The Observatory on Latin America (OLA) will present an international conference titled, “Building Latin American Bicentennials,” at The New School on February 26-27, 2009. The conference, which is part of an ongoing OLA program of the same name directed by Associate Professor Margarita Gutman, will reflect on the present and past of the commemorations of national independence in Latin America countries.

The conference will use this unique moment in Latin America, where Argentina, Chile, and Mexico will commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of their independence in 2010, followed by seven other countries in Latin America over the next 15 years, as an opportunity for comparative and multidisciplinary study. Specifically, participants will focus on how governments and civil society in these countries construct their commemorations and how they use this historical moment to address urgent issues of social inclusion and institutional reform.

The conference will also include presentations by the five winners of an International Call for Papers on the topic of "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization." A panel of ambassadors to the United Nations from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico will conclude the conference with a discussion of the global and national meanings of the bicentennial commemorations.

Well-known scholars from five Latin America countries and the United States will participate in the conference, including Professor Mike Wallace, Pulitzer Prize winning historian at the CUNY Graduate Center; Thomas Reese, director of the Latin American Center at Tulane University and Professor Carol McMichael Reese of Tulane University; Fernando Carrion, director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) Ecuador. The New School faculty includes representatives from Parsons (Colleen Mclean and Brian McGrath) and The New School for General Studies (Adriana Abdenur, Michael Cohen, Peter Lucas, and Alberto Minujin).

The conference will be held from 9:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. at The New School. On Thursday, February 26, the conference will take place in the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center at 55 West 13th Street on the 2nd floor. On Friday, February 27, the conference will be held in Wollman Hall at 65 West 11th Street on the Fifth Floor.