Kellogg Institute Visiting Fellows - Spring 2005

Mestre Cobra Mansa

Cobra Mansa, one of the foremost practitioners of Brazilian martial art Capoeira Angola, will serve as this semester's Visiting Chair in the Study of Brazilian Culture. A blend of both martial art and dance, Capoeira is an acrobatic ritual that includes a distinctive musical repertoire and oral history.

Cobra Mansa is the founder of the International Capoeira Angola Foundation (ICAF). He lectures extensively at universities and cultural organizations, in Portuguese and English, on all topics related to Capoeira, the musical bow, the Afro-Brazilian Movement in Brazil and African martial arts, and has taught courses in Afro-Brazilian culture at the George Washington University.

Learn more about Capoeira at the International Capoeira Angola Foundation

Victoria Tin-Bor Hui

Hui's research on democracy and the formation of states spans the globe from China to Europe and embraces such themes as cultural values and globalization. She earned her PhD in political science from Columbia University, although her work also touches on history and economics. Her dissertation, "Rethinking War, State Formation and System Formation: A Historical Comparison of Ancient China and Early Modern Europe," will be published as a book.

She is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to her academic career, she was active in Hong Kong politics. She holds a bachelor's degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Hui will teach two political science courses this semester: "Understanding Change in International Politics" and "Politics of Globalization."

Wendy Hunter

Hunter is at work on a book examining the growth and electoral success of Brazil's Worker's Party, or PT, which surmounted financial, social and political obstacles to elect its candidate, Lula, as national president in 2002.

She earned her PhD in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation on the Brazilian military resulted in a book, Eroding Military Influence in Brazil. Hunter's later work focused on Latin American decision-making regarding social policy, such as anti-poverty programs, and she is interested in social movements and development issues. She is associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her term as Visiting Fellow will extend through the entire 2004-05 academic year.

Soledad Loaeza

Loaeza’s research focuses on Mexican presidentialism in the 20th century and Mexico’s conservative opposition, the Partido Acción Nacional. She is particularly interested in identifying the relationship between the presidential institution itself and the individual holding that title, as well as placing that relationship into a historical context. While at Kellogg, Loaeza will explore this interplay as it applies to Gustavo Díaz Ordaz’ administration from 1964 to 1970. Díaz’ presidency is widely regarded as emblematic of Mexican authoritarianism.

Loaeza is currently a professor and researcher at El Colegio de México. She taught at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), among others. A past visiting professor at several universities outside of Mexico, Loaeza was an academic visitor at London School of Economics and, most recently, a Fellow at both the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the David Rockefeller Center of Latin American Studies at Harvard University. She is the author of El Partido Acción Nacional—La Larga Marcha, 1939–1994: Oposición Leal y Partido de Protesta. Loaeza received her PhD in political science from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (FNSP)

Francisco Rodríguez

Rodríguez will ask what is possibly the most important question in Venezuela’s economic development: why did the process of economic growth collapse in the last three decades? To effectively address this query, Rodríguez will draw on his experience as a high-level policymaker and influential academic researcher. Rodríguez was Director of the Economic and Financial Advisory Council of the Venezuelan National Assembly from 2000 until the Council’s dissolution in 2004. During his tenure as director, he was known for harsh criticism of mismanagement of funds. His willingness to challenge the status quo extends to his academic research. One of his most influential papers drastically diverged from existing beliefs by positing that trade openness has no significant effect on economic growth. Another examined why economies rich in natural resources have poor economic performance.

In Venezuela, Rodríguez is a professor of economics at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA) and at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University, where he researched economic policies for the redistribution of wealth. A published author in English and Spanish, Rodríguez has been a consultant for several prestigious organizations, including the Banco Central de Venezuela, the United Nations and the World Bank.

Kurt Weyland

What drives the diffusion of policy innovations across the borders of Latin American countries? Weyland will be preparing a book on this topic based on field research in Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Peru. Weyland's investigation goes to a basic question relevant to Kellogg's emphasis on normative analysis in comparative social science: How, and to what degree, is politics rational?

He is a professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a PhD in political scientist from Stanford University. Weyland's books include Democracy Without Equity: Failures of Reform in Brazil, published in 1996. His term as Visiting Fellow will extend through the entire 2004-05 academic year.

In the spring of 2005, Kellogg will also host three visiting fellows as part of a three-year Fulbright Educational Partnerships project. This partnership facilitates collaborative research on civic, administrative and economic reforms in the Andean region:

Pablo Sandoval

Sandoval, an associate researcher in anthropology at the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP), is interested in the relationship among the process of political violence, the student political movement in universities and the political culture of a given society. During his time at Kellogg, he plans to focus on the relationship between political culture and political violence, two domains which he feels are scarcely explored in Peru and Latin America.

As a researcher in the Peruvian Commission of Truth and Reconciliation, Sandoval examined the process of political violence in Peruvian public universities, where Sendero Luminoso had an important presence. In 2000-01, his research merited a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) through its project on “Collective Memory and Repression in South America.” Sandoval holds a bachelor’s degree from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), where he also taught anthropology in 2001 and 2002.

Veronica Patricia Zárate

Zárate’s extensive research experience employs the social studies lens to examine social participation, drug economy, democracy and governability in rural areas. In 2000, she explored those very topics at an international joint study project on “Contemporary Peru: Dynamics of Social Changes,” through a fellowship from the Japan Center for Area Studies (JCAS) of the National Museum of Ethnology.

Winner of several grants, Zárate has consulted for numerous prestigious organizations, including UNICEF and USAID/Peru. Her forthcoming book is called Evaluación Crítica de Experiencias Exitosas de Participación Ciudadana a Nivel Local. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

For information on the Fall 2004 Visiting Fellows, click here.

For information on the Spring 2004 Visiting Fellows, click here.

For a list of past Visiting Fellows, click here.