Center for InterAmerican Studies

Convocatoria Jornada Híbrida: "El Terror en Latinoamérica: La colonialidad del género del miedo a revisión" (30.4.2026)

2026-04-02T10:26:04+02:00

Jornada híbrida, Universidad de Bielefeld, 10.06.2026.

Se invita a las personas interesadas a debatir las narrativas de terror contemporáneas de América Latina, tanto a nivel literario como cinematográfico (y a nivel de otros medios). Las cuestiones a discutir abarcan estrategias narrativas, revisiones del género, concepciones del terror, la (ir)realidad del terror, replanteamientos y críticas de tradiciones coloniales del género, entre otros.

Plazo para el envío de propuestas: 30.04.2026

Organización: Prof. Dr. Joachim Michael

Información y envío de propuestas: joachim.michael@uni-bielefeld.de

Más información:

Jornada-Terror_convocatoria_300326.pdf

Info-Abend: Trump-Intervention und aktuelle Lage in Lateinamerika (07.03.2026)

2026-03-05T18:26:20+01:00

Am 7. März 2026 (19:00 Uhr) findet in der Lydia-Gemeinde ein Info-Abend mit dem Titel:

"Trump-Intervention und aktuelle Lage in Lateinamerika"

statt. Die Referent*innen Olaf Kaltmeier, Omar Sierra Cháves, Alexandra Castañeda Obando, Josué García Veiga (alle Universität Bielefeld) analysieren die aktuelle Lage in Mexiko, Venezuela, Kuba und Kolumbien. Die Veranstaltung wird mit Empanadas und Wein begleitet und der Erlös geht an humanitäre Hilfe auf Kuba.

Ort: Lydia-Gemeinde, Johanniskirchpl. 1, 33615 Bielefeld

Short term exchange research fellowships between Universities Bielefeld and Guadalajara 2026

2026-02-16T18:43:07+01:00

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS), headquarters Guadalajara and CALAS/CIAS Bielefeld University are accepting applications for up to four short-term fellowships for qualified researchers in the following program areas:

• Two scholarships for academics affiliated with Bielefeld University for stays at the CALAS headquarters in Guadalajara, Mexico.

• Two scholarships for academics from the University of Guadalajara for stays at the CALAS/CIAS headquarters at Bielefeld University.

• Alternatively, tandems consisting of one academic from the University of Guadalajara and one academic from Bielefeld University may also apply.

Deadline for applications: March 30, 2026

Please see here for details and the application process:

English

Español

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium with Johannes Völz on 20.1.2026

2026-01-19T11:04:00+01:00

We cordially invite to the next talk of our IAS colloquium series on Tuesday, 20th of January 2026 (6–8 pm, Room X-E0-226). Johannes Völz (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt) will give a lecture titled:

“Trump and the Populist Space of Appearance: On the Rally as Political Form”

This presentation examines the political rally as a key aesthetic and performative form of contemporary populism. Focusing on Donald Trump, Johannes Völz analyzes how rallies create a “space of appearance” in which populist politics becomes visible, affective, and collective. The talk situates the rally within broader debates on democratic representation, political aesthetics, and the cultural forms through which populism mobilizes publics.

Johannes Völz is Professor of American Studies at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. He is the spokesperson of the DFG Research Training Group “Aesthetics of Democracy” (GRK 3113) and co-directs the research focus “Democratic Vistas: Reflections on the Atlantic World” at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Frankfurt. He is the author of Poetics of Insecurity: American Fiction and the Uses of Threat (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and is currently working on a book project on the aesthetics of populism.

Roundtable Discussion: U.S. Imperialism Reloaded: Latin American Reflections (20 Jan 2026)

2026-01-19T10:46:22+01:00

On 20 January, AStA Bielefeld in cooperation with CIAS and CALAS invites to a Roundtable Discussion: U.S. Imperialism Reloaded: Latin American Reflections

with

OLAF KALTMEIER (Bielefeld University)

OMAR SIERRA CHÁVES (Bielefeld University, VENEZUELA)

ALEXANDRA CASTAÑEDA OBANDO (Bielefeld University, COLOMBIA)

JOSUÉ GARCÍA VEIGA (Bielefeld University, MEXICO)

The attack against Venezuela has greater geopolitical implications. We face the rupture of a multilateral world-order and the reinvention of imperial conducts and narratives. In inter-American relations these have a long history going back to the Monroe-Doctrine. In this round-table we offer a unique interpretation from different Latin American perspectives.

