Latin America Archives

July 13, 2023 wezg

Céu – Varanda Suspensa (Tropix)

I am currently in a Chatham House webinar on President Lula in Brazil. I had a little search around and apparently Céu is the Brazilian Taylor Swift so I thought I’d check out some of her music. I like World

June 18, 2023 wezg

Review: Before Bletchley Park – The Codebreakers of The First World War – by Paul Gannon

I have previously read a lot of material on World War 2 codebreakers and the likes of Alan Turing and their critical work against Enigma and the invention of modern computing during that period. Of course, codebreaking and cryptography is

June 18, 2023 wezg

Review: Before Bletchley Park – The Codebreakers of The First World War – by Paul Gannon

June 18, 2023 wezg

Guerrilla Heroico

The Cuban Revolution was an earth-shattering event with huge consequences internationally, not just in Latin America, but further afield. I felt the impact myself whilst travelling across Scandinavia in 2005. I’d run out of clean underwear and, while scanning the

May 14, 2023 wezg

Las Maras – Mara Salvatrucha – MS-13

Tres de las principales y más violentas pandillas de El Salvador han manifestado su interés en abrir un diálogo con el Gobierno para desmovilizarse e integrarse a la sociedad, según informó esta semana el diario local El Faro. Se trata

January 12, 2023 wezg

Review: The Motorcycle Diaries – by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

I’ve read three of Che Guevara’s other books, the theory on guerrilla warfare and the diaries of his campaigning in the revolutions of Cuba and Bolivia. The Motorcycle Diaries precede these other critical works and document Che’s travels across Latin

December 3, 2022 wezg

Review: In The Shadow of Papillon – Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela’s Prison System – by Frank Kane with John Tilsley

Frank Kane and his girlfriend, Sam, after their business was failing in the U.K. made the fateful decision to become cocaine drug couriers in Venezuela. Whilst attempting to fly out from the airport on Caribbean Island, Isla de Margarita, the

October 14, 2022 wezg

Review: A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence – by Dickie Davis, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills and David Spencer

David Kilcullen has had a few books included on my shelf recently. As a military expert on Guerrilla Warfare, I was thrilled to find this new book on the Colombian Civil War which he coauthors with a group of specialists

September 1, 2022 wezg

Review: When Plants Dream – Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism, And the Global Psychedelic Renaissance – by Daniel Pinchbeck and Sophia Rokhlin

I am an ayahuasquero and regard myself as a shaman. This book is a study on Ayahuasca, the Amazonian ‘Vine of the Soul’ and one of the most ancient medicines known to man. The authors enthusiastically explore the history and

September 1, 2022 wezg

Review: When Plants Dream – Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism, And the Global Psychedelic Renaissance – by Daniel Pinchbeck and Sophia Rokhlin

March 20, 2021 wezg

Review: Prison Writing of Latin America by Joey Whitfield

Joey is a teacher of mine at MLANG in Cardiff University. This is his first book. It explores prison writing in Latin America and looks at abolitionism of the penal system and draws on some really rather delicate themes that

March 15, 2021 wezg

Review: Prison Writing of Latin America by Joey Whitfield

March 11, 2021 wezg

Review: Even Silence has an End – My six years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle – by Ingrid Betancourt

September 19, 2019 wezg

Review: Viva La Revolución by Eric Hobsbawm

This is my first venture into respected leftist author, Eric Hobsbawm’s work. The book was compiled after the author’s death in 2012 and is a collection of his writings on Latin America after he spent over forty years passionately exploring

September 19, 2019 wezg

Review: Viva La Revolución by Eric Hobsbawm

November 3, 2018 wezg

Review: Gangster Warlords – Drug Dollars, Killing Fields and the New Politics of Latin America – by Ioan Grillo

This is the second of Ioan Grillo’s books that I have read and I found this volume equally as good as my first encounter with this talented British journalist. Gangster Warlords focuses on 4 separate crime gangs across the Americas.

