This paper analyzes Dolores's case of collective spirit possession as a paroxysmic form of possession idiom, serving as a powerful and creative internal mechanism that both safeguards and revitalizes the core structure of ancestor worship. Drawing on my ethnographic research in North Honduras since 2009, my study reveals that rather than leading to the erosion of possession rituals, entropic forces, such as resistance, modernity, and impiety serve as vital resources, reinforcing the foundations of ancestor worship. This paper explores possession (...) idioms and striking events, such as contagion, abduction, dramatization, illness, and death to highlight the resilience of a possession-based religion as a self-sustaining total social system rooted in “tradition,” yet shaped by a dynamic interplay of historical, cultural, and personal experiences. While traditional interpretations of spirit possession have viewed possession cults as forms of protest against hegemonic power—“a weapon of the weak” used to gain respect and process trauma—I suggest that spirit possession is multifaceted, ambiguous and underdetermined, operating within a social theater where critique, social irony, impiety, historical consciousness, and the carnivalesque intersect. (shrink)

Growth of the national cattle herd is contributing to rapid and inappropriate deforestation in Honduras. Field research was conducted in the Department of Olancho to better understand this problem and to assess the possibilities for local interest in forest protection. A recent upsurge in the profitability of cattle farming bodes badly for the forest, but three countervailing factors could ultimately serve as the basis for community-based forest management. First, area residents have a greater appreciation for the economic and ecological (...) functions of the forest than one might surmise, given the rapid pace of deforestation. Second, timber is a significant source of community income, thus there may be latent incentives to maintain supplies in the long term. Third, some residents will not turn to cattle farming, in spite of its profitability, perhaps because of their dependence on timber marketing. Policies enacted in 1992 undermine theseincipient incentives for forest custodianship. Inappropriate deforestation can be lessened through policy reforms thatwould enable smallholders to conserve and manage their resources over the long-term. (shrink)

Integrated pest management (IPM) has been widely promoted in the developing world, but in many regions its adoption rates have been variable. Experience has shown that to ensure IPM adoption, the complexities of local agro-production systems and context-specific folk knowledge need to be appreciated. Our research explored the linkages between farmer knowledge, pest management decision making, and ecological attributes of subsistence maize agriculture. We report a case study from four rural communities in the highlands of southeast Honduras. Communities were (...) typified by their agro-environments, IPM training history, and levels of infestation by a key maize pest, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda Smith). Although variable, infestation levels generally did not justify pest management intervention. Consequently, crop losses from this pest were considered of low importance and most farmers proceeded in a rational fashion by refraining from action in their fields. Farmers attributed the low degree of pest infestation predominantly to abiotic causal factors (rainfall, temperature). The role of natural enemies in controlling this pest (i.e., biological control) was deemed of low importance by farmers; nevertheless, a broad array of such organisms was mentioned by farmers as operating in their maize crop. Farmers’ knowledge of natural enemies only partially matched scientific knowledge and was associated with the ecological features of their respective field settings. Local knowledge about natural enemies was mainly restricted to abundant and easily observable predatory species. Farmers who were knowledgeable about biological control were also familiar with a larger variety of pest management alternatives than uninformed farmers. Management options covered a wide range of curative techniques, including conservation biological control. Farmers who relied on insecticides to manage pest outbreaks knew less about biological control and pesticide alternatives. In contrast, farmers who received IPM training mentioned more types of natural enemies and were familiar with a broader range of alternative pest management tactics. Our research suggests that IPM training modifies local knowledge to better fit its environmental context. This paper provides insights in the environmental context of local agro-ecological knowledge and its linkage with pest management decision making. It also constitutes a basis for modifying IPM extension programs to deliver locality-specific technologies while strengthening the local knowledge base. (shrink)

This article offers an historical-materialist account of the coup in Honduras on 28 June 2009, which ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. It draws on over two dozen interviews with members of theFrente Nacional de la Resistencia Popular[National Front of Popular Resistance, FNRP], and participation in numerous marches and assemblies over two periods of fieldwork – January 2010, and June–July 2011. The paper steps back in time to provide an historical cartography of the basic material structures of the Honduran (...) economy and its integration into the world market, as well as the geopolitical role it played as a launching pad for Ronald Reagan’s counter-insurgency campaigns against guerrilla forces elsewhere in the region during the 1980s. We show how the defeat of mass guerrilla insurgencies in Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as the triumph over the Sandinista government in Nicaragua by 1990, allowed for the neoliberal pacification of Central America as a whole, including Honduras. We further demonstrate how the centre-leftist Manuel Zelaya, elected to the Honduran presidency in 2006, modestly encroached upon neoliberal orthodoxy and forged geopolitical alliances with left and centre-left governments elsewhere in the region, laying the bases for his violent overthrow. Finally, the paper traces the origins, trajectory, and heterogeneity of the resistance that emerged almost immediately after the coup had been carried out. (shrink)

How do certain social conflicts come to fall within the law? How does the law come to have its space? I argue that law emerged in British Honduras through a structure of racial differentiation. The law arrived as a mode of ordering space, bodies, and justice that realizes an immanent structure of racial difference. Racial difference thus founds the space of law. To advance this argument, I examine the record of the first criminal trial prosecuted in the place now (...) called southern Belize—for the murder of an unnamed Indigenous woman by an enslaved Black man. Through an analysis of the trial record that draws upon Jameson’s reading of Greimas’s semiotic method, I show that the standing of the trial, as well as the evaluation of evidence, hinge upon the delineation and operation of racial categories. While British colonialism has ended, these categories persist. (shrink)

