DRCLAS announces visiting scholars and fellows

Each year, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) selects a number of distinguished scholars and professionals, many from Latin America, to spend a minimum of one semester at Harvard. While in residence, visiting scholars and fellows spend time working on their own research and writing projects, making use of the University’s extensive library resources, participating in the center’s conferences and seminars, and interacting with faculty and students. Many of the DRCLAS Visiting Scholars and Fellows are supported by endowed fellowships named in honor of the donor. In April 2003, the executive committee of the center selected visiting scholars for the 2003-04 academic year from a pool of more than 80 applicants.

The following is a list of successful candidates who accepted the invitation and will be visiting Harvard in the coming academic year.

Antonius Robben has been a professor of anthropology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands since 1993. His interests in the field of cultural anthropology cover a large spectrum and his proposed research topic is titled “Southern Sorrrows: Trauma, Memory and Reconciliation in Post-Authoritarian Latin America.” Robben received an M.A. in sociology in 1976 and an M.Phil. in anthropology in 1979 from the Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He received an M.A. in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1986, both in anthropology, from the University of California, Berkeley. He has been awarded the Central American Visiting Scholar position for spring of 2004.

Teresa Iturriaga is a professor in the Departamento de Biología de Organismos at the Universidad Simón Bolîvar in Caracas, Venezuela. Her research project is titled “Discomycete Systematics: Production of an Overview of the Order Helotiales.” Iturriaga received a B.S. in biology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1981, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mycology from Cornell University in 1984 and 1990, respectively. She joins DRCLAS as the Cisneros Visiting Scholar in fall 2003.

Gonzalo Aguilar joins DRCLAS from the Instituto de Literatura Hispanoamericana at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He has been a visiting professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Stanford University. His project is titled “1967-1976: Cultural Configuration and Aesthetics of Guerrilla Fighters in Argentina and Brazil.” Aguilar received a liberal arts degree in 1992 and a Ph.D. in literature in 2001, both from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He joins DRCLAS as the De Fortabat Visiting Scholar during fall 2003.

María Helena Machado has been professor of Latin American history at the University of São Paulo in Brazil since 1993. Her interests are Brazilian social history and the legacy of slavery in Brazil. She received both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in history from the University of São Paulo. She joins DRCLAS as a visiting fellow during fall 2003.

Monica Amor is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Art History Department of Hunter College, New York. She has been a visiting assistant professor in the School of Architecture at the Pratt Institute, New York, and was an adjunct professor in the Art History Department of SUNY, New Paltz. Her work at DRCLAS will focus on “Gego and Crisis of Geometric Abstraction in Americas (Venezuela and Brazil).” Amor received a B.A. in social communications from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in 1990 and a Ph.D. in modern and contemporary art from the City University of New York in 2002. She joins DRCLAS as the Lemann Visiting Scholar during fall 2003.

Alfredo Rehren has been associate professor in the Instituto de Ciencia Política at the Universidad Católica de Chile since 1993. His interests and research at DRCLAS will focus on “Politics and Corruption in Chilean Democracy.” Rehren received a B.A. in political science from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania in 1971, and conducted graduate studies at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Santiago de Chile, and the University of Manchester, England. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas, Austin in 1986. He joins DRCLAS as the Luksic Visiting Scholar during fall 2003.

Orlandina de Oliveira is professor of sociology at the Center for Sociological Studies, El Colegio de México. Her sociological interests have led to a proposed research project titled “Transition to Adulthood and Gender Relations in Urban Areas of Mexico and Brazil.” De Oliveira received a B.A. in sociology and political science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1966, an M.A. in sociology from the Latin American Faculty of Social Science, Santiago de Chile, in 1968, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1975. She joins DRCLAS as the Madero/Fundación México Visiting Scholar during spring 2004.

Soledad Loaeza holds a joint appointment as an honorary Madero/Fundanción México Visiting Scholar and a Radcliffe Fellow. She is professor of politics at El Colegio de México. Her research while at Harvard will focus on a project titled “Mexican Presidency in the 20th Century: The Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Administration.” Loaeza received a B.A. in international relations from El Colegio de México in 1972, an M.A. from Geschwister Scholl Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen in 1974, and a Ph.D. in political science from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris in 1984. She joins DRCLAS for the full 2003 – 04 academic year.

Paula Alonso is currently associate professor in the Department of Humanities, Universidad de San Andrés, in Buenos Aires and researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Técnica, Argentina. Her research focuses on national politics in modern Argentina. Alonso received a B.A. in politics from the Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires, and a Ph.D. in politics from Oxford University. She joins DRCLAS as the Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar.

Luis Fernando Duque joins DRCLAS and the School of Public Health as a Santo Domingo Visiting Scholar from the National School of Public Health in Medellín, Colombia, where he serves as a part-time faculty member. He is also president of the board of trustees for the Colombian Health Association. While at Harvard, Duque plans to study violence in Colombia. He holds a B.A. in public health from the Universidad de Antioquía, Medellín, an M.A. in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, and an M.D. in medicine and surgery from the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín. Duque will be in residence during fall 2003.

María Clemencia Ramírez de Jara is senior researcher at the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, Bogotá. She will spend her time at DRCLAS writing on the issue of “Plan Colombia in the Colombian Amazon.” Ramírez received a B.A. in anthropology from the Universidad de los Andes in 1977, an M.A. in history from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 1994, and an A.M. and Ph.D. in social anthropology in 1996 and 2001, respectively, from Harvard. She joins DRCLAS as the Santo Domingo Visiting Scholar for the full 2003 – 04 academic year.