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Eminent scholar on Latin America to visit IU next week, present lectures
Jan. 10, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Jorge Castañeda, one of the most influential public intellectuals and most outstanding social scientists in Mexico, will present two lectures at Indiana University Bloomington next week.
Castañeda, a visiting professor of political science and Latin American studies at New York University and also a professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico, will talk about "U.S.-Mexican Relations Today" on Jan. 18 and "Prospects for Change in Latin America" on Jan. 20. Both lectures will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Woodburn Hall, Room 100, and are being presented by the William T. Patten Foundation.
Through regular publications in foreign policy journals, leading newspapers and magazines, Castañeda has extraordinary international visibility as a scholar, author and columnist. He frequently examines issues concerning U.S.-Mexico relations and the post-Cold War impact on Third World prospects for democratic development and social change.
His 1993 publication, Utopia Unarmed, offers a historical recreation of the contemporary history of the Latin American Left since the Cuban Revolution. He combines a top-down analysis of the impact of the Cuban Revolution with a detailed social history of those environments in which social and political movements emerged. Castañeda had personal and political relations with some of the key historical figures on the political Left, which has affected the level and scope of his writings. He is author of 10 books, including four written in English.
Castañeda's influence extends beyond the academic community through regular columns in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek International and leading newspapers throughout Latin America, including Mexico's Reforma, Argentina's La Nacion, Columbia's El Tiempo and Venezuela's El Nacional. His articles are widely read because of Castañeda's unique policy perspective, which is derived from his unique insider/outsider status.
Although a dissident from Mexico's official political party, Partido Institucional Revolucionario, Castañeda has been called upon by the Mexican government to serve in an advisory capacity. During the 1980s and a period of civil wars in Central America, he played an important role in formulating Mexican policy in the region. Although often critical of U.S. policy in Central America, he has been an important voice among those in the foreign policy community in the United States.
He has testified before Congress, been a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and served as a visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs. He received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation research grant.
Castañeda has a bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University and several advanced degrees from the Université de Paris, including a doctorate in economic history. He has served as a professor in the Graduate School in the National Autonomous University of Mexico for more than 20 years. During that time, he has held positions at Dartmouth College, New York University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Princeton University.
The William T. Patten Foundation was established at IU Bloomington by Patten, a member of its 1893 graduating class, with an initial bequest in 1931.
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu