Austeridad Republicana and Contradictions in Mexico’s Response to COVID-19
By Andrew R. Smolski, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University and member of the Latin American Perspectives editorial collective. — May 18, 2020
On May 3rd, 2020, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) published “Algunas lecciones de la pandemia COVID-19”. In this brief document, the President of Mexico makes clear that neoliberal policies, such as privatization and austerity for public universities, have led to a crisis in public health exacerbated by the pandemic. AMLO has consistently pointed to four decades of neoliberalization as creating many of the ills Mexico confronts, from a majority of the population […]
The Preventable Death of an ICE Detainee Amid a Pandemic Speaks to a Crisis of Civilization
By Alfonso Gonzales Toribio, Associate Professor and Director of Latin American Studies at the University of California Riverside. – May 17, 2020
The death of 57-year-old Salvadoran national and ICE detainee Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía was preventable and tragic. As a diabetic with an amputated foot, he was especially at risk of being infected with COVID-19 and was on a list to be potentially released from the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego—with at least 140 confirmed cases, it is the epicenter of COVID-19 infections among ICE detainees.
His untimely death underscores the humanitarian […]
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: COVID 19 Blog
May 16, 2020
Latin American Perspectives would like to invite its readers, editors, and authors to submit short reflections and or photographs to our blog about how communities in Latin America and Latinx communities in the US are confronting the COVID-19 crisis. Blog posts should run between 200 to 1000 words and can be in English, Spanish or Portuguese.Please send your submissions to lap.outreach@gmail.com, subject line “COVID-19 Blog”While social distancing and quarantine protocols are necessary to stem the spread of the virus, we are witnessing ways in which these measures can also reinforce economic and social inequalities […]
Three things you should know about Anita
By Monserrat Sepúlveda, Santiago, Chile | May 6th, 2020
This coronavirus pandemic seems to be showing all of us just how vulnerable people are. Here at home in Chile, I think about one person in particular: Anita. She works as a housekeeper and there is so much about her I wish you knew. We could have a 6-hour zoom chat just to talk about her extraordinary life and it wouldn’t be enough. But there are three things ,in particular, you should definitely know about Anita.
The first thing is that Anita will continue talking to you even if you are […]
Trump’s disregard for immigrant life amid the pandemic bring us closer to a collapse of civilization
By Alfonso Gonzales Toribio | May 5, 2020
Director of the Latin American Studies Program and Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside
The battle over Trump’s immigration policies in the middle of the pandemic is reaching a boiling point.
At the core of all of his polices is a desire to accumulate wealth at all costs and a blatant disregard for human life that endangers a basic sense of right and wrong needed for a civilized world to function.
The President is forcing tens of thousands of meatpacking workers, many of them […]
“The Measles from the Time of My Grandfather”: Amazonian Ethnocide Memories in Times of Covid-19
By Carlos Fausto | April 28, 2020
Professor of Anthropology at the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Two weeks ago, Kanari Kuikuro called me from Canarana, a small town in the Brazilian Amazon, where he now lives with his wife and many children. He is originally from the Xingu Indigenous Land, which lies up north and is one of the most culturally rich multiethnic constellation of South America. Kanari was apprehensive.
– Pamü (cousin), […]
Hay que masificar las pruebas contra un virus clasista
Por Marco A. Gandásegui, Profesor de Sociología de la Universidad de Panamá e investigador asociado del CELA. | April 27, 2020
El coronavirus ha alterado todos los parámetros sobre los cuales descansan los supuestos de la vida que conocemos. Especialmente en lo que se refiere al trabajo, al estudio o al ocio. Cada clase social tiene sus propias particularidades. Los dueños del país (uno por ciento de los panameños) siguen recibiendo informes sobre como suben y bajan sus inversiones. A la vez, presionan a los gobiernos para que aumenten sus subvenciones. Por otro lado, muchos empresarios, profesionales y afines […]
Care is not essential
By Iván Sandoval-Cervantes | April 24, 2020
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Although some news sources have highlighted the importance of differentiating between “physical distance” and “social distance”—emphasizing how “social distancing” might imply isolation, which is not good for mental wellbeing (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/physical-distancing-social-distancing-200330143325112.html)—while “physical distancing” still allows us to be “alone, together”. The argument is that even when you cannot take care of someone physically, you can still show that you care about someone remotely. It is, of course, perfectly understandable that experts recommend physical distancing in order to slow down the spread of […]