16:00-17:30, in H5 (Main Building), Open to the public.

Research Position / PhD Researcher (m/f/d) - On work-family policies in Mexico and Germany

2025-12-16T11:43:55+01:00

The Project A06 “Work-family Policies: Socioeconomic Outcomes and Policy Learning" (Prof. Sonja Blum, Faculty of Sociology) is seeking to appoint a PhD Researcher at Bielefeld University.

The project will investigate (1) how family policies affect the socioeconomic outcomes of women and children; and (2) under what conditions and through which mechanisms policy actors utilize information on these outcomes, leading to policy learning. In this context, the successful candidate is expected to make a substantial contribution on the second question, particularly by conducting qualitative case studies of Mexico and Germany, alongside an active engagement in the project’s overall research agenda.

Application deadline: 12.01.2026

Please finde more information and the online application here.

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium with Astrid Haas (16 December)

2025-12-15T15:30:15+01:00

We cordially invite you to the next talk of our IAS-colloquium series. On Tuesday, 16 December (6 pm c.t., Room X E0-226), Astrid Haas from the University of Bergen speaks about:

Drawing Resistance in the Borderlands: Fighting Trumpsim and Transborder Violence in/with the Peso Hero Comic Series.

The lecture analyzes how the Mexican American comic series El Peso Hero uses the genre of the superhero comic to offer a political critique of the border politics of the two Trump presidencies targeting Latin American immigrants. It also discusses how Latine comics like the Peso Hero series can offer cultural resistance to the growing violence of both law enforcement officers and criminal cartels affecting residents and migrants in the US-Mexico border region.

Astrid Haas is an Associate Professor in American Literature and Culture at the University of Bergen. Her research interests include, a.o., Transnational North American Studies, Border Studies, and the Black and Latinx Diasporas. Her most recent book is titled Lone Star Vistas: Travel Writing on Texas, 1821-1861 (2021). She currently works on two larger projects, “Black Inter-American Mobility and Autobiography in the Age of Revolutions, 1760-1860” and “LatineGraphy: Latine Pasts, Presents, and Futures in US Latine and Latin American Graphic Narratives.”

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium with Martin Lüthe (2.12.2025)

2025-12-01T09:56:07+01:00

We cordially invite you to the next talk of our IAS-colloquium series. On Tuesday, 2nd of December (6 pm c.t., Room X E0-226),

Martin Lüthe (Freie Universität Berlin) will lead a lecture on the topic:

Of NYC and DJT: Hip Hop Music and the (Un-)Making of Donald J. Trump.

This presentation examines how 1990s hip hop culture contributed to the public construction of Donald Trump’s persona—long before his political ascent. Hip hop culture in the 1990s (arguably) brought to the cultural fore a more general obsession with Donald Trump (no “J” back then). Trump embodied a certain dog-eat-dog capitalist ethos that much of so-called gangsta rap came to be known (and blamed) for during the 1990s — and, of course, Trump embodied New York City, hip hop music’s birthplace. In this talk, Lüthe aspires to answer questions pertaining to Trump’s “street cred”: What does this “making” of Trump signify, how is it entangled with his contemporary political moment, and how has it changed in the context of Trump’s political (un-)making?

Martin Lüthe is currently an associate professor/lecturer at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at Freie Universitaet Berlin and Einstein Junior Fellow. Lüthe published the monographs “We Missed a Lot of Church, So the Music Is Our Confessional”: Rap and Religion (Lit Verlag, 2008) and "Color-Line and Crossing-Over: Motown and Performances of Blackness in 1960s American Culture" (WVT, 2011). Lüthe finished his second dissertation, the German Habilitation, with a manuscript on "Wire Writing: Media Change in the Culture of the Progressive Era" in February 2025. Lüthe is a member of the editorial board of Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture and is working on a book manuscript entitled "The Beautiful Digital Game: A Cultural History of Soccer Video Games".

