LAS Event Traces Rise of the Barrio

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At a recent event organized by the Latin American Studies Program, attendees learned about the rise of the barrio, or low-income neighborhood, as a unit of cultural and political power in Venezuela.

“Barrio Rising” was both the name of the Oct. 20 event, held at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, and a book by Alejandro Velasco who gave the talk. “Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela” was published by the University of California Press.

Velasco, an Assistant Professor at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, said that while barrio is a term widely used to denote urban poverty, it has a more specific context in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.

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The Center for Latin American Studies at Boston University is proud of BU’s history of diversity and inclusion. BU’s founders opened the University’s doors to all students without regard to religion, race, or gender, and building and sustaining a vibrant community of scholars, students, and staff remains essential to its mission of contributing to and preparing students to thrive in, an increasingly interconnected world.

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