Past activities

4:30 pm Questions and Answers

4:50 pm Conclusions: Margarita Gutman, Director, Building Latin American Bicentennials Program, OLA/The New School

This event took place within the framework of the Regional Coordination and Dialogue Meeting of the 2nd International Call for Papers and Audiovisual Presentations "Bicentennials in Action: Commemoration, Economic Crisis, and Political Mobilization in Latin America".

OLA / The New School
66 West 12th Street, Room 510 New York, NY
February 19, 3:00 · 5:00 pm

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Conference "Beyond the Economic Crisis: Assessing Impact and Defining New Norms for Economic Policy in Latin America"
November 2-3, 2009 · New York, United States

A two-day conference was held on November 2-3, 2009, at the New School University in New York to assess the impact of the global economic crisis in Latin America and to identify new norms for economic policy and the framework for regionalization and cooperation between North and South. This discussion occurred within an evolving historical context in which the governments of the Latin American region have sought to strengthen their own regional frameworks and identify alternative policy approaches to those of the Washington Consensus.

The focus of the conference was to address the following questions:

• What have been the short and longer term impacts of the global economic crisis on Latin America?
• What are the alternative approaches to policy and strategy which have been applied by governments within the region and what lessons can be drawn for their use in the longer term?
• What are the elements of a new normative framework which might help in the recovery from the current crisis and in prevention of impacts of future crises on Latin America?
• Given the trends towards greater regional cooperation in Latin America, will this crisis increase or reduce regionalization and/or North-South cooperation?

The conference brought together government officials, representatives of international organizations, and academics to present papers and debate alternative options for policy and development strategy. The conference focused on Latin America within a broader global perspective and also included perspectives from other regions, including China and India.

Participants:

• Martín Abeles, former Secretary of Economic Policy, Government of Argentina
• James Adams, Vice-President for East Asia and the Pacific, The World Bank
• Andrew Arato, Professor of Sociology, The New School
• Nelson Barbosa, Secretary of Economic Policy, Federal Government of Brazil
• Robert Buckley, Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation
• Martha Chen, Harvard University
• Michael Cohen, Director, The Observatory on Latin America
• Alberto Croce, President, Fundacion SES, Buenos Aires
• Alberto Fernández, former Minister and Chief of Cabinet, Government of Argentina, 2003-2008
• Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs, The New School, and former Director, Human Development Report, UNDP
• Teresa Ghilarducci, Director, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy
• Stephany Griffith-Jones, Professor of Economics, Columbia University
• Margarita Gutman, Associate Professor, International Affairs and Urban Studies
• Jeff Madrick, Research Director, The Schwartz Center for Economic Policy, The New School, and author of recent book, The Case for Big Government
• Tim Marshall, Provost, The New School
• Professor Will Milberg, The New School
• Alberto Minujin, Fellow OLA, The New School
• Juan Carlos Moreno Brid, United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico
• Professor Deepak Nayyar, Professor of Economics, The New School
• Floyd Norris, Chief Financial Writer, The New York Times
• José Antonio Ocampo, Professor of Economics, Columbia University
• Lisa Servon, Dean, Milano School of Management and Urban Policy
• Anwar Shaikh, Professor of Economics, The New School
• Professor Lance Taylor, Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research

With co-sponsorship with the India-China Institute and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.

Monday, November 2, 2009 - 10:00am-6:30pm
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 9:30am-7:00pm
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor.

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• + See "Highlights of the Conference"

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The Challenges of Progressive Governments in Latin America: the experience of the Frente Amplio administration in Uruguay · A presidential lecture with Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay
September 21, 2009 · The New School, New York

Tabaré Vázquez, an oncologist and former mayor of Montevideo, became the first Uruguayan Frente Amplio president in 2005, after winning more than 50% of the vote in the national elections. The Frente Amplio is a coalition of progressive groups.

Vázquez's administration carried out important reforms in the health and tax systems, and implemented an "emergency plan" of social policies to assist the urgent needs of the most deprived Uruguayans. His government has also undertaken investigations of human-rights violations committed during military rule in the 1970s and 80s.

In the last year of his term, President Vázquez gave an overview of the economic and social policies implemented during his government, as well as of the process of integration in Latin America.

September 21, 2009. 4:00pm-6:00pm. Orozco Room. 66 West 12th Street, 7th Floor. New York.