En este trabajo se hace un análisis hermenéutico de la obra Constitución Social de Honduras de Ramón Rosa con el fin de revelar rasgos de la identidad hondureña que subyacen en pensadores del siglo XIX en el contexto de la Reforma Liberal. Luego de introducir datos básicos del autor, de la obra y la época histórica de su redacción, se presenta y justifica el uso de un instrumento hermenéutico para analizar dicho texto. Este instrumento divide el análisis en tres (...) ejes temáticos: antropológicos, morales y políticos; posteriormente, aplicando categorías de análisis adecuadas al fenómeno de la nacionalidad en clave de modernidad, se interpretan los contenidos del texto desde los tres ejes temáticos mencionados, para extraer rasgos identitarios desde una postura filosófica. Es así como este artículo se presenta como un primer acercamiento a la conformación de la identidad hondureña a partir de un análisis hermenéutico. (shrink)

Pesticides remain an integral part of development efforts to renew economic growth in Central America and lift the region out of a severe economic crisis. This paper analyzes the implications of the continued reliance on pesticides for heightening economic and ecological problems in the agrarian sector.Relying on a case study of export melon production in Choluteca, Honduras, the author argues that current development strategies, which rely heavily on pesticides, are generating ecological disruption that creates conditions biased against small producers. (...) Lack of knowledge of the hazards inherent in the technology and the resulting emergence of pesticide resistant pests, crop losses, environmental contamination, and public health problems, pose serious obstacles to the survival of small-scale producers. Meanwhile transnational and other flexible, large scale operations often adapt to such conditions, and on occasion may even turn such problems to their benefit. The author concludes that economic growth may only be sustainable when questions of social equity and ecological viability are brought to the forefront of U.S. development strategies. (shrink)

Corrupt political institutions, lack of resources, and gang violence in Central America fuel the influx of asylum-seeking women and children to the United States. Yet, immigrant women and children are still at risk for poor health and violence in the US due to the lack of protection and support. Through a case study of a teenage girl from Honduras living in the US who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend who followed her to the US, we elucidate ways in which (...) the US and Honduras have violated the rights of women and children. As background, we describe the context of US foreign policy towards immigration and the market for illicit drugs; and, in Honduras, the lack of appropriate healthcare, education, and legal protections. We identify human rights–based solutions to protect the rights of women and children and provide recommendations for improvement for the US government and organizations in Honduras. (shrink)

Religion and spirituality (R/S) serve as coping mechanisms for circumstances that threaten people’s psychological well-being. However, using R/S inappropriately to deal with difficulties and problems in daily life may include the practice of Spiritual Bypass (SB). SB refers to avoiding addressing emotional problems and trauma, rather than healing and learning from them. On the other hand, coping strategies may be determined by the cultural context. This study aims to describe the presence of SB in individuals who may have experienced stressful (...) situations and to understand the influence of culture on SB by comparing SB in two culturally different groups. The sample consists of a total of 435 people, 262 of Honduran nationality and 173 of Spanish nationality. Both groups are approximately equivalent in age and gender. The degree of SB, stressful events, perception of social support and spiritual well-being are examined, respectively, through the Spiritual Bypass Scale, and specific items and subscales from the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Spiritual Wellbeing. The results showed a higher spiritual well-being and use of SB in the Honduran sample as compared to the Spanish sample, but similar social support and stressful events. Furthermore, some of the factors predicting SB were different between the two samples. While age and a greater number of R/S practices were important in both samples, for the Honduran sample the variables that best explained SB were being a Christian, having greater social support, fewer stressful events, and greater attendance at church or temple. For the Spanish sample, however, the variable that best explained SB was studying R/S texts. Therefore, SB must be understood within the culture in which it develops, since in different cultural contexts it appears to relate to differing factors. Thus, SB becomes a possible functional or dysfunctional coping strategy depending on the social context. (shrink)

This study divides some of the philosophical anthropologies developed after the Holocaust into three frameworks. To do this the author shows how the present modern crisis is an anthropological one and unites the sum of the different crisis dimensions mankind is currently facing. The article approaches the postmodern journey from its two routes—the relativistic and the metaphysical. The second is presented as “status quo-oriented” or as a form of modernized democracy. Because of its popularity, the neologism “transhumanism” is here examined (...) togeth er with the hypothetical coming of a post-human era. This in turn is viewed as a revival of the illustrated myth of the happy world. The author first offers a “status quo” criticism “transhumanism” from the metaphysical anthropology viewpoint and then proposes an approach to a “third way, that is, the convergence of other anthropologies revolving around a person’s dignity born of his or her metaphysical roots together with a recovery of the value of human carnality. The article concludes by putting the different philosophers’ viewpoints face-to-face with the Person of Jesus Christ. (shrink)

Güinope, Honduras was the site of a highly acclaimed people-centered development project in the 1980s. The ACORDE/Ministry of Natural Resource/World Neighbors Integrated Development Program (IDP) was unique for its time, since rather than relying on technology transfer, it promoted innovation skills for local generation of responses to needs. Furthermore, it was one of the first efforts in Latin America to employ villagers as principal agents of change. Fifteen years after the inception of the IDP and ten years after its (...) completion, the authors interviewed farmers in their fields and held a series of participatory workshops over eighteen months with ten outstanding farmers who had become project leaders. The leaders identified influential factors behind their involvement and produced recommendations for rural development interventions. Further, a generalized concept map typifying ideal characteristics for farmer promoters was constructed. Recommendations for development agencies centered on project design and implementation, demanding a methodology for strengthening local innovative capacities, participation, and control over resources. Ultimately, the leaders downplayed the role of technologies in rural development and called for special attention to enabling communities to confront external pressures, in particular recent government ``modernization'' policies, that they felt threatened community livelihood. (shrink)

Traditional Central American peasant farmers know more about some aspects of the local agroecosystem than about others. In general farmers know more about plants, less about insects, and less still about plant pathology. Without discounting economic factors, ease of observability must explain part of this difference. Certain local beliefs may affect what farmers observe and know. For example, a belief in spontaneous generation may lead people to fail to observe insect reproduction. The implications of the gaps in farmer knowledge are (...) discussed in terms of the sustainable agriculture movement. (shrink)

Erin Murphy-Graham draws on more than a decade of qualitative research to examine the experiences of Juanita and eighteen other women who participated in the SAT program.

