críticas que se le hacen, sobretodo por la versión diluida, desprovista de feminismo,que en ocasiones se emplea. Se concluye que la categoríasigue siendo una herramienta útil para la investigaciónacadémica feminista, pero sin renunciar a su potencialcrítico, y partiendo de un cuestionamiento a las mismasbases de la signifi cación de las categorías “hombre”y “mujer”. Se hace un somero rastreo de los modosespecífi cos como se ha empleado la categoría en Américalatina, haciendo énfasis en la importancia de verla desdela perspectiva de todo el sistema sociocultural, y en lasnuevas tendencias al trabajo sobe postcolonialismo.Finalmente, se examina la relación de las mujeres conla cultura hegemónica, y se plantea que a lo largo dela historia han construido signifi caciones propias,enfocando fundamentalmente la producción literariacarnavalesca de algunas mujeres.Palabras clave: género, feminismo, educaciónsuperior, Latin America, postcolonialismo, carnavalThe Category of Gender and Higher Education:Looking at Latin America from ColombiaAbstract: After a brief contextualization on theprogress made and the diffi culties of working from agender perspective in research and teaching in highereducation, the category of gender itself is examined, aswell as the criticisms directed against it, due to the dilutedversion often employed. It is concluded that the categoryis still a useful tool for feminist academic research if itscritical potential is preserved and if the very bases forthe meaning of the categories “man” and “woman” arecritiqued. The specifi c ways the category gender hasbeen used in Latin America are looked into, emphasizingthe importance of considering it from the perspectiveof the whole sociocultural system, as well as the newtrends of the work on postcolonialism. Finally, women’srelation to the hegemonic culture is examined, showinghow throughout history they have built meanings oftheir own, focusing mainly on the carnavalesque literaryproduction by some women.Key words: gender, feminism, higher education, LatinAmerica, postcolonialism, carnival

scholarly journals RETHINKING POPULIST DISCOURSE FROM LATIN AMERICA: ALGORITHMIC ACTIVISM AND THE CONSTITUTION OF A PEOPLE IN CHILE

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 469-490
Author(s):  
Juan Eduardo Bonnin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American History ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Latin American History ◽  
The People

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore some of the ideological and empirical limits of studies on populism from a perspective based on Latin American history and theories, on one hand, and current ideas about digitalization and political discourse, on the other. I will first argue that studies on populism have a monolingual bias that conceals an ethnocentric view on academic research. As a consequence, when the term “populism” is applied to Latin American political discourse and history, it implies a pejorative view on democracies other than liberal European. Leaving aside this perspective, I will then present a different view of Latin American populisms, which allows for a richer, more complex perspective, including the key role of “the people” as a discursive actor that can even dispense with a populist leader, especially in the case of mediatized democracies. As a case study, I will analyze activism in Chile by observing Twitter’s Trending Topics (TT) during the first week of the mass protests in October 2019. The analysis of TT hashtags helped us to better desccribe this process as one of handcrafted algorithmic activism which developed at least four tactics: the formulation of explicit demands, off-hours tweetstorms, syntagmatic variation, and HT confrontation and appropriation.

Imprisonment and Human Rights in Latin America: An Introduction

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier de Leon Villalba
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
American System ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Methodological Guidelines

This article reflects on Latin American prisoners’ human rights to give an up-to-date picture of the state of play and to establish the benchmarks on how this issue can be approached in future research activities. In an attempt to establish methodological guidelines for approaching the Latin American context, the article contextualizes Latin American prisoner human rights standards within the inter-American system of human rights. Then, it addresses three key issues that have a direct impact on the treatment of prisoners and the most important problems in Latin American prisons.

scholarly journals A globalização liberal e a escala urbana: perspectivas latino-americanas

2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Peter Charles Brand
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
City Region ◽  
America Latina

O processo de globalização implicou o ressurgimento da cidade-região como unidade geográfica chave no desenvolvimento econômico e o nascimento de um novo período de transformação urbana. A reorganização da economia mundial requereu, ao lado de novas formas de governo local, a reformulação das bases econômicas e também da infra-estrutura, de equipamentos e da própria imagem das cidades. Este processo, que se iniciou nos Estados Unidos e nos países da Europa Ocidental no começo dos anos 1980, levou uma década ou mais para se fazer sentir na América Latina. Enquanto as políticas urbanas avançavam neste sentido, a investigação acadêmica e a reflexão teórica, circunscrevendo-se essencialmente às pautas analíticas e interpretativas estabelecidas em contextos radicalmente distintos do sul-americano, permaneceram na retaguarda, limitadas aos aspectos operacionais da competitividade urbana e marcadas por velhas preocupações com a consolidação da democracia local. Este trabalho examina a cidade latino-americana à luz do debate sobre o “re-escalamento” como produto da globalização, ao mesmo tempo em que explora a contribuição representada por dito debate para a compreensão das estratégias de desenvolvimento urbano. Neste sentido, analisa-se a experiência de algumas cidades colombianas, com ênfase especial para o tema da relação com o Estado nacional e as questões que dizem respeito às políticas de planejamento, às práticas de governo urbano e à reconstrução urbanística. Pretende-se também, aqui, contribuir com algumas idéias que sirvam à elaboração de uma agenda de investigação para a América Latina.Palavras-chave: globalização; “re-escalamento” geográfico; neoliberalismo; desenvolvimento urbano; América Latina. Abstract: An integral part of the globalization process has been the resurgence of the city-region as a key geographical unit for economic development, with the consequent birth of a new period of urban transformation. The reorganization of the global economy and the global redistribution of industry required the restructuring of urban economies, infrastructures and images, as well as new forms of urban governance. This process, which began in the United States and Western Europe in the early 80s, took a decade or so to have a significant effect on Latin America cities. While urban policy has since consolidated considerably in this sense in Latin America, academic research and theoretical reflection has somewhat lagged behind, frequently circumscribed by analytic and interpretative frameworks imported from outside the Latin American context, limited to operative aspects of ‘urban competitiveness’ or dominated by regional concerns over local democracy. This paper examines the Latin American city in the light of the theoretical debate on the reconfiguration of scalar hierarchies and interrelations produced by globalization. It then goes on to review the recent experience of some Colombian cities, with special reference to the themes of state reorganization, planning policy, urban governance and spatial restructuring. The paper concludes with some suggestions concerning a research agenda.Keywords: globalization; geographic re-scaling; neoliberalism; urban development; Latin America.

