DRCLAS awards certificates, prizes

The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) has announced that 31 Harvard students have received DRCLAS certificates in Latin American studies.

Shalini Ananthanarayanan, social studies, “Effective Abortion Rights for Victims of Rape in Mexico City: A Case Study of Policy Implementation”

Leah Aylward, environmental science and public policy, “Higher Education and Sustainable Development: A Model Toward Change”

Martha Isabel Casillas, social studies, “La Virgen Xicana: How a Traditional Image Reflects and Affects the Re-Newed Mestiza Consciousness”

Mariella Chilmaza, government, “A Movement of Opposites: The Emergence and Development of the Relationship between the Catholic Church and the Left in Pinochet’s Chile”

Megan Crowley, government, “Civil Society and Political Participation: Catalysts for Human Rights Policy Transformation in Contemporary Argentina”

Melissa Dell, economics, “Widening the Border: The Impact of NAFTA on Female Labor Force Participation in Mexico”

Maria Domanskis, history, “Misperceptions and Missed Opportunities: Nicaragua, the United States, and the United Nations, 1983-1984”

Miranda Dugi, government, “The Most Successful Failure: How the FMLN in El Salvador Turned a Failed Revolution into Political Triumph”

Katherine Ferrari, Romance languages and literatures, “En el pais del no me acuerdo: Film and Memory After the Argentine ‘Dirty War’”

Diana Fridberg, anthropology/archaeology, “The Role of Peccaries in Ancient Maya Economy, Ideology, and Iconography”

Claudia García, Romance languages and literatures, “New Latin American Cultural Agents of Modernity: The Case of Mexico’s Musical Starmaker Reality Television Show, ‘La Academia’”

Michelle Garza, social anthropology/women’s studies, “Por la Vida, la Coca y la Soberanía Nacional: For Life, Coca, and National Sovereignty”

Rocío Garza, Romance languages and literatures, “Intricate Routes and Networks: Women Artists Transcending Boundaries in Contemporary Mexico”

Christina Givey, anthropology, “Truth, Reconciliation, and Justice? The Aftermath of the Guatemalan Truth Commissions”

Caroline Gross, history and science, “Deconstructing the Panama Canal: Management, Sovereignty, and the Making of an Imperial Project”

Adriana Lafaille, Romance languages and literatures, “(Paving) Local Roads to Democratic Nations: Communities and Decision Making in Two Areas of Greater São Paulo”

Flora Lindsay-Herrera, history, “Ya No Creemos en la Politica”: Rock Nacional and Politics in Argentina, 1976-1983″

Savanna Lyons ’06, environmental science and public policy, “MST/Socialist Ideology and Inflow of Technology in Brazil”

Ayla Matanock, social studies, “Legitimating Terrorism: Material and Ideational Factors That Affect the Tactical Decision to Use Terror in Case Studies of Sendero Luminoso and the EZLN”

Thomas Sean McKean, government, “Party System Change in Post-Authoritarian Chile: An Evaluation of the Impact of Authoritarian Legacies on Social Cleavage Structure”

Aaron Mihaly, government, “The Dynamics of an Ouster: Explaining the October 2003 Forced Resignation of Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada”

Jeslyn Miller, social studies/religion, “How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land? The Practice of Regla Ocha among Cuban Immigrants in Greater New York”

Mika Morse, social studies, “Teaching a Man to Fish Takes More Than Just a Fishing Pole. The Value of Bundling Nonfinancial Services and Microcredit for Alleviating Poverty. A Case Study of Nicaragua”

Ryan Michael Rappa, history of science, “Physics, Argentina, and Einstein: The Nature of International Physics and the Reception of the Theory of Relativity During the Early 20th Century”

Alexis Ritvo, anthropology, “Ser en Confianza: Participatory Development, Public Health, and Moral Engagement in a Highland Honduran Community”

Henry Michael Rosenberg, social studies, “Dreams, Denim, and Destiny: Competitive Responses in the Blue Jeans Maquiladoras of Mexico’s La Laguna Region”

Senovio Shish, environmental science and public policy, “Don’t Drink the Water: The Politics of Water Supply Programs in Rural El Salvador”

Lewis Smith, government, “Doomed from the Start: The First Popular Regimes and Political Instability in Ghana and Argentina”

Richard Theodore Tieken, social studies, “Debt, Social Spending, Morality, and Economics: An Integrated Approach to Explaining Levels of Social Spending in Ecuador”

Andrés Alberto Vivas, history/economics, “Argentina’s Capital Crisis Following the First World War: How Government Financial Diplomacy Failed”

Manuela Silverstein Zoninsein, social studies, “The Paradox of Rio’s Carnaval: An Ethnographic Snapshot of Non-Participation.”

In addition, DRCLAS has announced its thesis prize recipients. The James and Isabel Hammond Thesis Prize in Latin American Studies goes to Shalini Ananthanarayanan ’05; the Inter-Faculty Committee on Latino Studies (IFCLAS) Latino Studies Thesis Prize has been awarded to Martha Casillas ’05 and to Jeslyn Miller ’05; and the Kenneth Maxwell Thesis Prize in Brazilian Studies goes to Adriana Lafaille ’04.