Faculty Research in the Americas
(Faculty Members are listed Alphabetically)
Andreas, Peter - Political Science
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1106969919&r=1
Peter Andreas's research and writing focuses on the intersection between security, political economy, and cross-border crime. This includes the politics of border controls and cross-border smuggling; the internationalization of prohibitions and policing practices; and the relationship between crime, conflict, and international intervention (and its legacy for post-conflict reconstruction).
Bakewell, Elizabeth - Latin American Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10183&r=1
Dr. Elizabeth Bakewell received a doctorate in anthropology from Brown University. She is the author and editor of several publications, including My Patron Saint (forthcoming); Madre (forthcoming); Looking High and Low: Art and Cultural Identity (co-edited, Arizona Press, 1995); Object Image Inquiry: The Art Historian at Work (co-author, Getty, 1988); "Image Acts" (American Anthropologist, 1998); articles on Frida Kahlo in Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (1993), Pasión por Frida (1992), and the Encyclopedia of Mexico (1998).
Bauer, Beth - Hispanic Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10288&r=1
Beth Bauer's research and teaching interests include 18th- and 19th-century Spanish Peninsular literature and language teaching methodology. Reflecting these interests, her publications have included Contextos: Spanish for Communication (1989) and numerous articles on Galdos, Leopoldo Alas, Juan Valera, and Emilia Pardo Bazan, among others.
Bearer, Elaine - Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of, Department of Music, Division of Engineering
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1100923684&r=1
Living cells are dynamic—transporting components inside, changing their shape, and locomoting. In the central nervous system, this dynamic behavior establishes, maintains and modifies neuronal connections. We use a range of microscopic imaging and molecular techniques to understand the mechanisms of these dynamics using model systems, including squid giant axon, transport of Herpes simplex virus, and human blood platelets. These studies address fundamental questions pertaining to learning and memory. I also direct a medical clerkship in Guatemala, and hold an appointment as a composer in the Music Department.
Bertness, Mark - Ecological and Evolutionary Biology
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1100923714&r=1
I am an experimental marine community ecologist interested in the ecology and conservation biology of shoreline systems, particularly salt marshes and rocky shores. My current work is focused on reevaluating the role of top down forces in regulating the primary production of salt marsh systems, elucidating the importance of ecosystem engineers and positive interactions in shoreline systems and critically examining the prevalence of alternative community stable states in marine ecosystems. My students and I work on salt marsh and rocky intertidal systems on the east coast of North and South America and on salt marshes in Chile. A large part of our work in South America is focused on empowering South American graduate students.
Bisaccio, Daniel - Education
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1220547003&r=1
Using the Smithsonian Institution's Man and Biosphere (SI/MAB) permanent biodiversity research protocols, high school and college students from North America, Latin America, and Caribbean islands have been collaborating and collecting biological research data at field sites in New Hampshire, Mexico, and Caribbean for the past ten years. The overall goals of HabitatNet are to (1) develop conservation biological literacy and cross-cultural partnerships with students by giving them an opportunity to learn field methods and applications while collecting and interpreting biological diversity data and (2) establish baseline biological diversity data at the various field sites. Over five hundred students have been involved with this project thus far. Annual field reports are written and submitted to the Smithsonian Institution and local NGO conservation agencies by the student participants.
Bogues, Anthony - Africana Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10149&r=1
Current research focuses on the following areas: 1. A contemporary study on the nature of power in the modern world focusing on the relationships between questions of power, desire, and violence. In particular, I exam post-colonial Caribbean states and the ways in which violence and death complicate conventional conceptions of the political. In this examination, I also think about the ways in which sovereignty has reconfigured itself. 2. My second project focuses on thinking about the relationship between forms of utopia, ways of life, and the political. For this, I am working through a set of historical/social and religious movements in Africa and the Caribbean. This project examines the relationship between questions of politics and history in the post-colonial world. 3. My third project involves working with colleagues from the University of the West Indies and the Center of African Studies at the University of Cape Town. I am engaged in a project that seeks to think about the configuration of the field of African and African Diaspora studies. 4. I am also working on an alternative intellectual history of freedom in modernity. This project involves probing the conceptions and various meanings of freedom that emerged at three historic moments : The Haitian Revolution ; The Civil Rights Movement and the Southern African Liberation movements .
