Newsletter No. 19 – 03/26/2015
26.03.2015
Dear members of the International Research Training Group ‘Between Spaces’ and those interested in the IRTG,
We hope you enjoy this nineteenth issue of the IRTG ‘Between Spaces’ newsletter, which is intended to inform you about our news and current events.
New PhD scholarships
The International Research Training Group ‘Between Spaces. Movements, Actors and Representations of Globalisation’ invites qualified candidates to apply for 13 PhD grants. For more information, please click here. Applications may be in English or Spanish and must be submitted electronically to https://apply.drs.fu-berlin.de/lai/ by April 30, 2015.
Recent Events
February 5, 2015, Inter-institutional Colloquium, El Colegio de México
On February 5, the first Inter-institutional Colloquium of the year took place at El Colegio de México. The participants included professors Carlos Alba, Alberto Aziz, Marisa Belausteguigoitia, Ilán Bizberg, Teresa Carbó, Luz Elena Gutiérrez de Velasco, Bernd Hausberger, Antonio Ibarra, Ricardo Pérez Montfort, Jean François Prud´homme, Mariano Torres, Lorenza Villa Lever, Liliana Weinberg, Guillermo Zermeño, as well as graduate students Brenda Rodríguez Juárez, Lorena Rodríguez León, Jaqueline Garza Placencia, Dolores De León Olivares, and Veremundo Carrillo Reveles.
In this session, doctoral students Brenda Rodríguez Juárez from El Colegio de México and Lorena Rodríguez León from Freie Universität Berlin introduced their current research projects.
Brenda Rodríguez presented her project ‘El espacio de experiencia en México: prisioneras en el sector B III de Auschwitz Birkenau, mayo – octubre de 1944’ with commentary from Rosalina Estrada Urroz (BUAP).
Lorena Rodríguez spoke on ‘La construcción de un imperio global. El papel de los misioneros en la reconfiguración del espacio en Filipinas. Siglos XVI-XVII’ with commentary from José Antonio Cervera Jiménez (El Colegio de México/CEAA).
Both presentations stimulated a lively discussion about space, globalization, and gender.
(Karina Esparza, IRTG Mexico)
February 12, 2015, Marco Estrada: ‘Política popular contestataria: reflexiones teóricas y metodológicas’, Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
On February 12, we had the pleasure of welcoming the sociologist Marco Estrada as visiting scholar for the International Research Training Group ‘Between Spaces’. Marco Estrada is a professor at the Colegio de México. His research focuses on contemporary social theory, theory of social systems, political conflicts, and social movements and the anthropology of the state.
Marco Estrada started the workshop with a stimulating lecture. After describing four interviews with members of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and Oaxaca’s Popular Assembly, Estrada highlighted some theoretical and methodological problems in studying the politics of these popular actors and social movements in particular. The first part of the lecture laid out the two major theoretical traditions of the study of social movements. Estrada then described their inherent theoretical problems, and closed his talk by outlining a number of methodological indications for the study of the popular political contestation of social movements – indications that are also useful for studying the cultures of popular actors.
The second part of the workshop focused on the research of some of the PhD students at the IRTG ‘Between Spaces’. As some in our group had sent the descriptions of their investigations to Marco Estrada a few weeks prior to the workshop, there was already a good basis for discussion. After a short introduction of the participants, Marco Estrada commented on their work, offering both encouragement and constructive advice.
In sum, the workshop was an important opportunity for participants to gain further inspiration for their own work. From the well-received introductory presentation to the helpful comments on the PhD students’ research projects and the lively discussions, the workshop was highly enriching for everyone involved.
(Katharina Farys, IRTG Berlin/Potsdam)
February 13, 2015, Interdisciplinary Colloquium, Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
On February 13, the last of the winter sessions of the Interdisciplinary Colloquium took place at the Latin American Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin. This was the closing event of a productive winter semester and it was especially well attended by PhD scholarship holders and professors of the programme alike. We had the pleasure of listening to four highly engaging presentations that stimulated a lively discussion among the participants.
