Electoral trends and Latin American societies in the 2019-2021 period
In 2019 as many as eight general elections were held in Latin America: El Salvador (February 3), Cuba (constitutional referendum on February 24), Panama (May 5), Guatemala (June 16), Bolivia (October 20), Argentina (October 27), Uruguay (October 27), the Commonwealth of Dominica (December 6 – not to be confused with the Dominican Republic).
In 2021 elections will be held in Ecuador (February 7), El Salvador (February 28), Peru (April 11), Saint Lucia (June), Mexico (July), Aruba (September), Haiti (September 19), Argentina (October 24), Nicaragua (November 7)Chile (November 21) and Honduras (November).
We need to dwell on the overall course of these elections and their significance for Latin American societies, as well as on the contradictions inherent in them.
Why So Few Black Skiers and Ballet Dancers? Racial Discrimination at Heart of African Americans’ Low Participation Rates in Range of Recreation, Cultural Activities, Says New Book
That African Americans are underrepresented in outdoor activities like golf and skiing and in arts endeavors like classical music and ballet would come as no surprise to most Americans.
A new book is the first to show with statistical rigor how deep and extensive the underrepresentation is and to demonstrate its root cause: systemic racism.
“Socioeconomic factors like low income, geographical barriers such as living far from natural areas or cultural centers, or preferences are often cited as the reasons African Americans don’t engage in these activities at the rates whites do,” said Dan Krymkowski, a professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont and author of the new book, The Color of Culture (Lexington Books, January 2021).
Filed in Appointments, Faculty on January 15, 2021
Lori L. Martin was named the Erich and Lea Sternberg Honors Professor at Louisiana State University. Established in 1996, the professorship is the highest award conferred to faculty by the Ogden Honors College at the university.
“I am very proud to be associated with the Ogden Honors College,” Professor Martin said. “Long before it was popular for colleges and departments, the leadership of the Honors College has been committed to diversity. I’m so proud to be associated with a college that’s really concerned about the student experience and student success.”
Dr. Martin is a professor of sociology and a professor of African and African American studies. Dr. Martin joined the faculty at Louisiana State University in 2013, after teaching at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York. Her latest book,
Dec 31, 2020
“May you live in interesting times,” goes the famous curse. By that standard, 2020 was captivating. One thing affected everyone worldwide: COVID-19. And in Japan, our international community was hit particularly hard by public policy regarding its containment.
There were many other issues worth mentioning, however. For example, the Education Ministry announced an increased budget for language support in schools for non-Japanese children next year a promising sign. However, Japan’s continued mistreatment of those kept in immigration detention centers, and an officially acknowledged incident of “hate speech” in Kitakyushu that went unpunished, were also steps backward from the goal of an inclusionary society.
Claudia Moscovici earned an A.B. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Brown University and taught philosophy and literature at Boston University and the University of Michigan. She is the author of several scholarly books on Romantic literature (Romanticism and Postromanticism, Lexington Books, 2007) and of the critically acclaimed novels Velvet Totalitarianism (2009) and The Seducer (2011). Most recently, she published a survey of Holocaust memoirs, histories, novels and films called Holocaust Memories (2019).