• + Read Highlights of this Conference
• + See Pictures of the event
• + See program
• + Audio of the speech in Spanish
• + Read President Vázquez´s speech (in Spanish)
• + See complete biography of President Tabaré Vázquez
• + See poster

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Factories Without Bosses: an Argentinian experience · Conversation with Dr. Ana María Fernández
September 16, 2009 · The New School, New York

Argentinean worker-run factories developed with the worst economic crisis of this country after 2001. About 220 companies -factories without bosses- produce today without owners, managers, foremen or engineers. Nevertheless, they are economically viable, they've increased their salaries, have created new jobs and some of them are even exporting their products. Their workers are horizontally organized. They decide altogether by assemblies. Self-management factories also have created cultural centers, high schools, medical services and libraries. How do they do it?

Ana María Fernández is Phd in Psychology. Psychoanalyst and Institutional Analyst. Professor and Researcher of Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she is head of the interdisciplinary post-graduate program "Programa de Actualización en el Campo de Problemas de la Subjetividad", Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Fernández is currently head of UBACyT Research "Autogestión, Estado y producción de subjetividad: experiencias de fábricas y empresas recuperadas en Argentina." She has been promoted to the highest researching category of Universidad de Buenos Aires and has been rewarded for her scientific work.

She serves as a guest professor at a number of universities in Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Madrid, Barcelona, and also at Université París 8, Vinecennes - Saint Denis in France. In 2002, she was invited to The Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School University.

Fernandéz is author, among many others, of the following books: El Campo Grupal: Notas para una Genealogía. (Ed. Nueva Visión, Buenos Aires, 1989; con traducción al portugués editada por Editorial Martins Fontes de Sao Pablo, Brasil, 2006), La Mujer de la Ilusión. (Ed. Paidós, Buenos Aires, 1993), Política y Subjetividad. Asambleas barriales y Fábricas recuperadas, Biblos, 2008), Las lógicas colectivas. Imaginarios, cuerpos y multiplicidades (Ed. Biblos, Buenos Aires, 2007). y Las lógicas sexuales: Amor, política y violencias (Ed. Nueva Visión).

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 · 4:00pm-6:00pm
West 12th Street, room 609, 6th floor.

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Uruguay, its current situation and its integration to contemporary Latin America · A talk with the Uruguayan historian and political analyst Gerardo Caetano
August 27, 2009 · The New School, New York

Caetano is a Uruguayan historian and political analyst. Ph.D. in History, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. Academic Coordinator of the Observatorio Político at the Instituto de Ciencia Política, Universidad de la República since 2005. Between 2000 and 2005, he directed this institute. Among other activities, he is the Academic Director at the Centro para la Formación en Integración Regional (CEFIR), President of the Centro UNESCO at Montevideo since its foundation in 2003 and member of the Real Academia Española. Caetano was selected as the Academic Supervisor of the official report on Human Right violations Terrorismo de Estado y el destino final de los detenidos desaparecidos durante la dictadura militar (2005-2006).

Caetano has edited more than 150 publications, among them Los años de prisión bajo la dictadura (1973-1984), the three tomes of Historias de la vida privada en el Uruguay (co-authored with Teresa Porzecanski and José Pedro Barrán), El proceso previo al golpe de Estado (1972-1973), Antología del Discurso Político en el Uruguay, La encrucijada política del MERCOSUR (co-authored with Rubén M. Perina), and Breve historia de la dictadura (co-authored with José Rilla). He is also author of many articles in specialized magazines in Uruguay and abroad, as well as of many chapters in international compilations. He has received many national and international awards for his work.

Thursday, August 27, 2009 – 4:00pm-6:00pm, room 609, West 12th Street, Sixth Floor.

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"The Many Centers of Havana" · A talk with the Cuban Architect Mario Coyula-Cowley
August 24, 2009 · The New School, New York

Mario Coyula-Cowley (Havana, 1935) is an architect, urban designer and critic. Profesor de Mérito (University Professor), National Prize of Architecture (2001) and of Habitat (2004), both life-long awards. Former director of the School of Architecture, of the Architecture and Urban Planning department, and of the Group for the Integral Development, all in Havana; and first president of Havana’s Landmarks Commission. Co-author of two competition-winning commemorative monuments considered innovative in that field. Author or co-author of five books and more than 190 essays, articles and reviews in 31 foreign and 19 Cuban publications. A book he co-authored, Havana. Two faces of the Antillean metropolis, received in 1998 the Choice prize for relevant academic books in the United States.

