Civil Rights

January 12, 2013

Gimme Shelter: Gangs, Violence, Corruption, and Exclusion in Brazil’s Favelas

I wrote this for a class on Brazil’s ongoing transition from “developing” to “developed” country. Some snippets: Residents of Brazil’s favelas (and other slum-like urban settlements, which will be distinguished below) exist in a strange limbo of legality. They often have no title to the lands they occupy, their living is often made in informal
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January 7, 2013

A Thousand Twangling Instruments: Racial and Ethnic Political Identities in Modern Latin America

I wrote this for a class on Latin American comparative politics. My conclusions: …Indigenous movements are just one section in the symphony of “a thousand twangling instruments” that comprise the social movement scene in Latin America. The present period seems may be like the cacophony on before the concert as the musicians separately tune their
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Mike LaSusa