Lise Sedrez teaches Latin American History at California State Long Beach. She holds a M.S. in Environmental Policy Studies, from New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in History from Stanford University. Lise’s research interests include environmental history of Latin America, urban history, history of science and history of Brazil. Her dissertation studies the role of the state in the transformation of Guanabara Bay, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the twentieth century, and the interplay of people, nature and political institutions in the ever-changing Brazilian capital. Before her graduate studies, Lise worked for environmental non-profit organizations in Brazil, such as Greenpeace, IBASE and WWF- and she still keeps up-to-date with her environmental activism. She is currently serving on the Scientific Board of the Sociedad Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Historia Ambiental
Erin Bates is a MA candidate at California State University, Long Beach. She is currently writing a thesis on rape, gender, law and alimony in late colonial Guatemala. Putting into practice what she is studying, Erin is volunteering for MIA (Mujeres Iniciando en las Americas). MIA is an organization, based in the U.S., not only raising awareness about femicide in Guatemala, but striving to create a dialogue between these two countries so that violence against women may be curbed, in this Central American country.
Miriam Melton Villanueva was born in Mexico City; her scholarship is informed by a deep interest in bringing marginalized groups into history and consciousness. She received her BA from UCLA in 2004 and is currently enrolled in the UCLA’s doctoral program, under the mentorship of Kevin Terraciano. Specifically, Miriam is working on the social and political dynamics of late colonial indigenous women in the outlying provinces of Mexico City. She has conducted research in archives in Mexico City, Toluca, Metepec, Guanajuato, and Monterrey, and is learning Nahuatl to help her interpret her document base.
Tatiana Paiva obtained her BA in History from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) in 2003, and her MA from the same institution in 2006. For her Master’s Thesis, she researched the relationship between memory and history, by investigating the life of Brazilian exilées’ children during the period of exile of their parents, lived in the 1960s and 1970s. Her thesis is entitled “Heirs of Exile: Memories of Brazilian Children Exiled in the Period of Military Dictatorship.”