Contents of this page:
October 22, 2001
Publications
Susanne Jonas
Susanne Jonas, a lecturer in Latin American and Latino studies, has coedited the new book Globalization on the Ground: Postbellum Guatemalan Democracy and Development (Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001). The book, which grew out of a binational conference held in Guatemala in 1998, is an in-depth presentation of the major issues of Guatemalan development and democracy: the role of the military, the involvement of Mayan communities in national development, the possible emergence of more inclusive political institutions, and the roles of international forces and agencies in Guatemalan social change. The contributors are some of the most prominent scholars and public policy experts from Guatemala and the United States.
Jonas has been a expert on Guatemala for 34 years and is the author, most recently, of Centaurs and Doves: Guatemala's Peace Process. She coedited Globalization on the Ground with Christopher Chase-Dunn, a professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside, and Nelson Amaro, dean of the social sciences faculty and director of the master's program on development at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.
Lori Kletzer
Lori Kletzer, associate professor of economics, is the author of a new book about the impact of trade on American workers, Job Loss from Imports: Measuring the Costs (Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 2001). Not content to calculate merely the number of American jobs that will be lost to competition from increased trade, Kletzer has researched the fates of displaced workers. She has found that two-thirds of trade-displaced workers earn less when they find a new job than they did on their old job; in addition, one-quarter experience earnings losses in excess of 30 percent.
The costs of import-competing job loss are high for some workers, but not starkly higher than the costs of other types of manufacturing job loss, according to Kletzer. Her analysis reveals a narrow, but significant, group of workers for whom import-competing job loss is very costly. For other workers, the costs are smaller. Understanding this range of outcomes should assist policymakers in targeting assistance to address the real costs of import-competing job loss, Kletzer believes.
Paul Ortiz
Paul Ortiz, assistant professor of community studies, has contributed to a major new reference book, The Changing Face of America: Beacham's Encyclopedia of Social Change in the 20th Century (Osprey, FL: Beacham Publishing, 2001). The four-volume set includes more than 500 images and over 2,000 pages of text. Each of the 50 sections focuses on a "key indicator" of American social thought through the 20th century, including topics such as immigration, the economy, family, gender, religion, and science. Ortiz authored the chapter titled "Race and Class."
Designed for students and professionals, the publication is designed to help readers "grasp the enormity of social change and societal values that have caused America to evolve from a sleepy, isolationist country at the beginning of the century into the most influential nation in the modern world."
