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The OLLAS’ Blog is an academic and community effort to bring the results of research and themes relevant to the community to a wider audience. The following blog articles deal with Latinos/as/x and/or Latin American and are authored by faculty members of OLLAS, as well as by invited community leaders. The opinions expressed in these articles are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of OLLAS or the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Any questions or comments can be directed at unoollas@unomaha.edu
Dec 2022 | June 2022 | April 2022 | Nov 2021 | Oct 2021 | May 2021 | Oct 2020 | Feb 2020 | Nov 2019 | Jun 2019 | May 2019 | Mar 2019 | Jan 2019 | Oct 2018 | May 2018 | Apr 2018 | Mar 2018-1 | Mar 2018-2 |
The 2024 “Electoral Super-Cycle” in Latin America
June 2024
Dr. Brett J. Kyle, University of Nebraska at Omaha
The year 2024 has been dubbed by The Economist, “the biggest election year in history,” with millions of people headed to the polls in dozens of countries across the globe, including Latin America’s own “electoral super-cycle” of contests in six countries.
In February, El Salvador held its legislative and presidential elections. President Nayib Bukele was re-elected, and his Nuevas Ideas (NI, “New Ideas”) party won a supermajority in the Legislative Assembly. The significant decline in homicide rates in recent years drove this electoral success. The improvement in public safety, however, should not obscure the danger of the authoritarian consolidation taking place there. The Salvadoran constitution prohibits an incumbent president from standing for re-election, yet Bukele did so anyway. The NI-controlled legislature had packed the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court with allied judges who then ruled in favor of Bukele’s move to remain in office beyond the one-term limit. Continue Reading
Mapping out the Various Benefits to Taking Latino/Latin American Coursework for Students and Latinos in Particular
December 2022
Dr. Kerrie DeVries, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Jonathan B. Santo, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Retaining Latino college students to degree completion has never been more important or as challenging. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Latino college student enrollment was increasing at historic rates; however, Latino and Black college students took the largest hit (into the double digits) during the pandemic, and those concerning trends are continuing. In order for Latino college student enrollment and retention to recover to its pre-pandemic levels, it is in our best interest to explore ways to narrow the achievement gap. Continue reading
“The Greatest Path to Acceptance is to Know We Exist:” Capturing Narratives of Sexually Diverse Latinx in Nebraska
June 2022
Dumayi Gutierrez, Ph.D.., LMFT, LMHP, Adjunct Professor, University of Nebraska at Omaha & Assistant Professor, Alliant International University, San Diego & Online
I hold multiple positionalities that inform my work with sexually and gender diverse Latinx. I am a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) and mental health practitioner (LMHP) working with Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. My clinical lens is systemically based, meaning our identities, emotions, and behaviors are intrinsically intertwined and influenced by our personal relationships, family, communities, and societal messages. Thus, as a professor and scholar, I focus on systemic minority stress experiences of sexually and gender diverse Latinx communities. Personally, I am Dominican, lesbian, cisgender femme woman in an intercultural marriage and mom to a multiethnic daughter. Continue Reading
Underserved and Underestimated: The Potential of Latinas to Reduce Poverty
April 2022
Marissa Cuellar, UNO MPA Graduate Student
As a graduate student in UNO’s Master of Public Administration focusing on Public Policy, I am particularly interested in how Latino-owned businesses were (or were not) supported by local and federal government throughout the pandemic and what the long-term recovery for communities such as South Omaha looks like. Knowing that Latinos are the fastest growing minority demographic in the country and that they are largely employed in and operate businesses in industries that were labeled essential during the pandemic, it is important to understand exactly how the pandemic affected these communities. Continue Reading
Cuba and the Bankruptcy of our “Change through Impoverishment” Policy
November 2021
Dr. Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado
Dr. Benjamin-Alvarado, a long-time OLLAS contributor and a Cuba policy analyst, is UNO’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Success and a Professor of Political Science.
