Skip to main content

Visiting KU Leuven: Transatlanticity and Latin America

By Alberto M. Burgos Rivera

A candid photo of Prof. Gustavo G. Muller lecturing in front of a college class. Behind him is a projected slide titled "Trends and Challenges in Latin America." In the foreground, an essay on the EU, MERCOSUR, and strategic partnerships lies on a classroom desk.
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.

Photo of a Belgian waffle served with powdered sugar and whipped cream. (Belgian waffles are mentioned in the final paragraph.)
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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trump, the EU, and NATO

by Allison Wheeler (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs", which took place from February 11-May 9, 2019. Secretary Pompeo and Secretary General Stoltenberg deliver opening remarks at the NATO Foreign Ministerial Image Credit: US Department of State/Ron Przysucha,  Public Domain This year, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), celebrated its 70 th birthday.   Founded in 1949, NATO has bound western Europe and North America since almost immediately following World War II and has created a close defense alliance between what has grown from just 12 countries to now 29 countries.   NATO at this moment in history is at the center of a potentially pivotal conflict for the transatlantic partnership between the US and the EU. The EU, regarded most prominently and historically as a normative and economic power, has heavily relied on the “hard power” th...

Sport and Economics: Sports Investment as Part of the Transatlantic Relationship

by Viktoria Loidl (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs", which took place from February 11-May 9, 2019. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) taking on Jonny Howson (Norwich City) Image Credit: Ben Sutherland, via Wikimedia Commons Sport is not only good for our bodies but also the economy and transatlantic relations between the European Union and the United States of America. The sports industry is a large and fast-growing sector. Additionally, it creates a multitude of employment opportunities and contributes to EU gross value added. In sum, the industry contributes about € 294 billion to the EU’s gross value added and employs roughly 4.5 million people throughout a variety of different sub-industries. As roughly 3% of employment in the EU are within sport-related industries, the EU actively promotes growth in this sector through tourism, media, fit...

Visiting KU Leuven and Hosting Leuven in Illinois: Strengthening Transatlantic Relationships

By Jessica Mrase CEURO participants visit Brussels. Jessica is fourth from the right, in the beige trench coat. When the CEURO project was in its early stages, I had already fully committed to it. Nothing had been set, and we weren’t sure of any details, but I knew that somehow, I would be a part of it. I believed in the project, the course, and the trips abroad. It was something original and being part of that would be an honor. Returning to Leuven was something I had always thought of doing, but never knew if it would happen. With the CEURO course, I was able to travel back to Leuven and revisit the city that captured my heart two years before when I had studied there for a semester in my undergrad. I had a grand plan of sleeping the entire way across the Atlantic so that I would be ready to hit the ground running as soon as we landed, and that was very much the case. I wanted to serve the others in my group as a guide and show them all the wonderful parts of Leuven. Showing t...