Arauca Zona Roja

La experiencia de dos jovenes medicas que deciden prestar su servicio social obligatorio en la selva Colombiana. Una historia que atrapa al lector desde el principio, hasta conducirlo a un fi nal inesperado. Un lugar donde las leyes y las costumbres se detienen en el tiempo y donde hombres y mujeres luchan por sobrevivir en la cruenta batalla por la dignidad humana."

This book depicts new paradigms in Hispanic linguistic, literary and cultural studies. Part I: Literary and Cultural Studies includes eight essays focusing on a new trend of cultural representation attempting to find new meaning(s). They explore a series of reflections on some of those moments – from the period that begins with the cry for independence in 1810 and that spans beyond 2010 – textually translated as new approaches of analysis on the “recollections of things to come.” The contexts examined evince critical occurrences related to periods of change toward democracy and social justice that eventually lead to “revolutionary” or “emancipating” ends, by way of artistic, textual manifestations. Part II: Linguistic and Cultural Studies contains nine articles representative of the most current, ground breaking research on Hispanic linguistics. It focuses on important linguistic and cultural issues pertaining, geographically, to various corners of the Hispanic world, spanning from central Florida and New York City, to Bolivia, and on to the Prince Islands in Turkey. The issues explored include the sociolinguistic and cultural identity of Puerto Ricans in the United States, the pragmatics of humor in Mexican film, the effects of language evolution on modern Spanish, and the acquisition of Spanish by English speakers.

The laws of war and Colombia

In recent times what has become known as "the case of Medellín " has generated a growing interest in the international community. These urban transformation that Medellín has experimented have become a focus of attention and reference for experts in many fields, around the world. The book ́Medellin: Environment, Urbanism and Society ́, that now published the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies, Urbam, of EAFIT University is a testimony of the value given by our culture to the accomplishments of the city, to the idea of the public sphere and the growing relationship between the technical sphere and the political sphere, understood in the broad sense as a form of disciplinary knowledge and construction of civil society. This book brings together a knowledge of the city from multiple perspectives; knowledge that is, without any doubt, impressive for its extension and profoundity, as well as for its capacity to combine objective data with conceptual reflections about the scope and impact of the different perspectives concerning the theme of urban transformation and the different actors that have participated in such processes. The book weaves a broad net over the city, its history and development, adopting a multidisciplinary vision. I think that this will be the first step in creating a speech that might finally liberate itself from the strict disciplinary boundaries, building a trans-disciplinary perspective that can amplify the urban dimension of the city. This is the beginning of a profound and complex reflection that is, at the same time, a project of knowledge and an instrument of action and participation.

In the waning years of Latin America's longest and bloodiest civil war, the rise of an unlikely duo is transforming Colombia: Christianity and access to credit. In her exciting new book, Rebecca C. Bartel details how surging evangelical conversions and widespread access to credit cards, microfinance programs, and mortgages are changing how millions of Colombians envision a more prosperous future. Yet programs of financialization propel new modes of violence. As prosperity becomes conflated with peace, and debt with devotion, survival only becomes possible through credit and its accompanying forms of indebtedness. A new future is on the horizon, but it will come at a price.