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium with Martin Lutz (25.11.2025)

2025-11-24T09:57:35+01:00

We cordially invite to the next talk of our colloquium series. On Tuesday, 25th of November (6 pm c.t., Room X E0-226), Martin Lutz (Universität Bielefeld) will be leading a lecture with the title:

The Politics of Religion: What the Anabaptist Case Can Teach us About the Political Landscape in the Americas.

This lecture explores how religion shapes political imaginaries and practices across the Americas by revisiting the historical experience of the Anabaptist movement. Drawing on its principles of community, dissent, and resistance to state authority, Martin Lutz examines what the Anabaptist case can reveal about contemporary political dynamics, faith-based mobilization, and the complex relationship between religion and democracy in the hemisphere.

Martin Lutz is Professor of History of Modern Societies at Bielefeld University. His research combining social, economic, and business history bridges specializations, subjects, regions, and theories, and includes work on globalization; religion and modern capitalism; Germany, North America, and Russia/the Soviet Union; and institutional theory. This research is focused on understanding how actors and institutions interact to shape historical change, and combines study of the social, political, economic, and cultural influences on capitalism and society. These themes have been a consistent yet evolving research interest since the start of Lutz’ career, and are reflected in my publications on the transnational history of Siemens, German-Soviet economic relations during the Weimar Republic, Anabaptist (Mennonite/Amish/Hutterite) religion and socio-economic development in North America, moral economy and—most recently—on German-Soviet/Russian energy relations at the end of the Cold War. He contributes to the field, the academy, and the public through service on cross-disciplinary university committees, working groups, and engagement with media outlets, including periodicals, TV, and radio.

For further information, please visit our website.

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium - Julia Roth (18.11.2025)

2025-11-17T11:50:33+01:00

The CIAS is cordialy inviting to the second talk of this semester's colloquium series. On Tuesday, 18th of November (6 pm c.t., Room X E0-226), Julia Roth (Universität Bielefeld) will be leading a lecture on the topic: Revitalizando el estado masculinista: El género como campo de batalla en el discurso autoritario del gobierno de Trump y sus aliados latinoamericanos.

The lecture examines how issues surrounding gender rights, gender, and the demonization of so-called “gender ideology” are being exploited in the discourse of the authoritarian right, and how ‘gender’ has become a central battleground in the current “conjuncture” (Hall). As an affective bridge and symbolic glue, the demonization of the “phantom” of gender (Butler) mobilizes and channels fears, distracts from structural inequalities and crises, and revitalizes the ‘retrotopic’ (Bauman) desire for supposedly simple answers, strong leaders, and a “masculinist state” (Sauer).

Dr. Julia Roth is currently teaching American Studies at Bielefeld University, where she was also director of the Center for Interamerican Studies (CIAS) and PI at the DFG Graduate School “Experiencing Gender”. Previously, she was Professor of American Studies with a focus on Gender Studies and Inter-American Studies in Bielefeld and postdoctoral fellow in the research project "The Americas as Space of Entanglements" in Bielefeld and in the interdisciplinary network "desiguALdades.net - Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America" at Freie Universität Berlin. Her research focuses on postcolonial, decolonial and gender approaches, intersectionality and global inequalities, anti-racist feminist knowledge from the Caribbean and the Americas, Hip Hop and social transformation, gender and genre, law and literature and legal imaginaries, gender and citizenship, and right-wing populism and gender.

Internationale Konferenz: Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History (14.-15.11.2025)

2025-11-13T08:55:05+01:00

Wir möchten Sie sehr herzlich zur Konferenz zum Thema „Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History: Between the Local, Regional, Global and Planetary“ einladen, die der Profilbereich Global und Verflechtungsgeschichte, in Kooperation mit dem CrossArea-Verband, CALAS, und CIAS organisiert. Die Konferenz wird am 14. /15. November in Bielefeld, im X-Gebäude (X-E0-002) stattfinden und die methodischen und konzeptionellen Herausforderungen der Global- und Verflechtungsgeschichte im planetarischen Zeitalter reflektieren.

