Search

Towards the end of the colonial period the east coasts of the General Captaincy of Venezuela were the setting of an intense movement of ideas, papers and people, as well as of conspiracies and confrontments (both armed and unarmed). In that context emerged the figure of Francisco Isnardi, who would soon be imprisoned for alleged intentions to conspire. The study of this case of treason, especially of the suspect's library, which was confiscated, allows us to present a set of problems regarding the diffusion of enlightened values in Tierra Firme during that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Te objective of this paper is to contribute to the current theoretical and conceptual debates that address the technopolitical phenomenon. Specifically, it addresses the processes of appropriation and use of information and communication technologies that the new indigenous movements carry out in the Latin American continent, whose central purpose is to confront the colonial matrix of power that governs the functioning of the modern-modern-colonial-capitalist world system. It is found that technopolitics emerges as a praxis of antagonistic struggle in contexts of intercultural conflict, which demands the design of research agendas that attend to the specificity of local processes that, "from below", dispute the meaning of interculturality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewing the documents of the II General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate (1968), a lack of specifically missiological reflection emerges. However, Medellin offers essential elements for a proper Latin American missionary debate. The objectives of this paper are: to recall the contributions of the Melgar Document in preparation to Medellin, to remember Bishop Samuel Ruiz' conference "Evangelization in Latin America" and to share some considerations about the major lines that characterize the Final Document. From this study it is possible to glimpse emerging problems, missionary perspectives, some gaps and, in particular, the fundamental axes upon which it may be possible to set up a Theology of Mission from Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe the theoretical, statutory, precedentual and case law on one of the forms to perform anticompetitive practices, which is bid-rigging, and its most important current trend: horizontal shareholding. Likewise, this paper states the atypical and almost embryonary stage of competition law in Latin America, and how it impacts repression to anticompetitive practices in public procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study of the impact of Romano-Germanic doctrines on Latin American tax law and, in particular, its influence on the thinking of Chilean authors, distinguishing those discussions that can be incorporated into the current debate, from those that can only be considered as a historical antecedent. Starting from the coherent and systematic analysis of the main Roman-Germanic doctrines, the way they were recognized in Latin America will be established first. Then, the influence that they have generated in ancient Chilean authors and of later generations will be analyzed, determining the presence of dogmatic schools or the elaboration of studies that try to organize an ordered body of knowledge. Following the above, the expected results are centered on establishing that the Roman-Germanic doctrines were not recognized in Latin America regarding their methodological differences, having an impact on the argumentative criteria of the new generations of Chilean authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides some contributions (both methodological and empirical) by the photography in a sociological study on the urban art. It deals specifically with the graffiti and the street art. The central objective is to question how pertinent it is to use a photographic record as a tool for gathering information and carrying out a documentary analysis based on a dual action basis: on one hand, to highlight the methodological process in a research where the photograph is pivotal as a visual means, discussing critically on different views of the city. On the other hand, to provide examples on how the photography is relevant in the social universe under research, i.e., among the artists doing graffiti and street art. In these two cases, taking photographs of the works in the public space provides a double game: 1) as a tangible practice of legitimization and gaining prestige within a collective; and, 2) as a material proof for the recognition and appreciation of their artistic track record. The analytical framework includes to record in situ the produced images in different Latin American (Buenos Aires, Lima, Montevideo) and European cities (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, Paris, Porto). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the researches conducted in Latin America on education for health during the last ten years, identifying the different conceptual developments proposed about this theme and the criticism made about it. Methods: This is a qualitative research describing the state of the art; forty articles from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, and retrieved from searches in Pubmed, Lilacs, Redalyc, Scielo, Ovid, Science Direct, Oxford Journals, and Dialnet were examined. Results: The education for health is a multifocal and polysemic field with different purposes and theoretical trends. It was found that most of the authors cared for assuming a stance regarding this field, though few of them undertake the task to conceptualize both education and health. Conclusion: Different visions about education for health were perceived; however, this work criticizes the poor articulation observed in the papers between theory and practice on this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper studies narratives strategies used by a fair part of Latin-American intellectuals in order to defy the rapid changes taking place in urban society in the late nineteenth century. Furthermore, the paper explores the rhetoric models men of letters used to qualify the limits of the notion of democracy, with the hope that these discursive interventions would limit the access to places of influence where new social actors struggled to enter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just as China is a new and unfamiliar player in Latin America, China's policymakers seem to have little differentiated knowledge of the region. Studies and documents from China typically include the Caribbean in their "broad brush