The “only foreseeable means of alienating internal support, is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship…every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba, . . . [to deny] money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and [the] overthrow of government.” U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory. (1960) Continue Reading
The Significant Contribution of Latin American and Caribbean Immigrants to Nebraska’s Economy Should not be Ignored
October 2021
Yuriko Doku, MPA, M.S., OLLAS Assistant Director
The 24th Street corridor in Omaha, NE is a clear example of how immigrants, especially Latin American immigrants, are impacting Omaha’s economy. Their labor force has been vital in creating businesses and working in key economic sectors such as construction, animal slaughtering and processing (meatpacking), and food services. Therefore, Latin American immigrants significantly contribute to Omaha’s economy in producing goods and services and job creation. Continue Reading
Human Trafficking and the T Visa Process: Insights from Legal Representatives Working with Victims from Latin America
May 2021
Elisha A. Novak, M.A.
Sociology Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nebraska Omaha
I became aware of human trafficking around 2006 while working at a local non-profit who specialized in immigration legal services. I was providing direct legal services to immigrant victims of intimate partner violence and I came across several cases of women who had not only experienced family violence, but also human trafficking. However, they never used that specific verbiage. I also vividly recall a situation while traveling in Florida that further sparked my curiosity about these crimes. I was at an open-air beach restaurant and met a young woman who very casually told me how she came to Florida from New Zealand as a Polynesian dancer but was now being forced to work as an exotic dancer and her boss was “holding” her passport. She was a bit annoyed and a little concerned, but never once did she mention trafficking. All I could think about were the only three elements of trafficking I was aware of: force, fraud, coercion. Continue Reading
Essential Workers and Risk for COVID-19: Experiences from the Meat Processing Industry
October 2020
Dr. Athena Ramos
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion, Center for Reducing Health Disparities, UNMC College of Public Health & OLLAS Faculty
The meatpacking industry is important to Nebraska, employing 28,279 people in 2019. Many of these workers are Latinos, immigrants, refugees, and other people of color. Due to the current pandemic, the meatpacking industry was deemed “critical essential infrastructure” by the Department of Homeland Security, which in turn, made all meatpacking facility workers “essential workers.” As such, people had to continue to work even in conditions that increased their risk for COVID-19 such as being in close proximity with hundreds of other workers for long periods of time, often without adequate supply of personal protective equipment. Continue Reading
Interview of Dr. Josh T. Franco for ArteLatinx 2019
February 2020
Dr. Josh T. Franco
National Collector at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Interviewer: Jonathan Orozco, UNO Art History Student, ArteLatinX 2019 Committee Member
As part of the OLLAS Exhibition, ArteLatinx 2019, we invited Dr. Josh T. Franco to talk about the X in LatinX and the connections between the theme of our exhibition “The Voice of our Roots”, art, and identity. Dr. Franco is currently National Collector at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Previously, he was Latino Collections Specialist at the Archives (2015 – 2017). Here is an excerpt of the interview UNO student Jonathan Orozco did with Dr. Franco back in September of 2019. This transcript has been edited to focus on three themes: Identity, the importance of Latino Art, and on the X in LatinX. With this blog, we bring closure to ArteLatinX 2019. Continue Reading
Why Latino College Students’ should Play to their Strengths for College Success
November 2019
Dr. Kerrie DeVries
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Jonathan B. Santo
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Dr. Juan F. Casas
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Latinos are among the largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States. However, multiple sources point to a disturbing trend in that they also have among the lowest college completion rates. According to The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics (2014), whereas Latino high school graduation rates have improved in the last decade, only 15% of Latino adults hold a bachelor’s degree. To that point, there are a number of challenges facing Latino students in their pursuit of an undergraduate education. One factor that undermines Latino student’s progress in University is the misperception that they are less well prepared for success in college relative to their classmates. Another is time spent on family responsibilities, particularly for women, which translates to less time on campus and therefore less time in class, doing homework or interacting with faculty which decreases their likelihood of eventually graduating. With these challenges facing them, it is crucial to identify the strengths that Latino students have that can help them achieve their goal of completing their degrees. This more holistic view of Latinos in higher education will be increasingly important as the numbers of Latinos in college continues to rise both locally and nationally. Continue Reading
On the Importance of Counting Nebraska Latinos in the 2020 Census
June 2019
Dr. Lissette Aliaga-Linares
Assistant Professor of Sociology and OLLAS Faculty
The Census is a vital tool for fair economic and political decisions. It is the basis for the allocation of the federal budget, the apportionment of the House of Representatives and the redrawing of electoral districts. Government, businesses, and non–profits rely on census data to allocate funding, to measure impact, and to plan services for community and economic development. Thus, a census count that represents an accurate portrait of the population is critical for equity. Nebraska has a small minority population, roughly at 20 %. But, as any other Midwestern state, it is experiencing a major demographic shift. Latino immigrants and refugees are fast changing local communities across the state. It might be easier to dismiss the implications of undercounting these communities here –at least compared to the media attention to California or New York. Yet, an inaccurate census could have a long-lasting effect as anywhere else. Continue Reading
Out of Sight and Underrepresented: Human Trafficking in the Latino Community in Nebraska
May 2019
Danyele Ysac
OLLAS Observatory Research Intern
María Guadalupe Zarazúa Espino
OLLAS Observatory Research Intern
Human Trafficking has been defined as a contemporary form of slavery (Department of Homeland Security; Polaris Project). More in detail, the United Nations (UN) defines Human Trafficking in its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons—a key component of the 2000 Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto—as:
[T]he recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (UN 2000, Article 3, paragraph (a)) Continue Reading
TPS Extension: A New Hope for Salvadorans
March 2019
Yuriko Doku
OLLAS Assistant Director
Oscar A. Chacón
Alianza Americas Co-Founder & Executive Director
In 1990, a group of nationals from El Salvador became the first beneficiary of the newly enacted Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The U.S. Congress managed to reach a compromise on the case of Salvadoran nationals who had fled the country’s civil war, and who had not been able to secure asylum protection in the U.S. by the time this legislative change came about. This program grants the executive branch the right to designate, under certain criteria, immigration protection for nationals of a given country. In 2001, a new group of nationals from El Salvador was again granted TPS. In this instance, the triggering factor for granting this protection were two devastating earthquakes. While protected by TPS, beneficiaries are allowed to stay and live in the U.S. In the case of adults, they are granted work permits. According to the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS), the total estimate number of Salvadoran immigrants who reside in the United States are 1.4 million people. An estimate of 195,000 Salvadorans are TPS beneficiaries. El Salvador TPS designation has been regularly extended by prior administrations. In spite of Trump administration’s decision to terminate the current extension on September 9, 2019, a new hope has risen among Salvadorans. The case of Ramos v. Nielsen to avoid ending TPS not only for El Salvador but also for Nicaragua, Sudan, and Haiti continues pending. As a temporary solution, on March 1, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an automatic extension of TPS for these countries until January 2, 2020. Continue Reading
Agricultural Workers in the Nebraska Press
January 2019
Dr. Cristián Doña-Reveco
OLLAS Director and Associate Professor of Sociology
Daniela González
OLLAS Graduate Research Assistant
As part of our analysis on the access to legal aid by agricultural workers in the state of Nebraska, we wanted to observe how these workers were perceived or represented in the local newspapers. Representations in the press are important because, as Moscovici argues, they make the strange become familiar and the invisible, perceptible. Using the keywords “agricultural workers” and “migrant workers”, we collected and analyzed 39 articles that appeared in nine of Nebraska’s newspapers between January of 2016 and August of 2018. Continue Reading
Family Separations: What science tells us about family separations and why ALL Nebraskans should care
October 2018
Dr. Lissette Aliaga-Linares
Assistant Professor of Sociology & OLLAS Faculty
Dr. Jonathan B. Santo
Associate Professor of Psychology & OLLAS faculty
Dr. Juan F. Casas
Associate Professor of Psychology & OLLAS Associate Director
On April 6th of this year, the United States Department of Justice announced a “Zero Tolerance Policy for Criminal Illegal Entry.” Shortly after this announcement, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE – an arm of the Department of Homeland Security) separated approximately 2,000 immigrant families. It is worth noting that many of these undocumented parents had not committed any crimes, including illegally crossing the border. Some were asylum seekers who lawfully presented themselves when arriving at the border. Moreover, many of these families still await reunification even though the parents are no longer being detained. While this policy has been rightfully condemned by professional organizations (e.g., Society for Research in Child Development; National Association of School Psychologists; American Medical Association; American Academy of Pediatrics) because of the short- and long-term health consequences to children and families, the reality is that precarious family situations have had documented and undocumented immigrants living with a great deal of accumulative stress for much, much longer. Continue Reading
Ethnicity and Victimization Among Brazilian Adolescents: What Can Schools Do?