To start, Fernando Baldraia presented ‘The Boundaries of History’s Goal: The Ends of History’. His talk elaborated on the draft of the first chapter of his dissertation, which proposes a new theoretical model for historical research. Susanne Klengel responded with informative commentary.
Next, postdoctoral fellow Nadia Zysman spoke about the historical links between migration, gender, and work. Her presentation, called ‘Descosiendo fronteras: relaciones de género y sentidos de pertenencia de la comunidad judía en el mundo textil de Sao Paulo y Buenos Aires (1880-1960)’ introduced the audience to the basic outline of her next research project.
Indra Labardini, a postdoctoral fellow from Mexico, continued the session with her presentation ‘México y el Caribe ¿Mar, región o frontera? Una definición transnacional y transcultural en la Primera Guerra Mundial’. She analyzed the historical underpinnings involved in the construction of conceptualizations about the ‘Caribbean’. Priscila Pilatowsky followed up the talk with valuable commentary.
Isabel Rodríguez, a PhD student from Mexico, presented her project ‘Biocombustibles en un mercado energético dominado por el petróleo: ¿seguridad energética? o ¿inseguridad alimenticia, despojo y desigualdad en América Latina?’. The presentation gave way to a lively discussion about the consequences of the production of biofuels to the food security of Latin American countries.
Finally, IRTG PhD scholarship holder Carla Russ presented part of the progress of her dissertation ‘Between Sources: the Manifold Faces of German Propaganda in Latin America during World War I’. Among other topics, Carla spoke about the diverse propaganda strategies that Germany utilized to promote its ideas and further its interests among the German speaking population in Latin America during the First World War.
(Kenya Herrera, IRTG Berlin/Potsdam)
February 19, 2015, Inter-institutional Colloquium, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM
On February 19, the second Inter-institutional Colloquium took place at the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales (UNAM). The participants included professors Carlos Alba, Alberto Aziz, Teresa Carbó, Luz Elena Gutiérrez de Velasco Romo, Bernd Hausberger, Lorenza Villa Lever, and Liliana Weinberg as well as graduate students Veremundo Carrillo Reveles, Brenda María Rodríguez Juárez, Isabel Dolores de León, Jaqueline Garza Placencia, Kevin Niebauer, Manuel Assner, Amor Teresa Gutiérrez Sánchez.
During this session, doctoral students Veremundo Carrillo Reveles from El Colegio de México, Manuel Assner, and Kevin Niebauer from the Freie Universität Berlin introduced their current research projects.
Veremundo Carrillo presented his project ‘México en la Unión de las Repúblicas Americanas, 1901-1941: entre el "latinoamericanismo", el "interés nacional" y la cooperación internacional’ with commentary from Laura Muñoz Mata (Instituto Mora).
Manuel Assner talked about his project called ‘Does Residence Status Changes on Migrant Transfers? – The Case of Ecuadorian and Colombian Migrants in Spain’ with commentary from Manuel Ángel Castillo (El Colegio de México).
The last project, presented by Kevin Niebauer, was entitled ‘Amazonia en la narrativa ecológica-científica: entrelazamientos, continuidades y rupturas’ and commented on by Bernd Hausberger.
The three presentations stimulated a lively discussion among all the participants about the ‘between spaces’ that have historically been produced in the policies in Latin America, the movements of migrants, and the discourses on the environment.
(Karina Esparza, IRTG Mexico)
February 19-20, 2015, Conference ‘Después de Ayotzinapa: Estado, crimen organizado y sociedad civil en México’, Freie Universität Berlin
On February 19 and 20, 2015, the conference ‘Después de Ayotzinapa: Estado, crimen organizado y sociedad civil en México’ took place at the Latin American Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin, in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, the association ‘México vía Berlín’ and the International Research Training Group ‘Between Spaces’. Several PhD students of the IRTG ‘Between Spaces’ actively contributed to the organization of this event.
