Police violence across Latin America is sparking political mobilization, protest, and debate that echoes similar dynamics in the United States. A core concern across these settings is the racialized character of policing. This webinar will bring together leading scholars to reflect and discuss the intersection between race and policing in the Americas. Speakers will offer critical analyses of the political drivers and consequences of racialized policing as well as comparisons that will situate this phenomenon in broader political contexts.

Speakers: 

• Eduardo Moncada (moderator) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Barnard College at Columbia University. In addition to his current book project on how relations between city governments and business interests shape policy responses to urban violence and citizen security, Eduardo’s areas of interest include the political economy of development, comparative urban politics, and democratization. 
• Lucia Dammert is a Professor of International Relations at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile. Born in Peru, her research interests lie in the field of public security, criminal organizations, and criminal justice reform. Her expertise has been widely acknowledged in Latin America. Among her most recent books are Fear of Crime in Latin America (2012, Routledge) and Maras (2011, University of Texas Press) edited with Thomas Bruneau. 
• Gustavo Flores-Macías is Associate Professor of Government and Associate Vice Provost for International Affairs at Cornell University. His research and teaching interests include a variety of topics related to political and economic development. Currently, his research focuses on two main areas: 1) the politics of economic reform, and 2) taxation and state capacity.
• Yanilda María González is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research focuses on policing, state violence, and citizenship in a democracy, examining how race, class, and other forms of inequality shape these processes. 
• Vesla Mae Weaver (Ph.D., Harvard, Government, and Social Policy) is the Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Political Science and Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and a 2016-17 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. She has contributed to scholarly debates around the persistence of racial inequality, colorism in the United States, the causes and consequences of the dramatic rise in prisons, and the consequences of rising economic polarization.