Episode 28: Michele Catanzaro: Periodismo Científico

In our latest podcast episode, HCIAS Publications editor Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella interviews Dr. Michele Catanzaro, an award winning science journalist, whose writing has appeared in prestigious national and international media outlets, and a professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Their discussion focusses on the value of independent, critical science journalism in the modern world. This includes a case when investigative reporting by Dr. Catanzaro and colleagues helped correct a miscarriage of justice based on faulty science, as well as Dr. Catanzaro’s role in the  (Periodismo Científico de Excelencia) project, which is dedicated fighting misinformation and maintaining a robust ecosystem of high quality information by curating a database of exemplary journalism in Spanish.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, research associate and HCIAS Publications editor, Heidelberg University

Guest: Dr. Michele Catanzaro, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Listen to episode 28 on Spotify

Episode 27: Felipe Fernández: Litio, Estado y Futuro en Bolivia

In this episode of the HCIAS podcast, Dr. Felipe Fernández, a postdoctoral researcher in the International Research Training Group ‘Temporalities of Future’ at the at the Lateinamerika-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, sits down with HCIAS doctoral researcher Rafael Hernández Westpfahl and HCIAS Publications coordinator Marian Orjuela for a conversation about his research project ‘Litio, Estado y Futuro en Bolivia: una antropología del subsuelo’. The discussion covers Dr. Fernández’ research into the interactions between Bolivia geologists and the scientific knowledge they produce in estimating the extent and value of the nation’s subsoil resources, and the state’s progressive extraction plans.

Hosts: Rafael Hernández Westpfahl, HCIAS doctoral researcher; Marian Orjuela HCIAS Publications Coordinator.

Guest: Dr. Felipe Fernández, Freie Universität Berlin.

Listen to episode 27 on Spotify

Episode 26: Food for Justice 

In our latest episode, HCIAS deputy director and Professor of Society, Culture, and Communication In Ibero-America Prof. Dr. Renata Motta speaks to HCIAS Publications coordinator Marian Orjuela about leading the research group Food for Justice: Power, Politics and Food Inequalities in a Bioeconomy (2019-2024). Prof. Dr. Motta discusses how the project combines theoretical perspectives on global inequalities with research into popular movements for social justice in the fields of agriculture and food, and elaborates on some of the case studies the group have made in both Germany and Brazil. 

Host: Marian Orjuela, HCIAS Publications coordinator.

This episode has been recorded in Portuguese.

Guest: Prof. Dr. Renata Motta, Professor of of Society, Culture, and Communication In Ibero-America and deputy director of the HCIAS

Listen to episode 26 on Spotify

Episode 25: The Postmodern Paradox of Spanish in the U.S.

In this episode, HCIAS visiting scholar Dr. Andrew Lynch, Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Miami, joins HCIAS Publications editor Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella for a conversation about the postmodern paradox of Spanish in the United States. Drawing on his extensive research into sociolinguistics and cultural studies, Dr. Lynch illustrates how a wide range of factors, including neo-liberal market-based ideologies, media representations, and migratory flows have shaped the complex and sometimes contradictory attitudes and perceptions toward Spanish in the U.S.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, research associate and HCIAS Publications editor, Heidelberg University.

Guest: Dr. Andrew Lynch, Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Miami.

Listen to episode 25 on Spotify

Episode 24: Strangers to Peace

In this episode of the HCIAS podcast, Dr. Colleen Alena O’Brien, producer of the documentary Strangers to Peace and a postdoctoral researcher at the Universität des Saarlandes, joins HCIAS Publications Coordinator Marian Orjuela for a conversation about the film, which was screened as part of the OBSERVA series organized by the HCIAS. Dr. O’Brien talks about the process of making the documentary, which tells the story of three former members of the FARC as they attempt to re-integrate into Colombian civil society, as well as the role cinema can play in post-conflict societies.

Host: Marian Orjuela, HCIAS Publications Coordinator

Guest: Dr. Colleen Alena O’Brien, Universität des Saarlandes

Listen to episode 24 on Spotify

Episode 23: Beyond Trust: Migrants and their Interactions with Smuggling Facilitators on the US-Mexico Border

In this episode of the HCIAS podcast, Dr. Gabriela Sanchez of Georgetown University joins HCIAS Junior Prof. Dr. Yaatsil Guevara González and regular host Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella for a fascinating discussion of her research into the complex and controversial subject of migrant smuggling. Both migrants and the smugglers who facilitate their journeys are often subject to stereotypical representations, not only in the media but also in academia. Dr. Sanchez shares some of the insights from her ethnographic research into the real lives and relationships of the individuals behind these depictions.