May 2018
Dr. Jonathan Santo
Associate Professor of Psychology & OLLAS faculty
Dr. Josafa M. Cunha
Associate Professor of Education, Federal University of Parana, Curitiba Brazil
Maybe a bit of background would be helpful. I am sure that no one would be surprised if I were to write that adolescents being on the receiving end of maltreatment by their classmates is a cause for concern. Research in the area of adolescent peer victimization has outlined the various negative consequences ranging from feelings of depression and anxiety, to poor self-esteem. However, peer victimization can also have an impact on academic performance, the effects of which have been shown through lower earnings almost 20 years later(!). Continue reading
Winds of Change in Havana
April 2018
Dr. Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado
UNO's Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs & OLLAS faculty
In a matter of a few weeks a monumental change will occur in Cuba. For the past 10 years, Raul Castro has been Cuba’s President and head of the Cuban Communist Party. In a highly anticipated and orchestrated manner, he will hand off the mantle of leadership to Miguel Diaz-Canel, a 57 year-old government insider, to become only the 3rd President of Cuba since the 1959 Revolution. While the Cuban National Assembly will officially elect Diaz-Canel to this position, he was essentially handpicked and groomed over the past five years to assume this role. Few if any Cuba followers know much about Diaz-Canel other than he has been Raul’s trusted advisor, and that he has never visited the United States in any official or unofficial capacity. For some, it raises concerns as to whether Diaz-Canel will continue the reformist-lite policy trajectory of President Raul Castro during his tenure, or will we see a return to the hardline position of Cuba’s revolutionary vanguard. Given the revanchist policy of the Trump Administration toward the regime, the Cuban hardliners have been given a re-birth and a validation of their admonition, that in spite of Obama’s overture and warming of relations, from their perspective, the U.S. policy continues to advocate for the demise of the Cuban Revolution. Any momentum gained has now lost all of its wind and has returned to the Cold War stasis in relations with the U.S. The accompanying new travel and trade restrictions serve as little more than irritants as opposed to obstacles for anyone interested but symbolically have stunted the movement forward of bilateral relations. In the end, we are no closer to end the embargo today that we were in December 2014 at the time of Obama’s initiative, insofar as the de facto obstacles of the Cuban Democracy Act and the Libertad (Helms-Burton) Act, are no nearer to disappearing as they were on the day they were signed into law in the mid 1990’s. Continue reading
Voting is the most important political instrument citizens have in a democracy
March 2018
Honorable Consul Guadalupe Sanchez Salazar
Consulado de México en Omaha
On July 1, 2018, Mexicans, both in Mexico and living abroad, will have the opportunity to participate in our nation's general election. This will be the third time, after 2006 and 2012, that Mexicans living abroad will be able to exercise their civic and political right. Mexico, the country with the second largest diaspora in the world-after India-reformed its laws in 2005 to allow all its citizens to vote, regardless of the place they live in.
This coming election in 2018 will be a historic one. Not only for the extraordinary number of public appointments that will be in dispute–more than 3,600. More importantly, because for the first time in history, Mexicans living around the globe will be able to vote for all of the seats in the Senators’ Chamber and six Governorships: Chiapas, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Puebla, Yucatán and Mexico City. Citizens whose hometown belongs to these states will be able to vote to choose their candidate for Governor. State laws in Yucatán and Tabasco still do not allow out of country voting. Continue reading
Immigrant Nebraska-- Because we forget, we must tell the story all over again
March 2018
Dr. Lourdes Gouveia
Emerita OLLAS Director and Professor of UNO
It may strike us as a cliché, but it bears repeating that Nebraska is a state of immigrants, and development for the past 155 years would have been impossible without their presence. Government and railroad agents recruited them in droves to settle a territory which, as we all know, but often choose to forget, had already been settled. Several thousand Native Americans first inhabited what became the Kansas-Nebraska territory in 1858. Most of these Indian lands were soon, and violently, turned into public and private lands available, for free or at little cost, to the newcomers. Despite the dire conditions of this pioneering era, easy access to land and railroad-driven jobs were a lifeline to these overwhelmingly European immigrants hoping to make a go of it in Nebraska. Continue reading