Contributors

Contributors/Abstracts1 CONTRIBUTORS Laura Senio Blair (Ph.D., Kansas) is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She earned a Ph.D. in SpanishAmericanLiteraturefrom the University of Kansas in 2002 and a M.A. in Romance Languages from the University of Colorado. SouthernConeLiterature,namelyChilean literature, is her area of expertise. She is currently exploring the theme of incest in recent Latin American novels. VirginiaS. Bushnell studied music at the University of MissouriKansas City, and her first job was in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. Shehas had a particular interestin the history of opera theaters in difference countries of Latin America. David Bushnell concentrated in LatinAmericanhistory at Harvard and taught at the University of Delaware and the University of Florida, from which he is now retired. His principal areas of specialization in research and publication are nineteenth-century Colombia and Argentina. Daniel Gallagher is assistant professor of philosophy and theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. He has conducted extensive research into the philosophical and theological aspects of catholic social teaching and the ways in which they relate to cultural, political, and economic phenomena, particularly in South America. He is currently studying the relationship between religion and politics in Peru. Zoya Khan (Ph.D.,Michigan-Ann Arbor)isan assistantprofessor of Spanish at the University of South Alabama. Her research involves Spanish American Literature and Culture, particularly Andean, subaltern, and women’s literature and literary theory. Mark McMeley (Ph.D.,Missouri) was most recently an instructor at the University of Central Florida. He has researched Argentine and Uruguayan social history in the interior provinces of both countries, and was a founder of a research archive in Colonia Valdense, Uruguay, dedicated to 19th century Piedmontese immigrants. He is currently researching the social reform efforts of American Methodist missionaries in Rosario, Argentina in the 2 The Latin Americanist Fall 2006 1870s. Bruce M. Wilson (Ph.D.,Washington University) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida. He has served as an invited international election observer for the last three Costa Rican general elections. His research on Latin American politics has been published in various peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Latin American Studies, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, and Electoral Studies. His book on Costa Rica’s political economy was published by Lynne Rienner. He has been the editor of The Latin Americanist since 2001. ...