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Inequality
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Recent Articles
Decriminalizing ‘Colonial’ Laws in the Anglophone Caribbean – ‘Buggery’
The moment I stepped foot back on the island, I was no longer the 14-year-old boy who once proudly wore his school uniform to Wolmer’s Boys High School—the oldest school in the Caribbean—and to Maranatha Gospel Hall, my local church. I had become something else entirely in the eyes of the state: a criminal. An illegal presence.
Remembering Pope Francis
The world has lost one of the most charismatic pontiffs of the last century with the passing of Pope Francis, the first Latin American prelate of the church’s 1.3 billion Catholics. Francis was a reformer who made himself available to the faithful, and traveled to 66 countries, including eleven in Latin America.
A Review of The Amazon in Times of War
Marcos Colón’s book The Amazon in Times of War offers a compelling collection of essays exposing the physical, economic and institutional violence that devastates the Amazon. He argues that much of this destruction stems from deliberate state policies enacted under former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023). Colón not only documents the struggles of Indigenous and other traditional communities but also critiques the role of profit-driven industries such as logging, mining and cattle ranching in the ongoing exploitation of the Amazon and its peoples.
From Our Current Issue
Weaving Memory through Fashion: The Magical Genesis of Equihua
Growing up in California, I spent so much time gazing at the sky, often losing myself in its vastness.
Unsubmissive Images
Hemetério José dos Santos (1858-1939), a Black grammarian and teacher at Rio de Janeiro's most important schools suffered racist attacks in the press because of the way he dressed.
Transnational Fashion on the Frontier: Migration and Modernities in the Brazilian Amazon
When you think of fashion, you might not think of politics.
Spotlight
Perspectives in Times of Change
Check out these reflections on social, economic, cultural and political transformations in Latin America, the Caribbean and Latinx communities in the United States.
Danza Azteca Guadalupana: Beyond Borders
Natalie Navarro, 29, the lead drummer, anchors the circle with precision and grace. Her hands strike the drum rhythmically, summoning the energies of heaven and earth. Her sister Samantha, 26, along with her husband, Eduardo Galarza, 29, join in dancing with dynamic movements embodying the vibrancy of life. Eduardo serves as both lead dancer and instructor. He reflects, “This dance is for the water, fire, wind, spirit, and Mother Earth. Through our steps, we call upon a higher power—with flowers, through songs, and in the sound of the drums’s heartbeat. Flowers symbolize our humanity and the beauty of creation. Yet, we often forget that the earth is our home, and we’re causing its destruction.”
Disability, Care, and Support in Colombia and Beyond Challenges and Hopes for Change
I remember vividly that day in Cali in 2013. I was very new to the world of people with disabilities, their families and caregivers, trying to decipher that language that needs no words. As national director of a research project on “accessible television for deaf people” (INSOR-ANTV, 2013-2014), I met a mother who was a caregiver and whose presence said it all. Her eyes bore the weight of too many sleepless nights, of a tiredness that was not only physical. In a low voice, almost a whisper filled with contained resentment, she told me, “Luis Miguel, the laws are designed to protect our children, but what about us? We are the population abandoned by the legislator.”
Bridge-Building Economic Development: The Power of Cinema in Central America
have always been a bridge-builder. I may have developed this skill as a middle child, mediating conflicts between my older brother and younger sister, or by negotiating with clients for my father’s business.
StudEnt Views
Decolonizing Global Citizenship: Peripheral Perspectives
I write these words as someone who teaches, researches and resists in the global periphery.
From European Union to the Dominican Republic: A Case for Humanizing Environmental Policy in Latin America
I read these words as I gaze from a car window, looking out at colorful, animated drawings of smiling elephants, toucans, and parrots, outside of a school building in San Francisco de Macorís, the Dominican Republic’s primary cocoa-producing region.
A Call to Action for the U.S.-Mexico Binational Community
When I think about Mexico, my family’s home country, I think about Jalpa, Zacatecas, where my family migrated from so many years ago.
Book ReviewS
A Review of Hopped Up, How Travel, Trade, and Taste Made Beer a Global Commodity
About ten years ago, when I arrived at the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery in the mountain town of Orizaba, Veracruz, in Mexico, I was excited that the administrator I’d spoken with earlier had arranged a private tour for me. Founded in 1896, the Moctezuma Brewery was saved from bankruptcy when it was bought out by Mexico’s behemoth Cuauhtémoc Brewery in 1985. It is best known globally for its Dos Equis amber lager and for Sol, the light, golden, pilsner-style beer now sold in over 70 countries around the world.
A Review of The Other Border Wars: Conflict and Stasis in Latin American Culture
I remember reading with emotion during my adolescence “Juan López and John Ward,” the poem that the great writer of fantastic literature Jorge Luis Borges dedicated to the Falklands War of 1982. What moved me, I think, was the idea that two young men who could have been friends (united by their love of literature, in addition to belonging to the same generation and sharing the same name) saw each other face-to-face only once, but since that one encounter was during a war, each became both Cain and Abel.
A Review of The Collapse of Panama: The History of the U.S. Invasion and The End of the Dictatorship
Panama has been in the news recently as the target of intimidating and ill-informed remarks by President-elect Donald Trump. Around Christmastime, Trump first accused Panama of charging “exorbitant” fees to U.S. commerce that transits the Panama Canal, which, according to him, was “foolishly” given away to a country that has been shown “extraordinary generosity” by the United States. “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question“, threatened Trump, without explaining how he intends to force Panama into surrendering its most beloved asset, one that is at the very heart of its national identity.
DRCLAS Podcast: Faculty Voices
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