Fernando Coronil (University of Michigan)
Fernando Coronil is the Cisneros Visiting Scholar at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. His first book, The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela (University of Chicago Press, 1997), won wide acclaim for its study of Venezuela's transformation into a dominant economic, institutional and political force. The book draws on cultural anthropology, historical sociology, and political economy. He is currently working on a project entitled “Political Transformation in Venezuela” that is based around a series of events, most notably, the coup d'etat and subsequent reinstatement of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Anthropology and History Departments, and Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, at the University of Michigan.