Carmen Martínez Novo is professor at the Center for Latin American Studies in the University of Florida. She is the author of Who Defines Indigenous? (Rutgers 2006), and Undoing Multiculturalism (University of Pittsburgh Press 2021) and editor of Repensando los movimientos indígenas (FLACSO 2009). In addition, she has edited journal issues and published numerous peer reviewed articles and book chapters on indigenous identities, politics and rights in Mexico and Ecuador. She has interdisciplinary training in anthropology, history and geography and has collaborated with colleagues in disciplines like political science and cultural studies. She is also recipient of distinguished grants the more recent of which was an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship in 2017-2018.
Martinez Novo has ample experience with journal publishing. She has been an Associate Editor of Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies and América Latina Hoy (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain). For a decade, she was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Latin American Anthropology. She is also on the board of Alteridad and Chaquiñan, peer review publications housed in Ecuador. Martinez Novo has demonstrated strong leadership. She was the Director of Latin American Studies at the University of Kentucky from 2011 to 2014. Before that, she was the Chair of the Anthropology Program at FLACSO-Ecuador where she designed a successful major in Visual Anthropology. She has also shown leadership in LASA, serving on the Executive Council from 2014 to 2016, on LASA’s Commission for Academic Freedom where she assisted scholars at risk and published a report on Civil Rights in Ecuador. She has also been the Chair of the Ethnicity, Race and Indigenous Peoples Section (ERIP), one of LASA’s largest sections, and of the Ecuadorian Studies Section. Martinez Novo will be the first woman to lead LARR since its founding in 1965.
Latin American Research Review will have a new home at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. CLAS is the oldest Latin American Studies Center in the United States and amongst the most prestigious. It was founded in 1930 by UF President John Tigert who recognized Florida’s Inter-American vocation and strong ties to the Caribbean and Latin America. In 1961, the Center was selected as a National Resource Center by the US Department of Education and has received continuous title VI funding ever since. The University of Florida is well known for its world class Latin American and Caribbean Collection (LACC). LACC now holds approximately 500,000 volumes, over 50,000 microforms, a large collection of rare books and manuscripts, and a wealth of digital resources, many of them open access. CLAS has traditionally had strong ties to LASA and has contributed in many ways to the development of the field of Latin American Studies. The LASA Secretariat was located at CLAS-UF from 1972 to 1978. Three presidents of LASA have been based at UF, among them Helen Safa and Carmen Diana Deere. It was the home of the Hispanic American Historical Review for two periods.
About LASA
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest professional association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over 13,000 members, over 60% of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the one association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe. LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.
If you wish to interview a LASA Executive Council member, you can contact the LASA communications office at (412) 648-7929 or send an email to lasa@lasaweb.org.