LASA2021 / Crisis global, desigualdades y centralidad de la vida

The global crisis highlighted by the expansion of COVID-19 over the entire planet has had dramatic consequences in Latin America, testing states’ capacity to protect their citizens. The effects of the disease have laid bare the structural shortcomings of the countries in the region and the persistence of inequality, exclusion, and authoritarianism.

The consequences for the economy have been devastating too, in a region that was already experiencing problems with growth and the concentration of wealth. The pandemic has also included profound effects on the social reproduction of many people in the continent. At the same time, this crisis has also ignited deep reflections about the centrality of life and of care in economic and social development, the urgency of confronting social inequalities, the imperative to act against environmental devastation, and the powerful need to guarantee democratic process.

Additionally, COVID-19 is developing at the historical moment of greatest global connectivity. In this context, paradoxically, all countries have implemented measures restricting movement and confining the national space; the latter have led to policies of control over people and their bodies. Undoubtedly, these processes will have long-term effects in public and private life.

The purpose of the 2021 LASA congress in Vancouver is to convene people who study the societies and cultures of Latin American and the Caribbean to reflect on globalization and its impacts on the lives of its inhabitants, the institutional architecture of its states, and the cultural dynamics on the continent. The management of the crisis, and the consequences for the most vulnerable, demonstrate the need to reflect on the causes of that vulnerability in both historical and contemporary terms.

The current crisis exacerbates various tendencies that were already present in the social, cultural, economic, and political life of the region. We have experienced dramatic phenomena of human mobility that are illustrated in the exodus and mass intraregional migration and also South-North migration flows. Certain authoritarian political dynamics have also been reinforced in emergency contexts. The slow growth of economies, as well as the worsening of structural inequalities, reveal dynamics of the labor market characterized by informality and insecurity. Finally, the persistent exclusion of indigenous peoples and people of African descent, and other forms of human right violations, all show that the need to deliberate on democracy is as valid as ever in the region.

In the last year, Latin America and the Caribbean went through widespread situations of social protest in various countries. Mass movements were triggered not only around problems like poverty and social injustice but also demands related to the fight against gender violence and femicide, the legalization of abortion, enforced disappearances, the defense of natural resources and territories, movements for peace and against selective murders, and, of course, democracy. Social protest becomes a strategic site for understanding resistance and the limits of our political systems at different scales: local, national, and global.

The current crisis has created a series of ruptures that have revived the memory of various authoritarian expressions and practices in Latin America. The events of the last year invite us to rethink the current situation without forgetting the past and its legacy, and to exercise collective memory to identify the multiple cultural and societal responses that have been formulated in other critical periods. It is necessary, in this sense, to reflect on the different ways power has manifested and on how societies have responded throughout history to express their malaise and proposals for change.

New challenges put pressure on states and societies in Latin America and the Caribbean. This call for LASA2021 congress is also a call to contribute from our disciplines and fields of knowledge to the debate around access to justice, basic rights, and the construction and consolidation of democratic regimes.

Lastly, having the global nature of COVID-19 as the axis of discussion also offers the opportunity to link debates between the social sciences, the humanities, and other sciences such as biology and the health sciences. We hope that this congress will also make these bridges possible.

This call plans for a hybrid congress that enables both face-to-face participation in the city of Vancouver, if the evolution of the global health situation allows it, and virtual participation.

Select the most appropriate track for your proposal from the list below and enter it in the designated space of the submission system. You can send your proposal to one track only. Names of Program Committee members are provided for information only. Direct your correspondence to the LASA Secretariat ONLY.

