Petrobras is embroiled in arguably the greatest scandal in Brazilian history. The story goes something like this: At its peak, Petrobras was spending nearly $20 billion a year on new construction projects. The executives responsible for awarding contracts had formed a cartel with some of Brazil’s largest construction and engineering firms. These firms would decide which one of them would win a contract, and then would add 1-5% more money onto the bid price.
Before we even meet the miners, Hector Tobar introduces us to a figure who is already quite familiar to us all: Charles Darwin. After depicting the mostly barren land and unrelenting sun, Tobar emphasizes just how lifeless the Atacama Desert––the setting for this story––really is:
On Monday September 21st, Héctor Tobar kicked off the Literary Monday Night Lecture Series presented by Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures with a discussion of his latest book, Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free. His book is the story of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped unground for 69 days in 2010, a story that sparked international interest.
The partnership between revolutionary Cuba and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) offered a route for migration that had not been possible before. While academic exchange was aimed to construct a socialist society in Cuba and serving the economic and political interests of both states, the creation of a transnational academic elite and of intellectual collectives across borders occurred as a by-product of the exchange.
The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at the University of Pittsburgh hosted the Mexican Consulate, Saturday, June 27th to conduct one-day consular services for local residents.
Despite Chile’s rich traditions of literary writing, relatively little attention has been paid to women writers and their contribution to the national and the Latin American canon until the past couple of decades in comparison with their male counterparts. In this article I will draw on scholarly, critical, and personal/anecdotal insights to discuss a number of both established and emerging women writers.
