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Update! Latin America Study Abroad: Lima, Peru!
Click Here: Peru Student Bulletin.
New! Surviving Peru: Click Here
LLS 4950/8956-850
cross-listed with SOC 4800/8806-850
A Study Abroad, Service Learning and
Distance Education Course
View Flyer
Click Here: Video Clip of Proposed Service Learning Project in Peru
Instructor: Olga Celle, Ph.D.
Summer Session A
(May 12 - June 27, 2008)
Travel Dates: May 18-June 1, 2008
Click Here for Reservation Information and Application
The course examines the effects of globalization on the urban population of Lima, Peru. This country’s pre-Columbian heritage and multicultural make-up constitute an intriguing site for exploring development, underdevelopment and the reality of Latin American “modern” cities today.
Students will gain new insights into issues such as the power of culture as it receives and transforms transnational media images; the transformation and destruction of nature; the role of organized urban neighborhoods and their accomplishments; and the challenge facing Latin American policy makers when trying to reconcile different views of “modernity” in a multicultural environment.
Classes start on May 12 via Distance Education. On May 18, students travel to Lima, the capital city of Peru. Final reflections and paper take place back home and the course concludes on June 27. The course has an applied and service learning component.
OLLAS to Cosponsor International Workshop on Migration and Development
View Spanish Program
April 24-25, 2008
Caracas, Venezuela
Omaha - As a member of the board and executive council of the International Network on Migration and Development, Lourdes Gouveia, director of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), has co-organized a workshop on migration and development in Caracas, Venezuela, April 24-25.
The main objective of the workshop, the second in a series funded by the MacArthur Foundation, is to contribute to policy agendas that effectively re-link the artificially separated issues of economic development and migration.
“For too long we have failed to understand migration as an integral part of socioeconomic development and globalization processes,” Gouveia said. “Instead, especially in the United States, the ideological discourse has derailed us into looking at migration simply as a problem that needs to be solved."
She added: "We need to understand the root causes of this phenomena and the changes it then causes in sending and receiving communities to best address the fact that migration is not going away in the context of globalization and development policies that lead to precarious employment and new motivations to migrate, both internally and internationally.”
Gouveia said OLLAS is honored to be selected as one of the international cosponsors of the workshop, adding that the event will bring further international prestige to the group’s work and will encourage additional OLLAS partnerships of scholars, students and policy-makers interested in this issue as well as funders to continue to support OLLAS as a new UNO center.
More information from the workshop will be posted at a later date.
Cumbre Pictures. Click on the sessions to view.
The theme for CUMBRE 2007 was Understanding Immigration and the Changing Communities of the Americas: Lessons from New Destinations across the Globe. The conference was held April 26-29, 2007 and sponsored by the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) with the support of La Red Internacional de Migración y Desarrollo.
The conference brought together scholars, policy-makers, NGOs and community representatives interested in exchanging views about the failures and successes of immigration policy reforms as well as immigrant integration efforts across the country and around the globe.
While the focus of this year’s Cumbre continued to be on Latino/Latin American populations, we placed increased emphasis on presentations that contribute to the comparative and transnational understanding of these burning issues across receiving and sending nations, localities, history and population groups (e.g. Latin Americans, Africans or Arabs in Europe).
In addition, we spotlighted Latin American and other sending countries and the manner in which government policies, relations with receiving countries, and economic and political realities contribute to migration and its impact on local communities here and there.
A major goal of the conference is to publish, along with selected papers, a clear set of policy recommendations directed at various levels of policy makers, researchers, institutions, local governments and community organizations.
This year’s Cumbre consisted of a combination of panel, plenary and thematic sessions and featured a number of national and international speakers. The program included special events such as a local tour, art, and welcoming reception.
OLLAS (pronounced "oy-yas") The Office of Latino/Latin American Studies of the Great Plains at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), was established in the summer of 2003 as the result of on-going efforts by the faculty, staff and students of the UNO Chicano/Latino Studies (CLS) Program and a federal appropriation made possible by the U.S. Department of Education and the support of the Greater Omaha community. |
OLLAS Honored by the State of Nebraska for Outstanding Contribution to Latino Community For its outstanding contribution to the state's Hispanic community, the UNO Office of Latino and Latin American Studies (OLLAS) will be recognized at the First Annual Hispanic Heritage Month State Commemoration today, Oct. 12 at the State Capitol in Lincoln. The event, which runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is themed "Embracing Diversity," allows Nebraska residents to learn more about and embrace the diverse cultures and contributions of Hispanics/Latinos. The award will be given annually. "It is such an honor to be recognized by our peers for all of the effort that has gone into making OLLAS such a success," said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, OLLAS assistant director. "It is the combined endeavors of faculty, students and staff working across the community that has garnered the most attention and this recognition will only serve to inspire everyone to work even harder on issues about which we feel so passionately." OLLAS was established in 2003 as a center that would contribute new knowledge and understanding of Latino and Latin American communities and migrants within the state and across the region. OLLAS offers programs in Chicano and Latino/Latin American Studies and has received major funding for research that serves to inform public policy and effect change while engaging with community and academic partners locally and in Latin America. Lourdes Gouveia, director of OLLAS, will accept the award on behalf of the center's faculty, students and staff during today's ceremony. Religion and Community: Mexican Americans in South Omaha (1990-1980) This report provides a historical account of three Christian churches in South Omaha: The Virgin of Guadalupe Catholic Church, Gethsemane Lutheran Church, and the First Assembly of God Church. Chronologically the congregations were organized between 1918 and 1948. These churches were first small community gatherings in family sitting rooms and rented shops. All of them were and still are located in South Omaha. All three churches were established by the Mexican community. Today these churches serve all those who reside in the area or attend ceremonies and rituals: old and new Latinos, latest generations of immigrant origin (Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Poles, Russians, Lithuanians, et al.), and recent refugee communities from Africa. Read more . . . Second-Generation Latinos in Nebraska: A First Look Nebraska's foreign-born population grew faster than that of any other Midwestern state between 1990 and 2000. The state also experienced the second-highest increase in the number of children of immigrants in prekindergarten to fifth grade during the same period. This report sheds light on the second generation's progress in the country's heartland. Read more . . . Immigration's New Frontiers: In the midst of the fiery debate regarding undocumented immigration, assimilation returned to the front seat it once occupied during the early decades of the past century. The main purpose of this chapter is twofold: (1) to take stock of the policies and accompanying community responses of the State of Nebraska and (2) to inform policies and programs designed to address challenges and opportunities posed by a growing immigrant population. Read more. . . |