Bay Area Latin America Forum
The Bay Area Latin America Forum is a series that brings together Latin Americanist scholars and observers from throughout the Bay Area to present their research and prompt discussions. Additionally, this series fosters the creation of a local community of Latin Americanists.
 


Spring 2006

Kirsten Sehnbruch
“Michelle Bachelet: Chile ’s First Female President”

Michelle Bachelet,
President-elect of Chile.

President-elect Michelle Bachelet will be the first female president in the history of Chile and the first female president elected purely on her own name and merits in South America. This means that the Concertación — the coalition of center-left parties that has governed since Chile’s return to democracy in 1990 — will be in power for four more years. And again, the right-wing opposition, after an initially strong performance, has fallen apart in the course of the election campaign. Who is Michelle Bachelet? What can we expect from her new government? Will the fact that she is a woman make a difference? What future is there for the opposition in Chile ? And what were the main themes and developments in the election campaign that led to Bachelet’s victory? This talk will provide some answers to these questions.

- BBC reporting on Bachelet's victory

Kirsten Sehnbruch is a visiting scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies. Her research focuses on Latin American labor markets and related concerns of social security, poverty and income inequality. Her book The Chilean Labor Market will be published by Palgrave Macmillan early in 2006.

- Dr. Sehnbruch's Web site
- Dr. Sehnbruch's book, The Chilean Labor Market

Monday, January 23, 12:00 – 1:15 pm
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street

Analysis and photos of the event


Kent Eaton
“Bolivian Regional Autonomy: A Reaction Against Indigenous Mobilization”

Increasingly, scholars, policymakers and observers of Bolivian politics have focused their attention on new forms of political mobilization by the country’s indigenous majority. This mobilization has produced some of the most sensational news of recent years including the 2000 Water War against the Bechtel Corporation, the 2003 Gas War against the Sánchez de Losada administration and the 2005 election of Evo Morales as president. Less sensationally, the emergence of indigenous Bolivians as powerful political actors has begun to generate a backlash in the form of escalating demands for regional autonomy in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s most economically developed and politically conservative department.

Kent Eaton is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley. He is the author of Politicians and Economic Reform in New Democracies: Argentina and the Philippines in the 1990s and Politics beyond the Capital: The Design of Subnational Institutions in South America.

Monday, January 30, 12:00 – 1:15 pm
Room 370, Dwinelle Hall

Analysis and photos of the event


Elizabeth Farnsworth
“Bringing Pinochet to Justice”

Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s military dictator from 1973 until 1990, is under indictment in Santiago for kidnapping and murder, among other charges. He is currently free on bail and may face trial soon. Elizabeth Farnsworth will screen portions of her forthcoming documentary “The Pursuers” which follows the investigative work of Judge Juan Guzmán and others pursuing justice in Chile. The documentary takes viewers inside some of the most important investigations and cases and places them in context, showing how international human rights law has been fortified by Chileans’ efforts to hold Pinochet accountable for atrocities committed during his dictatorship.

Elizabeth Farnsworth is a special correspondent on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Her writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, World Policy Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Nation, among other publications. She also has produced and directed several hour-long documentaries for PBS.

Monday, March 6, 12:00 – 1:15 pm
Room 370, Dwinelle Hall
(map)

Analysis and photos of the event


Laura Nader
“Imperial Uses of the Rule of Law”

Laura Nader is Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. Her current work focuses on how central dogmas are made and how they work in law, energy science and anthropology. She is the author of several books including The Life of the Law: Anthropological Projects (2002) and received the 1995 Kalven Prize for distinguished research on law and society.

Monday, March 20, 12:00 – 1:15 pm
Room 370, Dwinelle Hall

Analysis and photos of the event


Lowell Bergman
“The Way Things Work: Multinational Corporations in Latin America ”

Lowell Bergman was one of the founding members of the Center for Investigative Reporting and spent 16 years as a producer with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” More recently he has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times and served as both producer and correspondent for numerous PBS Frontline documentaries. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for his New York Times series on workplace safety. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley.

Monday, April 17, 12:00 – 1:15 pm
Room 370, Dwinelle Hall

Analysis and photos of the event


Marisol de la Cadena
Title TBA

Marisol de la Cadena is Associate Professor of Anthropology at UC Davis.

Postponed

Bay Area Latin America Forum by semester

 
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