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Pictured: Activists, including ​​María Herrera Magdaleno at the mic, on the panel about forced disappearance in Latin America

Every year, the Latin American Studies Association, also known as LASA, hosts a conference in which presenters and academics from all over the world come together to discuss important topics regarding Latin America and the Caribbean. According to LASA, it is the “largest professional association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America” (lasaweb.org). This year, they hosted a conference in Bogotá, Colombia from June 12 to June 15 titled “Reaction and Resistance: Imagining Possible Futures in the Americas”.

Many Rutgers professors, post-docs, and grad students from New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden had the privilege of being part of this conference. Read on to see the enormous contributions of our Rutgers community to this event.

Involvement in LASA Committees:

• Janice K. Gallagher of Rutgers University - Newark was part of the 2023-2024 Civil Societies and Social Movements Committee.
• Robert Kaufman of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was part of the 2023-2024 Guillermo O’Donnell Democracy Award and Lectureship Committee.

Tuesday, June 11 (Pre-Conference Workshops):

• Marcy E. Schwartz of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the session organizer for the workshop titled “Educación para la construcción de paz en contextos con conflictividad: Dos caras de la moneda” and a presenter for the workshop titled “Presentación de los proyectos públicos ganadores del premio de la Sección”.

Wednesday, June 12:

• Marcy E. Schwartz of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Chair of the Archives, Libraries, and Digital Scholarships Panel titled “Preservando tradición, cultura y memoria en la comunidad”.
• Janice K. Gallagher of Rutgers University - Newark was the Session Organizer and a presenter of the Civil Societies and Social Movements panel titled “Forced Disappearances in Mexico: Collective Responses & the Paradox of State Involvement”. Gallagher’s presentation was Sub-National State-Building & Security in Latin America: The Potential and Power of Victims’ Colectivos. Gallagher was also the Chair for the Law and Justice panel titled “Un diálogo sobre tribunales, constitución, política y movilización”.
• Jennifer Vilchez of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Latinx Studies panel titled “Latinx Trauma, Migration, and Immigrant Experience”. Vilchez’ presentation was Paradoxical Data on Latinas and Immigrant Women.
• Henry M. Maquera Colque of Rutgers University - Division of Global Affairs was a presenter for the Literature and Culture panel titled “Historias que desentrañan historias: Bolivias indígenas en movimientos y narraciones que ponen en crisis la memoria oficial”. Colque’s presentation was State and Indigenous Peoples Relations: The Case of Indigenous Armies in 19TH Century Bolivia.

Pictured: Jennifer Vilchez during her presentation of Paradoxical Data on Latinas and Immigrant Women

Thursday, June 13:

• Ariela Parisi of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Session Organizer and a presenter of the Resistencias colectivas, futuros imaginados en las Américas panel titled “Multitemporalidades en la ficción especulativa latinoamericana - Parte 1” and the Chair of Parte 2. Parisi’s presentation was Un futuro de muchos futuros: Futurismos indígenas en el fin del mundo.
• Ana I. Llurba of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Chair and a presenter of the Resistencias colectivas, futuros imaginados en las Américas panel titled “Multitemporalidades en la ficción especulativa latinoamericana - Parte 1” and the Session Organizer of Parte 2. Llurba’s presentation was La literatura como antropología especulativa: Historia profunda e imaginación geofísica en "Plop", de Rafael Pinedo.
• Maureen M. Donaghy of Rutgers University - Camden was the Chair and a presenter of the Urban Studies panel titled “Participación, agencia y ciudad”. Donaghy’s presentation was More Than a Roof and Four Walls: Participatory Housing Programs in Comparative Perspective.
• Johana Londoño of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Session Organizer and a presenter of the Latinx Studies roundtable titled “Editing U.S. Colombianx Studies”. 
• Ulla D. Berg of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Authors(s) and Books Presentation titled “Antropologías visuales latinoamericanas: Genealogías, investigación y enseñanza".

