Graduate Students Present at Meeting of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers

Members of the UT Graduate Association of Geography Students presented at the 31^st meeting of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers in Mérida, Mexico. The meeting was held over three days, January 11-13, at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán.

Geography graduate student Lindsey Carte co-organized and co-chaired a session on alternative and participatory methodologies in Latin America along with UT geography professor Rebecca Torres. In the session, Carte presented a paper titled, "Using Participatory Action Research to Understand Central American Women’s Relationships with the State on the Mexico-Guatemala Border." Carte also co-authored another paper with Dr. Torres on community participatory appraisal in migration research. Additional UT geography graduate students presenting in the session included Marina Islas, who gave a paper titled "On a Shoestring and a Hope: Conducting International Graduate Fieldwork," and Pamela Sertzen, who discussed her research with children in Brazil in her paper, "Taking Pictures of Space: Research with Children in a Brazilian Favela."

In a session on exchange and appropriation in migration, Vanessa Martinez presented a paper titled "Transnationalism Revisited: Exploring Migration and Cross-Border Linkages between Chichihualco, Guerrero and Small Town Nebraska." Josh Rudow discussed his research on agricultural trajectories of the Tarahumara in Chihuahua, Mexico in a session on Latin American landscapes. Matt LaFevor presented a paper titled "Estimating the Impact of Explosives on New Spain's Silver Bonanza: A Geographical Interpretation of Archival Data" in a session on historical geographies. UT geography professor Bill Doolittle also attended the meeting, and many UT geography alumni presented papers.