Alejandro Velasco publishes Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela

Growing up in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Alejandro Velasco (M.A.’02, Ph.D.’09) was always curious about the public-housing neighborhood known as 23 de Enero (January 23). The community was named for the date in 1958 when the country’s dictatorship fell, a fact that underscores the neighborhood’s significance in Venezuelan history. On the flip side, the area was also seen as, in Velasco’s words, "a site of danger, crime-ridden and lawless." That reputation for danger kept Velasco from visiting the neighborhood much.

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