From Wednesday, June 12 to Saturday, June 15, the new edition of the International LASA Congress will take place, titled “Reaction and Resistance: Imagining Possible Futures in the Americas”. The event, organized by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), which annually brings together thousands of participants, will feature a panel (divided into two sessions) coordinated and led by our ICLAC Millennium Nucleus.
The panel is titled “China’s Presence in Latin America: Multidisciplinary Perspectives” and aims to address various aspects of China’s current and future presence in Latin America, including the economic, social, and environmental impacts of changing relations with different Chinese actors. The panel will also explore the role of Chinese diasporas, media, cultural, and consumer aspects, as well as case studies on environmental policy, labor conditions, Chinese FDI in Peru, and the impact of Chinese infrastructure investments in Latin America.
The first session of this panel will take place on Wednesday, June 12 at 08:30 AM, and will include: María Montt Strabucchi, Alternate Director of ICLAC and History UC (Session Organizer); Monica DeHart, Senior Advisor ICLAC and University of Puget Sound (Chair). Papers: “Chinese Construction Contracting in the Global South: Analyzing the Effects of International Politics on Their Spatial Distribution” – Leolino Dourado, CECHAP researcher; “Assessing the New Era of Geopolitical Realities: China’s Academic Debates on the Sino-Latin American Relationship in the Past Five Years (2018–2022)” – Antonio José Pagán Sánchez, Universidad del Pacífico; “Political Determinants of Latin American Investment in Asia” – Juan E. Serrano Moreno and Andrés Bórquez, ICLAC and IEI researchers; and “The Presence of Chinese Companies in the Argentine Lithium Sector: Implications for Development and International Insertion in the Current Geopolitical Scenario” – Juliana González Jauregui, ICLAC researcher, FLACSO/CONICET
The second session of the panel will take place on the same day at 10:20 AM and will include: María Montt Strabucchi (Session Organizer); Monica DeHart (Chair); Cynthia Sanborn, Senior Advisor ICLAC and Universidad del Pacífico (Discussant) Papers: “Environmental Policy: Interaction Between Chinese FDI and Environmental Governance in Argentina, Chile, and Peru” – Andrea Freites, a Ph.D. student in Political Science UC – ICLAC “Didi Chuxing and the Platform Economy in Latin America: A Labor Perspective from Peru” – Walter Omar Manky Bonilla, Universidad del Pacífico “Latin American Elites’ Preferences Towards Chinese FDI: The Peruvian Case in the Last Two Decades” – Luciano Quispe, a Ph.D. student in Political Science UC – ICLAC “China’s Free Trade Agreements with South American Countries: The Cases of Chile, Peru, and Ecuador” – Cintia V. Quiliconi, FLACSO “Reconsidering the Impact of Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Latin America: The Case of the Caucharí Solar Photovoltaic Park and the Development of Local Communities” – Nifta Lau Ibarias, CECHAP
In addition to this panel, several ICLAC researchers will be participating in various other panels:
Wednesday, June 12:
– 08:30 – 10:00 am: China Today, Latin America Tomorrow (I): Reception and Literary Criticism: Imaginaries and Representations of Latin America in China and of China in Latin America
Participates José Miguel Vidal, ICLAC Postdoctoral Researcher – Paper: “The Americas and China’s Possible Futures: Representations of America in Sino-Protestant Texts and Their Impact on Three Chinese Works (1819–1852).”
– 12:10 – 1:40 pm: China Today, Latin America Tomorrow (II): Writing Red China: Revolutionary Utopias and Alternative Models for Latin American Futures
Participates: María Montt Strabucchi (ICLAC) – Session Organizer – Paper: “A Possible Future? The 'New China' of the 1950s”
– 15.50 – 17.20 pm: Transforming landscapes, building futures: Latin America, the Caribbean and China
Participates: Monica DeHart (ICLAC & Puget Sound) – Session Organizer – Paper: “Cultivating more pedestrian forms of Chineseness? The re-sinification of San José’s Chinatown”
María Montt Strabucchi (ICLAC) – Discussant –
Thursday, June 13:
9:30 – 10:00 am: Book Presentation: “China from the Hispano-American World: Influences, Readings, and Representations”
Participates: María Montt Strabucchi (ICLAC)
Friday, June 14:
8:30 – 10:00 AM: Workshop on Various Illegalities and Governance Challenges in Maritime Spaces
Participates: Nicole Jenne (ICLAC & Political Science UC) – Session Organizer –
Saturday, June 15:
08.30 – 10.00 am: Hidden narratives of Trans – Pacific Latin America: Asia migration, politics and culture
Participates: Patricia Palma (ICLAC & University of Tarapacá) – Paper: “Torn China: The Chinese Diaspora in Chile and the Solidarity Movement to the Fatherland”
Other Associated Activities
In addition to the LASA 2024 activities, other external events will also feature nucleus researchers:
– II International Congress on the Global History of Maoism in Latin America and the Caribbean (June 10–11, 2024). Participating: María Montt
– Roundtable on Relations Between Latin America and China: The Case of Chile (June 11). Participating: Andrés Bórquez and Juan E. Serrano
ICLAC Fellows
In January of this year, the ICLAC Millennium Nucleus opened the “ICLAC – LASA 2024 Fellowship” call to financially support researchers participating in the congress. This initiative is part of the nucleus's commitment to promoting research among young researchers interested in studying China’s impacts on the region.
The fellowship winners and the panels they will participate in during the congress are: Nifta Lau Ibarias – Presence of China in Latin America: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Part 1), Andrea Freites – Presence of China in Latin America: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Part 2); Víctor Albuquerque Felix da Silva – Strategic and Analytical Perspectives on the Implementation of Human Security in Latin America. Part 1: The State, Personal, and Political Dimensions, Zhao Xi – Traditional Cultures and Populism Looking “Backward”, José Miguel Vidal – China Today, Latin America Tomorrow-I. Reception and Literary Criticism: Imaginaries and Representations of Latin America in China and of China in Latin America, Zara Albright – Navigating Power Dynamics: Latin America’s Geopolitical and Discursive Strategies in the Sino-American Landscape, Leolino Dourado – Presence of China in Latin America: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Part 1), Antonio José Pagán Sánchez – Presence of China in Latin America: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Part 1) (Track section sessions: Asia and the Americas)