Hosts: Dr. Yaatsil Guevara González, Junior Professor of “Migration and the Americas”; Dr. Hector Álvarez Mella, research associate and HCIAS Publications editor, Heidelberg University

Guests: Dr. Gabriella Sanchez, Georgetown University

Listen to episode 23 on Spotify

Episode 22: Salsa from America to Heidelberg

For the latest edition of the HCIAS podcast, we have a special episode in a different format. This podcast, about the cultural significance of Salsa in America, was produced by Heidelberg University student Rhea Molkenthin as part of the seminar Cultures of Diaspora across Ibero-America led by former HCIAS Junior Prof. Dr. Soledad Álvarez Velasco (currently at the University of Illinois) and HCIAS director Prof. Dr. Francisco Moreno-Fernández. Rhea’s podcast connects the importance of Salsa for the Latino diaspora in New York with the role it plays in the cultural life of the Latin American community in Heidelberg, showing how music and dance can be used to create shared identities.   

Music used in the episode: Un verano en Nueva York – La Grand Combo; La Rebelión – Joe Arroyo; Mi Tierra – Gloria Estefan; Pedro Navaja – Rubén Blades & Willie Colón; El cantante – Héctor Lavoe; El dia de mi suerte – Héctor Lavoe; Oiga, mire ya vea – Orquesta Guayacan.    

Host: Rhea Molkenthin, Heidelberg University student 

Coordinated by: Marian Orjuela,  M.Sc.; Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, HCIAS Publications, Heidelberg University 

Listen to episode 22 on Spotify

Episode 21: La Unión Europea en la encrucijada: migración, economía y América Latina 

In this episode of the HCIAS Podcast, two distinguished guests, Dr. José Luis García Delgado, professor of Economics and director of the Observatorio Nebrija del Español at Nebrija University, and Dr. Rodolfo Gutiérrez Palacios, professor of sociology at the Universidad de Oviedo, join us for a spirited discussion of the challenges facing the European Union during Spain’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. The conversation encompasses the role the presidency of the Council plays within the EU’s governing bureaucracy, the strategic priorities Spain placed on the agenda, and how this might impact Europe’s relationship with Latin America.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, research associate and HCIAS Publications editor, Heidelberg University.

This episode has been recorded in Spanish

Guests: Dr. José Luis García Delgado, director of the Observatorio Nebrija del Español at Nebrija University, Spain; Dr. Rodolfo Gutiérrez Palacios, professor of sociology at the Universidad de Oviedo, Spain.

Listen to episode 21 on Spotify

Episode 20: Pablo Pamplona on the relevence of collective memory studies

In this episode, HCIAS Publications Coordinator Marian Orjuela is joined by Pablo Pamplona, a PhD candidate at the Universidade de São Paulo and a visiting doctoral fellow in the HCIAS Doctoral Research Group “Communication and Society in Ibero-America”, Pablo explains a little about his research into collective memory studies and why he chose to pursue this subject at the HCIAS during his six-month research stay funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in cooperation with the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil). The conversation also touches on a subject near and dear to our own hearts – podcasting! Pablo’s doctoral project involves an analysis of a podcast called Memorias Quebradas (Broken Memories), produced by students at the University of São Paulo, in order to memorialize the social movements and struggles for representation and inclusion that take place on the periphery of their city.

Hosts: Marian Orjuela, HCIAS Publications Coordinator.

This episode has been recorded in Portuguese.

Guests: Pablo Pamplona, doctoral student at the Universidade de São Paulo and visiting doctoral fellow at the HCIAS

Listen to Episode 20 on Spotify

Episode 19: Los discursos públicos de la pandemia en Argentina with Valeria Abusamra

We are joined by Dr. Valeria Abusamra, Professor of Psycholinguistics at Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and a researcher at Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina. Dr. Abusamra explains her research into how cognitive processes and social contexts play a role in literacy and textual comprehension, relating this to some of the challenges currently facing educational institutions across Ibero-America. This leads into a discussion with HCIAS director Prof. Dr. Francisco Moreno-Fernández about the ongoing research collaboration between the HCIAS, UBA and CONICET into public discourses surrounding how the pandemic affected education in Argentina.

