Jennifer S. Hirsch is professor and deputy chair for doctoral studies in the department of sociomedical sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health. Her research spans from the anthropology of love to gender, sexuality and migration and how it relates to sexual, reproductive and HIV risk practices.

We celebrate Dr. Piccato's release of The Tyranny of Opinion: Honor in the Construction of the Mexican Public Sphere. (Duke University Press, 2010).

As Mexico emerged out of the half century of civil war and foreign invasion that followed independence, a modern notion of honor became the keystone in the construction of public culture. Mexicans believed that “There is nothing more sacred or of greater value in the eyes of cultivated and educated men than honor,” as one of them wrote in 1868. Honor defined who could speak in the name of public opinion, and separated public from private realms.

The Tyranny of Opinion examines legislation, journalism, parliamentary debates, court cases and personal stories to trace changing notions of honor in nineteenth-century Mexico. The essential drive in the life of public men like writers and politicians, honor was also the most important reference in the dilemma of Mexican liberalism--between the reign of public opinion and free speech, on the one hand, and the protection of individual reputations, on the other. Under the authoritarian rule of Porfirio Díaz, this protection lead to increasing restrictions to the press. Yet Mexican public men remained obsessed with demonstrating their masculinity and their authority to speak in the name of public opinion. Concerns about reputation were not restricted to upper class men. Women and men of all walks of life defended their honor in court and, when necessary, used violence. Journalists wrote about other people’s reputations and defended their own with pens, speeches and guns. This book examines press legislation and the world of journalists, congressional debates and student-lead street riots, criminal cases of defamation, and the apogee and decadence of dueling in the 1890s. The Tyranny of Opinion will transform the ways in which we understand political history, revealing the historical roots of Mexican civil society’s capacity to engage the state through open debate.
 

Abstract "HIV/AIDS and Tourism in the Caribbean: An Ecological Systems Perspective"
The Caribbean has the highest HIV rates outside of sub-Saharan Africa. In recent decades, tourism has become the most important industry. Studies suggest that tourism areas are epicenters of demographic and social changes linked to HIV risk, such as transactional sex, elevated alcohol and substance use, and internal migration. Despite this, no formative HIV-prevention studies have examined tourism areas as ecologies that heighten HIV vulnerability. HIV/AIDS research needs to place an emphasis on the ecological context of sexual vulnerability in tourism areas and develop multilevel interventions that are sensitive to this context. From our review and integration of broad literature across the social and health sciences, we argue for an ecological approach to sexual health in Caribbean tourism areas, point to gaps in knowledge, and provide direction for future research. (American Journal of Public Health. Published online ahead of pint November 12, 2009: e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.16968)

"International Scholars Advance Understanding of Violence in Mexico
More than 10,000 people have died from drug-related violence in Mexico since 2007, according to news reports. Muggings, beatings and kidnappings have spiked, creating a security vacuum and a rise in vigilante justice. To fight the growing challenge, the country’s president, Felipe Calderón, recently declared a “war on traffickers.” An international cast of scholars discussed Mexico’s burgeoning violence and possible solutions at Columbia University on Nov. 15 and 16.
 
“Right now criminal violence and fear in Mexico seem to be unraveling out of control, but the research presented in this workshop suggests a more nuanced picture and presents new avenues for research,” said Pablo Piccato, associate professor of history and the lead organizer of the conference, “Crime, Insecurity, Fear in Mexico: Ethnographic and Policy Approaches.”
 
A military operation in the Mexican state of Michoacan, principal participant in the national war against drugs.

Dozens of scholars across the globe have been conducting significant research exploring the roots of violence in Mexico, but there is no academic or degree program in the country that focuses on criminology, said Piccato. The purpose of the conference, therefore, was to help fill that void and start an interdisciplinary conversation among scholars as a first step toward the creation of such a discipline. The panelists also spoke with an eye toward influencing public policy."
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New governments established during the third wave of democratization in Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, and Asia face increasing threats to stabilization and consolidation. Alfred Stepan, a major voice in democratization studies, gathers leading experts in political science and government to better understand what is going wrong and how it can be fixed.

The contributors identify and analyze three key problems that endanger these democracies: ethnonational conflicts, domestic security and the role of police and military, and power sharing in presidential and semi-presidential systems. For each of these issues, essays evaluate promising new policies, advance alternatives, and suggest political reforms that could increase the success of democratic governance.

Stepan's introduction reflects on why these three critical issues have been neglected or misconceptualized by practitioners and theorists alike. A conclusion by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, offers unique insight on how to successfully manage and solve these problems.

Democracies in Danger is the product of informed and productive dialogue between former prime ministers and presidents of new democracies and leading democratization scholars. It will be essential in setting research agendas and policy discussions for a broad range of scholars and practitioners.

Alfred Stepan is the Wallace Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University, coauthor, with Juan J. Linz, of Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe, and coeditor, also with Juan J. Linz, of The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes, both published by Johns Hopkins.

SIPA and FGV have designed a unified two-year curriculum, drawing on each school’s strengths, cultures and traditions. During their first year of study, students will complete the core curriculum in public policy in New York or São Paulo, developing analytical skills in economics, statistics, and political systems and gaining an overview of public and nonprofit management. Students will then move to the partner school for a second year of study during which they can choose from a wide array of public policy and business fields to develop a specialization, and graduate with a degree from both institutions. SIPA already offers dual degrees in partnership with Sciences Po Paris, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

Additionally, SIPA is in the process of developing new exchange programs in Moscow, Cairo, and Mexico City, and a program with INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. These partnerships will complement SIPA’s existing exchange programs with Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico City, the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Public Policy, and the School of Finance at Renmin University in China. The exchange programs allow students to transfer credits toward their degree at SIPA.

Since 2006, SIPA has participated in the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), a partnership between Columbia University, Sciences Po Paris, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. The mission of the GPPN is to address the most pressing public policy challenges of the 21st century. It aims to have policy impact, be influential in public policy education and training, and to be innovative in teaching and research through dual degree programs, student and faculty exchanges, collaborative research and publications, and more.

Pictured here: Thomas Trebat (Institute of Latin American Studies/Economics), Pablo Pinto (Satzman Institute of War and Peace Studies/Political Science), Marina Halac (Economics), Pablo Piccato (Institute of Latin American Studies/History), President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Nicolas Stier Moses (Columbia Business School), M. Victoria Murillo (Political Science), Luis Gravano (Computer Science), Guillermo Calvo (Economics, International and Public Affairs) Sara Calvo (International and Public Affairs), and Lee Goldman (Columbia University Medical Center)

in Coordination with New York University and Yale University

Are Pleased To Announce A New Course For the Fall 2009:

INTRODUCTION TO MODERN NAHUATL

Spanish W4050 section 001 - Call Number, 87598

Instructors:

John Sullivan, Ph.D.

and Native Speakers of the ZACATECAS INSTITUTE OF ETHNOLOGY - MEXICO

This introductory course in Classical and Modern Nahuatl will be taught live using distance technology. The learning objectives include: a) developing students' oral comprehension, speaking, reading, writing, and knowledge of language structure, as well as cultural wisdom and sensibility in order to facilitate their ability to communicate effectively, correctly and creatively in everyday situations; b) providing students with instruments and experiences which demonstrate the continuity between past and present Nahuatl culture through the study of Colonial and Modern texts and conversation with native speakers; c) penetrating the historical, economic, political, social and cultural aspects of Nahuatl civilization; d) preparing students to eventually take university level humanities courses taught in Nahuatl alongside native speakers.

For more information, contact Maritza Colón of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese: mc3138@columbia.edu