Showing results for "Social Science" in Latin America

Explore the legends, gods, and cosmic cycles that defined one of the most powerful civilizations in the Americas. Far from a dry academic text, Myths, Gods, and Rituals of Aztec Mythology brings these ancient stories to life with vivid detail and cultural insight. Listeners are introduced to the core beliefs of the Aztec people, including their view of the cosmos, the importance of rituals, and their reverence for nature's forces. Through simple yet powerful storytelling, Matthew Torres offers a beginner-friendly entry point into one of history's most fascinating mythologies.

The term Mexican Drug War misleads. It implies that the ongoing bloodbath, which has now killed well over 100,000 people, is an internal Mexican affair. But this diverts attention from the US role in creating and sustaining the carnage. It's not just that Americans buy drugs from and sell weapons to Mexico's murderous cartels. It's that ever since the US prohibited the use and sale of drugs in the early 1900s, it has pressured Mexico into acting as its border enforcer - with increasingly deadly consequences.

The untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice - a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis.

Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape.

At age five Sonia Rodriguez's stepfather began to abuse her; at 10 she was molested by her uncle and beaten by her mother when she told on him; and by 13 her home had become a hangout for the Latin Kings and Queens who were friends with her older sister. Threatened by rival gang members at school, Sonia turned away from her education and extracurricular activities in favor of a world of drugs and violence.

Revolting Indolence makes a case for laziness as an aesthetic-political strategy for countering the oppressive logics of cisheteronormative racial capitalism. Focusing on ways in which queer and trans Latinx people demonstrate the unwillingness of their participation in "productivist" ethics and allied respectability politics, Marcos Gonsalez argues that slacking off, lounging, daydreaming, and partying are liberatory practices.

Written during the last decade of her life, Light in the Dark represents the culmination of Gloria E. Anzaldúa's mature thought and the most comprehensive presentation of her philosophy. Throughout, Anzaldúa weaves personal narratives into deeply engaging theoretical readings to comment on numerous contemporary issues—including the September 11 attacks, neocolonial practices in the art world, and coalitional politics.

UNA GUÍA REBELDE PARA ALCANZAR EL ÉXITO PROFESIONAL. En Latinas Imparables, Valeria Aloe nos lleva de la mano por un viaje transformador, que comienza por examinar cómo ciertos mensajes culturales ancestrales — "sé humilde", "solo trabaja duro", "sé agradecida por lo que ya tienes" y "calladita te ves más bonita" — han obstaculizado históricamente nuestro avance profesional, ocasionando que muchas nos sintamos infravaloradas, mal remuneradas y poco apoyadas en nuestro crecimiento.

O conceito de "democracia racial" foi (e ainda é) um mantra do orgulho nacional. Daqueles que recusam a realidade. Uma das maiores referências na defesa dos direitos dos negros no Brasil, mesmo após sua morte, Abdias Nascimento sobrepõe testemunhos pessoais, reflexões, comentários e críticas, opondo o discurso oficial sobre a condição social e cultural do negro brasileiro à realidade, fazendo a desconstrução do que se convencionou chamar de "democracia racial", cenário utópico e irreal.

If there is an enemy in the War on Drugs, it is people of color. That is the lesson of forty years of cultural production in the United States. Popular culture, from Scarface and Miami Vice to Narcos and Better Call Saul, has continually positioned Latinos as an alien people who threaten the US body politic with drugs. Jason Ruiz explores the creation and endurance of this trope, its effects on Latin Americans and Latinx people, and its role in the cultural politics of the War on Drugs.

In a series of 10 essays, spanning five centuries of history, beginning with the conquest of Mexico by Hermán Cortés and ending in 1992 San Francisco, Rodriguez explores the conflicts of race, religion, and cultural identity for Mexican-Americans across the landscape of his beloved California.

One day a few years ago, 300 migrants were kidnapped between the remote desert towns of Altar, Mexico, and Sasabe, Arizona. A local priest got 120 released, many with broken ankles and other marks of abuse, but the rest vanished. Óscar Martinez, a young writer from El Salvador, was in Altar soon after the abduction, and his account of the migrant disappearances is only one of the harrowing stories he garnered from two years spent traveling up and down the migrant trail from Central America and across the US border.

The Deportation Machine traces the long and troubling history of the US government's systematic efforts to terrorize and expel immigrants over the past 140 years. This provocative, eye-opening book provides needed historical perspective on one of the most pressing social and political issues of our time. In a sweeping and engaging narrative, Adam Goodman examines how federal, state, and local officials have targeted various groups for expulsion, from Chinese and Europeans at the turn of the 20th century to Central Americans and Muslims today.

Despite its reputation as a carnival of vice, Tijuana, was, until recently, no more or less violent than neighboring San Diego. But then something changed. Over the past 10 years, Mexico’s third-largest city became one of the world’s most dangerous. Hundreds of women are now found dead in the city each year, or bound and mutilated along the highway that lines the Baja coast. When Dan Werb began to study these murders in 2013, rather than viewing them in isolation, he discovered that they could be understood only as one symptom among many.

For the uninitiated, the quinceaera celebrates the passage of a 15-year-old girl into adulthood: It's a bit bat mitzvah with a dash of debutante ball, and loaded with the same potential for hilarity and adolescent angst. In this original anthology, 15 of the brightest and funniest Latino writers, men and women alike, share their own memories of these moving and often absurd extravaganzas - tales of that unique form of familial humiliation that is borne of the best intentions, fierce love, and the infectious joy of parents finally allowing their little girl to grow up.

Born on the eve of World War II into a family of Mexican immigrants in El Paso, Antonio C. Márquez remains a child of the border, his life partaking of multiple cultures, countries, and classes. Here he recounts his life story, from childhood memories of movies and baseball and friendship with his Chinese Mexican American neighbor, Manuel Wong, to the turbulent events of his manhood.

When thinking about the border separating the United States from Mexico, what typically comes to mind is an unwelcoming zone with violent, poverty-ridden towns, cities, and maquiladoras on one side and an increasingly militarized network of barriers and surveillance systems on the other. It was not always this way. In fact, from the end of Mexican-American War until the late twentieth century, the border was a very porous and loosely regulated region.

In this compelling new book, relying on original reporting from the most dangerous corners of Rio to the halls of power in Washington, DC, Dave Zirin examines how sports and politics are colliding in remarkable fashion in Brazil, opening up an international conversation on the culture, economics, and politics of sports.

No mundo moderno temos o dever de ser belos, magros, ter cabelos lisos e parecer "naturais" diante do espelho, de nós mesmos, diante dos outros. E, para conquistar mais saúde, juventude e beleza, os caminhos científicos e industriais não cessam de se multiplicar. O Brasil atualmente é o segundo país no mundo em número de cirurgias plásticas, só perde para os Estados Unidos. Homens e mulheres em busca da perfeição corporal são cortados, costurados, espetados por agulhas, queimados por raios laser, besuntados e massageados com cremes.

Desde as grandes manifestações de 2013, boa parte dos brasileiros possui uma única pergunta: o que está acontecendo com o país? Muitas pessoas se sentem em um trem desgovernado por causa de transformações profundas que o Brasil sofreu nos últimos anos, sem saber como dar sentido, viver e combater o caos diário.