Esta entrevista se hizo a uno de los miembros de la Academia Hondureña de la Lengua, Víctor Manuel Ramos. Entre los aportes que el académico expresó, fue su contribución a la comunidad intelectual a través de estudios lingüísticos y literarios. En concreto, estos se apreciaron en el Diccionario de las Lenguas de Honduras; Literatura y su producción literaria de índole infantil. Para que ello fuera posible, el entrevistado comentó cómo fue su proceso de formación, el cual fue un tanto (...) complejo, ya que tuvo que descartar algunas filiaciones y presuntas voliciones, tales como las que pretendía hallar desde la Medicina. Finalmente, lo que se concluye de esta conversación es el logro que se puede conseguir para la sociedad después de que uno se prepara concienzudamente, sin obviar el aprendizaje que se deriva de la experiencia personal. (shrink)

This article explores whether and how the biotechnologization process that the fuel-plant Jatropha curcas is undergoing might strengthen local sustainable development. It focuses on the ongoing efforts of the multi-stakeholder network Gota Verde to harness Jatropha within local small-scale production systems in Yoro, Honduras. It also looks at the genomics research on Jatropha conducted by the Dutch research institute Plant Research International, specifically addressing the ways in which that research can assists local development in Honduras. A territorial approach (...) is applied for analysis employing a three domain concept (local sustainable biotechnological development) of territory, technology and re-territorialization. The article suggests that, although the biotechnologization process (through genomics) of Jatropha within the socio-technical framework of the institute and multi-stakeholder networks is an ongoing process––and different trajectories are, therefore, still open––the process can, nevertheless, strengthen local sustainable development. (shrink)

Estas páginas examinan la naturaleza del desafío presente a las democracias latinoamericanas desde la perspectiva de relevantes compromisos democráticos hemisféricos. A la luz de tales compromisos, la reciente crisis política hondureña puede ser considerada una grave regresión: no simplemente por la intervención militar en el derrocamiento de José Manuel Zelaya, sino por el abandono del concepto de que la democracia es un derecho humano y es deber de los gobiernos preservarla y defenderla. Palabras clave: OEA; Carta Democrática Interamericana; Perú; Venezuela; (...) Honduras OEA and Democracy in the XXI Century: These pages examine the nature of the present challenge to Latin American democracies, from the perspective of relevant hemispheric democratic commitments. In light of such commitments, the recent political crisis in Honduras can be considered as a serious regression: not simply because of the military intervention in the overthrowing of José Manuel Zelaya, but because of the abandonment of the principle according to which democracy is a human right, and it is a duty of governments to preserve and defend it. Keywords: OEA; Inter-American Democratic Charter; Peru; Venezuela; Honduras. (shrink)

This album brings together photos from a documentary trip I made in December 2008-January 2009 in Central America (Guatemala and Honduras), to discover the old Maya civilization. In one of those blurry days caused by Pacaya volcano’s debris and ash, along the ruins of Petén, I believe I must have had an encounter with the Maya deity Kʼawiil….

Corporations have increasingly turned to voluntary, multi-stakeholder governance programs to monitor workers’ rights and standards in global supply chains. This article argues that the emphasis of these programs varies significantly depending on stakeholder involvement and issue areas under examination. Corporate-influenced programs are more likely to emphasize detection of violations of minimal standards in the areas of wages, hours, and occupational safety and health because focusing on these issues provides corporations with legitimacy and reduces the risks of uncertainty created by activist (...) campaigns. In contrast, these programs are less likely to emphasize workers’ rights to form democratic and independent unions, bargain, and strike because these rights are perceived as lessening managerial control without providing firms with significant reputational value. This argument is explored by coding 805 factory audits of the Fair Labor Association between 2002 and 2010, followed by case studies of Russell Athletic in Honduras, Apple in China, and worker rights monitoring in Vietnam. (shrink)

El perdón ha sido estudiado en los últimos años desde diferentes perspectivas. El interés en este tema se explica por la necesidad de abordar estrategias de desarrollo personal e interpersonal. Si bien, las aproximaciones que se han hecho son insuficientes para una comprensión del perdón en toda su hondura. Por ello, el objetivo de este artículo es mostrar el fundamento antropológico del perdón desde Hannah Arendt y Leonardo Polo, así como las repercusiones educativas que tiene esta virtud en el crecimiento (...) personal. El perdón, entendido como virtud, cobra especial relevancia y se destaca que no es únicamente un acto reparador, sino también regenerador de la persona. Se realiza una búsqueda bibliográfica de los principales autores contemporáneos que lo comprenden así, asumiendo ambas dimensiones del perdón -reparador y regenerador-, entre los que se encuentran Paul Ricoeur, Jacques Derrida y Emmanuel Levinas. El trabajo profundiza en la propuesta de Hannah Arendt y en la antropología trascendental de Leonardo Polo por el interés de sus aportaciones al respecto y las repercusiones de carácter educativo que sugieren, en concreto, en torno al desarrollo personal con la adquisición de la virtud. En definitiva, el pensamiento de ambos autores sugiere la concepción del perdón como una virtud que contribuye al crecimiento personal y favorece las relaciones interpersonales. (shrink)

