Julieta Suarez-Cao

Statement

My vision for LASA includes goals that underpin its mission. I am convinced that LASA does a great job promoting “intellectual debate, research, and teaching about Latin America, the Caribbean, and its inhabitants; promote the interests of its diverse membership and encourage civic engagement through networking and public debate.” But there is room to do things even better.

• Solidify gender-mainstreaming in the governance of LASA and the organization of the International Congress, by consolidating presence and safe spaces for women and gender-sex diversities.
• Support the International Congress by strengthening scholarships for members from Latin America to ensure the diversity and representation of the voices of the LASA community.
• Evaluate the organization of Conferences outside of North America with a view to changing the perception that LASA is a Latin American studies association for Americans.
• Articulate LASA publications with the theme of the Congress: generating dissemination of the discussions that take place in the meetings and putting new topics on the research agenda.
• Strengthen interdisciplinary work: promoting special tables and a special section in the LASA forum for thematic collaborations between the different tracks of the Congress. This is important to compensate for the irrelevance given to area studies in some university cultures.
• Generate networks between members of LASA beyond the Congresses, supporting the sections that organize instances of virtual and/or face-to-face meetings.
• Consolidate LASA's presence in social networks.