Faculty Voices

Faculty Voices

Author: David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Language: English Episodes: 78
What happens when some of the world's most curious minds turn their attention to a single, dynamic region? Faculty Voices, from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, offers a direct line into those conversations. This podcast moves beyond headlines to explore the deep currents shaping life across the Americas. Each episode features scholars unpacking the complexities of culture, belief systems, social movements, and educational shifts, revealing how these forces intertwine. You'll hear nuanced discussions on everything from religious expression and indigenous spirituality to political change and artistic innovation, all grounded in rigorous study and personal insight. The goal isn't to provide simple answers, but to share the questions and perspectives that fuel academic exploration. Tuning in means listening as experts connect historical patterns to contemporary realities, offering a richer understanding of a region in constant dialogue with itself and the world. It’s an opportunity to engage with the ideas and research that define current scholarship, presented in a thoughtful, accessible format. Join us for these substantive dialogues that honor the profound diversity and ongoing narratives of Latin America.
Episodes
Episode 37: Steven Levitsky on the Political Crisis in Peru [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:44
What’s going on in Peru? Harvard’s Government Professor Steven Levitsky, who is also the director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the co-author of How Democracies Die, tells us of the many…
Episode 36: Daren Graves and Steve Ortega on the World Cup [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:25
World Cup: Daren Graves, Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Steve Ortega, an Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, like to call themselves “the Sports Profs.” They discus…
Episode 35: Marcia Castro on the Brazilian Presidential Election [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:01
Marcia Castro, Andelot Professor of Demography at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is chair of the Brazil Studies Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). We're talking t…
Episode 34: Mayra Rivera Rivera on Hispanic Heritage Month [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:45
During Hispanic Heritage Month, Faculty Voices talked with Mayra Rivera Rivera, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies at Harvard University,. She discusses what it means to be Latinx with shared cultu…
Episode 33: Sidney Chalhoub on the Fate of Brazilian Democracy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:01
After the October 2 first-round election, Brazilians will return to the polls October 30 to decide between left-leaning front-runner Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva "Lula" and the right-wing incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro.…
Episode 32: Gonzalo Giribet on Tracing History with... Worms? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:12
Gonzalo Giribet, the director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and a Professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, talks about the museum’s many collections, including a cons…
Episode 31: Doris Sommer on The Value of Uselessness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:29
Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies, tells us of an unusual collaboration with Pope Francis and of her new projects, including the…