Cope, Robert Douglas - History
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10079&r=1
My research and teaching focuses on the creation and development of multi-ethnic societies in Mexico and Central America. I am particularly interested in the lived experience of the urban poor: how they grappled – socially, economically, and culturally – with their unfavorable position in the colonial hierarchy.
Fischer, Karen M. - Geological Sciences
http://research.brown.edu/research/project.php?id=1224865567
Melting processes and mantle flow in the Central American subduction zone: From Nicaragua to Costa Rica, seismic imaging has revealed strong along-arc variations in the velocity and attenuation structure of downgoing plate and mantle wedge. These results correlate with geochemical data and indicate along-arc changes in the extent of melting and the role of water fluxed from the subducting lithospheric slab.
Garcia, Matthew - American Civilization, Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10141
In this project, Professor Garcia explores the formation of agricultural empires in the California desert and the exploitation of natural resources and Mexican labor which made it possible.
Green, James N. - History and Portugues and Brazillian Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10086
This project will produce the first comprehensive history of the early years of the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Between 1970 and 1985, the commission considered cases about the torture and other violation of human rights of Brazilian, Chilean, Argentine, and Uruguayan political prisoners.
Henry, Paget - Sociology
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1106970262&r=1
Areas of Interest: Development, Political Sociology, Critical Theory, Caribbean Studies. My areas of research are economic and political problems of the Caribbean. I also work on a number of specific Caribbean thinkers and on a number of critical theorists. Currently, I am doing some research on the role of culture and the process of development in both the Caribbean and Africa. I teach courses on development, the Caribbean, political sociology and on Colonial Cultures. My most recent publication is C. L. R. James' Caribbean.
Herbert, Timothy - Geological Sciences
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1106969967
Brown University geologists have created the longest continuous record of ocean surface temperatures, dating back 5 million years. The record shows slow, steady cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific, a finding that challenges the notion that the Ice Ages alone sparked a global cooling trend. Results are published in Science.
Hu-Dehart, Evelyn - History
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10088&r=1
Professor Hu-DeHart was born in China and immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was 12. As an undergraduate at Stanford University she studied in Brazil on an exchange program. She became fascinated with Latin America and that interest eventually led her to a Ph.D. in Latin American history. She has written two books on the Yaqui Indians, and is now engaged in a large research project on the Asian diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean. The goal of Professor Hu-DeHart`s diaspora project is to uncover and recover the history of Asian migration to Latin America and the Caribbean, and to document and analyze the contributions of these immigrants to the formation of Latin/Caribbean societies and cultures. It should also contribute towards theorizing diasporas and transnationalism. The importance and timeliness of this research was most recently demonstrated by the election of Alberto Fujimori, son of Japanese immigrants, as president of Peru. Hu-DeHart also hopes that her work will broaden the scope of Asian American studies as well as contribute to an area not well covered within Latin American studies.
Itzigsohn, Jose - Sociology
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1106969909&r=1
Areas of interest: race and ethnic relations, Latino immigration, development. My work focuses on two areas. The first is identity and group formation, with a focus on processes of racialization, and ethnic and nation formation. I am currently conducting research on the racial and ethnic identity formation among first and second generation Dominican immigrants, on the formation of Latino/a communities and identities, and on the formation of immigrant transnational communities. I am also conducting comparative research on the forms of nationalism in Latin America. My second area of interest is the political economy of inequality. I have conducted research on labor markets and the informal economy in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Currently I am working on the employment strategies and trajectories of Latin American immigrants in the United States. I am also studying the recuperated factories in Argentina (factories that have been taken over by workers who run them as worker-owned cooperatives), assessing the conditions that sustain collective action and the organizational forms of the worker-owned factories. I work within the world-system theoretical paradigm, but I am interested in the local variations within the world economic and political systems. I investigate how local and regional institutional forms and identity formation processes develop and interact with world-systemic trends. I am the author of Developing Poverty (Penn State Press, 2000) and numerous articles published in journals such as Social Forces, International Migration Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies Review, and Radical Philosophy Review.
Jones, Rhett S. - History
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10091&r=1
African American history before 1800, African American theatre, Black/Native American relations before 1800, Caribbean history before 1840 and race relations in the colonial Americas.
Kirkman, Geoffrey - Watson Institute for International Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1143215503&r=1
Kirkman's research focuses on the role of information and communication technologies in social and economic development, social entrepreneurship, and Latin American baseball. His most recent research includes the development and deployment of a global survey of educators to generate data and better understand the challenges and impacts of incorporating ICTs into school curriculum, and a series of initiatives to enhance the economic competitiveness of Caribbean nations. Kirkman also works on issues relating to media and international affairs.
