About Us

The Observatory on Latin America

The Observatory on Latin America (OLA) proposes to create new opportunities for multiple narratives and public debate on hemispheric processes of reform and change. The broad theme for the OLA is “Social Democracy in a Globalized World: Anticipating Futures in Latin America.”

The OLA at The New School was formally launched at The New School in September 2006 by the current Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, during the event “Expectations and Experiences for the Latin America Region”, in which she chaired the panel as Senator and President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Senate of Argentina.

The establishment of the OLA comes at a time of political change and renewed interest in Latin America in the United States. New leaders in Latin America are seeking new policies and approaches to strengthen democracy, to define new economic and social policies, and to achieve social justice in the region. These efforts are rarely reported to North American audiences but are frequently lost in the single narratives of established newspapers and television channels.

OLA also serves as a coordinating framework to widen the impact and resources of two successful existing complementary University programs: the Argentina Observatory and the Janey Program on Latin America, to establish a University-wide Program of Research, Teaching, and Public Events. The formal linking of the Argentina Observatory - the only program of research and public events on Argentina in the United States, which is now well-known and has a considerable constituency in the US and Argentina - and the Janey Program - a program of research fellowships for graduate students and faculty and some conferences - will enhance both programs by creating a critical mass and focal point for University-wide activities in Latin America.

Objectives

The broad objectives of OLA are to:

Improve academic and public understanding by observing and studying the processes of political and economic change underway in Latin America.
Foster a public dialogue between and within the United States and Latin America about the challenges of building social democracy in a globalized world, including creating opportunities for Latin American leaders to directly express their views to audiences in the United States.
Collaborate with Latin American institutions to further these objectives within countries across the Hemisphere by linking and mobilizing ideas and institutions.

Themes for 2008

OLA has embarked on an ambitious work plan for the 2007-2010 period based on two specific themes:

Who we are

Professor Michael Cohen is the Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) of the New School, a multi-disciplinary Master’s degree program focused on developing countries. Started in 2001, the GPIA currently has 300 graduate students from 62 countries, offers 55 courses each semester in subjects related to poverty and inequality, economic management, cities and urbanization, governance and human rights, and conflict and security. In its seventh year, the GPIA has already graduated 350 students who are working in development organizations around the world.

Professor Margarita Gutman is an Argentine urban historian and Associate Professor of Urban Studies and International Affairs in the New School for General Studies. She also holds a Chair in Architectural History at the University of Buenos Aires, where she directs the staff and work program of the Bicentennial Program within the Department of International Affairs. She is also the Director of the Associated Urban Development and History Program of the International Institute for Environment and Development – America Latina, an NGO in Buenos Aires.

Bernardo Kliksberg is Chief Advisor, UNDP. Latinamerican Bureau, Honorary Profesor University of Buenos Aires, and author of many books, the most recent "First the people" coauthored with Nobel Amartya Sen. Kliksberg is the Senior Advisor of the Observatory on Latin America.

Valeria Luzardo is the Coordinator of the OLA, a graduate student at the GPIA New School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Communication Studies from Universidad Católica and she was journalist in Uruguay.

The New School University has distinguished faculty who are working on and in Latin America, including:

Mala Htun, Assistant Professor of political science at the New School for Social Research. She is the author of Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies. Her current research focuses on the politics of representing women and ethnic and racial minorities in Latin America and worldwide.
Hugh Raffles, Chair and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the New School for Social Research, specialized in cultural and historical anthropology of "nature." His research interests include cultural politics of nature, human-nonhuman relations, taxonomy and classification, and politics and practice of writing. He is author of In Amazonia: A Natural History.
Aida Rodriguez, Professor at the Milano School of Urban Policy and Management, with long experience in Latin America with Rockefeller Foundation. She co-authored "Latino Nonprofits: The Role of Intermediaries in Organizational Capacity Building," in A Future for Everyone: Innovative Social Responsibility and Community Partnerships.
Alec Gershberg, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy with experience at the World Bank on education policy in Latin America. He leads Milano students to Mexico City for a one week field course on educational policy each spring semester. He is lead author of the book Beyond 'Bilingual' Education: New Immigrants and Public School Policies in California.
Paul Ross, Assistant Professor of History at Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, a historian focused on the political, social and intellectual history of Latin America and Europe, with special interest in public health in Mexico. He is author of the publication Pan American Medical Encounters: Mexican, American, and Canadian Physicians in the American Public Health Association, 1887-1892.
Adriana Abdenur, Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the New School. She is a Brazilian urban sociologist specialized in international development, urban inequality, education, and environmental sociology. She is author of Favelas on the Asphalt: Land Conflicts in Urban Brazil.
Federico Finchelstein, Assistant Professor of History at NSSR and Lang, working on history and theory, comparative and transnational fascism, intellectual and cultural history of Latin America and Europe, history and politics, and holocaust studies and historiography. He is the author of Fascismo, Liturgia e Imaginario. El mito del general Uriburu y la Argentina nacionalista.

In addition, a number of notable Part-Time Faculty who focus on Latin America and other critical development issues teach at the GPIA, including:

Alberto Minujín, an Argentine Mathematician with postgraduate studies in Applied Statistics and Demography. He was Senior Programme Officer, Policy Analysis, at the Global Policy Section in the Division of Policy and Planning of UNICEF Head Quarters (New York), working on social policy, poverty and human rights issues. He has published numerous articles, papers and books, including The Middle Class Seduced and Abandoned, Globalization and Human Rights, The New Poor: Proposal for Inclusive Societies.
Enrique Delamonica, an Argentine New School-trained economist formerly policy analyst at UNICEF, where he worked on the impact of social services, poverty reduction and human development strategies. He has published several articles and books, including Eliminating Human Poverty: Macroeconomic and Social Policies for Equitable Growth.
Barry Herman, an American economist, former Senior Advisor of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations and coordinator of Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002. His latest book, jointly edited with Christian Barry and Lydia Tomitova, is Dealing Fairly with Developing Country Debt.
Peter Lucas, an American specialist on human rights and media with long history working in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. His research and teaching interests include international studies in human rights, human rights and photography, the poetics of witnessing, peace education, human rights education, and documentary practice.

Founding partners

This program is supported by founding partners: The Alexander Family Foundation and Julien Studley.