Lifetime Achievement Award
The Latin American Studies Association, the world’s largest organization of those who study, teach and write about Latin America and inter-American affairs, is pleased to announce the winner of the Kalman Silvert Award LASA2024: Abraham F. Lowenthal, Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California.
Dr. Lowenthal has had a fruitful trajectory for more than 50 years: undertaking research, publications, teaching and mentoring, as well as promoting studies and institutions on Latin America and the Caribbean. He has focused especially on inter-American relations, on which he has exercised leadership, as well as on democratic governance, political and civil society actors, and public policies to support effective democratic governance and economic and social development.
Dr. Lowenthal has initiated and directed two major institutions in the United States, dedicated to better understanding the entire region. He established and led both the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from 1977 to 1983 and the Inter-American Dialogue from 1983 to 1992, probably the most influential think tanks and policy forums on Latin American and inter-American affairs in the United States, with substantial participation by scholars and practitioners from the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. He helped develop the Wilson Center’s project on Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy in Latin America and Europe, leading to the influential volumes edited by Guillermo O’Donnell, Philippe Schmitter, and Laurence Whitehead, with an introduction by Lowenthal.
Dr. Lowenthal’s publications include three single-authored volumes: The Dominican Intervention and Partners in Conflict: The United States and Latin America and Global California. He has also edited and contributed to numerous books on such subjects as Armies and Politics in Latin America, “Exporting Democracy”: The United States and Latin America, as well as The Peruvian Experiment and The Peruvian Experiment Reconsidered (coedited with Cynthia McClintock), The California-Mexico Connection (coedited with Katrina Burgess), Kalman H. Silvert: Engaging Latin America, Building Democracy (coedited with Martin Weinstein), and Democratic Transitions: Conversations with World Leaders (coedited with Sergio Bitar). He has published numerous articles in academic journals and even more in broader publications including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Journal of Democracy, and major newspapers in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Dr. Lowenthal has been active in study groups and other fora to strengthen the case for negotiated solutions to political conflicts, especially in contemporary Venezuela and along the US-Mexico border. He has promoted enhanced understanding among governments, civil societies, intellectuals, journalists, and others. He has mentored scholars, students, officials of governments, non-governmental associations, journalists, and business executives and, has been a major advisor at the University of Notre Dame, Institute of the Americas, and Florida International University, as well as COMEXI, CIDE, FAAP, USP, CARI, FUSADES, and FLACSO. He is proud to be a student, mentee and friend of Kalman H. Silvert, the founding president of LASA.
About LASA
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest professional association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over 13,000 members, over 60% of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the one association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe. LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.
If you wish to interview a LASA Executive Council member, you can contact the LASA communications office at (412) 648-7929 or send an email to lasa@lasaweb.org.