Informationen und Programm finden Sie hier.

Die Konferenz findet in Präsenz statt, eine Zuschaltung per Zoom ist aber auch möglich.

Freitag, 14.11.25: https://uni-bielefeld.zoom-x.de/j/69952809553?pwd=JfF77OP30NZWRbkDHKW2QbKtExnViG.1

Samstag, 15.11.25: https://uni-bielefeld.zoom-x.de/j/63983696786?pwd=oBVMyuuerKPn2Qzdz6jGQoJC47xwCf.1

Buchpräsentation: Dekoloniale Theorien zur Einführung (11.11.2025)

2025-11-10T16:57:44+01:00

Was bedeutet es, Wissen, Geschichte und Macht aus einer dekolonialen Perspektive zu denken? Die Autoren Frederik Schulze und Philipp Wolfesberger stellen ihr neues Buch Dekoloniale Theorien zur Einführung (Junius Verlag, 2025) vor und diskutieren gemeinsam mit Ragna Verhoeven zentrale Konzepte, historische Bezüge und aktuelle Debatten der dekolonialen Theorie.

🗓 Dienstag, 11. November | 19:30 Uhr 📍 mondo buchhandlung, Elsa-Brändström-Straße 23, Bielefeld 💡 Eintritt frei

Ein Abend für alle, die sich für kritische Theorie, Globalgeschichte und antikoloniale Perspektiven interessieren.

Mehr Information hier.

Buchbesprechung im Theorieblog

The InterAmerican Studies Colloquium – Winter Term 2025/26 starts on November 4!

2025-10-31T17:12:34+01:00

We are pleased to invite you to the first session of the InterAmerican Studies Colloquium – Winter Term 2025/26.

Matti Steinitz and Philipp Wolfesberger share the talk:

“Trump 2.0 in Hemispheric Perspectives: Authoritarian Shift and Popular Response”.

🗓 November 4, 2025 | 🕕 18:00–20:00 (CET) 📍 Room X-E0-226, Bielefeld University

This opening lecture examines the current dynamics of political transformation across the Americas, focusing on the resurgence of authoritarian tendencies and the diverse popular responses they inspire. The session sets the tone for a semester of critical dialogue on democracy, power, and resistance from a hemispheric perspective.

CfP Annual Conference CrossArea: Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History (open until 31.8.2025)

2025-08-12T17:12:21+02:00

The Annual Conference of the CrossArea e.V. is scheduled to take place from November 14th to 15th, 2025, and will be hosted by the Global and Entangled History Profile Area in cooperation with the Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) and the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) at Bielefeld University. CrossArea e.V. brings together scholars from across the Area Studies and neighbouring disciplines to foster interdisciplinary exchange and strengthen comparative, transregional, and global perspectives on social, political, cultural, and environmental challenges.

With this conference "Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History: Between the Local, Regional, Global, and Planetary", the convenors invite researchers at all career stages to reflect critically on the conceptual and methodological entanglements of scales and spheres in global and entangled history. The conference deals with conceptual and methodological questions of how to write global and entangled history and cross-area-studies.

More information

Deadline 31.8.2025

Contact:

Dr. Justyna Aniceta Turkowska: justynaturkowska@me.com

Dr Réka Krizmanics: reka.krizmanics@uni-bielefeld.de

Call for Research Fellowships at CALAS: "A region on the move" (until 30 August 2025)

2025-07-30T08:11:50+02:00

Up to 5 research grants: A region on the move: Accelerated human mobility and multiple circulations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the framework of the Knowledge Laboratory "A region on the move: Accelerated human mobilities and multiple circulations in Latin America and the Caribbean", the Centre for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) opens the call for up to 5 research fellowships of three to five months duration, to be held between January and July 2026, located in one of the four CALAS regional sites in Latin America, namely Guadalajara (Mexico), San José (Costa Rica), Quito (Ecuador) or Buenos Aires (Argentina). The Laboratory focuses mainly on the contemporary history and present sitution in Latin America and the Caribbean and research can be approached from various disciplines of the Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as from signifying practices, including art, literature, film and television, or social networking services in the space of intermediality; moreover, the circulation of knowledge is also linked to science and technology.

