Oscar Aponte
Statement
It would be an honor to serve as the student representative before the Executive Council of LASA and have the opportunity to voice students’ opinions and proposals towards the construction of an inclusive and democratic association of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx studies. If elected, my work as student representative before the Executive Council will focus on three main issues: first, providing undergraduate and graduate students with tools to strengthen their professional and academic development as scholars of the region; second, promoting open and democratic spaces for the participation of students in the decision-making process of the association and its main events; and third, working to make LASA an accessible space for students to present their research—particularly students from Latin America and the Caribbean—through the promotion of travel grants and financial support. During my term as chair of the student section of the association, I have started to work in that direction—I organized and prepared roundtables for the 2021 and 2022 congresses that focus on the professional development of the student members of the association and set up a best-paper award for members of the student section that will start functioning in time for the 2022 congress. I consider that my experience as student representative at universities in Colombia and the United States (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, directive council; and The Graduate Center, CUNY, executive committee of the PhD program in history), as well as my expertise as academic coordinator of research and activism groups (I am the co-chair of the Colombian Studies Group, an interdisciplinary group of PhD students and activists in the U.S. working on Colombia and the Colombian diaspora) have provided me with the necessary knowledge to participate actively in representative bodies such as the Executive Council of LASA. In addition, my experience as chair of the student section has provided me with a thorough knowledge of how LASA works and the needs of the student body in the association. Finally, I will work to improve LASA’s role as a center for academic debate and production that can provide a better understanding of the current problems of the region and their possible solutions.