Hosts: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, research associate and editor of the HCIAS Publications, Heidelberg University; Prof. Dr. Francisco Moreno-Fernández, Professor of Ibero-American Linguistic, Cultural, and Social Studies at Heidelberg University and director of the HCIAS

This episode has been recorded in Spanish

Guests: Dr. Valeria Abusamra, Professor of Psycholinguistics at Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina

Listen to Episode 19 on Spotify

Episode 18: Sobreviver jogando

Prof. Dr. Stephanie Schütze, Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the Lateinamerika-Institut of the Freie Universität Berlin, introduces us to the world of migrant Bolivian women’s amateur football leagues in São Paulo, Brazil. Based on her ethnographic research, Prof. Dr. Schütze explains how football becomes a vehicle for cultural and community gatherings, allows migrants to create spaces of belonging, and above all, a way to Sobreviver jogando.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, research associate and editor of the HCIAS publications, Heidelberg University

This episode has been recorded in Spanish

Guest: Prof. Dr. Stephanie Schütze, Freie Universität Berlin

Listen to Episode 18 on Spotify

Episode 17: International academic cooperation across borders

Dr. Ulrike Albrecht, a Consultant for Global Research Cooperation and Internationalization Strategies, explains her work as a consultant to us and discusses the importance of international collaboration in academia, the need to include the so-called “forgotten nations” in Latin America, as well as the way science and the humanities can function as shared languages.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella, research associate and editor of the HCIAS publications, Heidelberg University

Guest: Dr. Ulrike Albrecht

Listen to Episode 17 on Spotify

Episode 16: The Leitorado Brasileiro at Heidelberg University

In our latest episode, Marília Pinheiro Pereira, a fellow of the Programa Leitorado para Instituição Universitária Estrangeira of the Brazilian government, speaks to Marian Orjuela, HCIAS Publications Coordinator, about her work at the Leitorado Brasileiro in Heidelberg. Marília explains the activities the Leitorado Brasileiro conducts to spread knowledge of the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture throughout the world and provides details of some of the courses she is teaching at Heidelberg this semester, as well as touching on her own doctoral research into Portuguese as a heritage language in Germany.

Hosts: Marian Orjuela, HCIAS Publications Coordinator.

This episode has been recorded in Portuguese.

Guest: Marília Pinheiro Pereira (Programa Leitorado para Instituição Universitária Estrangeira, Leitorado Brasileiro Heidelberg)

Listen to Episode 16 on Spotify

Episode 15: Reflexiones sobre Juan Rulfo y literatura latinoamericana

In our latest episode, renowned academic and author Prof. Dr. Alberto Vital, from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, was interviewed by two Master's students from Heidelberg University: Lorena Villate and Mariel Elizondo. The conversation has a particular focus on the works of Mexican author Juan Rulfo, and their connections to both Latin American and European culture. Prof. Dr. Vital approaches literature from many perspectives, including the study of argumentation, as well as how names and naming play a role in creating meaning in a text. 

Hosts: Lorena Villate (RoSe); Mariel Elizondo (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in Spanish.

Guest: Prof. Dr. Alberto Vital (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Listen to Episode 15 on Spotify

Episode 14: Science's Political Role

In this episode, Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella and HCIAS junior professor of innovation and sustainability in Ibero-America, Rosa Lehmann, host an interesting discussion with Cecilia Ibarra, a researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience Research at the Universidad de Chile, for a stimulating conversation about the role of science in politics and the political nature of scientific research. Their discussion touches on issues like the different ways climate change and resource use debates are framed in the Global North and Global South, the importance of increasing participation in the human governance of the environment, as well as what science can (and can’t) contribute to resolving our problems.

Hosts: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS); Jun.-Prof. Rosa Lehmann (HCIAS).

