Latin American and Iberian Studies program

Advisory Committee

Faculty - Alphabetical

Faculty - Fields

Staff

Graduate Students

Alumni

raduate Students

Name	Email/Website
Paul Bancroft BA, Montana State University, Modern Languages and Literatures with an emphasis in Spanish	pbancroft@umail.ucsb.edu
Although my interests include anything having to do with Latin America, my area of focus is literacy campaigns throughout rural Latin America. I want to look at the Cuban model, its export of teachers to rural Venezuela, and the outcomes of that program.
Luz Maria Cabral BA, University of California, Santa Barbara	luzmariacabral@umail.ucsb.edu
Luz Maria Cabral is working on her thesis on the media in Latin America and its portrayal of women, focusing on television. I have chosen Silvia Pinal's show on Televisa, “Mujer!...Casos de la Vida Real” to examine closely. This show has been running for about 20 years, presenting issues that have affected women in Mexico. Throughout that period, it has shown not only women but issues that Mexicans are confronted with from disease, kidnappings, cruelty and abuse of both elderly and children. I am looking at the international relevance of this program, since it is broadcast to Spain, the US, and in Latin America beyond Mexico.
Jorge Cabrera BA, University of California, Santa Barbara	jkab@umail.ucsb.edu
My interests include Criminology/Criminal Justice, the interactions between race, gender and the law, globalization and immigration. My thesis will explore the exportation of Chicano/Latino gangs from the United States into Latin America, the myriad of problems that they create, and the governmental responses to them.
Thomas Clark BA, University of California, Santa Barbara, History	tclark@umail.ucsb.edu
I am a first-year MA student and I plan on doing a comparative study of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay's economic and social policies. I am also interested in the influence of the Catholic Church in Latin America and measuring the changes in its role for these nations.
Cristina Fuentes BA, University of California, Santa Barbara	mscrysim@umail.ucsb.edu
I'm interested in Latin America culture, specifically Mexican culture and also contemporary Latin America literature, (19th & 20th century) My thesis will relate to one or both of these topics.
Martin Garcia BA,UCSB, History	martingarcia@umail.ucsb.edu
I am a first year MA student with a general interest in Central American and Mexican immigration and immigrants' experiences in the U.S. from the 1890s to the present.
Claudia Madrigal Johnson BA, University of California, Los Angeles	taina10@umail.ucsb.edu
My current research focuses on understanding the effects of the neocolonial aspects of global tourism on identity creation and identity politics in the Latin American Caribbean. Previous fieldwork in Cuba, Yucatán, Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia covered topics in identity politics, women's health and reproduction, and the implications of Western feminism. I hope to spend some of my second year in Caribbean port cities (both island & non-island) that have entered the International tourism market in the last decade.
Megan Lange BA North Park University, 2000 Spanish and English Literature. Minor: Hispanic Studies.	Meganlange@umail.ucsb.edu
As a first year LAIS student, I hope to narrow my broad range of interests to a select few topics. Some of the things that I find interesting, however, and plan to delve into further, are issues of education, bilingual classrooms, the relationships between immigrant families and US American school systems they enter, and how these factors, among others, help define the path of Hispanic studies in our schools.
Sylvia Lizama BA, University of California, Los Angeles	sylizama@umail.ucsb.edu
	Sylvia Lizama is completing her thesis on the impact of non-governmental organizations on the situation in Chiapas, Mexico. She is currently an instructor at Oxnard Community College teaching Chicano Studies.
Zachary McKiernan BA, Loyola University, Chicago. History major, Latin American Studies minor	zmckiernan@umail.ucsb.edu
Having lived, worked, and studied in Chile, it seems only obvious that the focus of my research will, at the very least, begin there. Thus, I hope to use Chile's national stadium as a portal of investigation to Chilean history and society. In doing so, I will demonstrate how the stadium has played a fundamental role in the composition of Chile in the latter half of the 20th century, allowing us to understand it all at once as a concentration camp, a site of national celebration and identity, an icon for the Castro-Allende relationship, and a sacred ground for papal masses.
Rocio Melgoza BA, University of California, Santa Barbara	rocio1@umail.ucsb.edu

Amy Milner BA, Wheaton College, IL. Spanish	amy.milner@gmail.com
I am interested in studying the relationship between globalization and development work and what it means for Central America. I spent Spring 2006 living in El Salvador and am hoping to go back there to do reasearch on sustainable, holistic development during my time in the LAIS program.
Yully Nieves BA, Cal State Long Beach, Sociology	ycnieves@umail.ucsb.edu
I graduated cum laude in Sociology from Cal State Long Beach. My research interests are reform of higher education in Latin America, social and historical change, language and linguistics. I have a particular interst in Venezuela. Currently I am a member of the Modern Language Association and the Pacific Sociological Association.
Nicole Pacino BA De Pauw 2002. Major: Conflict Studies and Sociology/Anthropology. Minor: Women’s Studies and Geology.	npacino@umail.ucsb.edu
I spent five weeks in the summer of 2006 as an international human rights observer in Ecuador documenting a conflict between a Canadian transnational mining company and several small Andean communities that oppose the mining project. My master's thesis relates to this conflict, focusing on the changing roles of women in a small Andean community and the relationship between a local, grassroots struggle against mining and the people from abroad who come to Ecuador to assist the communities.
Amy Rosner BA, University of Denver. International Studies	abrosner@umail.ucsb.edu
I am a first-year MA student. My interests include political and social change in Latin America, especially Central America. I am also interested in grassroots organizations and their success within certain social movements.
Benjamin Ruiz BA, University of California, Berkeley	bruiz@umail.ucsb.edu
	Benjamin Ruiz is working on his thesis on language instruction.
Mario Valadez (BA 2005 UCLA) Major: History.	mgvaladez@umail.ucsb.edu
I plan to make a comparative study of the of Philippines and Macao during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I am interested in comparing Macao’s and Manila’s social, economic, cultural, and legal history with an emphasis on their relationships with other Iberian regions.
Larissa Veloz (UC Davis BA 2005, History and Psychology).	llveloz@umail.ucsb.edu
I plan to take courses primarily in History and Education. I would like to focus my research on modern Mexican history, specifically events in the 1980s and the impact on Mexican national politics. I am also interested in tutoring or mentoring at a local high school.