Visiting KU Leuven: Transatlanticity and Latin America

By Alberto M. Burgos Rivera

Prof. Gustavo G. Muller lectures at KU Leuven

This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs", which took place from February 12-April 30, 2018.

During the second day of our stay in Leuven, me and my colleagues attended a number of presentations, did some sightseeing of the city, and attended a lecture with the MAES students. The presentations we had during the morning were focused on KU Leuven’s promotion as a university institution. The first presentation we attended was given by KU Leuven’s Head of Academic Diplomacy Bart Hendrickx in which he talked to us about KU Leuven’s history, its academic programs, and its global ranking as an institution. The second presentation was given by the Vice Dean of Internationalization Professor Bart Van den Bossche at the Faculty of Arts. Unlike the first presentation, this one was much more focused on the graduate programs offered by the Faculty of Arts. After the presentations, we visited KU Leuven’s University Library and thereafter did some sightseeing of the city.

Personally speaking, the highlight of this day came during the afternoon when we sat on a course lecture on Transatlanticity and Latin America along with the MAES students. The two-hour lecture was given by Professor Gustavo G. Muller, a Brazilian national, who specializes in comparative regionalism. Although Professor Muller began the course discussing Latin America’s unique political features in relation to other regions such as Europe, most of the course focused on Latin America’s general history and its relation to the United States. Among Latin America’s unique features, Professor Muller emphasized the region’s history of populist politicians, its high rate of violence, its presidential political systems, as well as its low level of regional integration. Throughout the course, he discussed key political events in the region’s history beginning with the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine and concluding with Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

In a lecture hall that was mostly composed of European students, I believe I was one of three Latin Americans in the lecture hall, the other two being Professor Muller himself and my colleague Rafael, who is a Colombian national. Most of the material covered in the lecture we already knew either because we experienced it firsthand, or because it was highly emphasized and taught back in our home countries’ institutions. It is unfortunate to know that Latin America is a region that, as a whole, is not prioritized by the European Union which unsurprisingly explains the fact as to why the European population is generally ignorant on the region. After the course we then had dinner at Restaurant Domus along with Professor Muller where we continued the tradition of Belgian beers and French fries.

As a side note, it was at Restaurant Domus where I ate Belgian waffles for the first time. It was here where I learned that they are traditionally eaten as a dessert and not breakfast, as they tend to be eaten in the United States.