Fellow of the SIGUS program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and member of LIAT (Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Infrastructures, l’Architecture et le Territoire), at l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture, Paris-Malaquais. Member of the editorial board of Revista Bimestre Cubana, Arquitectura y Urbanismo and Temas (all published in Havana), and of Archivos de Arquitectura de las Antillas (Santo Domingo) and Topos (Belo Horizonte). In 2002 he was the RFK Visiting Professor from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, teaching for a semester at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. In 2006 he was Guest Professor at the Urban Strategies graduate program in the Angewandte (Applied Arts University), Vienna, teaching two full-time urban design workshops. In 2007 he was commissioned by ICOMOS International to evaluate the nomination of Buenos Aires as a Cultural Heritage in the List of World Heritage. Coyula has lectured extensively in Cuba, United States, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Dominican Republic.

Monday, August 24, 2009 – 4:00pm-6:00pm, room 609, West 12th Street, Sixth Floor.

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April 10, 2009:
The Future of US-Latin American Relations

A one-day seminar to review the recent reports prepared by the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, the Americas Society, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from the perspective of Latin Americans involved in these issues. These reports were prepared in the United States with few genuine Latin American voices in the process. This seminar seeks to include them in the discussion.

Speakers:

• Ariel Bergamino, Presidential Advisor to President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay
• Marcelo Brignoni, Representative, Santa Fe Chamber of Deputies, Argentina
• Lázaro Cárdenas, Former governor of the Michoacan State, Mexico
• Torcuato Di Tella, former Secretary of Culture in Argentina
• María Fernanda Espinosa, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations
• Joao Feres, Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas do Río de Janeiro
• Greg Grandin, a historian of US-Latin American Relations, New York University
• Anwar Shaikh, Professor, Department of Economics, The New School
• Jaime Sorín, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning of the University of Buenos Aires and one of the founders of the Carta Abierta Movement
• Pablo Solón, Permanent Representative of Bolivia to the United Nations
• José Luis Valdés Ugalde, Director, Centro de Investigaciones Sobre América del Norte de UNAM, Mexico
• Federico Vázquez Calero, researcher-advisor, UNDP Regional Project on Political Analysis and Prospective Scenarios

This conference was jointly held with the Janey Program at The New School University.

Friday, April 10, 2009 - 9:30am-7:00pm, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street, Fifth Floor (enter at 66 West 12th Street).

• + See Program
• + See Images

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February 26 and 27, 2009:
Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization Regional Conference
United States, New York

In the context of the program "Building Latin American", a regional conference to reflect on the present and past of the commemorations of national independence in Latin American countries was held at The New School.
Three themes were discussed including; 1. the different modes by which Latin American countries constructed their national centennial commemorations and how they left their mark on their respective cities and visual imagination; 2. Interpretation of present reflections and preparations of the Bicentennials in these countries; and 3. Comparison of these themes between past and present and across Latin American countries.
Well-known scholars from Latin America, the United States and Europe participated in this Regional Conference, where the five submissions awarded by the International Call for Papers "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization" were presented presented.

9:30am - 5pm. The New School, New York.

Thursday, February 26, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor.
Friday, February 27, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street, Fifth Floor (enter at 66 West 12th Street).

• + See Program
• + See Highlights of the Conference
• + See Images

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March - December 2008
International Call for Submissions: Papers and Visual Digital Presentations "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization"

The OLA and FADU-UBA, in collaboration with CEPAT and the institutional support of Fundación SES, seek to bring together knowledge and information about activities and thinking about how governments and civil society constructed their centennial commemorations and how they are now constructing their bicentennials. Submissions focused on:
1. Documentation and interpretation of the different modes by which Latin American countries constructed their national centennial commemorations and how they left their mark on their respective cities and visual imagination. This could include the study of media, policies, projects, public works, social mobilization, official and civil society commemorations, cultural production, visual images and photography production and dissemination, and forms of urban transformation.
2. Documentation and interpretation of present preparations of the Bicentennials in these countries. This coulde include evidence in the above areas and other more contemporary activities related to new technologies such as videos, films, interactive projects, or internet applications.
3. Comparison of these themes between past and present and across American countries.

Organized by: Observatory on Latin America (OLA) New School University, New York and Programa Bicentenarios, Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FADU-UBA). In collaboration with Centro de Estudios del Patrimonio (CEPAT) of Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Paisaje, Universidad Central de Chile; and the institutional support of Fundación SES.
The project has been recognized by the Secretary of Culture of the Government of Argentina as of public interest.

