Jurgen Buchenau
Statement
It has never been more important to serve academic societies than now, when neoliberalism, precarity, and austerity threaten the survival of academic and intellectual inquiry. LASA stands at the forefront of the fight of the humanities and social sciences to stay relevant, at a time when the insights gleaned by the practitioners of these disciplines are more important than ever. LASA is the premier organization in the entire world representing Latin American Studies.
I would be most delighted to serve LASA as an Executive Council member for the next two years. It is a true honor to have been nominated as a candidate for a major role in an organization of more than 13,000 members, most of whom reside outside the United States. The LASA mission statement endeavors “to foster academic discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and to encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.” I am more than up to the task of helping LASA continue to implement this mission, having served both this organization and three other Latin Americanist academic societies since the award of my doctorate thirty years ago, and having spearheaded graduate and undergraduate curricula in Latin American Studies at UNC Charlotte, my place of employment since 1999.
I have been a participant in LASA congresses since 1994, when I presented my first major conference paper of any kind at the Congress in Atlanta. It was a life-changing experience for someone teaching world history at a small private college outside Charlotte, NC, straight out of graduate school. Since then, I have considered the LASA Congress the heart and soul of the organization: the place where Latin Americanist scholarship, teaching, and solidarity is on display and at its very best.
The issue of access to the Congress and LASA in general would be my primary focus if I am lucky enough to be elected to the Executive Council. Through its online and hybrid Congresses since COVID, LASA has done much to facilitate participation in its signature event. Much more needs to be done, especially as academia face a post-professorial future in which contingent rather than permanent faculty teach the majority of our students. At any given time, contingent faculty face termination of their employment, either for not teaching enough students or for speaking out against university or public policy priorities. LASA membership and Congress participation is a great value proposition but carries a relatively high price. I would like to find ways to lower it.
To grow the LASA membership at a time when faculty numbers are shrinking, I am also interested in continuing to broaden our reach to primary and secondary school educators, independent scholars, and members of our various publics, representing the diversity of our constituents. As a department chair and program director, I worked hard to increase diversity in all forms in the units under my care: I would pursue the same objectives as an Executive Council member.