Guest: Dr. Cecilia Ibarra, Universidad de Chile

Listen to Episode 14 on Spotify

Episode 13: Ecologies of Language

In this episode, we are joined by two world-renowned sociolinguists, Cécile Vigouroux, an associate professor of sociolinguistics at Simon Fraser University in Canada and currently a fellow for the Institute of Advanced Studies in Paris, and Salikoko Mufwene, professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago and current academic director of the University of Chicago Center in Paris. We talk about just a few of their many contributions to academia, including Professor Mufwene’s research into the evolution of language in mankind and Professor Vigouroux’s fieldwork on how migrations affect language use. The wide-ranging discussion reflects the breadth of our guests' scholarly creativity and touches on thought-provoking topics like what linguists have to learn from economists (and vice versa) as well as what can be learned from the Global South.  

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS).

Guests:  Prof. Cécile Vigouroux, Simon Fraser University Canada; Prof. Salikoko Mufwene, University of Chicago

Listen to Episode 13 on Spotify

Episode 12: Literatura, visibilización y cambio social

In this episode of the HCIAS Podcast, we interview Melibea Obono, a writer and LGBTIQ+ activist from Equatorial Guinea, and the American writer and translator Lawrence Schimel. We discuss how literature can make subjects who have been marginalized because of their gender, race, or other intersectional markers, visible. Our guests argue that writers and translators have an important role to play in social change and that literature is a creative space in which the complex realities of the queer movement can be explored.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS).

This episode has been recorded in Spanish.

Guests: Melibea Obono and Lawrence Schimel

Listen to Episode 12 on Spotify

Episode 11: Construcción colectiva de la memoria en Colombia

In this episode, we talk about social engagement from the scientific community and academia, a starting point from which Prof. Neyla Pardo begins her research on the topic of memorialization processes within the Colombian armed conflict and Peace process.  Professor Pardo highlights the collective nature of the research work in her latest book, Memorias en el posacuerdo colombiano: Narrativas-relatos para construir paz, in which students, members of diverse communities affected by the conflict, and indigenous leaders took part. Her investigations interconnect art, aesthetics, narratives, and memory as discursive constructions that claim new methodological tools to be studied in order to recognize the symbolic and social value that these devices embody.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

Guest: Prof. Neyla Pardo, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Listen to Episode 11 on Spotify

Episode 10: 'Lectura y escritura como rebeldía’ a dialogue with spanish writer Marta Sanz on the visibilization of women in literature.

In this episode we talk to Spanish writer Marta Sanz about the importance of making women visible in art and literature, a proposal she has developed in her latest work “Enciclopedia secreta: lecturas en el espejo feminista” (Secret encyclopaedia: readings in the feminist mirror). We also discuss identity and its social dynamics and how social networks are an emerging tool that shapes society.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in Spanish.

Guest: Marta Sanz Pastor, Spanish writer

Listen to Episode 10 on Spotify

Episode 9: 'La lengua de los hispanos unidos de América', presenting Prof. Dr. Francisco Moreno-Fernández’s latest book on the Spanish language and its dynamics of resistance in the USA.

In this episode we have as a special guest, Prof. Dr. Francisco Moreno-Fernández, presenting his latest publication 'La lengua de los hispanos unidos de América: Crónica de resistencia'. The conversation revolves around Spanish as a transversal unifying element among Latino and Hispanic communities and their dynamics of resistance. It also goes over the dynamics of coexistence between Spanglish and Spanish, the development of the corpus of the Spanish language in the US, CORPEEU, and the question around the existence of a Spanish of the United States of America.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in Spanish.

More on the CORPEEU Project: https://bit.ly/3BypH3n

Guest: Prof. Dr. Francisco Moreno Fernández (HCIAS)

Listen to Episode 9 on Spotify

Episode 8: From Home to Homing in Migration: What does home mean in migratory contexts?

In this episode of the HCIAS Podcast series on Migration and the Americas, we have Prof. Paolo Boccagni from the University of Trento as a guest. The conversation focuses on homing, what it means in migratory contexts, how migrants build a new home dealing with markers such as ethnicity, and how these main questions have guided the research project 'Homing: the home migration nexus. Home as a window to migrant belonging integration and circulation,' funded by the European research council.

Hosts: Dr. Ulrike Gerhard (HCA), Judith Keller, M.A. (HCA), and Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in English.

