LLILAS Graduate Summer Research Placements with Organizations in Latin America

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Rosaline Stafford
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1 LLILAS Graduate Summer Research Placements with Organizations in Latin America Description LLILAS has dedicated a limited amount of funding for several specific placements with organizations that have operations based in Latin America. These placements are designed to provide students with research opportunities that will provide the basis for an MA thesis/report (or pre dissertation research for PhD students), while at the same time forming part of a broader research and organizational effort. The advantages of these placement based research opportunities are twofold: (1) they come with the guarantee of contacts, entrée, and a certain amount of supervision by the sponsoring entity; (2) they allow the individual student to make a substantive contribution, connecting individual research to the broader research and organizational goals of the placement in question. Please Note Successful applications must include a short essay that addresses two major points: (1) The student s research interests and how the specific placement with the particular organization will potentially help further them; (2) how the student s research involvement will contribute to the goals and the mission of the organization with which they wish to be placed. Requirements Eligibility: Graduate students in any department Duration: 10 weeks during Summer 2012 Funding: LLILAS has dedicated funding for placements. The specific amount is to be determined. Deadline for application: Feb. 6, 2012 Results will be announced: March 9, 2012 Placement will commence no later than: June 4, 2012 Placement will end no later than August 13, 2012 The organizations that are offering placements for Summer 2012 are: 1. International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) CIAT is a not for profit organization focused on scientific solutions to hunger in the tropics by developing sustainable methods of food production. It partners with several other organizations to carry out its mission. The base of operations is Cali, Colombia. The major issues CIAT is interested in working on with graduate students are the following: 1) Linking farmers to markets: Develop new business models for enabling poor farmers to benefit from markets. 2) Ecosystem services: Develop strategies for improved water management and carbon and biodiversity management in the Andes. 3) Climate change: Evaluate the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security and identify the adaptation and mitigation pathways available.

2 4) Impact assessment: Develop economic analysis of agricultural development and research. Students should provide a short essay explaining how their own research dovetails with that of CIAT s mission and working themes. 2. Centro de Investigación de la Comunicación (CINCO) See also: This Nicaragua based center for investigation develops research on democracy, communications, culture, and public opinion. There are three media outlets associated with CINCO: Esta Semana, a weekly TV investigative journalism program; Esta Noche, a nightly interview based news program; and Confidencial, a weekly newsletter and online news outlet. CINCO is currently accepting up to two graduate student applicants interested in its major lines of investigative reporting. Interested students should provide a short essay explaining how their research dovetails with the investigative reporting lines CINCO has developed. 3. El Faro El Faro is a highly regarded Latin American online news outlet based in El Salvador. Since its foundation, El Faro has made efforts to overhaul the Salvadoran media, which has traditionally been dominated by conservative outlets. El Faro is accepting up to two graduate students who desire to learn about Central America s realities through El Faro s work. Interested students should provide a short essay explaining how their own research dovetails with the investigative reporting lines El Faro has developed. 4. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) WOLA promotes human rights, democracy, and social justice by working with partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to shape policies in the United States and abroad. Currently WOLA offers one (1) graduate student summer placement. Applicants should write a statement of purpose that addresses how their own research interests dovetail with those of WOLA. For the Summer 2012 internship, the focus will be on U.S. military and police assistance programs to Latin America. Applicants should consider zooming in on a specific type of U.S. military/police assistance activity, and/or a specific country. There would be two parts to the study: First, in Washington: Find out what equipment is being provided, what training courses are being taught, and to which units. Talk to both policy and implementation people about objectives and other ways (besides resources) that the U.S. government is engaging with the country's military and police. Evaluate the quality of U.S. congressional oversight for military assistance programs, especially counterdrug programs, in the region. Some questions to

