Polivision and the School of Modern Languages at Georgia Tech present “Reimagining Latin(o) America in the Pandemic: Media, Culture, and Democracy,” a series of video presentations/interviews with public intellectuals, journalists, politicians, and cultural producers of the region who have covered and/or addressed the crisis in their respective countries over the past year. The first group of presentations will be about Peru, on May 14-May 17, 2021.
After 200 years of its independence, Peru has recently experienced political instability, social turmoil and ideological polarization in the midst of the pandemic. The last five presidents of the country have been sentenced for corruption and other crimes, and one even committed suicide. With the deadliest toll worldwide in per capita COVID-19 deaths, officials have called the pandemic the most devastating public health crisis in the country since the Europeans brought new diseases to the Americas in 1492.
A few weeks before a wildly polarized run-off presidential election in Peru, this series of presentations addresses the following questions/themes: What have been the main sociopolitical challenges for Latin American democracies (in this case Peru) in the face of the pandemic? What is the role of the media in covering a public health crisis in deeply divided and fragmented societies? How has the pandemic impacted cultural industries and artistic production in societies with very limited state support for culture? How can we deal with the social impact generated by the pandemic and reimagine a better future for democracy and culture at the local and global level?
All the presentations will be in Spanish and are open to the public. The videos will be later available with English subtitles in this website. More info here: https://polivision.modlangs.gatech.edu/online-conference-re-imagining-latin-america-in-the-pandemic-media-culture-and-democracy-peru/
