Apr 24
Organized Autonomy: Resisting Settler Impositions in the Américas
Bianet Castellanos, Distinguished McKnight University Professor of American Studies and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, will be giving this year's Foro Latinoamericano keynote presentation: "Organized Autonomy: Resisting Settler Impositions in the Americas."
Castellanos' research examines settler colonialism in Mexico and the cultural politics of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican migrations and displacements. She teaches courses on Indigenous urbanisms; immigration; tourism; women, rage, and politics; American politics and popular culture; and the US-Mexico border.
In her most recent book, Indigenous Dispossesion: Housing and Maya Indebtedness in Mexico, Castellanos analyzes how Maya families make sense of the cultural, political, and legal ramifications of neoliberal housing policies that privilege mortgage finance over land redistribution. It was awarded the 2022 Gregory Bateson Book Prize, 2022 Arthur J. Rubel Book Prize, and 2021 Edward M. Bruner Book Prize, and was a finalist for the 2023 Society for Economic Anthropology Book Prize.
The 2026 Foro Latinoamericano, "Unsettling Latin America: On Connections, Futures, and Possibilities," marks the 50th anniversary of the Latin American Studies program. This year, we aim to center Latin American thought and ontologies as a path into the future and as a way to showcase for our college community that we are important contributors to the Liberal Arts mission and society in general.
All events are open to the public. RSVP if you plan to attend. Visit our Foro Latinoamericano webpage for more information.