Engaging undergraduates in publishable research is challenging. Skills including researching topics, statistical knowledge, and writing abilities are necessary; however, students often face time constraints or financial challenges that impede them from engaging in these experiences. Conducting research with underrepresented students can be an even bigger challenge, as these groups are known to face additional financial or family burdens that the traditional student does not face. This essay reports on the development of an international field study with the goal of producing (...) publishable research by undergraduates. To date, 27 students (68% Hispanic, 52% first generation) have participated in a week-long immersion field experience in Roatán, Honduras. As an interdisciplinary field study, students were exposed to animal behavior, ecology concepts, and research methods through a two-course sequence that incorporated the field experience. In this essay, we share our best practices for conducting a field study with students from underrepresented populations with the goal of producing publishable research. We include the evolution of the course curriculum that was informed by self-reported student experiences and a brief description of some of the projects students designed. Students reported that the field experience highlighted the importance of adjusting research plans and expectations. Ultimately, this program exposed students to advantages and disadvantages of conducting field research while increasing confidence in their ability to conduct effective and meaningful research. A minimum of two semesters may be needed to create publishable research projects and 1 week of data collection is not sufficient for successful research projects. (shrink)

Purpose Given the considerable challenges posed by disinformation to both society and journalism, how do news media outlets in Hispanic America and Spain address this pervasive global phenomenon? The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent to which these outlets embrace recommendations from academic, professional and institutional spheres for countering false contents. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative content analysis was used using variables linked to transparency, verification and potential errors incurred. This study comprehensively analyses the ethical codes of 34 digital (...) native outlets spanning 12 Hispanic American countries (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela), as well as Spain. Findings The key findings reveal significant variations in adherence to the recommended guidelines. Particularly striking is the disparity between compliance with transparency and verification compared to notably higher adherence to measure aimed at rectifying errors. This exploratory study paves the way for further research on additional countries. Originality/value Ethical codes are a fundamental instrument of media accountability. Nevertheless, their utility in the fight against misinformation has barely been addressed. This study is pioneering in the field of disinformation and ethical codes within digital native media outlets in Hispanic America and Spain. (shrink)

San Alberto Magno es relevante para investigar la teología mística como la parte de la teología que extrema la comprensión de la desproporción entre Dios y el hombre. Su familiaridad con la teoría de las ciencias de Aristóteles, su talante metafísico –proveniente de Platón a través de la lectura del Pseudo-Dionisio–, su hondura mística, teológica y pastoral, lo sitúan en una inmejorable posición para establecer un estudio sistemático del tema místico. Esta empresa se lleva a cabo en su comentario sobre (...) la Teología Mística del Pseudo-Dionisio. El objeto de esta comunicación es abordar el problema de la teología mística como saber en la compleja relación entre lo que se debe “remover” (removere) de nuestro discurso sobre Dios para que la teología mística sea verdadera mística y lo que debe “permanecer” (relinquere) en nosotros para que sea verdadera teología como ciencia. (shrink)

El Festival Flores de la Diáspora Africana surge en 1999 en Costa Rica, organizado por la Fundación Arte y Cultura para el Desarrollo, con el propósito de promover las manifestaciones artísticas y culturales de la población afrocostarricense en particular, y de los pueblos afrodescendientes y africanos, de manera general. A lo largo de diecinueve ediciones, se ha colocado la cultura de matriz africana en el más alto nivel, con la presencia de grupos de ballet folclórico como el Kilandukilu de Angola, (...) el Ballet Garífuna de Honduras, la bailarina Bethania Nascimento, perteneciente al Alvin Hailey Ballet, y el Opus Dance Theater de New York. En el bel canto, la soprano Sarah Carrere, dio fe de su gran talento franco-senegalés, así como en gospel el coro de la iglesia St. Agustine de Washington, y grupos como Master Key, Charleene Stuart y Sasha Campbell, de Costa Rica, conquistaron la audiencia con ritmos como gospel, spiritual, R&B y Soul, sin olvidar las agrupaciones nacionales de Calipso, que han dejado su huella en el Festival.En esa pasión por mostrar los mejores representantes de las diferentes manifestaciones del arte y la cultura de la Diáspora Africana, en 2012 la Fundación invitó a Costa Rica al Premio Nobel de Literatura de 1984, Derek Walcott. Para dar continuidad a este trabajo con los artífices de la palabra, también en 2013 se realizó el 1er Encuentro de Escritores y Poetas Afrodescendientes, Indígenas y Sinodescendientes, cuyo resultado fue la antología: Tenemos la Palabra, en la cual se muestra el trabajo de casi cincuenta creadores. Las escritoras Eintou Pearl Springer (Trinidad y Tobago), Melanie Taylor (Panamá), Myrna Manzanares (Belice) y Nancy Morejón (Cuba), fueron publicadas en dicha antología. Hoy nos llena de satisfacción publicar en la Revista Ístmica una parte de su obra poética1, así como su respectiva traducción al español, buscando exaltar su trabajo artístico y visibilizar la literatura escrita por mujeres afrodescendientes en el Caribe. (shrink)

Nuestro propósito en este trabajo es ofrecer un panorama representativo del desarrollo del hispanismo en México, Cuba, Puerto Rico, República Dominicana, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica y Panamá en la última década. A partir del estudio de este presente, esperamos poder marcar el sentido de las líneas de interés futuras. El desarrollo de la investigación hispanística en estos países no es el mismo. Claramente, el número de trabajos es mayor en México, Cuba, Puerto Rico y Costa Rica (...) —lo que no significa la ausencia de figuras o estudios destacados en otros lugares—. El caso cubano parece quedar aparte. Su aislamiento ideológico y económico ha venido repercutiendo en los alcances de la investigación. Salvo quizá en México y Puerto Rico, la lejanía con los modelos teóricos y los avances técnicos más recientes es evidente en la mayor parte de los trabajos lingüísticos realizados en la América Media. Los estudios de dialectología, lexicología y sintaxis, en general, se apoyan en referencias bibliográficas hispánicas tradicionales o estructuralistas, clásicas pero muchas de ellas ya superadas. (shrink)