approach" and diplomatic representatives are rotated through the region at a swift rate. The fact that only three of the 42 countries in the region published an official reply to China's 2008 Policy Paper suggests that there is a long way to go towards integration and adequate response, either side of the Pacific. The purpose of this paper is to explore just how differentiated the understanding and strategic vision for Latin America is among China's policy makers and representatives [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper offers an approach to the different ways in which the figure of writer and politician Rómulo Gallegos has been used in Venezuela. It looks at political rivalries regarding national legacies within the context of the Bolivarian Revolution, and the positions taken by the political and academic fields. The purpose of which, as the paper will show, is the appropriation of some of his legacies, especially in relation to nationalistic and identity-related narratives in the beginning of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the result of a documentary and bibliographic research carried out in the general archive of the Latin American Episcopal Council, Celam. It focuses on its contribution to ecumenical dialogue during its sixty years of history. It presents the people involved in the process, the contributions of the General Assemblies of the Episcopate and their main theological and ecumenical emphasis. It also highlights the evolution of the concepts, the influence of the Ecclesiology of Communion and of the missionary discipleship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early sixties the term 'marginalisation' began to be used in Latin America in the social sciences to refer to the heterogeneous and inequitable effects of the processes of industrialisation and development. The term began to be used in the front-line between two paradigms in conflict, allowing for two different forms of interpretation: the notion of social or cultural marginalisation developed within modernisation theory, and the notion of economic marginalisation developed by dependence theory. This paper aims to review the characteristics that the concept of marginalisation acquired within each of these conceptual frameworks, focusing on works by Gino Germani, José Nun and Miguel Murmis. Last of all, the paper outlines the main arguments included in the contemporary form of the concept and its potential applicability to current circumstances in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the role of local and global publishers within current Latin-American cultural production. The paper focuses on the editorial success of Cuban writer Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, as an example of global distribution of a dirty bestseller, and on the status achieved by cult Colombian writer Rubén Vélez, in order to examine the most significant tendencies in the local and global Latin-American publishing industry. Furthermore, it offers a reflection on the promotion and distribution of these authors through the houses that publish them: Anagrama (Barcelona) and Babilonia (Bogotá). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a group of Latin American texts and films from the last two decades which show growing social, political and economic inequality in the continent, together with cultural practices and experiences, from an urban perspective. With the configuration of space in the Latin American city as the central theme, the paper explores the way in which these narratives reformulate classic notions of urban design with the scope of presenting, in their place, a distinct space, with specific codes that act as alternative forms of avoiding the influence of globalisation and neoliberal policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centered in the New Testament, this paper presents a biblical and theological reflection, in order to give a content to the keyword «communion» and to show its impact on exegesis and theology, on ecclesiology, spirituality and pastoral work, on the life and actions of pastoral agents. After an approach to the different meanings of the term «communion» in Latin America and in some documents of the papal Magisterium, the author directs his attention to a syntactical and semantic reflection on the terms «community» and «communion» and on their pragmatic implications. This paper focuses on a theme of great importance for the Church of the present time and its implications in a globalized world, and especially for the Church of the American continent, which, faithful to this inheritance of communion, prepares itself for the 5th General Conference of CELAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Latin American Constitutionalism (NLAC) is one of the most interesting phenomena of the present compared constitutional Law. One of its features is the incorporation to the Constitutions of a wide carte of participatory tools that contain the last news of participatory democracy converting those texts in some of the most developed ones in this area. The question is if this incorporation of participatory tools improves democracy or worsens it, if achieves its participatory objectives or if participatory democracy ends or diluted in the representative model or becoming a tool in the hands of rulers that want to strengthen their power weakening the other powers of the State. Does the participatory democracy of the NLAC make a democratic improvement or worsening? This paper, by the analytic- synthetic method and through the compared study of the most relevant doctrine and legislation, tries to give an answer concluding that, although the participatory tools themselves are neutral and it will depend of the will of the actor that active them that they will be positive or negative, participatory democracy means the introduction of a direct participation wedge in a essentially representative model and can be source of imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framed within the development policies for the region, educational agendas for Latin America represent specific commitments that transcend the improvement in the results of specific tests permeating both pedagogical practices and conceptual frameworks in which these ones acquire meaning. This paper covers some of the commitments made by these agendas and develops the general framework in which participation of philosophical community is expected and required as a guarantor and promoter of the construction of spaces for reflection and action on educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article