72nd Annual MALAS Conference

¡Bienvenidos!  Bem vinda!  Welcome!

I am delighted to welcome you to the 72nd annual conference of the Midwest Association for Latin American Studies (MALAS), to Santa Cruz & Cochabamba, Bolivia. This should be another wonderful conference.

Special events have been programmed for participants to gain an immersive experience. The conference will be an excellent opportunity to gather in person in the middle of the South American continent.

Bolivia shares its borders with five neighboring nations. The Andes Mountain range runs through the country and the mountainous terrain coupled with its location in the tropics result in a wide range of ecosystems and lands rich in mineral resources. Castilian, Bolivian Spanish, is the dominant language but many speak ñ Native American languages such as Aymara or Quechua. The conference will be held in two modern cities, each with its distinct culture and identity.

The host institution is Universidad Privada Boliviana. UPB has three campuses and MALAS will be at the Santa Cruz campus and the Campus at Cochabamba.

Francisco Mayorga

President

THEME

Latin America has attracted visitors and settlers from around the world since the late 15th century. The news about a continent that offered a wide variety of resources, climates, cultures, and opportunities disseminated quickly. As the popularity of Latin America grew, more and more people from distant regions decided to try out their luck in what was then called the “New World”. Along with these people’s dreams and prospects for a better life, came both the tangible and intangible aspects of their way of living. Consequently, the foreign cultural influences that Latin America has assimilated are significant.

The scope of foreign cultural influences in Latin America encompasses literally the five senses. For instance, the cuisines in different areas of the continent account for the presence of African, Asian, and European ingredients and cooking styles. Mofongo, carapulcra, arroz chaufa (fried rice) and chorizo and salchichas are just a few examples of foreign presence in Latin American foods. Likewise, music genres that have become fixtures of the Latin American repertoire blend rhythms whose origins are found abroad. Samba, tango, zamacueca, valse, and morenada all have foreign influences. However, they constitute an important element of the musical identity of Latin American peoples nowadays.

Over the years, the foreign influences exerted in Latin America have taken on a wide variety of forms. The spontaneous contributions made by individuals and or collectivities have been replaced by accredited representatives and interests. In that respect, countries from around the world have established new ways of creating bonds and associations with their counterparts in Latin America.

In the economic field, the impact of large investments has historically had repercussions in other equally crucial realms such as the political and social domains. That is why, foreign economic influence in Latin America is oftentimes synonymous with concomitant concessions made to investing countries. The privileges given to those external bodies range from exclusive exploitation of resources to the use of national territory for geo-military purposes, thus reconfiguring Latin American realities.

Due to the substantial ways in which foreign influences have reshaped diverse aspects of Latin America in the past two decades, MALAS will offer a venue where to discuss such influences in the 21st century. You are invited to submit a paper that addresses any form of influence that has been exercised in Latin America over individual countries, groups of countries, subregions, or the entire region at any point in time during the 21st century. The 2022 conference theme may be addressed through social sciences, as well as literature, history, arts, and popular cultures, among many other disciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches.