Faculty Voices

Steven Levitsky, the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University, takes a deep look at Argentine elections, the recent October 22 run-off and the final elections November 19 with the incumbent party Sergio Massa facing off against the far-right candidate Javier Milei.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, a new faculty member in Harvard's History Department, looks at ethnic studies in the context of the Supreme Court's recent decision on affirmative action, as well as innovative digital humanities research, immigration justice and transnational migration from the Caribbean. His research and teaching focus on the history of Latinx people in the United States, the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, immigration and asylum law, publicly engaged humanities, and digital humanities. He is also the third Harvard senior faculty member dedicated to the teaching and scholarship of ethnicity, indigeneity, and migration.

Dr. Marcela del Carmen is the president of Massachusetts General Physicians and Vice President of Mass Gen Brigham. She is a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. And she's also an immigrant from Nicaragua. On this episode of Faculty Voices, we talk about her experience and the challenges to diversity and equity in the context of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Daniel Neafsey, Associate Professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of of Public Health, as well as Associate Director of the Broad (Brode) Institute's Genomic Center for Infectious Disease, talks about his work combatting malaria in Colombia and Guyana through cutting-edge technologies.

Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, discusses the 50th anniversary of the Sept. 11 coup in Chile and why the coup still matters.

Adriana Umaña-Taylor, the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, talks about her work with the Identity Project, applying developmental science to help reduce ethnic-racial disparities for adolescents both in Latinx communities in the United States and in Colombia.

Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, an anti-corruption crusader, was assassinated at gunpoint August 9, just two weeks before the country's elections. Alisha Holland, Associate Professor in Harvard’s Government Department who specializes in the Andean region, analyzes the horrific event and what it means for Ecuador.

Diane Davis, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism recently co-organized a two-day conference on water with Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico in Harvard's History of Science Department. The two—co-chairs of the Faculty Committee on Mexico at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies—brought together an unusual group of experts—from historians to hydrologists to border analysts and architects—to think about think about the challenges for water in Mexico and beyond in the context of climate change.

On the occasion of International Women’s History Month, Jennifer Alpert, a Lecturer in Harvard’s History and Literature program, discusses the representation of Latin American and Latinx women in film and television—ranging from Carmen Miranda to Encanto to the Gordita Chronicles. As a film scholar who worked on "From Latin America to Hollywood: Latino Film Culture in Los Angeles 1967–2017," aiming to increase Latin American/Latinx representation in popular media, she gives as an insider’s view on progress and setbacks in the depiction of women.

Emiliana Vegas, a professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focuses on improving educational opportunity in developing countries. She discusses learning loss caused by Covid-19 in Latin America and what we can do about it, as well as the challenges faced by teachers in a profession with declining prestige. And although it hasn’t caught on yet in Latin America, she takes a look at the innovative technology of micro-credentials and what it might mean for the region.