Gloria Amézquita Puntiel, Academic Director of CLACSO

Gloria Amézquita Puntiel , a Dominican psychologist, researcher, professor, and Master in Globalization, and former member of the Steering Committee of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) for the Caribbean region, has been appointed Academic Director of CLACSO. Executive Director Pablo Vommaro welcomed her.

After expressing his delight at the new addition to the CLACSO Executive Secretariat, Pablo Vommaro emphasized that “Gloria is a Caribbean woman from the Dominican Republic who has been involved with CLACSO for many years. She currently coordinates Working Groups, has served on the Steering Committee, and has participated in various academic and research networks, both Caribbean and Latin American, interacting from a South-South perspective with Europe, the Global North, the United States, and Canada. She also has extensive experience in organizational and academic management.” He added that her addition “will greatly strengthen CLACSO’s academic work, research, training, publishing, and the work of the Working Groups, but it will also strengthen CLACSO as a whole. It is a wonderful addition, with a great perspective and enormous challenges ahead.”

In turn, Gloria Amézquita Puntiel expressed her gratitude for the trust placed in her and her willingness to take on the challenge, both personally and professionally, in the current complex situation . She noted that “with all these forces that don't necessarily support critical thinking, that violate rights, that reinforce perceptions of discrimination and racism, women find themselves in a rather complex context regarding their sexual and reproductive rights, but also regarding political participation and how spaces for participation are being closed off more generally. And then there's the economic challenge, the way cooperation is being handled. However, I believe that, with these challenges, with the lessons learned from all the processes, and with this commitment to continue contributing to a coordinated, feminist CLACSO that thinks about and works with minorities, we can continue to promote a collective agenda.” Following this, she reaffirmed her conviction that the solution lies in collective action. “I believe that we will always have to reclaim Paulo Freire because working with others and working from communities, from centers, will be what continues to enrich us.”

“We have said many times that CLACSO needs to be much more Latin American and Caribbean, from a cross-cutting, comprehensive, and truly Latin American and Caribbean perspective, and that the network needs to be much more extensive,” Vommaro reiterated. He added, “With Gloria, a Caribbean perspective is incorporated, a perspective from the insular Caribbean itself, from the Dominican Republic; it is a perspective that enriches this administration. In short, there is a diversity of perspectives that is being woven together with Gloria's incorporation, along with the entire management team.”

Gloria Amézquita concluded by stating that “CLACSO brings to all of Latin America the ability to inspire and continue fostering critical thinking within the social sciences, even amidst crises, to encourage collective thought, to offer perspectives from academia based on critical thinking, and to strengthen and provide analytical tools. A significant challenge is ensuring that this perspective is maintained and continues to captivate young people. One of our main challenges is how to engage young people in professions, studies, and activities related to the social sciences that offer different perspectives on this complex world.”