NEW PROGRAM TRACKS FOR LASA2021

AFR / Indigenous Peoples, Afrodescendants and Other Epistemologies and Co-production of Knowledge

Luis Alberto Tuaza (Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo)
Claudia Miranda (Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)

ASA / Asia and the Americas

Takeshi Wada (University of Tokyo)

FCO / Fighting COVID-19: Epidemia, Past and Present

América Molina del Villar (CIESAS)

SLS / Sexualities and LGBTI Studies

Maria Amelia Viteri (Universidad San Francisco de Quito)
Joseph Pierce (Stony Brook University)

PERMANENT PROGRAM TRACKS

AGR / Agrarian and Food Studies

Flávia Charão Marques (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul)
Myriam Paredes (FLACSO Ecuador)

ART/ Art, Music and Performance Studies

Ketty Wong (University of Kansas)
Victoria Eli (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

CHI / Childhood and Youth Studies

Monique Voltarelli (Universidad de Brasilia)
Joanna Dreby (University of Albany)

CIV / Civil Societies and Social Movements

Jessica Rich (Marquette University)
Santiago Anria (Dickinson College)

CUL / Culture, Power and Political Subjectivities

Massimo Modonesi (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Enrique Jaramillo Buenaventura (Universidad ISECI)

DEM / Democratization and Political Process

Julieta Suárez-Cao (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
Juan C. Olmeda (El Colegio de México)

ECO / Economics and Political Economy

Fernando Leiva (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Marisa Bucheli (Universidad de la República Uruguay)

EDU / Education

David Post (Penn State College of Education)
Cristina Cielo (FLACSO Ecuador)
Paola Vargas Moreno (Investigadora Independiente)

ENV / Environment, Nature and Climate Change

Diana Carolina Ojeda (CIDER –Universidad de los Andes)
Karsten Paerregaard (University of Gothenburg)

FIL / Film Studies

Amalia Córdova (Smithsonian Center for Folklife)
Maria Helena Rueda (Smith College)

GEN / Feminism and Gender Studies

Montserrat Sagot (Universidad de Costa Rica)
Elizabeth Friedman (University of San Francisco)

HEA / Health Policies

Roberto Castro (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - CRIM)

HIS / History and Archaeology

Alejandra Osorio (Wellesley College)
Ángela Vergara (California State University)

HUM / Human Rights and Memory

Karina Ansolabehere (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Adriana González Gil (Universidad de Antioquia)

INT / International Relations/Global Studies

Paz Milet (Universidad de Chile)
Jeffrey Pugh (University of Massachusetts Boston)

LAB / Labor Studies

Erynn Masi de Casanova (University of Cincinnati)
Rodolfo Elbert (CONICET/Universidad de Buenos Aires)

LAN / Language and Linguistics

Armando Muyolema (University of Wisconsin at Madison)
Anna María Escobar (University of Illinois)

LAT / Latinx Studies

Xóchitl Bada (University of Illinois)
Larry La Fountain- Stokes (University of Michigan)

LAW / Law and Justice

Camilo Saavedra (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Kenneth Sebastian Leon (Rutgers University)

LIT / Literature Studies

Héctor Hoyos (Stanford University)
Diego Falconi (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona)
Cristián Opazo (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
Ana Forcinito (University of Minnesota)

MED / Media Studies

Gabriela Martínez (University of Oregon)
Mariana De Maio (Lehigh University)
Sonia De La Cruz (University of Washington)

MIG / Migration and refugees

Luin Goldring (York University)
Soledad Alvarez (University of Houston)
Tanya Basok (University of Windsor)

POL / Political Institutions

Javier Corrales (Amherst College)
Carolina Curvale (FLACSO Ecuador)

PUB / Public and Social Policies

Christina Ewig (University of Minnesota)
Rossana Castiglioni (Universidad Diego Portales)

RAC / Race and Ethnicities

Ana Ramos-Zayas (Yale University)
Mercedes Prieto (FLACSO Ecuador)

REL / Religion, politics and society

Olga Odgers Ortiz (El Colegio de la Frontera Norte)
Roberto Blancarte (El Colegio de México)

SCH / Scholarly Resources

Jade Madrid (Georgetown University)
Holly Ackerman (Duke University)

URB / Urban Studies

Manuel Dammert (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
Ana Paula Pimentel (University of Michigan)

VIO / Security and Violence

Marco Cepik (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul)
Angélica Durán Martínez (University of Massachusetts, Lowell)