approaches the issue of philosophical perspectives of social justice and its relationship with some of the implications for health systems in Latin America and the world. Three philosophical perspectives of social justice from the radical liberal approach, egalitarian and redistributive liberal, and Marxist egalitarianism or reviewed. Society, their conceptions of health and public health approach. From the theoretical support these approaches, the relationship State are identified. Based on these concepts identify some implications for health systems in each of its representative aspects. The paper concludes with some reflections about the need to discuss the fundamental right to health as a fundamental element of universal health systems and assume a perspective as input for the design and analysis of health systems from the right to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study the origin of modern scientific childcare as a practice of subjectivation. From this point of view, we analyse the parenting or childrearing technologies which are proposed in a sample of 23 Spanish and Latin American early childcare handbooks published between 1898 and 1939. These technologies of subjectivation should be understood as an important element of a process for the construction of subject as a responsible, adapted and self-governing citizen. These technologies should also be understood in the context defined by the biopolitics and the development of eugenics, which helped many authors –most of them doctors– to defend the need to ensure the physical and moral health of nation through a scientific rearing of little children, that is to say, the future citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins whit the evidence about the re-emergence, worldwide, of HIV infection in MSM. According to unaids, Latin America contributed the largest number of new HIV infections in MSM, after the United States of America. Also, 35 % of people living with HIV in Latin America are MSM. In addition, to reflect on the behaviours front the unprotected sex, built on beliefs or personal assumptions based on: intuition, trust and emotions. The unprotected sex in MSM could become, unconsciously, in a symbolic act of rebellion and transgression pleasurable. It concludes that nonsexual needs of MSM, that lead them to have unprotected sex, comprise several situations, sensations and feelings. The prevention programs must include and emphasize in the multiple processes involved in decision making, and accepting the vulnerabilities of MSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the Judgment of the Colombian Constitutional Court SC-931/2009, by which the Court declares inhibited to fail in a case review of the constitutionality of the Law of May 21, 1851, with which slavery was definitively abolished in Colombia. The present interest in this case is that it demonstrates once again and from a specific case, the scope of judicial guarantee-ism under the consolidation of the constitutional state, accepted paradigm in Latin America from the issuance of the constitutions of the decade of the nineties, which have resulted in the development of the new Latin American constitutionalism. Furthermore, together with the presentation of the particular case, we were interested in noting the educational work being done by the Court, resorting even to literary analysis, giving a clear example of integration of disciplines in the process of judicial protection, in addition highlighting their influence in the formulation of laws and public policies for the protection of historically discriminated groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a general discussion on the topic of Digital Humanities (DH) understood as a scientific and technological field that is being built worldwide and in which we should think, from the beginning, on the issue of relations between some research centers in the North that propel this field and others that follow the movement. To found this reflection, it retakes the analysis of the role of Science and Technology (S & T) in development and in a more precise way it observes what happens or what could happen in the field of DH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper offers a few notes on the impact of North-American films in Latin American society in the 1920's and 1930s, based on Latin- American stories produced during that period. The analysis will be guided mainly by the notions of mimetic desire (Girard) and cinema situation (Mauerhofer), as well as by the updated motif of the double (and its "realist" substitute, the doublé), in such a context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper intervenes on the debates on the transnational circulation of Latin American literature in the contemporary context of globalisation. Taking into account the wide transnational circulation of certain genres of creative writing in previous periods (Yolanda Vargas Dulché's comic, Mauricio Magdaleno's film script, both supported by the Mexican cultural industry), proposes to problematize the terms of the debate in terms of the timeframe of globalisation and the conceptualisation of the notion of literature in globalised spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper studies the formation of the field known as Latin-Americanism, and using the Pierre Bourdieu's theory of fields, offers a provocative reading on the debates that taken place within Latin-Americanism as examples of a struggle for control of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we focus on the evolution of the strategies of autonomy, which have characterized foreign policies implemented in Latin America since the decade of the seventies. Taking the international relations theory debate, that ranges from rationalist positions to reflectivism, as a starting point, we adopt some contributions of the realistic and transnational approaches, the dependency theories that characterize the Latin American debate, and the contributions of the constructivist approach. We consider that this evolution has three distinct stages: a traditional autonomy, from the decade of the seventies, a relational autonomy --worked further by Tokatlian and Russell (2000)--, and, currently, a process of rethinking the strategies of autonomy due to the transformations in the development models and the political regimes of some countries and the consequent changes in foreign policy interests. These changes are caused by a post-neoliberal agenda that favors regional armonization, based on the constructivist approach, over the relations with the United States, with