The detrimental effects of neoliberalism accompany globalization. The paradoxes generated by the global-regional gap have revealed local cultures' double vulnerability to national and international development. Miguel Pereira fictionalizes this complex phenomenon in the film "Verónico Cruz. La deuda interna" (Argentina, 1988). Inspired…

My professional interest originally focused on curriculum planning and development, but for the last 30 years I have been researching, publishing and teaching in the field of human rights education. Suddenly, I became a human rights educator. Suddenly? No, nothing in our personal and professional life is the result of an abrupt occurrence. We are…

Marriage among women in Latin America occurs early in life and is nearly universal in spite of the social and economic changes and instability in the region. We use demographic measures to illustrate the precociousness, persistence, and universality of marriage during the past 50 years. We argue that marriage is central to social life because…

Presents a profile of Tijuana, Mexico, a city populated by thousands of Latino migrants and would-be emigrants, most living in dire poverty. Focuses on the Scalabrini Center, which provides help and protection without asking for names or citizenship papers. Discusses the impact of the Simpson-Rodino bill and considers the future of those displaced…

Alejandro Toledo, the first Native person to be elected president of Peru, talks about his Quechua roots; his proposed constitutional amendment to ensure equal rights for indigenous peoples; financial support for Native cultural preservation efforts; and his number one priority--to fight poverty through education, focusing on basic education,…

A new policy study finds that Latinos are the ethnic/racial group with the least amount of education and highest labor force participation. It concludes that more education would decrease Latino poverty. Suggested solutions include equalizing educational attainment, eliminating employment discrimination, making work more rewarding, guaranteeing…

Five studies on the situation of women in Latin America focus on (1) the integration of women in development, (2) the family as the immediate social framework of children and women, (3) some types of poor women in Latin America, (4) the educational situation of women, and (5) women in development and housework. An introductory section outlining…

When funding youth programs in developing countries, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should consider programs that recognize both the developmental needs of children and socioeconomic factors, that serve youth directly or work indirectly through family and community, and that have proven strategies for stretching limited funding.…

While Latinos make up approximately 9 percent of the total population of the United States, they comprise over 25 percent of California's population. Although over half of Latino American women have entered the workforce, a severe family and child poverty rate persists. Since 1990, through a project called "El Comienzo" ("The…

The Salvadoran educator J. Portillo describes popular education practiced in El Salvador in the midst of civil war. Salvadoran popular education is organized by members of the community who receive it and is usually led by nonprofessional educators. Most popular education is in literacy or at the elementary level. (SLD)

The passage from adolescence to adulthood of a group of young Latino immigrants, all of whom attended a Washington (District of Columbia) high school called the Multicultural Career Intern Program (MCIP) in the 1980s, is traced. Background and circumstances suggested that these youths were at-risk, but most made good use of their MCIP-related…