The call is open until August 30, 2025.

For more information, please visit CALAS

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium MA-Thesis Lab (15.07.2025)

2025-07-14T16:34:04+02:00

The closing session of our InterAmerican Studies colloquium is dedicated to the presentation of MA-thesis projects. We will meet as usual on Tuesday, 15 July 2025 from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University, Main Building, Room V2-213 to discuss two presentations:

Diana Tada: "Contribuciones del Teatro Contemporáneo a la Paz: La Violencia contra la Población Civil en Escena, Colombia - Perú - México"

Diana studied Law and Literature Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Colombia. She also studied Anthropological Theater as a research and artistic interest. Her current research interests focus on the body as an ethnographic field for literary representation and the use of theater to create a culture of peace. She has published in the field of human rights, focusing on forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in Colombia. Playwright award: book Pasos. Other publications: The Abilities of the Body: A Study from the Theater. Narrating, Framing, Reflecting 'Disability', De Gruyter 2024.

Sebastian Peñaranda: "De la teología de la liberación y las ideologías de izquierda a la decolonialidad: La presencia de la religión católica en la música y poesía de Bolivia y Argentina "

Sebastian es licenciado en Ciencia Política y Gestión Pública en la Universidad Mayor de San Andrés de La Paz, Bolivia. Se encuentra realizando el M.A. en Estudios InterAmericanos en la Universidad de Bielefeld, Alemania. Sus intereses de investigación son: el giro decolonial, el rol político de la música social, los procesos de recuperación de la democracia en Bolivia y Latinoamérica y los saberes y resistencias de los pueblos indígenas.

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium with José Antonio Villareal (8 July 2025)

2025-07-03T16:16:48+02:00

We are cordially inviting to our next IAS colloquium on Tuesday, 8th of July 2025 from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University, Main Building, Room V2-213.

José Antonio Villareal (FLACSO Ecuador) will present his work on "Mapping up the Plebeian Experience: Leadership, Political Agency, and Statecraft Process in Guayaquil-Ecuador From 1960 to Present Days".

José Antonio Villarreal Velásquez holds a PhD in History from Bielefeld University and a Master in Sociology from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Ecuador. He is an Associate Professor at FLACSO, Ecuador in the Departments of Sociology and Gender Studies. He is the former director of the Institute of Democracy (IDD-Ecuador) and former academic co-manager of the Maria Sybilla Merian Advanced Center for Latin American Studies (CALAS). He has been a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Ecuador, and the University of Guadalajara-Mexico, taught post graduated seminars at the University of Chile and the Universities of Leipzig and Bielefeld and participated as a researcher in various interdisciplinary projects related to urban transformations, the configuration of socio-political processes and practices of the inhabitants of the popular sectors in Latin America and Ecuador. His publications and research interests are related to the fields of urban and political history, political ethnography, collective action and statecraft processes, among others.

CANCELED: Martín Bergel (University of Quilmes) at this week's InterAmerican Studies Colloquium (24.6.)

2025-06-23T09:59:43+02:00

Due to health issues of our speaker, we have to cancel today's colloquium. Sorry for the inconvenience.

We are cordially inviting you to our next IAS colloquium on Tuesday, 24th of June 2025 from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University, Main Building, Room V2-213.