The conference, which was partly a response to the forced disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, had three main objectives. First, it aimed to treat the subject of violence in Mexico from the perspective of different scientific disciplines. Second, it sought to initiate a discussion in Germany on the empirical and theoretical knowledge about violence, state security, organized crime, and social movements generated by different research centers. Finally, it wanted to create a space for dialogue between academics, students and activists about the current condition of Mexico and the possibilities for change.
There was a widespread participation by researchers from a number of different disciplines, including political science, history, law, sociology, and cultural studies. Journalists, students, activists, and researchers shared their different viewpoints in the spirit of mutual exchange. This included an essential theoretical examination of different concepts of state, public security, and violence. Participants in the discussion came to appreciate that the current violent incidents in Mexico confront academia with new phenomena for which researchers still lack an appropriate set of categories.
The presence of the historians proved to be especially valuable, for they heightened the participants’ overall awareness of the continuities and ruptures in the Mexican society concerning drug trafficking and violence. In general, the different presentations opened a space for enriching discussions with the wider public. The complicated nature of Mexican public policy was obvious to everyone. The conference ultimately demonstrated how the events of Ayotzinapa – despite the Mexican authorities’ attempt to reduce them to an isolated incident – are part of a systemic crisis concerning the use of legitimate violence. The Mexican government is confronted with corruption schemes and a culture of impunity that impedes its investigation into violent events, a situation for which there is no easy solution.
(Kenya Herrera, IRTG Berlin/Potsdam)
Upcoming Events
IN BERLIN:
May 7, 2015, 2-6 pm, Institute for Latin American Studies, Room 243
Workshop with Monika Schmitz-Emans (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), ‘Encyclopaedias of the Imaginary’
May 8, 2015, 10 am-4 pm, Institute for Latin American Studies, Room 243
Interdisciplinary Colloquium
May 19, 2015, 2-4 pm, Institute for Latin American Studies, Room 243 and others
Tutoring day of the IRTG
June 2, 2015, 12 am-4 pm, Institute for Latin American Studies, Room 243
Workshop with Christian Schmid (ETH Zürich)
June 5, 2015, 10 am-4 pm, Institute for Latin American Studies, Room 243
Interdisciplinary Colloquium
June 10-13, 2015, Trier
Conference of the IRTG together with the IRTG Diversity, ‘Liminalität – Liminality – Liminalité – Liminalidad’
June 16/17, 2015, Institute for Latin American Studies
Conference of the IRTG
June 18, 2015, 6 pm Ibero-American Institute
Opening of the exhibition La Salada/Tepito
June 26/27, 2015, Institute for Latin American Studies
Congress of Young Researchers of the German Association for Latin American Studies (ADLAF)
July 3, 2015, 10 am-4 pm Institute for Latin American Studies, Room 243
Interdisciplinary Colloquium
IN MEXICO:
April 23, 2015, 4-7 pm, CIESAS, Room Juárez
Inter-institutional Colloquium
María José Grisel Enríquez Cabral (IRTG Mexico): ‘Ciudadanía activa, inclusión desigual y exclusión a la educación superior en Estados Unidos. El caso de estudio de las familias migrantes mexicanas de estatus mixto y su lucha por la DREAM Act en Phoenix, Arizona’
Juan Pablo Ulises Garrido López (IRTG Mexico): ‘Movilidad y estrategias migratorias de los peruanos en México. Posicionamientos sociales y económicos en los contextos de salida y de llegada’
May 7, 2015, 4-7 pm, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM
Inter-institutional Colloquium
May 21, 2015, 4-7 pm, El Colegio de México, room 2243
Inter-institutional Colloqium
‘50 años del rodaje de “Viva María”’
Movie screening of ‘Viva Maria!’ (France/Italy 1965) with commentary by Bernd Hausberger