• + See Guidelines and Rules

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February 17, 2009:
Globalization from the Ground: What Bolivia Teaches Us

A panel discussion in celebration of the release of the book Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization.
This book is a powerful, well-crafted, eyewitness account of Bolivia's rebellion from below, put together by the Democracy Center. Readers will find compelling first person accounts of Bolivia's historic water revolt; of a massive Shell-Enron oil spill and its aftermath; of a nation's battle to control its oil and gas; and of one people's dramatic and successful challenge to the policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Here too is the story of those seeking out globalization's opportunities, from indigenous weaving communities to emigrants.

Graduate Program in International Affairs (The New School) presented in collaboration with The Democracy Center (San Francisco, United States /Cochabamba, Bolivia), co-sponsored by the Observatory on Latin America (OLA) and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA).

Tuesday, February 17th, 6 p.m.
66 W 12th St., Room 510, The New School
RSVP: gpiaevents@newschool.edu

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December 1st and 2nd, 2008
First Discussion Seminar: Working papers from Argentina, Chile and Mexico

In the framework of the Program "Building Latin American Bicentennials" of the Observatory on Latin American (OLA) of The New School in New York, and the Bicentennials Program of the Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (FADU UBA), the first seminar of working papers was celebrated with researchers from Argentina, Chile and Mexico. It was held in the headquarters of the Universidad Central de Chile, Santiago.

The participants of the seminar were:

CHILE

• René Martinez Lemoine: "Santiago in the First Centennial of Independence".
• Alejandro Díaz: "From the Centennial to the Bicentennial, Memories of a Social Critic".
• Patricio Gross and Francisco Herrera: "Appropriation and Repression: The Alameda of Chile in the Last 100 Years".
• Marcelo Reyes and Pablo Morán: "Recent Governmental Management in the Perspective of Emblematic Urban Works for the Celebration".
• Mario Sobarzo: "A Tomorrow Without Today".
• Alfonso Raposo: "Architecture, City-planning and Bicentennial. Sketch of a Research Idea".

• Virginia Guedea: "About the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Beginning of Independence. The Case of Mexico".

ARGENTINA

• Miguel Carrasco and Mariano Schilman, with the collaboration of Andrés Muñoz, Javier Nesprías, Nicolás Revel Chion and Alejandro Schwindt: "Genesis of the Construction of a Comprehensive Agenda of the Bicentennial".
• Héctor Aguilar: "Images, Forms and Spaces for the Commemoration of May 25th. Inclusive experiences in the schools of the western part of Buenos Aires and the suburbs towards 2010".
• Sandra Rua: "The Bicentennial: The Media, a Means? The News and the Commemoration".
• Marina Vasta: "The Bicentennial in the City of Buenos Aires. Projects and Constructions".
• Gabriela Sorda: "Constructed Commemorations: The actions on the territory of the interior of Argentina to commemorate the Bicentennial".

• + See Program
• + See Images

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November 25, 2008
Special Forum on Social Policies in Argentina

A forum with Alicia Kirchner, Minister of Social Development of the Government of Argentina and the President of the Council on Social Policy. In collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme for Latin America and the Spain-UNDP Trust Fund "Towards an integrated and inclusive development in Latin America". Minister Kirchner has held this position since May 25, 2003. She has been the leader in the formulation of social policies to address the poverty and social needs resulting from the Argentine economic crisis of 2001-2002. This work has been highly valued by the World Bank and other international institutions. The introducer of Minister Kirchner was Dr. Bernardo Kliksberg, Chief Adviser of the Direction of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Latin America. Director of the Spain-UNDP Trust Fund "Towards an integrated and inclusive development in Latin America".

6pm-8pm, The New School. 66 West 12th St., Room 510. New York.

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November 10, 2008:
Food, Energy, and Social Justice in Latin America

Presentation of papers by Latin American experts.
In the context of the program "Latin America on the Move", a policy and research conference on Food, Energy, and Social Justice in Latin America was held as a public event. The event took place in the Lang Student Center at The New School at 55 West 13th Street, from 9:30am to 6.00pm. Participants included scholars from Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, who presented commissioned papers, as well as Bernardo Kliksberg, Chief Advisor, UNDP Latin American Bureau, and Alberto Croce, Director, Foundation SES from Argentina, among others.

• + Read Commissioned Papers
• + See Program
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September 10th to October 2nd, 2008:
Arpoador: Ephimeral Places · Sunday Evenings in Rio de Janeiro

Photographs by Peter Lucas. The third floor bridge between 66 West 12th Street and 66 West 11th Street.
Exhibition support: The Observatory on Latin America at the New School, the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts, and the Advanced Media Studio at NYU.