Argentinian scholar Martín Bergel will speak about "Populism from below and from abroad: the early stages of Peruvian Aprismo (1921-1945)"

Martín Bergel is a researcher at CONICET (Argentina) and at the Center for Intellectual History at the University of Quilmes, where he directs the Master's program in Intellectual History. He is also a professor of Contemporary Latin American History at the Universidad de San Martín and the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University (2012) and at the Freie Universität Berlin (2015). Dr. Bergel was also Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS, 2019-2020); Mercator Fellow of the Global Intellectual History program at Freie Universität Berlin (2022); and George Forster Senior Fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2023-2025). He has also been a visiting professor at the University of São Paulo, the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, the University of Shanghai and El Colegio de México. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Seminar for the History of Ideas, Intellectuals and Culture “Oscar Terán” at the University of Buenos Aires. He is a member of the board of the yearbook Prismas. Revista de Historia Intelectual , and was between 2007 and 2018 of Políticas de la Memoria , yearbook of CeDInCI (Centro de Documentación e Investigación de la Cultura de Izquierda). He directed the collective PICT research project “Intellectuals, Periodical Press and Globalization. The making of the public opinion on global issues (Buenos Aires, 1870-1940)”, and coordinates the research area "Perspectives on Latin America and Global History" at the Center for Latin American Studies of the UNSAM.

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium with Bieke Willem (Universität zu Köln) tomorrow 16.6.

2025-06-16T10:20:42+02:00

Lxs invitamos cordialmente a nuestro próximo coloquio, el martes 17 de junio, esta semana excepcionalmente de 19 a 20.30hrs (CET). Universidad de Bielefeld, Edificio Principal - Salón: V2-213. Nuestra invitada Bieke Willem hablará sobre "Estética del paisaje, sujeto y colectividad en la literatura mexicana de la gran aceleración".

Bieke Willem es profesora asistente de literatura románica en la Universidad de Colonia. Recibió su doctorado en literatura de la Universidad de Gante en Bélgica en 2014. Antes de mudarse a Alemania, fue nombrada investigadora postdoctoral en la Universidad de California, Berkeley y como profesora asistente de literatura y cultura latinoamericana en la Universidad de Stockholm. Su investigación se centra en la literatura (fantástica) en francés y español, humanidades ambientales, afectos y estudios de memoria. Ella es la autora de El Espacio Narrativa en La Literatura Chilena Postdictatorial. Casas Hábitadas (Brill, 2016) y Agua Viva, Agua Muerta. Narrar el Antropoceno (Kipu, próximamente 2025).

Podcast Anglisten Assemble: Talking InterAmerican Studies with Dr. Diana Fulger

2025-06-13T16:19:07+02:00

In the current episode of the podcast Anglisten Assemble, Dr. Diana Fulger (Coordinator of MA Interamerican Studies) speaks about InterAmerican Studies and the unique MA study program at Bielefeld University.

What exactly is InterAmerican Studies? How does it connect the Americas literature, culture, and politics?

Please listen to the full broadcast on Spotify.

Reading and discussion with Michel Nieva, InterAmerican Studies Colloquium (10.6.2025)

2025-06-10T18:09:27+02:00

We are cordially inviting you to our next IAS colloquium on Tuesday, 10th of June 2025 from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University, Main Building, Room V2-213 with Michel Nieva who reads and discusses

"Mundografías de la Infancia del Mundo"

Lxs invitamos cordialmente a nuestro próximo coloquio, el martes 10 de junio de 18 a 20hrs (CET). Universidad de Bielefeld, Edificio Principal - Salón: V2-213 con Michel Nieva, quien lee y presenta

"Mundografías de la Infancia del Mundo"
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Michel Nieva is a science fiction writer, teacher and PhD Candidate at New York University. He was selected by Granta in 2021 as one of the best young Spanish-language writers and received the O. Henry Award in 2022. His first novel translated to English, Dengue Boy, was published in 2025. The event is a cooperation with the lecture series SUR.

Dr. Martina Lasalle at the InterAmerican Studies Colloquium (3.6.2025)

2025-05-30T15:59:45+02:00

We are cordially inviting you to our next IAS colloquium on Tuesday, 3rd of June 2025 from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University, Main Building, Room V2-213. This year's CALAS Guest Professor Dr. Martina Lasalle (Universidad de Buenos Aires) will present her work "The drug problem as a penal problem: examining the role of criminal justice systems".