Lee, Robert G. - American Civilization
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10144
Robert Lee studies the history of Asians in the United States, racial formations, and relations between Asia and America. Three books include: Dear Miye, Letters Home from Japan 1939-1946 (Stanford, 1995; Japanese edition - Asahi, 1999); Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture (Temple, 1999, Japanese and Chinese editions, 2006); and Displacements and Diasporas: Asians in the Americas (Rutgers 2005).
Leinaweaver, Jessica - Anthropology
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1216148794&r=1
Dr. Leinaweaver's work explores the broad question of how, and why, people care for one another. She has explored this question through research into "the circulation of children," or informal ways that young people are relocated into new households and families, in Peru. She has also developed projects considering aging among the parents of transnational migrants in Ayacucho; child agency and systems of caregiving in Yauyos; and international adoption and migration of Peruvians to Spain.
Mazzucchelli, Aldo - Hispanic Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1187272621
I am writing a book in which philosophy, technology and the city converge. I will make use of Julio Piquet journalism, letters and memoirs in order to focus on modernization in Latin America, paying particular attention to the years 1880-1929. Mr. Piquet was a somewhat obscure Modernista intellectual who lived in South America.
Merriam, Stephanie - Comparative Literature, Hispanic Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10052&r=1
Professor Merrim's research deals with the early modern and modern periods, focusing on Latin America. She is presently completing a book entitled The Spectacular City and the Work of the New World Baroque, in Colonial Mexican Literary Culture.
Ortega, Julio - Hispanic Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10291&r=1
The Trans-Atlantic Project at Brown University is an academic initiative based at the Department of Hispanic Studies and supported by Latin American Studies that, since 1996, has been working to advance research, teaching, and conversation among Brown faculty and students on issues related to the new area of "transatlantic studies." Among these issues are the cultural history of exchange between Spain and the Americas, post-colonial representations, the role of Spanish in the U.S., the French avant-garde and its Atlantic dialogue, as well as exile and migrations. The theoretical ground of this research is based on the modern mechanisms of cultural exchange, identity formation and hybridity, geo-textualities, and communication in the new Humanities
Stallings, Barbara - Watson Institute for International Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1143752396&r=1
Professor Stallings' research focuses on the political economy of development, with particular reference to three topics: (1) macroeconomic policy and structural reforms and their impact on growth, employment creation, and income distribution; (2) finance for development, including domestic banks, capital markets, and international finance; and (3) the international political economy and its effect on the development process. The main geographic focus of my research has been on Latin America and East Asia.
Wey-Gomez, Nicholas - Hispanic Studies
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1129557425&r=1
Prof. Wey-Gómez is now also working on a second book titled "The Machine of the World: Nature's in the Early Spanish Colonial Americas," which examines the moral authority of the natural sciences in the production of a highly politicized European ethnography in the Americas during the 16th-century. He studies four major works - Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés's Historia general y natural de las Indias, Bartolomé de las Casas's Apologética historia, the "Florentine Codex" by Bernardino de Sahagún, and Joseph de Acosta's Historia natural y moral de las Indias - in the context of an institutional controversy in imperial Spain that was fostered by the abuses and cruelties committed against New World peoples by Spanish conquistadores and encomenderos during the early decades of the transatlantic encounter. Was there any ground to justify Spain's subjection and enslavement of Indians? These ethnographers fall on both sides of this legal controversy and offer some of the most complete and influential considerations of this question produced in the Spanish empire during the 16th and early 17th- centuries. Prof. Wey-Gómez's interest, however, lies less in the history of the debate itself, which historians like Lewis Hanke and Anthony Pagden have amply examined, than in the philosophical frameworks that informed polemical narratives explicitly or implicitly labeled as "natural and moral histories" of the Americas. How did scholasticism (and humanism) answer to the "question" of the Indian in these narratives? Prof. Wey-Gómez's focus is on the problematic boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate areas of knowledge in Europe such as "natural" and "superstitious" astrology or "natural" and "demonic" magic, and on the use of these boundaries to classify and evaluate Amerindian structures of knowledge.
Whitfield, Esther - Comparative Literature
http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10056&r=1
Esther Whitfield's research focuses on Cuban culture of the post-Soviet period. She also writes on contemporary Latin American and Caribbean literature more broadly, and on Welsh writing in the Americas.