SLAS Events
Annual Conference | Annual Lecture
This is the key event in our calendar, attracting 200-350 participants. It takes place during the Easter vacation in different locations each year.
Academic panels vary widely, from economics to music via anthropology, politics, history, literature, geography and film. We have a keynote speaker and social events which in the past have included visits to galleries, film festivals and which culminate in the conference dinner with salsa dancing.
PILAS runs research workshops for postgraduate students and all panels are strongly encouraged to include at least one postgraduate speaker. Postgraduate attendance is facilitated by the conference bursary.
Funding is available to assist Latin American scholars who are presenting a paper at the SLAS conference with their travel expenses.
SLAS Conference 2009
Leeds 26-27 March, hosted by the University of Leed's
Conference Theme: (Re) Invasions and Inventions: Latin America Confronts the 21st Century
In the last 200 years, Latin America has experienced wars of independence, dictatorship, guerrilla warfare and structural adjustment policies and is now emerging as an increasingly dominant economic region with lively, if singular democratic systems representing a wider range of class and ethnic stakeholders than ever before. But as the region confronts a changing global scenario, having to deal with the rise of ethnic politics, the global credit crunch, the rise of China, the rise in commodity prices and the new alignment of hostile superpowers, how sustainable are these new institutions to meeting the challenges of the 21st Century?
Panel convenors are invited to engage with this conference theme if they wish to do so, but the organizers welcome a wide and diverse range of panel proposals.
Further Information
This looks set to be an innovative and exciting conference, hosted by the University of Leeds School of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) [New window] and the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies [New window]. In a break from tradition, it will take place on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 March, ending with the Conference Dinner. Registration will open in October.
For more information on the conference and the University of Leeds, click here [New window]
Reports of previous SLAS conferences.
SLAS Conference 2008 Liverpool [Word]
SLAS Conference 2007 Newcastle [Word]
SLAS Conference 2006 Nottingham [Word]
SLAS Conference 2005 Derby
Instituted in 2004, the aim of these lectures is to present the ideas of leading public thinkers on contemporary Latin America.
2008 London - James Painter
‘Climate Change, Latin America and the Media’ James is a BBC reporter and has developed an impressive expertise in the fascinating field of politics and climate change in the region. His thought-provoking and important talk is available here [Word].
2007 Liverpool - Hugh O’Shaughnessy
‘Are we Keeping Up with Latin America?’ Journalist, co-founder of the Latin America Bureau and author of Pinochet: the Politics of Torture (LAB 1999) and (with Sue Branford) Chemical Warfare in Colombia: the Costs of Coca Fumigation (LAB 2005). Full Text of lecture here [Word].
2006 Essex - Richard Gott
'Latin America as a White Settler Society'. Journalist and author of Cuba: a New History (Yale 2005) and Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela (Verso, 2005). Published in the Bulletin of Latin American Research Volume 26 Issue 2 pp 269-289, April 2007.
2005 Manchester - Duncan Green
‘Twenty Years of Neoliberalism: Where does Latin American go From Here?' Head of Research, Oxfam; author of Silent Revolution: the Rise and Crisis of Market Economics in Latin America (LAB 2003) and Faces of Latin America (LAB, 1997).
2004 London - William Robinson
'Latin America and the Crisis of Global Capitalism: Opportunities, Challenges, Hazards.' Associate Professor of Sociology, Global Studies and Iberian Studies, University of California - Santa Barbara.