Guest: Prof. Paolo Boccagni, Univeristy of Trento

Listen to Episode 8 on Spotify

Episode 7: New Golden Age of Fiction Series in Spain

This episode of the HCIAS Podcast is dedicated to the 'New golden age of fiction series in Spain'. We were discussing the aesthetic and thematic narrative changes experienced by the Spanish audiovisual space in the last decade with Prof. Marta Saavedra, vice-dean of the communication and arts faculty, Prof. Nicolás Grijalba, director of the communication department, and Prof. Rocío Gago, director of the Bachelor of Audiovisual Communication, from the Universidad de Nebrija. The conversation focused on the concept of a 'new golden age' implies, its new characteristic features, and questions such as how series are interrelated with the Spanish and the international community and which are the opportunities and risks in this new period, and how the relationship of the Spanish audiovisual world with Latin America is reshaped due to the current overview.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in Spanish

Guests: Prof. Martha Saavedra, Prof. Nicolás Grijalba, and Prof. Rocío Gago, Universidad de Nebrija

Listen to Episode 7 on Spotify

Episode 6: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Youth

On our sixth episode, we have as guest Professor Lionel Brossi Garavaglia from the University of Chile. The dialogue goes over artificial intelligence (AI) for social inclusion, digital skills, and his project on the discourses of the pandemic and youth in Chile

This episode has been recorded in Spanish

Hosts: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS); Marian Orjuela M.Sc. (HCIAS)

Guest: Prof. Lionel Brossi Garavaglia, University of Chile

Listen to Episode 6 on Spotify

Episode 5: Migration and Motherhood as Infrastructures of Care

As part of the “Migration and the Americas series” in collaboration with the HCA, in this episode, we have as guest Prof. Solange Muñoz from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The interview focuses on women, their role as mothers, and the challenges of migration.

Hosts: Dr. Ulrike Gerhard (HCA), Dr. Soledad Álvarez Velasco (HCIAS), and Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in English.

Guest: Prof. Solange Muñoz, University of Tennessee

Listen to Episode 5 on Spotify

Episode 4: Enregisterment: How linguistic items get linked with ways of speaking and identities in the USA. 

In this episode, we have a special guest, Prof. Dr. Dennis Preston from the University of Kentucky. Our conversation focuses on how linguistic items get linked to ways of speaking and how institutions and power relations contribute to building the social perception of language practices in our daily life.

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in English.

Guest: Prof. Dr. Dennis Preston, University of Kentucky

Listen to Episode 4 on Spotify

Episode 3: Pandemic Religion in Brazil: Sociopolitical perceptions and public theological reflections.

In this new episode of the HCIAS Podcast, we have as our guest Prof. Dr. Rudolph von Sinner from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), Brazil. Amongst his various research interests, our conversation focuses on the study of Public Theology and its development in Brazil, contextualizing Latin America and Europe. This episode has been recorded in Portuguese. 

Host: Marian Orjuela, M.Sc. (HCIAS)

Guest: Prof. Dr. Rudolph von Sinner (PUCPR)

Listen to Episode 3 on Spotify

Episode 2: Socio-economic Changes in Latin America and the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The social and economic problems facing Latin America and their relation to the COVID-19 pandemic are on the agenda of our HCIAS Podcast. In today’s episode, we discuss trade, development, inequality, and poverty in Latin America with Prof. Miguel Carrera Troyano from the University of Salamanca (Spain). 

Host: Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

This episode has been recorded in Spanish.

Guest: Prof. Miguel Carrera Troyano, University of Salamanca

Listen to Episode 2 on Spotify

Episode 1: A Critical Voice to Understand Migration in Complex Times ()

In this first episode of the HCIAS Podcast Series on Migration and the Americas, we talk with the sociologist Professor Cecilia Menjívar and Dorothy L. Meier, Social Equities Chair at the University of California Los Angeles and President of the American Sociological Association (2021-2022). Our conversation focuses on her research interests, critical views on migration being seen as a “crisis”, the contested terms of legal violence and legal liminality, the politics of labeling migrants, and the role of media.

This episode was recorded as part of the HCIAS Podcast Series on Migration and the Americas, in cooperation with the HCA. 

Hosts: Dr. Ulrike Gerhard (HCA); Dr. Soledad Álvarez Velasco (HCIAS); Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella (HCIAS)

Guests: Prof. Cecilia Menjívar and Dorothy L. Meier

Listen to Episode 1 on Spotify