Three historians, two political scientists, an engineer, an anthropologist, an economist and a gender studies scholar make up the 2023-24 group of Visiting Scholars at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). The interdisciplinary cohort of nine scholars hail from universities in Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Peru and the United States.
The DRCLAS Visiting Scholars and Fellows Program seeks to strengthen ties between Harvard and other global institutions by hosting distinguished academics and professionals who conduct research on a particular topic or region of Latin America for a semester or academic year.
The incoming scholars will pursue an incredible range of projects, ranging from the effects of school closures on Indigenous and rural youth in Chile, food as an essential right for human development, and research on coastal resilient communities.
The 2023-24 DRCLAS Visiting Scholars are:
Patricia Ames, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Her investigation, "Indigenous Youth in Higher Education: The quest for equity, interculturality and imagined futures," aims to understand the recent incorporation of indigenous youth to higher education and how this process affects their expectations about the future, within the context of unequal educational opportunities in Latin America. (Custer Visiting Scholar)
Betty Anaya, the University of Havana, Cuba. In her project, "Food as an essential right for human development. Good practices in international experiences relevant to Cuba," Anaya seeks to analyze best practices that developing countries use to achieve food security. (Wilbur Marvin Visiting Fellow)
Catalina Andrango-Walker, Virginia Tech. Her research, "North Meets South: Viceregal Contacts in the Hispanic World" centers on the connections between the Viceroyalty of Peru and La Florida during the 16th- and 17th-century through the experiences of various explorers. (Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar)
María Bjerg, National University of Quilmes in Argentina, is working on "The End of Love: Domestic Violence, Gender, and Emotions in Argentina (1890-1950)." Inspired by gender studies, she intends to examine violence against women in the domestic sphere, using court records for injury and homicide of women by their spouses and cohabitees, jurisprudence concerning domestic violence, legislative debates and press reports. (DeFortabat Visiting Scholar)
Laura Gamboa, University of Utah. In her project, "The Opposition Gamble: Explaining Strategic Choices against Potential Autocrats," Gamboa looks at groups opposing democratic backsliding and their use of a variety of strategies. Some resort to institutions to fight specific power-grabs; others utilize extra-institutional strategies to oust the executive instead. She examines the how's and why's of their differing techniques. (Santo Domingo Visiting Scholar)
Alvaro Hofflinger, Universidad de la Frontera, Chile. His research, "Beyond Test Scores: the impact of school closures on Indigenous and rural students in Chile," looks at the impact of school closures—the longest in Latin America—on traditionally marginalized youth. (Luksic Visiting Scholar)
Jessica Lepler, University of New Hampshire. Her project, "Canal Dreamers: The Epic Quest to Connect the Atlantic and the Pacific in the Age of Revolutions," explores the movement by new nations in the 1820s to transform the earth by constructing an interoceanic canal through Lake Nicaragua. (Central American Visiting Scholar)
Patricio Winckler, University of Valparaiso, Chile, focuses on tsunamis and climate change. His research, "Adapting Coastal Cities to Climate-Driven Impacts along Tectonically Active Coasts." will look at the lessons learned from communities that have experienced extreme events. (Cisneros Visiting Scholar)