3 consider: Are legislators doing their oversight job? What are they not asking enough about? How does the executive branch make their job harder? Is existing reporting to Congress adequate? Second, in the recipient country: Evaluate the state of civil military relations in that country, security, human rights, and governance. Talk to experts, officials, journalists, activists and especially populations in the geographic areas where aid has been focused. How are attitudes evolving with respect to the proper role of the military today especially with regard to internal security? What are the risks (militarization, coups)? Can civilians manage security? What are the main critiques of the program, what impact is it having on populations (including unintended consequences), and what sort of alternative U.S. policy is most frequently recommended? The Associate in charge of mentoring the student will provide guidance, advice, and management. In return, the selected graduate student is expected to go beyond online research by consistently and effectively communicating with the executive, legislative, and military officials who have the information they are seeking. By the end of the internship, the student is expected to produce a WOLA report, posted on the WOLA website ideally with graphic and multimedia content. 5. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS) CIESAS is a leading Mexico based public federal investigation center specializing in anthropology and the social sciences. CIESAS and UT currently have two different internship possibilities: three placements with a project on People s Right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and one placement with the Trilingual Project. 1) FPIC Project calls for three (3) placements with a 3 country comparative research project. The project examines the effects of indigenous people s right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) on indigenous communities in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia. Each placement will be in one of these countries. The study will analyze the impact of FPIC on the negotiations between the communities and individuals in relation to state or private plans to build major hydroelectric dams. Students must write a short essay as part of their application explaining how their research interests dovetail with those of this project. 2) The Trilingual Project The Trilingual Project is an online intercultural learning community of Mexican and American high schools. The two major goals are: (1) bringing economically and culturally diverse youth together through dialogue and collaborative educational activities in order to promote cultural understanding, preservation, and peace; and (2) training teachers to use innovative technology and practices in their classrooms to increase student learning and engagement. In order to

4 promote social, intellectual, personal, and cultural development, special attention is paid to the development of skills in news media literacy, communication, collaboration, critical thinking/comparative analysis, and use of Web 2.0 tools. The Trilingual Project currently serves high schools in rural Oaxacan indigenous communities, the Oaxacan downtown area, California, and Connecticut. Students whose research interests include education, language acquisition, curriculum development sensitive to cultural and linguistic diversity, and media in education are encouraged to apply. Applicants should include a short essay explaining how their interests dovetail with the Trilingual Project. 6. Café tal Apan Café tal Apan, located in Coatepec, Mexico, as part of the Museum of Coffee, is a space dedicated to informing the public about the history of coffee in the region of Veracruz. tal.com/ For a virtual tour of the grounds, see: Students interested in the viability of small scale production, fair trade in coffee, and prospects for economic livelihood through these means are encouraged to apply. Other areas of interest include ecotourism, biodiversity, quality control and coffee tasting, and marketing. Student applications should include a short essay explaining how their research interests would be enhanced through an internship with Café tal Apan in Coatepec. The Café tal is able to accept up to two graduate students. Knowledge of Spanish is a requirement for this internship. 7. Guatemalan Archive In 2005, the Guatemalan Office of Human Rights located a large archive containing millions of documents belonging entirely to the Archivo Histórico de la Policía Nacional (AHPN), the Guatemalan National Police Archive. The AHPN represents a critical part of the historical and documentary heritage of the people of Guatemala. It is making substantial contributions to the recovery of collective memory, the elucidation of truth, and an effective fight against impunity. Graduate students interested in working with the AHPN in Guatemala should include a short essay explaining how their own research interests would benefit from the archive, and how they in turn could contribute to the archive's mission of making the information it contains more widely available for purposes of recovering historical memory, for furthering efforts toward achieving truth and justice, and for working against impunity. 8. InSight

5 InSight s mission is to deepen knowledge and understanding of organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. It achieves this by monitoring, analyzing, and investigating organized crime throughout the region using its team of contributors as well as news, academic, non governmental, governmental, and multilateral sources. Graduate students placed with InSight will engage in investigative research and will write regular short and long items for the website, which gets about 100,000 hits a month (65,000 unique). They will be expected to work efficiently and effectively within a high pressure media environment. Entry level InSight internships do not require students to be in the field. Students may arrange an Independent Study to carry out this internship from Austin during a summer session for academic credit. Interns whose work and interests prove to resonate with InSight s needs and mission may then be eligible for further training after the initial period of internship that would prepare them for research in the field. This second stage would involve closer work with the InSight team that would in turn train students in several skills, including how to: conduct interviews in the field, create a security system, talk to authorities, ask questions, gather information, and find and speak to criminals.

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