Pictured: Johana Londoño in the background as a virtual presenter; other presenters in foreground

Friday, June 14:

• Carolina Sánchez of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Chair and a presenter of the Section Sessions roundtable titled “¿Derechos de la naturaleza?: Límites, posibilidades y alternativas de la justicia ambiental en Colombia”.
• Maria Clara B. Machado Campello of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Literature and Culture panel titled “Otros acercamientos a la literatura latinoamericana”. Campello’s presentation was The Decolonial Perspectives of Carolina Maria de Jesus and Françoise Ega.
• Camila Belliard of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Section Sessions panel titled “Gendered and Linguistic Violence and Resistance in the Dominican Republic”. Belliard’s presentation was Black and Trans Women Embodying Resistance in the Dominican Republic: Lived Experience and Tactics of Getting By from the Margins.
• Ulla D. Berg of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Invited Speakers roundtable titled “Migraciones forzadas y desplazamiento en las Américas”.
• Andrea Marston of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Author(s) and Books Presentation titled "The Labor of Extraction in Latin America".

Saturday, June 15:

• Andrea Restrepo-Mieth of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Session Organizer and a presenter for the Urban Studies panel titled “Ciudades, derechos y reclamos”. Restrepo-Mieth’s presentation was Subnational Water and Sanitation Initiatives: An Analysis of the Emergence of Lifeline Programs in Colombia.
• Dario H. Vasquez Padilla of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Chair and a presenter for the Race and Ethnicities panel titled “Debates en torno a las reparaciones históricas para pueblos afrodescendientes hacia un nuevo orden global”. Padilla’s presentation was Historical Reparations for African Descent in Latin America: Toward a New Racial Contract?
• Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn of Rutgers University - Camden was a presenter for the Colombia: desafíos actuales y futuros posibles panel titled “Transiciones políticas, democracia y corrupción en Colombia”. Okulicz-Kozaryn’s presentation was Colombia: Unlivable but Happy. Fool’s Paradise?
• Ryan B. Pinchot of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants Epistemologies and Knowledge panel titled “Ecologías y resistencias amazónicas: Una mirada de las producciones culturales indígenas”. Pinchot’s presentation was La palabra, la cosa y la Gente de Centro: Hacia un cine amazónico de ensamblaje.
• Daniela Mosquera of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Environment, Nature, and Climate Change panel titled “Ecología política de las transiciones: ¿Es posible pensar una implantación justa de la transición energética en América Latina? - Parte 1”. Mosquera’s presentation was Complejidades y aprendizajes de la Transición Energética (Justa) en Colombia en el marco del posacuerdo de Paz:.
• Emma Oslé of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Latinx Studies panel titled “Latinx Art, Media, and Music”. Oslé’s presentation was After-Birth: Picturing Other Mothers and Separations in Latinx Art.
• Alexander Liebman of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was a presenter for the Feminism and Gender Studies panel titled “Medioambiente, resistencias indígenas y territorialidades feministas - Parte II”. Liebman’s presentation was Comité de Mujeres, Queer Space, and Gendered Politics of Land, Memory, and Conflict beyond the Campesina Woman.
• Clive Echague of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Session Organizer, Chair, and a presenter for the Migration and Refugees panel titled “Migration and Transnationalism - Part I”. Echague’s presentation was The “Migration Crisis” in Chile: Between Border Anxieties and the Authority Restitution.
• Alberto E. Sosa-Cabanas of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Chair and a presenter for the Race and Ethnicities panel titled “Pensamientos emancipatorios, imaginarios y representaciones raciales en Cuba y Colombia”. Sosa-Cabanas’ presentation was Lachatañaré en las fronteras del imaginario insular.
• Diana A. Iturralde of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Session Organizer and a presenter for the Arts, Music, and Performance Studies panel titled “Descentrar el canon: Perspectivas críticas sobre el modernismo artístico en el área andina”. Iturralde’s presentation was Visualizar el “país amazónico:” La pintura de Gustavo Toaquiza Ugsha como herramienta de resistencia ambiental andinoamazónica.
• Marcy E. Schwartz of Rutgers University - New Brunswick was the Session Organizer and a presenter for the Literature Studies 20th/21st Centuries roundtable titled “Leer en los tiempos de medios desbordantes”.

In addition to the panels, LASA handed out awards to several academics, one of them being our very own Janice K. Gallagher of Rutgers University Newark. Gallagher won the award “Premio al Mejor Libro en Ciencias Sociales” for her book Bootstrap Justice: The Search for Mexico's Disappeared.

Pictured: Janice K. Gallagher accepting her LASA award for her book Bootstrap Justice