Annual Conference

72nd Annual Conference

Democratic Backsliding and Resistance in Latin America
UF Center for Latin American Studies
February 29 - March 1, 2024

Organizers: Juliana Restrepo Sanín, Cristian Pérez, Carlos Suárez, and Carlos de la Torre

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Flávia Biroli, University of Brasilia

Location: Smathers Library, Room 100

REGISTER HERE

This conference will explore authoritarian challenges to democracy, and resistance to authoritarianism in Latin America. The conference will feature four panels. The first panel explores struggles for gender and LGBTQ+ rights that aimed to democratize democracies, and how in the name of the “traditional family” conservative Catholics and Christians are attempting to roll back rights and to impose their views of family and sexuality. The second panel explores how populists rise to power and govern, and the conditions that could lead to democratic backsliding. The third panel will locate historically the most recent crises of democracy. Have Latin American democracies experienced similar crises in the past? What is new in current debates on democracy? In the fourth panel experts of other world regions such as Africa, Europe, and the US will explore processes of democratic backsliding and resistance.

Conference Schedule 

Thursday, February 29 (full schedule here)

  • LGTBQ, Gender Rights and Democracy, 2:30 - 5:00pm
  • Keynote Speech 5:30 - 6:30 pm
  • Reception 6:30 - 7:30 pm

Friday, March 1 (full schedule here)

  • Populist Challenges to Democracy, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
  • Lunch 12:00 - 1:00pm
  • Democracy in crises, what has changed if anything? 1:15 - 3:15 pm
  • Global perspectives, 3:30 - 5:30 pm

View full conference program with talk descriptions

Conference Sponsors

  • UF Center for Latin American Studies
  • George A. Smathers Libraries
  • Bacardi Family Foundation
  • Department of Education Title VI
  • UF Center for European Studies
  • UF Center for African Studies
  • Sweetwater Branch Inn
  • UF Department of Political Science
  • UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere
  • UF Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women's Research

 

Call for Papers

The Center for Latin American Studies' 70th Annual Conference will be held in Spring 2022. The call for papers is closed at this time. 

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Conference Logistics

The Center for Latin American Studies 70th Annual Conference will be held at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. If you are traveling to Gainesville for the conference, we encourage you to review the hotel and parking information to ensure a smooth travel experience.

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Past Conferences

For the past 70 years, the Center for Latin American Studies has hosted annual conferences ranging in topic from business, Cuba, rural social movements, buen vivir, Indigenous peoples, and more. 

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