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September 22, 2008:
National and International Obstacles to the Quest for Social Justice in Latin America

Given the growing sense of crisis in the region, the OLA has decided to hold a roundtable discussion on this issue. This panel included Professor Jordi Borja (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain), Professor Greg Grandin, (New York University), Professor Michael Cohen, (The New School), and other well-known figures from Latin America and the United States.

The event was held in Tishman Auditorium at The New School Lang Student Center at 55 West 13th Street in New York City from 6 to 7:30pm on September 22, 2008.

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04/21/08 to 04/23/08:
Rethinking Poverty: Making Policies that Work for Children, sponsored by the Graduate School in International Affairs at The New School and UNICEF

The New School, Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street.

This was the fourth International Conference organized by the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School and UNICEF. The specific aim of the 2008 Conference was to review and mobilize the agenda on child poverty and disparity. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) mark an international commitment to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and to fostering global collaboration. Despite some progress towards the MDGs targets, millions of children remain outside of the policy agenda and unaffected by the progress. The Conference created a space for peer consultation among UNICEF international staff, The New School faculty and students, other academic and research institutions, NGO practitioners, and other external experts.  Further, the Conference will included and extended work done by UNICEF’s Global Study on “Child Poverty and Social Disparities.”

For more Information: contact Amy Paul, Conference Coordinator (childpoveryconference08@gmail.com) and Alberto Minujin, Conference Director (minujin@gmail.com).

For more Information about the upcoming or previous conferences: visit Equity For Children (www.equityforchildren.org).

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4/11/2008:
Janey Program Annual Conference, with keynote speaker Mr. Gustavo Guzmán Saldaña, Ambassador of Bolivia to the United States of America, and special guest Estela Carlotto.

The Latin American region has witnessed a mounting opposition to neo-liberalism over the course of the last decade. Particularly the most recent developments in Bolivia and Venezuela raise questions with critical implications for various fields of study, from political economy to political theory. With keynote speaker Mr. Gustavo Guzmán Saldaña, Ambassador of Bolivia to the United States of America, and special guest Estela Carlotto, President of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and recipient of The New School University in Exile Award in 2006, these questions were addressed by a panel of experts including Sujatha Fernandes, Greg Grandin, Bernardo Kliksberg, Philip Oxhorn, Fred Rosen and David Schneiderman.

Conference organizers
The Janey Program in Latin American Studies & Observatory on Latin America, The New School
Conference date & time
Friday April 11, 2008, 9:45 am – 6:00 pm
Location
79 Fifth Ave, Room 906

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04/11/2008 to 04/17/2008:
Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY)

The HFFNY is an internationally recognized film festival celebrating Latin American cinema. In its 9th year, HFFNY features the most current cinematic talent alongside the familiar from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the United States.

• To get information about tickets and screenings: www.hffny.com

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02/27/2008:
Religion and politics in Argentina. From Catholic hegemony to plurality of the religious field

A conversation with Verónica Giménez Beliveau, a researcher in Social Sciences at the CONICET and adjunct associate professor at University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Social Sciences.

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11/06/2007:
Documenting Latin America’s Political · “A closer look at Cocalero”

A panel with Alejandro Landes and Simone Duarte, Moderated by Carlos Gutierrez with opening remarks by Michael Cohen.

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10/23/2007:
Presentation of Pino Solana’s award winning documentary film “Memoria del Saqueo”

Followed by a conversation with Alejandro Olmos.

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9/25/2007:
Youth, Drugs, and the Struggle for Social Inclusion in Metropolitan Buenos Aires

A conversation with the Argentine Congressman Fernando Navarro.

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4/26 & 27/2007:
Social Democracy in a Globalized World

A Conference organized by the Janey Program in Latin American Studies and the Observatory on Latin America (OLA).

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2/2/2007: 
Political Systems of Argentina, Brazil and Chile Compared

By the Argentine political scientist Torcuato Di Tella.

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9/19/2006:
Expectations and Experiences from Latin America

A panel with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Senator of Argentina and President of the Commission on Constitutional Affairs at the Senate of Argentina; David Choquehuanca Céspedes, Foreign Minister of Bolivia; Marco Aurelio García, Presidential Advisor of the President, Brazil; Heraldo Muñoz, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations; Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States. Introduction and final remarks by Michael Cohen and presentation by Margarita Gutman.

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