Grantee Presentation—Alejandra García: The Impact of Microfinance on Women’s Empowerment in Bolivia

Alejandra Garcia helps facilitate a focus group session with microfinance clients in Sucre, Bolivia.

Hendricks Hall, 1st floor
Frazier Hearth Room
1408 University St.

CLLAS Grantee Presentation: Alejandra García Diaz Villamil (PPPM)

The Impact of Microfinance on Women’s Empowerment in Bolivia

How have communal banks in Bolivia impacted the empowerment of women entrepreneurs, particularly in terms of decision-making, leadership, participation in community associations, and self-esteem?

The focus of my research is to bring to light the efforts and struggles of indigenous Bolivian women in peri-urban areas. I provide testimony of some of the inequalities along gender lines in Bolivia. In particular, I focus on women’s struggle to become more independent by being entrepreneurs and clients of microfinance while still being able to be good wives and mothers. The resulting balancing act proves difficult when faced with wage disparity, discrimination, and lack of participation in business opportunities. Nevertheless, women find their calling when they begin a business using a micro loan and are part of a support group. Not only are they able to contribute to the household income, but their self-esteem drastically improves, and they feel greater equality to their male counterparts.

Conference: Indigenous People, Climate Change, and Environmental Knowledge

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This student conference on “Indigenous People, Climate Change, and Environmental Knowledge” is part of a series of events on Indigenous Peoples in the Americas during academic year 2011-2012 sponsored by the Americas in a Globalized World Big Idea. The May conference will feature two superb keynote speakers whose remarks will appeal to people well beyond the university community: Daniel Wildcat, a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas; and Larry Merculieff, who now works with Seven Generations Consulting and has almost four decades of experience serving his people, the Aleuts of the Pribilof Islands and other Alaska Native peoples. These keynote lectures will be held on May 23 at 7 p.m. in the Many Nations Longhouse and during lunchtime on May 24 in the Fir Room of the Erb Memorial Union. › Continue reading

Undocumented: Capital, Labor, and Migration in the Americas—Aviva Chomsky

Knight Library Browsing Room
1501 Kincaid St.
UO campus

The Americas in a Globalized World Initiative, the Latin American Studies Program, and the Department of Planning, Public Policy, and Management present:

Undocumented: Capital, Labor, and Migration in the Americas

A Lecture by Aviva Chomsky (Salem State University)

The problem of undocumented or “illegal” immigration is in some ways new, but in other ways is simply a new incarnation of older systems of labor control under capitalism. In every period, laws and cultural beliefs have rationalized and sustained unequal statuses that justify the super-exploitation of certain groups for their labor. This talk will explore contemporary ideologies of “illegality” and the creation of “undocumented” people in the context of the history of systems of exclusion and labor control.

Aviva Chomsky is professor of history and coordinator of Latin American Studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts. Her books include › Continue reading

Conducting Collaborative Research on Racism, Resilience, & Health of Latino Youth and Adults in the Eugene/Springfield Area

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Lokey Education Bldg.
Room 276
1571 Alder St.
UO campus

a CLLAS grantee presentation by Center for Equity Promotion Research Associate Heather McClure, UO graduate student Iván Sandoval-Cervantes, & youth from Juventud FACETA

This presentation highlights the groundwork for a future multiyear study of racism, stress, and health among Latino immigrants in Oregon. The project represents a collaboration between various UO faculty, graduate students, and community groups.

David Maawad: Resplandor de roca/Shining Rock

David Maawad, born in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1952, has been documenting the social, cultural, and environmental impact of mining in Mexico over the course of more than thirty years with spectacular vistas of unearthly postindustrial landscapes. His black and white photographs capture the human dimensions of this economic activity with astonishing beauty, showing the resilience and strength of Mexican mine workers, but also the difficult conditions under which they perform their labor.

The works will be on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (1430 Johnson Lane, Eugene, Oregon 97403) from April 3-29, 2012.  The artist will give a public talk on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 5:30 pm in the Ford Lecture Hall at the JSMA. › Continue reading

Child Migrant Farmers in the United States: A Quest for a Better Life

A review by Arturo Conde
Spring 2012 NACLA Report on the Americas

“U. Robert Romano’s 2011 documentary The Harvest (La Cosecha) reminds us of the human cost of what we eat. ‘In some countries, children work 14 hours a day, seven days a week,’ he explains in the film. ‘In some countries, children 12 and younger pick crops. The United States of America is one of those countries.’”

To read this review: [PDF] https://nacla.org/sites/default/files/A04501088_22.pdf