scholarly journals Chinese foreign direct investments in Latin America and their influence on Chinese-Brazilian economic relations

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-72
Author(s):  
Marta Czarnecka-Gallas
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Analysis Data ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
The Usa

For many decades Chinese foreign direct investments in Latin America were not a subject of academic research or political debate. However, thanks to China’s fast economic growth, huge saving rate and national reserves, the country plays a more and more important role not only in global trade, being the world’s biggest exporter, but also in international investment scene by increasing the number and volume of its overseas businesses. Chinese FDIs in Latin America, although not as controversial as those in Africa, have registered a steady growth and seem to be both a chance and a threat for Latin American states. The scale and structure of FDI still remain relatively poor but the situation in the last years, especially 2009-2010 shows a significant change. Huge amount of Chinese FDI go to Brazil, which is also the recipient of the biggest Chinese single overseas business project (Porto do Aço). As far as Brazilian-Chinese bilateral economic relations are concerned, the complementarity of countries’ economies gives hope of beneficial cooperation, but at the same time poses a threat on Brazil of being vulnerable to externalities and losing manufacturing advantage in exports. Moreover, Chinese presence in Latin America means not only counterbalance to the influence of the USA but also undermines Brazilian position in the region. Methodology: the author combines quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Data used for the purpose of the article come mainly from UNCTAD statistics on-line, statistics of Chinese Ministry of Commerce, CIA Factbook. Moreover, the author makes use of desk research and literature review.

Digital Resources: The State of Digital Research on the Visual Culture of Spanish America

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara E. Mundy ◽  
Dana Leibsohn
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Visual Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Latin American Studies ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Digital Work

Across the last 25 years, digital projects on the visual culture of Latin America have begun to shape, ever more fundamentally, both research and teaching environments. To be sure, books and journal essays remain the dominant mode of publishing (and significantly so), but digital projects—made possible in part because of increasingly accessible databases and less expensive editing platforms—are becoming widely recognized as key elements in the visual and intellectual landscape. The visual culture of Spanish America (also known as colonial visual culture or viceregal visual culture) extends across three centuries, dating from roughly 1520 to 1820. Yet its history, which embraces both the physical traces of everyday life and ephemeral experiences, is arguably the least familiar of Latin America’s artistic and material legacies, especially outside Latin American Studies. Nonetheless, the period has inspired a suite of projects that, considered together, highlight the current potentials (and limits) of digital work, provide useful models for future research, and open onto debates relevant across the digital humanities (as they are currently called). If this is the basic landscape, then what are the important issues when it comes to the intersections of digital technologies and colonial visual culture? This question is considered here along three avenues. First, what can be achieved with existing software, particularly imaging software, and the inherent epistemological assumptions imbedded in software commonly used? This topic receives the most attention because future research depends so heavily upon our perceptions and understandings of present technological capabilities. The second theme considered is accessibility. Given that institution-driven projects, most often online ventures sponsored by a museum or a library, have opened certain collections to an online public, what are the implications of the accessibility they offer, and how might such databases shape the parameters of research—both in the data they provide and in the kinds of questions their technologies make it possible to pose and answer? Finally, consideration is given to the possibilities and potentials for collaboration that the online environment offers in the study of visual culture of Latin America. To set a framework for discussion, this article begins with a broad view, “The Object(s) of Visual Culture,” and then turns to examples of scholar-driven projects currently online. Typically, these are generated by scholars working at universities and dependent upon both internal and external funding. The sections “Seeing Images, Knowing Landscapes” and “Epistemological Assumptions” not only describe examples, but also explore the modes of interpretation that digital environments enable and the habits of viewing that are produced as a result. Because scholar-driven projects do not exist in isolation, the article turns to institution-driven projects, represented primarily by digitized museum collections and archives, which have become central components of the research environment. Many projects in this vein are well-described elsewhere—our focus therefore rests on the effects on the larger research landscape, in a section called “Accessibility, Canonicity, Finance.” Lastly, issues related to collaboration are dealt with, in order to both address ideas that are being explored through digital work in other fields, but which have not yet surfaced with much force in the field of colonial visual culture, and to ask why.

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