Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Spring 2021

Brazil’s first Covid-19 vaccinations, February 2021. (Photo by Breno Esaki/Agência Saúde DF.)

The Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies is published by the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Rosemary Joyce.

COMMENT: Spring 2021

By Rosemary Joyce | The CLAS Interim Chair for January-June 2021 comments on the Spring 2021 Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies.

A nurse puts a warm water-filled glove on a Covid-19 patient in Brazil,  April 2021. The phrase on the glove reads “May love prevail.” (Photo by Amanda Perobelli/REUTERS.)

COVID-19: Getting Supplies in the Right Hands

By Cassandra M. Sweet |  Examining the struggle to get pandemic supplies to caregivers in Latin America.

At a July 2021 inquiry on Brazil’s pandemic response, nameplates are replaced by updated numbers of the over 500,000 lives lost due to Covid-19. (Photo by Pedro França/Agência Senado.)

COVID-19: The International–Domestic Nexus of a Catastrophic Pandemic Response

By Carlos R.S. Milani and Tiago Nery | Looking at the national and transnational roots of Brazil's response to Covid-19.

Standing in front of police in riot gear, a masked mature couple with signs supports the campaign for a new constitution in Chile,  August 2020. (Photo by Paulo Slachevsky.)

COVID-19: Chile: A Health Crisis Within a Social Crisis

By Claudio A. Méndez | On the intersection of Chile's pandemic response, protests, and ongoing constitutional reform process.

A march after the assassination of Councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver,  Anderson Gomes, Rio de Janeiro, March 2018. (Photo by Mídia NINJA.)

RACE & IDENTITY: Legacies of Struggle: Reflecting on the AfroLatinx Voices Roundtable Series

By John A. Mundell | On the origins and initial steps of the new AfroLatinx Voices Series at CLAS.

Desks and a blackboard in a somewhat dilapidated Brazilian classroom. (Photo by Carlos Ramalhete.)

BRAZIL: The Struggle for Black Education in Salvador

By C. Darius Gordon | Recounting how the struggle for Black educational access in Brazil helped organize a community.

Railroad tracks in Veracruz, on which a train called La Bestia transported tens of thousands of Central American migrants each year. (Photo by Levi Vonk.)

MIGRACIÓN: Una mirada auto-etnográfica de la migración

Por Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj | Analizando migración desde la perspectiva de una etnógrafa que también es migrante. | With an introduction in English by Rosemary Joyce. 

A lexicon of Rarámuri words and their Spanish translation form a mural in Chihuahua, Mexico. (Photo by Malcolm K.)

LANGUAGE: Niahciz, I Will Arrive: A Song for the Future From the Past

By Everardo Reyes |  Reflecting on his experience learning Nahuatl and the connection and joy he found  in the process.

A farmer holds dried cacao beans ready for the market. (Photo courtesy of USAID_IMAGES.)

ARCHAEOLOGY: Chocolate’s Deep History in Latin America

By Rosemary Joyce | Presenting new findings about the early use of cacao throughout Latin America.

Cracked dry mud lines a dry riverbed in Amazonas, Brazil. (Photo by Hudsön.)

CLIMATE: The Changing Global Tropics: Hot Droughts in the Amazon

By Jeff Chambers, Clarissa Fontes, and Bruno Oliva Gimenez | The authors discuss the worrying trend of prolonged hot droughts in the Amazon rainforest.

A bright yellow hoverfly. (Photo by Rollin Coville.)

AGRICULTURE: Native Pollinators and the Avocado

By Gordon Frankie, Sara Witt, Ben Faber, and Rollin Coville | The authors discuss work with the species that help pollinate the avocado.

From “Chaco”: soldiers in formation listen to a bolero de caballeria, a genre of Bolivian music played during the war to bid farewell to soldiers leaving for the front. (Image courtesy of Color_Monster, Pasto, and Murillo Cine.)

FILM: Remembering to Avoid Repeating

Diego Mondaca, translated by Deborah Meacham | Recounting the experience of creating the film “Chaco.”

This Issue's Team

Interim Chair: Rosemary Joyce
Vice Chair: Julia Byrd
Program Coordinator: Janet Waggaman
Special Projects Coordinator: Ana De Carolis
Design and Layout: Greg Louden
Editor: Deborah Meacham

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Center for Latin American Studies or UC Berkeley.

The contents of this magazine were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.