John French
Statement
My candidacy occurs at a challenging moment for scholars whose values, work, and institutions are under attack, whether located in the U.S., Latin America, or the Caribbean. Across the board, we have faced budget and hiring freezes, irregular appointments, and attempts to restrict our freedom to teach and research freely. Thus, the members of LASA share a mission to expand, defend, and democratize higher education while making our voices heard in public debates and working to make sure policy reflects our values. As Latin Americans or Latin Americanists, we have a responsibility to both respond to currents threats to social, civil, and political rights and to defend the environment, national self-determination, and the fullest possible democratization of governance.
Where you stand, an old adage suggests, depends on where you sit, and it behooves LASA to deepen its mission as an international organization that guarantees full and effective participation in its affairs and governance. Remaining attuned to the differentiated responsibilities of those in the Global North, LASA must remain united and vigilant in its embrace of disciplinary, gender, ethnic/racial, and national and sub-national representation. While conscious of resource constraints, LASA has a vital role to play--in collaboration with other institutions and associations--in advancing knowledge, defending our pragmatic needs as democratically minded educators, and assisting our members as they fulfill their responsibilities as citizens of their countries and the world at a time when powerful forces threaten political and social retrogression.
“Do not forget that the difference between water and a river is that the latter has a memory, a past, a history,” wrote Heinrich Heine in the 19th century. LASA was founded in 1966 as Latin America began to slip under military rule and the organization and its members were crucial public actors in the fight to restore and deepen democracy. Our proud history of research, teaching, and activism, which found expression through LASA, reminds us of our private and public commitments to the construction of a better and more egalitarian future for all.