Martina Lassalle is a sociologist specializing in sociology of violence, crime and punishment. She is currently conducting postdoctoral research at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and also teaches sociological theory at the Sociology department of the University of Buenos Aires. Martina obtained a PhD in social sciences from the University of Buenos Aires in 2022. For the past years, she has participated in several funded research projects on crime and punishment in Latin America in the Gino Germani Research Institute at the University of Buenos Aires. Additionally, she has held research fellowships at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands (Scholarship Programme for Young Professors and Researchers From Coimbra Group of Universities), at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico and at the Berlin School of Economics and Law in Germany (DAAD: German Academic Exchange Service). She was also a visiting fellow at the University of Granada in 2023 and an adjunct associate research scholar at Columbia University in 2024. Martina’s research has focused on developing theoretical and empirical analyses of the selective functioning of criminal courts and their role in (re)producing hegemonic values and social meanings.

She is the author of the book “Killing is not always the same crime. A study on the differential punishment of murder in Argentina”, recently published by Fondo de Cultura Económica. This sociological study provides insights into the logics of criminalization of murder in Argentina, offering a comprehensive overview of penal sanctions and the social meanings and values that orient judicial decisions. More broadly, the book offers a critical reflection on the prohibition of murder in contemporary societies and explores the relationship between the pivotal ideological values of individual life and private property.

Currently, she is conducting sociological research on judicial responses to drug-related offenses in Argentina, focusing on criminalization processes affecting women. Her project aims to understand how the criminal justice system contributes to framing the drug problem as a penal issue, while examining the effects of the prohibitionist paradigm on exacerbating gender and class inequalities, increasing territorial violence and promoting social exclusion. Additionally, her research will explore and discuss alternative approaches to this problem.

Public Lectures: Decolonizing Gender as Experience (25-26 June 2025)

2025-05-25T12:09:49+02:00

The Research Training Group Gender as Experience – Constitution & Transformation of Social Modes of Existence organizes public lectures and a workshop to debate "Decolonizing Gender as Experience – Theoretical reflections and methodological implications". The international event takes place on 25 & 26 June 2025, in X Building, Room C3-107.

More information here.

Please register until 10 June at: filareti.karkalia@uni-bielefeld.de

Call for Papers Journal fiar "Adaptations and Permutations: Transmedia Encounters in the Americas"

2025-05-23T11:02:24+02:00

Call for Papers fiar: "Adaptations and Permutations: Transmedia Encounters in the Americas".

Extended Submission date May 31st 2025.

Whether purposeful marketing strategy or unrecognized citation, transnational processes of cultural adaptation profoundly shape the development and the interaction of societies. Furthermore, the influence of this increasingly globalized practice extends beyond entertainment and media industries.

Proposals are welcome from various disciplines, including cultural studies, history, sociology, media studies, and legal studies.

Guidelines: Authors who wish to contribute to the special issue are invited to send an article (maximum 7500-10.000 words) including the title, authors, institutional affiliation and an abstract to fiar@interamerica.de and wilfried.raussert@uni-bielefeld.de by May 31st, 2025. Submissions can be made in Spanish, English and Portuguese and French. This special issue of the FIAR is expected to be published in 2025.

Please visit fiar for details.

InterAmerican Studies Colloquium (Debora Gerstenberger, 27.5.2025)

2025-05-23T09:38:45+02:00

The next IAS Colloquium will be held in cooperation with the Colloquium of Global and Entangled History.

We are happy to welcome Debora Gerstenberger (Köln University) as distinguished speaker on Tuesday, 27 May from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University. She will present her work on "Future Machines. The Introduction of Digital Computers into Brazil's Intelligence Agency Serviço Nacional de Informações (1970s)". The colloquium will take place at Bielefeld University, X-Building in room A2-103.

Since 2022, Debora Gerstenberger is professor for Latin American History at the University of Cologne (Iberian and Latin American Department). Her main areas of research and interest are Global History, Latin American History, secret services, police forces and state formation, with a regional focus on Brazil and the Portuguese Empire of the early modern period and the Cono Sur. From 2013 to 2022 she was junior professor for Latin American History at the Free University of Berlin, with a special focus on gender and globalisation research.