El propósito del presente artículo es estudiar la respuesta humana al don divino según el comentario de Tomás de Aquino y Martín Lutero a la Carta a los Romanos. Si bien ambos autores asumen una postura antipelagiana, la concepción tomista, al reconocer el valor positivo del orden creado, comprende con mayor hondura metafísica la acción justificadora y santificadora de Dios en la creatura humana. Por otra parte, la exégesis de Lutero, más existencial, es especialmente aguda e incisiva desde este punto (...) de vista. En ambos casos es posible deducir que el punto de partida de la exégesis no es una reflexión abstracta sino un diálogo personal y vital con el Apóstol. El artículo profundizará en los comentarios a Rm 5,5, pasaje central en el pensamiento de san Agustín, cuya influencia es patente tanto en la exégesis de Tomás de Aquino como en la de Martín Lutero. Para estos efectos se apoyará en las recientes reflexiones sobre la categoría de don con la que se analizará la gracia divina, pues ésta contribuye a poner de manifiesto la diferencia entre una visión extrínseca o forense de la justificación y santificación, en la que se acentúa la pasividad del cristiano ante el don inmerecido recibido (Lutero), y una salvación que trasforma al cristiano para que responda al amor de Dios desde el amor (Tomás de Aquino). (shrink)

Este artículo se postula como un aporte valioso para acercar el cine centroamericano a todas las personas que habitan la región y a los foráneos que sienten un interés particular por el cine que se realiza en Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica y Panamá. ¿Es el cine centroamericano realizado en el siglo xxi un espacio de reflexión sociopolítica?, ¿el tratamiento de sus temáticas conduce a los directores a reivindicar causas?, ¿cómo abordan los directores de cine centroamericano la (...) ética y la estética en sus producciones artísticas? En la respuesta a dichas preguntas se basa la investigación del cine centroamericano. Una importante carga de denuncia acompaña a películas que contemplan las migraciones en sus dos vertientes, forzosa y voluntaria, en búsqueda de una mejor calidad de vida. Las maras son la columna vertebral de la violencia junto a la recreación de las guerras civiles y los desaparecidos. La memoria colectiva, las persecuciones a los pueblos indígenas, la diversidad sexual, el poder de la religión en su versión evangélica y la maternidad como únicarespuesta a los embarazos no deseados, constituyen algunas de estas nuevas miradas. (shrink)

Esta obra es una auténtica e innovadora «Summa logicae». Lo que empezó como un proyecto de redacción de un manual, tras varios años de trabajo, ha terminado siendo un tratado novedoso de gran calado filosófico. Si bien presenta de una forma clara, amena y ordenada ―que agradecerán los estudiantes― la lógica del concepto, del juicio y del razonamiento, la lógica de enunciados, predicados y clases o la logística no clásica, terminando con una cumplida explicación de la metalógica, no se trata (...) de una mera obra expositiva. Sorprende el autor con una aportación original y radical en el panorama filosófico, pues no se refiere a la lógica al modo aristotélico, como mera ciencia auxiliar y propedéutica, sino que sitúa la Ciencia del Logos en el corazón de la filosofía, como privilegiado acceso al problema del conocimiento y del ser. La articulación entre lógica, en este sentido radical, con la gnoseología y la ontología late en cada página. Y desde esta articulación, hecha en clave realista, dialoga con originalidad y hondura con la filosofía de la ciencia, con la hermenéutica o la lingüística. Además, ofrece esta obra otra virtualidad más profunda, original del autor: la apertura del logos al Logos, la lógica como dintel de entrada firme y seguro al problema filosófico de Dios. (shrink)

My dissertation is in two parts. First, it develops a philosophical concept of “tragic uncertainty,” derived from early twentieth-century Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. Secondly, it demonstrates ethical application of tragic uncertainty to human societal events. The ethical imperative created from tragic uncertainty—and not either tragedy or uncertainty alone—is the following. Given a tragic situation with a great degree of uncertainty, people living with doubt, mental despair, and perpetual anguish because of it should be provided relief. Generally, this relief should (...) be in the form of therapy, by which I mean an affective and emotional release. Two important case studies are explored. One on corrupted political systems in the USA-Mexico border. The other in Honduras, on both climate change and corrupted political systems. These are explained and categorized as tragically uncertain. Corresponding, minimal practical solutions accompany the ethical imperative created to remedy tragic uncertainty. (shrink)

Este artículo muestra que la preocupación filosófica sobre la violencia está presente en más de un momento en la obra de Jorge Millas y que su ensayo "Las máscaras filosóficas de la violencia" expresa una reflexión sobre este fenómeno que destaca por su hondura y penetración crítica. El análisis del declive ideológico que verifican algunas filosofías proporcionando argumentaciones teóricas que enmascaran o justifican la violencia con propósitos instrumentales, junto al privilegio de la perspectiva de las víctimas al momento de comprender (...) y valorar el hecho violento, son los ejes privilegiados en la presentación y ponderación de la postura de Millas. This article shows that the philosophical concern about violence is present more than once in Jorge Millas' work and that his essay Las máscaras filosóficas de la violencia expresses a reflection on this phenomenon that stands out for its depth and critical insight. The analysis of the ideological decline, verified by some philosophies that provide theoretical arguments which mask or justify violence with instrumental purposes, along with the privilege of the victims' perspective at the time of comprehending and assessing the violent act, are the privileged axes in the presentation and consideration of Millas' stance. (shrink)