a meaning that is different from prior periods but that preserves the contents of the sociopolitical agenda on the economic and commercial agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the importance of technologies of scientific origin in the evolution of Latin American agrarian capitalism during the past three decades. From the perspective of dialectic materialism as a method and epistemological positioning the following is concluded: the package of the green revolution left the process of agrarian salary distribution unresolved. On the contrary, new technologies aiming at productivity in the global market do allow a) to partially detach agriculture from the constraint of its natural rhythms, b) to substantially increase production capability in work and in the soil, c) to invigorate surpluses under the structure of agribusinesses, d) to free workers from rural economy and the food industry itself, and e) to guarantee salary relations as the predominant way of generating value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper proposes the creation of a model for the harmonisation of contract law in Latin America. For this purpose two conditions are relevant: the factual assessment of the phenomenon of the disassembling of traditional contract law and the assessment of the creation of a common Latin American legal culture. Based on them, a singular method of harmonisation can be constructed, the scope of which is to reduce legal dispersion in Latin American contract law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is a bibliographical overview which constitutes the author's first document presented for his PhD in Law from the Universidad Javeriana. It presents the latest studies on formalisation and judicialisation of arbitration in some legal systems in Latin America. For this purpose, it will deal with matters such as the definition of the legal nature of arbitration, monism and dualism in legislative structures, the constitutionalisation of the figure and phenomenon of judicial intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Revolution's Reading Plan is a Venezuelan government stimulus program oriented towards the education of citizens with particular emphasis on collective readings. The present paper analyses the political, ethical and pedagogical aspects of this cultural policy, within the framework both of Venezuelan legislations and the Ibero-American Reading Plan (ILÍMITA) promoted by the Organisation of Ibero- American States in consultation with the Regional Centre for the Development of Books and Reading in Latin America and the Caribbean [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper develops a few hypotheses regarding the traffic of material culture in Latin America and its impact, both in the field con anthropologic knowledge and in the artistic vanguards of the first half of the twentieth century. The circulation networks that supported the exchange of images and objects between ethnographers and institutions that supported their research allow for the reconstruction of the itineraries followed by those objects, the footprints of those trajectories in the construction of knowledge, the demarcation of disciplinary fields and the transgression of epistemological frontiers, associated to the emergence of new aesthetic objects and sciences such as anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper partly explores the debates on men's natural rights which took place in the public sphere in mid-nineteenth century Latin America. In Colombia, as in many other countries in the region, such debates were related to civil wars between liberals and conservatives which started around the year 1848. Romantic poet Julio Arboleda Pombo (1817-1862), military chief and catholic thinker, was a central figure of such doctrinal debates and of such civil wars. In his poetic and journalistic works it is possible to trace the emergence of a post-republican conservatism that would gravitate over the public sphere and academia in Nueva Granada, during the second half of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper picks up the discussion on Norbert Elias' social development concept, as a theoretical model which may contribute to the sociologic and historical studies on indigenous peoples in Latin America. Highlighting the case of Manuel Quintín Lame in Colombia, overcoming the traditional visions of social scientists and aiming at new cognitive instruments is suggested here, in order to achieve a reading in the light of notions of figuration, process continuity and intercultural education. The aim is to go beyond the genealogic explanations with the subsequent search of alternatives in process sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyze the sensibilities manifest in contemporary mass culture, starting with a proper conceptualization followed by empirical research of mainstream narrative genres. The sustained presence of veristic and biographical genres plus the rise of fantastic genres, reveal a set of peculiarities that allows a better understanding of cultures emotional nuances. In this paper I will examine the different genres and their meaning and at the same time the public's preferences will be pondered by comparing sales of books and movie house attendances in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Spain in 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some theoretical reflections on the political reality created by the Nasa movement on northern Cauca in Colombia, in order to posit new conceptualizations to understand ethnic movements in Latin America. The discussion begins with a brief review of some gaps found in studies about those social phenomena, to continue to analyse particularities and experiences of this community process starting from the following questions: how is the nature of the Colombian Nasa movement's indigenous politics expressed?; how could we understand its political reach in light of social movement theories?; how to analyse the dynamics of their collective actions along the last decades? These questions are answered through a theoretical approach that firstly focuses on understanding social movement political practices, to proceed with the proposal for a new typology of collective actions for these movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education in Latin America is going through on-going times of change. Such changes seek to enhance the individual's capacity to learn, and this is why education needs to be comprehensive while having an impact on pedagogic models. This paper attempts to conceptually analyze one of