Perspectives in Times of Change

For three short days this past August, Chicago danced ‘til dawn at the Democratic National Convention, where Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were elected as the party’s 2024 Presidential ticket. It was not the first time that the Windy City had hosted the event, yet it was quite novel in one significant way: the music Democrats put front and center during their festivities.

As an immigrant from Peru, I’ve often found myself dealing with many memories from the home country—as most immigrants do. My years as an undergraduate in Peru. My classes with the poet Giovanna Pollarolo and the scholars and feminists Susana Reisz and Francesca Denegri, and the things that I learned from them: “Literature and academic production made by women used words as a medium of liberation in response to a hetero-patriarchal society that controlled their bodies and voices.”

With his smile and twinkling eye, Rafael Sánchez embraced ideas, debating and tasting them like a connoisseur with fine wines. He would chuckle, too, not letting them take control. It is with his spirit of generous speculation that I wish to put forward some ideas about motorbikes in Global South, drawn from my experience in southwestern Colombia during which I have, in the past ten years, been overwhelmed by the massive increase in motos—and cellphones.

This was not my first time in the Amazon Rainforest. I visited the Ecuadorian Amazon 13 years ago. I had recently finished my last year of Law School at the University of Chile and wanted to enjoy the last summer before preparing for the terrifying examen de grado.

For several years, seeking to renew the meaning of my new stage of life, to continue learning and living with enthusiasm, I recovered a hobby that I´ve been passionate about for a long time: watercolor. Since I rediscovered the magic of water and color, in every free moment, I try to learn a new technique, combine new colors, discover different papers or try a new brush.

I have a memory of a happy childhood playing with my father on the beach and singing and dancing with my mother and sisters at home in San Salvador. That was followed by a confusing adolescence, having to flee abroad with our mother and sisters, due to the fear and terror caused by the civil war in our country, leaving half of the family behind.

The bus glides southward through the Province of Buenos Aires. The cold night air hits the window, and my fingers freeze as I wipe the frosted glass with my hand.

My first time in Bolivia was an experience filled with awe, concern and witnessing a country on the brink of turmoil. As part of the work for my upcoming documentary, I arranged an interview with the country’s three-time president, Evo Morales.

The greatest Paraguayan writer: Augusto Roa Bastos once described his country as “an island surrounded by land,” defining the character of a landlocked country located in the interior of South America.

From late May to early July 2023, Wapichana artist Gustavo Caboco and historian and teacher Roseane Cadete led a project-residency with the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research (SDCELAR) at the British Museum.