The Central American migrant caravans of 2018 are best understood as having been precipitated by entangled multi-scalar geopolitical histories among the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Unsurprisingly, the migrants traveling north to the United States garnered widespread attention on social media. So much so that the reaction to the caravan accelerated plans to deploy troops to the US southern border and deny Central Americans the opportunity to seek asylum. This example showcases how the digital world can (...) have exponential material effects. While coverage on border security and migration has been extensive, within political geography, such concerns have rarely been paired with social media. In this article, we take as our object of analysis the digitality or “digital life” of the migrant caravan. Mapping the patterns of migrant caravan-related tweeting paired with the exploration of Twitter’s networked dimensions reveals the platform to be a fundamentally spatial technology. Rather than reflect, refract or distort, Twitter produces and is in turn produced through spatial mechanisms. We present multiple cartographic visualizations in support of this claim and highlight the ways in which a contextual knowledge of the subject under study—the migrant caravan—can further inform analyses of Big Data. (shrink)

En este artículo se tratará de justificar por qué la obra de Borges tiene un profundo valor filosófico. Para defender esta tesis se desarrollarán cuatro argumentos íntimamente conectados entre sí. En el primer inciso se ejemplificará cómo un poema y un cuento pueden interpretarse como textos argumentativos que despliegan tesis metafísicas y gnoseológicas. Luego, a partir de un contra-ejemplo de la cultura del fútbol, se tratará de mostrar que los enunciados de Borges se caracterizan por su “densidad conceptual”. En el (...) tercer inciso se recurre a la lingüística relacional (y en menor medida a la lingüística de corpus) para explicar cómo funciona una característica saliente del estilo de Borges: el adjetivo descolocado. Este análisis de base lingüística da pie a que también se explique con mayor hondura y precisión de qué se trata la densidad conceptual presentada en el apartado anterior. A continuación, en el cuarto apartado, se muestra cómo dos relatos policiales funcionan en un nivel que trasciende la complejidad narrativa, uno como una tesis cosmológica y el otro como una tesis política. Por último, se presentan conclusiones sobre los límites elusivos o difusos de la literatura y la filosofía. (shrink)

Across a number of countries including Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, incumbent presidents in Latin America have recently sought to amend their constitutions to eliminate or weaken presidential term limits. In some cases, these efforts to extend terms have been part of broader projects to consolidate power, weaken other state institutions, and tilt the electoral playing field in favor of incumbents. From a legal perspective, these cases are interesting because they highlight the limits of tools (...) limiting constitutional change, such as eternity clauses and the unconstitutional constitutional amendment doctrine, to constrain potentially anti-democratic or anti-liberal forms of constitutional change. Although constitutional texts in most of these cases gave courts ample ammunition to reject attempts to eliminate term limits or at least to force those changes down more demanding paths, courts did not stand in the way of most of these efforts and in some cases even used the doctrines to eliminate rather than protect term limits. The case studies highlight the extent to which the “superficial” spread of doctrines controlling constitutional change may fail to block, and indeed may promote, forms of constitutional change that threaten liberal democratic constitutionalism. It also suggests possibilities for deepening the effectiveness of transnational dialogue on these issues. (shrink)

Los presentes textos procuran subrayar la hondura, la originalidad y el influjo de algunos autores que fueron o son filósofos, aunque tal condición no se encuentre entre sus propósitos expresos. Tratan de filosofía vuelta invisible o no vista por sus comentaristas, no tematizada ni señalada con precisión, lo cual impide que se consagre su merecido reconocimiento. Esos aspectos no frecuentados adquieren el perfil que bien puede expresar la palabra "invisibilidad" en tanto funcione no como adjetivo sino como denominación de una (...) veta no reconocida en la obra de un pensador. Sea como fuere, esa veta crece en los textos como pensamiento trascendente, aunque en algunos casos la obra no pase de un libro o de una colección de artículos dispersa en la prensa o en revistas. (shrink)

Before military action, and even before mobilization, the decision on whether to go to war is debated by politicians, pundits, and the public. As they address the right or wrong of such action, it is also a time when, in the language of the just war tradition, the wise would deeply investigate their true claim to jus ad bellum (“the right of war”). Wars have negative consequences, not the least impinging on human life, and offer infrequent and uncertain benefits, yet (...) war is part of the human condition. James G. Murphy’s insightful analysis of the jus ad bellum criteria—competent authority, just cause, right intention, probability of success, last resort, and proportionality—is grounded in a variety of contemporary examples from World War I through Vietnam, the "soccer war" between Honduras and El Salvador, Afghanistan, and the Middle East conflict. Murphy argues persuasively that understanding jus ad bellum requires a primary focus on the international common good and the good of peace. Only secondarily should the argument about going to war hinge on the right of self-defense; in fact, pursuing the common good requires political action, given that peace is not simply the absence of violence. He moves on to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the jus ad bellum criteria, contending that some criteria depend logically on others—and that competent authority, not just cause, is ultimately the most significant criterion in an analysis of going to war. This timely study will be of special interest to scholars and students in ethics, war and peace, and international affairs. (shrink)