the main dimensions of comprehensive education, based on the experience in the Social Communication program offered by the School of Communication and Audiovisual Arts at Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin American mass media are going beyond the mere production of information to become agents of social projects from a corporate and socially responsible framework in alliance with external players, particularly civil society organizations (cso). This paper puts forward the results of research work which collects, for the first time, the experiences of some of these alliances between media and cso in Latin America and Colombia for the benefit of Democracy and Human Rights. Via interviews with some of the main players, the study identifies both challenges and lessons for future alliances in an attempt to strengthen the contribution of mass media to the development of democracy and human rights in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Possession of the land is a major theme of the Bible. In a similar way, conflicts regarding the possession/dispossession of land are at the core of social problems in Colombia and Latin America. This paper offers a study of the story about Naboth's vineyard in its present form, in order to show how the text reveals the causes for the confiscation of land, denounces the responsible ones, shows the technicques employed for this, and denounces the situation as completely opposed to the will of the Lord. Thus, this rich story arouses our spirit in the work for overcoming social differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of protection of Human rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights is the Highest Tribunal that fights for the promotion of those contained in the American Convention on Human Rights. "Francisco Suarez S.J." competition is intended to raise consciousness and awareness of Iberamerican's University Students, through the investigation, analysis and criticism based on a hypothetic case related to International Rights and specifically of the Inter-American System of protection of Human Rights. This paper is the answer to the complaint made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in which it made the State of "Astoria" responsible of certain violations to Human Rights due to the establishment of a nuclear power plant. The violations consist in rights like: right to a worthy life, freedom of movement and residency, protection of family rights, etc. The State will demonstrate that it hasn't violated any right and that it has fulfilled all its obligations in matters of Human Rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some years ago, the GLOBE Project measured nine cultural dimensions in ten Latin American Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela. In spite of its valuable contribution, the GLOBE Project did not provide an aggregated measure for the cultural distances between countries, which would enable directly inspecting the cultural distances between countries. To overcome that limitation, this paper uses the methodology proposed by Kogut and Singh (1988) for quantifying cultural distances. Consecutively, multi-dimensional escalation (MDE) is used to graphically represent (i. e., in maps) the cultural distances calculated between the ten countries. Then, for the purpose of interpreting the axes of the maps obtained using the MDEs, a linear regression is made using the methodology suggested by Fernández et al. (2003) for each one of the nine cultural dimensions. Finally, based on the limitations of the study, some future lines of research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the 5th General Conference of CELAM in Aparecida and starting from the document on Participation an analysis is made of a fundamental church option that has been present in the theology, the faith and the praxis of the Latin American Church: the option for the poor. Does this fact continue to be a church force, incarnated in the very mystery of God? Trying to institute a serious reflection on the ecclesial and historic challenges which the Church mission has to face in the Latin American context, the paper points to a theological cause that can explain the fading of the option for the poor in the above-said document: an option that is not articulated with the mystery of God and the mission of Christ, the reigning of God in actu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to present a discussion on major problems related to impact evaluation of social and public health policies, plans and programs. Impact evaluation is a specific but interdisciplinary field, with an important amount of new knowledge in the lasts decades. Latin America's countries invest important founds in order to evaluate social interventions, following the multilateral agencies directions. Based on the newest experience in Colombia and other Latin American countries, this paper discusses conceptual and practical issues what evaluation teams have to deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers some guidelines for the characterization and development of college pastoral work, understood as a specific form of the service to the faith and the promotion of justice intrinsically implied by this service, through a communicative offer of a dialogal, interpersonal and social character, inseparable from an inculturated proposal- i.e., intimately fused with the concrete cultural reality, of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our communities of higher education directed by the Society of Jesus in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the subject of the evangelization of politics starting from the reflections of the Conference of Church Movements and New Communities (Bogotá, March 9-12, 2006), convoked by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the CELAM, with the purpose of offering suggestions to the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Bishops and to take decisions on the behavior of laity today. The document "Christian presence in society and politics, a work of reconciliation and justice" is commented upon and an analysis is made of the challenge and problem that this presence entails from the perspective of the dynamics of communion and conflict. These dynamics project themselves as much at the microlevel, which refers to the structures of the civic-political system, as at the macrolevel, which demands an historical awareness, to bring about the idea that Latin America should become pioneer in the building of the culture of love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]