November 3, 2018 wezg

Review: Gangster Warlords – Drug Dollars, Killing Fields and the New Politics of Latin America – by Ioan Grillo

February 1, 2018 wezg

Review: El Infierno – Drugs, Gangs, Riots and Murder – My Time Inside Ecuador’s Toughest Prisons – by Pieter Tritton

This autobiographical account of Brit drug smuggler, Pieter Tritton, is a flowing, page-turning journey that documents his twelve years locked up in Ecuador’s notorious, corrupt and highly dangerous prison system. Tritton is already in trouble back in the UK where

February 1, 2018 wezg

Review: El Infierno – Drugs, Gangs, Riots and Murder – My Time Inside Ecuador’s Toughest Prisons – by Pieter Tritton

January 23, 2018 wezg

Review: Narrating Narcos: Culiacán and Medellín – by Gabriela Polit Dueñas

The author is exploring the impact of local culture on the artistic output of Narcoculture in the form of literature and art in two specific par excellence Narco cities in Latin America. We are introduced to the Culichis of Culiacán

January 22, 2018 wezg

Review: Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas – by Elijah Wald

Whilst planning to do a university translation dissertation on some aspect of narcoculture I was drawn to this work (in English – also simultaneously released bilingually with a Spanish version) by American author and folk musician, Elijah Wald. Having been

June 16, 2015 wezg

Review: Santa Muerte – Mexico’s Mysterious Saint Of Death – by Tony Kail

This book documents the rapidly growing Mexican folk faith that is ‘Santa Muerte’ or ‘Saint Death’. The iconic image of the skulled woman with a scythe gives hope to many discomforted souls on the fringes of Mexican and indeed global

January 12, 2015 wezg

Guerrilla Heroico

Discuss how textual and visual representations of the Rebel Army during and after the Cuban Revolution contributed to the myth of the heroic guerrilla in Latin America. The original iconic 1968 stylized ‘Guerrilla Heroico’ Che Guevara imagecreated by Jim Fitzpatrick,

January 12, 2015 wezg

Guerrilla Heroico

December 17, 2014 wezg

Careers in Translation and Interpreting Event, Aston University, 17.12.14

On 17th December, with my translation (BA) colleague, Isabelle, from Cardiff University, we headed up the train tracks to the Midlands to the Careers event at Aston University. http://translation.blogs.aston.ac.uk/2014/11/18/careers-in-translation-and-interpreting/ The day’s talks promised to offer multiple perspectives on the different

December 17, 2014 wezg

Careers in Translation and Interpreting Event, Aston University, 17.12.14

November 18, 2014 wezg

Taking Stock of Subtitling – Jorge Díaz-Cintas (UCL) – Guest Lecture Cardiff University MLANG 18.11.14

Sponsored by Tesserae, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, this event at Cardiff University brought in world expert in subtitling, Jorge Díaz-Cintas, from UCL, for a guest lecture on ‘Taking Stock In Subtitling’. Subtitling is a growing area of

November 5, 2014 wezg

Review: Postcolonial Translation: Theory and Practice – by Susan Bassnett & Harish Trevedi

I’ve read a few articles on the subject of postcolonial translation and have found the area to be interesting. I thought I’d delve a little deeper into the subject. This book is a collection of nine extended essays. My first

November 5, 2014 wezg

Review: Postcolonial Translation: Theory and Practice – by Susan Bassnett & Harish Trevedi

October 14, 2014 wezg

Review: The Spanish-Speaking World – by Clare Mar-Molinero

This is an introductory text to sociolinguistic issues in the Spanish-speaking world. As part of my Spanish Studies classes I felt this would be a good text to introduce me to the importance of Castillian Spanish as a global language.

October 14, 2014 wezg

Review: The Spanish-Speaking World – by Clare Mar-Molinero

The Spanish-Speaking World by Cl Mar-MolineroMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This is an introductory text to sociolinguistic issues in the Spanish-speaking world. As part of my Spanish Studies classes I felt this would be a good text to introduce

October 14, 2014 wezg

Review: The Spanish-Speaking World

The Spanish-Speaking World by Cl Mar-Molinero My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is an introductory text to sociolinguistic issues in the Spanish-speaking world. As part of my Spanish Studies classes I felt this would be a good text to

September 30, 2014 wezg

Review: Translation and Identity in the Americas – by Edwin Gentzler

This was the first book I have borrowed and read from Cardiff University library’s Translation section. As a Translation student focussing on the Spanish language, I felt that this book would offer plenty of interest to me, considering that the

September 30, 2014 wezg

Review: Translation and Identity in the Americas – by Edwin Gentzler

August 20, 2014 wezg

Review: Romantic Revolutionary: Simon Bolivar and the Struggle for Independence in Latin America

Romantic Revolutionary: Simon Bolivar and the Struggle for Independence in Latin America by Robert Harvey My rating: 4 of 5 stars Simon Bolivar was one of history’s great characters. His revolutions across South America overthrew Spanish rule in six countries.

September 23, 2013 wezg

The Return of El Pistolero: Luis Suarez

The ten match ban which has dragged on since last season is finally over. Our star striker, El Pistolero, will be back available for selection this week for our critical clash with Manchester United in the fourth round of the

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