Desde el siglo XX, disponemos de un medio privilegiado para el conocimiento de la condición humana como no se ha podido imaginar en otras épocas: el arte cinematográfico. Gracias a él, especialmente al cine de ficción, contamos con un maravilloso laboratorio de antropología donde no sólo se ensancha su estudio, sino que podemos asistir ante nuestros ojos a la unicidad irrepetible de las personas, a sus honduras interiores hechas de esperanzas, amores y miedos.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Poetry in TheoryBob Perelman (bio)Home MoviesWhen my wife and I went to Guatemala in 1975 for our honeymoon, our eyes were opened to novel states of affairs. Money, for instance, was not continuous, but was kept in place only sporadically and with the broadest hints of violence. In Guatemala City, sixteen-year-old Mayan kids in army camouflage with submachine guns were stationed on every street corner where there was a (...) bank. But the local remained thoroughly distant from any would-be universal. An elderly middle-aged Mayan man at a market outside the capital balked rather indignantly when I gave him a paper bill to pay for the chair we had agreed I would buy; the woman at the stand next to him urged him to accept the money saying. “Se sirve! Se sirve!” (It—paper money—works! It works!)Nor was geography continuous. Knowledge of the country was both guarded and somewhat fantastic. It was impossible to obtain a map of the interior (guerrilla trouble). We spent one long afternoon negotiating our way into a bureaucratic building where, after signing our names in a notebook, we were allowed a glimpse at some antique maps that, in my memory at least, verged on watercolors. We hooked up with a Chinese archeologist from Iowa State who directed us to Sayache, which we reached after a six-hour busride and a trip across the Uxamachinto River in a mahogany dugout. There was one hotel in town, owned by a man who was also mayor, judge, and, clearly, king. He joined us for dinner. In the dining room we saw an old map that showed Guatemala with a large bulge stretching northeast to the Gulf of Mexico. The longlasting territorial dispute between Guatemala and Britain that resulted in the creation of British Honduras, which then became Belize, had been finally resolved, at least on this framed print which showed Belize as fully dissolved into Guatemala. When I asked the mayor about the map he replied that Belize belonged to Guatemala, had always been part of Guatemala. In response to some tentative question of mine about negotiation or tactics, he said of Belize, pounding his fist on the table, “Tomalo!” (Take it!)Alien, Point-Blank, Green, and ActualThe vagaries of mapping and the intermittent condition of value that these old home movies demonstrate strike me as suggestive for figuring the relations between poetry to its institutional or generic neighbors, theory and literary criticism. In a larger and more theoretically committed piece I would want to specify the different discursive regimes with some precision, but here I will use “theory” as a shorthand for everything that goes on in literature departments, even though this shortcircuits the large conflicts currently raging about the nature of the profession; “poetry,” in this same shorthand, should therefore equal what gets taught and reproduced in creative writing departments and writing workshops, though ultimately I will be proposing a differently oriented writing as what I want for poetry. But for now the words on the map will be “poetry” and “theory”—even if they also flood me with defensiveness and apathy, especially when it comes to theory. “Theory”? Postcolonial studies? Marxism? Queer theory? Deconstruction? Cultural studies? Film studies? It feels as if I were to introduce a specialist in gender in [End Page 158] eighteenth-century German theater as someone working with “words.” The desire to make discursive sentences wanders off...But one negative specific comes quickly to mind. I do not intend a binding allegory in which some primitive or pristine “Guatemala” stands for “poetry”—quite the contrary. There are, unfortunately in my view, many such constructions in which poetry is one or another brand of elemental exoticism. Poetry as a natural, irrational, sensuous, intuitive, musical, sonic bastion is an idea that is still widely diffused. One well-known example, which forced itself to mind as soon as I thought of those Guatemalan scenes, occurs in Wallace Stevens’s “Arrival at the Waldorf,” which ends by invoking an “alien, point-blank, green, and actual Guatemala.” Of course, it is a complex poem and as I read it, checking the context of the remembered line, my... (shrink)

La cuestión del teatro público y el teatro privado en España ha sido objeto de un acalorado debate desde, al menos, los últimos treinta años y ha producido una casi ingente bibliografía. En ella figuran trabajos muy desiguales, pero merecen rescatarse algunas reflexiones de notable hondura intelectual. A esta bibliografía hemos prestado una especial atención en el presente artículo.….

Este artigo, de uma perspectiva histórica, analisa a relação imigração e emigração para explicar o caso dos movimentos migratórios de Honduras para os Estados Unidos da América. Com a análise de figuras, testemunhos e informações históricas coletadas e sistematizadas, o ambiente das primeiras práticas migratórias é reconstruído para localizar o ponto de ruptura e / ou transformação de uma migração escassa para uma mais compulsiva, atualmente em desenvolvimento em um contexto de anarquia migratória.

El autor evoca sus encuentros con Julia Iribarne, y las conversaciones y motivaciones intelectuales que de ellos se siguieron. Apunta su impresión de que el pensamiento de Husserl confirió una hondura más humana y entrañable a la reflexión de Julia Iribarne. En su caso, el verde de la vida no sufrió menoscabo por el gris de la teoría.The author recalls his encounters with Julia Iribarne, and the talks and intellectual motivations that followed them. He mentions the impression that Husserl’s thought (...) gave a more human depth to Julia Iribarne´s reflections. The green of life suffered by her no prejudice from a gray theory. (shrink)

El Foro Global de Bioética en Investigación (GFBR por sus siglas en inglés) se reunió el 3 y 4 de noviembre en Buenos Aires, Argentina, con el objetivo de discutir la ética de la investigación con mujeres embarazadas. El GFBR es una plataforma mundial que congrega a actores clave con el objetivo de promover la investigación realizada de manera ética, fortalecer la ética de la investigación en salud, particularmente en países de ingresos bajos y medios, y promover colaboración entre países (...) del norte y del sur.a Los participantes en el GFBR provenientes de Latinoamérica incluyeron a eticistas, investigadores, miembros de comités de ética y representantes de autoridades sanitarias provenientes de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panamá, Perú, Nicaragua y la República Dominicana. Una legítima preocupación por la protección de las mujeres embarazadas y sus embriones o fetos ha llevado a la mayoría de los países de la Región de las Américas a limitar la realización de estudios con mujeres embarazadas exclusivamente a aquellos estudios específicos sobre el embarazo, y a requerir la exclusión sistemática de las mujeres embarazadas o de las mujeres que quedan embarazadas en el curso del estudio. Ciertamente, a lo largo de la historia de la ética de la investigación, se ha creído erróneamente que proteger a una población es sinónimo de excluirla de los estudios. Se sabe ahora que proceder así implica exponer a riesgos mucho mayores a la población que se busca proteger. El embarazo implica cambios fisiológicos sustantivos e impacta profundamente la manera como el cuerpo metaboliza los medicamentos. Sin embargo, por evitar hacer investigación con mujeres embarazadas, no se ha producido la evidencia científica necesaria para tomar decisiones sobre tratamientos e intervenciones preventivas con dosis eficaces y seguras para ellas y sus embriones o fetos. A manera de ilustración, en el 2001 había en los Estados Unidos apenas más de una docena de medicamentos aprobados para uso en el embarazo (1) y en el 2011 la Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aprobó por primera vez en 15 años un medicamento para su uso en el embarazo (2). Como consecuencia de no haber producido la evidencia necesaria, se pone en riesgo la salud de las mujeres embarazadas cada vez que se les da atención médica. Las mujeres embarazadas se enferman y las mujeres enfermas se embarazan, y no se sabe si los medicamentos que se les da son eficaces o siquiera seguros para ellas y sus embriones o fetos. (shrink)

La pandemia del coronavirus llegó intempestivamente y el afán de compartir esta experiencia, unió a escritores a través de diversas plataformas. Ya existía interés en conformar un grupo de minificcionistas antes de la pandemia y este pareció el momento propicio. Cada integrante trajo a otros, hasta conformar un grupo de 19 escritores de Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, España, Guatemala, Honduras, Marruecos, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Perú y Venezuela.

Este artículo explora el panorama de la minificción en seis países hispanoparlantes del istmo centroamericano: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica y Panamá, con el objetivo de contar con una primera mirada a la génesis comparada de la minificción regional, su estado actual y los rasgos propios de la creación minificcional en Centroamérica.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Negotiating Maternal IdentityAdrienne Rich’s Legacy for Inquiry into the Political-Philosophical Dimensions of Pregnancy and ChildbirthCandace JohnsonGiving birth has been described as the crossing of an imaginary threshold, which separates an independent maternal self from some sort of dual or subordinate existence. The metaphor of a border has also been employed to demonstrate this transformation, which may be liberating, oppressive, or some complex combination thereof (Weir 2006; Martinez 2004). What (...) happens, in psychic and sociopolitical terms, in the journey across this border? Can a woman, as an independent, autonomous being, preserve her identity, her selfhood as a mother? Is the transition to motherhood an expression of culture or nature? The answers to these questions are infinitely complex, yet are at the core of philosophical, political, and personal explorations of the maternal. Central to these explorations are academic critiques and personal responses to the biomedical mediation of the transition to motherhood. For some women, medical intervention in pregnancy and childbirth is inherently oppressive, whereas for other women such intervention is a marker of privilege. In a groundbreaking volume published in 1998, Margaret Lock and Patricia Kaufert argue that women respond to different biomedical interventions in pragmatic ways, which reflect their lived experiences. They claim that “it is more appropriate to understand women’s responses in medical settings as reflecting their daily experiences as part of a domestic group, a community, or a society” (19). [End Page 65]I would like to advance this analysis by suggesting that women respond to biomedical intervention in pregnancy and childbirth in ways that reflect not simply their practical needs and realities, but important details about inequality and identity. Women’s relative degrees of power and agency in society are expressed through their preferences for care during pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, and in connection with the (structural) dynamics of inequality, these preferences reflect the complexities of shifting, negotiated, maternal identities. In order to consider the ways in which women negotiate maternal identity through their preferences concerning care during pregnancy and childbirth, I will examine the contributions of Adrienne Rich, which effectively serve as the foundation for this and countless other areas of women’s and gender studies. In Of Woman Born, Rich dedicates two full chapters to childbirth, and explains in these chapters that the institution of childbirth has come to dominate and eclipse women’s experiences. Moreover, the patriarchal circumscription of childbirth is reinforced by the isolation of childbirth (and motherhood) from other life events. Rich demonstrates these problems through the metaphor of “giving birth to oneself ” (29), which has (at least) two distinct meanings: self actualization and self replacement.My investigation into these meanings will include an examination of Rich’s philosophical treatment of pregnancy and childbirth and an assessment of the sociopolitical implications of both conceptions of “giving birth to oneself.” I will then subject these conceptions to empirical testing, as Rich insists. Such empirical testing is crucial because the social and political dimensions of the institutions of childbirth and motherhood are complex and differ from one context to the next. Rich explains that[t]o hold power over others means that the powerful is permitted a kind of short-cut through the complexity of human personality. He does not have to enter intuitively into the souls of the powerless, or to hear what they are saying in their many languages, including the language of silence. Colonialism exists by virtue of this short-cut—how else could so few live among so many and understand so little?(65)This essay will avoid a similar shortcut often taken by theorists, which builds philosophical arguments without empirical support. The empirical cases to be considered in the context of philosophical debate include Canada, Honduras, and Cuba, and details of each case will be drawn from extensive interview data from a larger empirical study.1 In the Canadian context, resistance to the constraining effects of motherhood as institution is reduced to resistance to medical regulation of pregnancy and childbirth. The benefit indicated by this resistance is that women have found ways to expand their range of options and reinterpret the birthing event, thereby integrating it into other realms [End Page 66... (shrink)