Message from Professor Charles Forsdick, Head of Cultures, Languages, and Area Studies at the University of Liverpool:
Dr Steve Rubenstein
It is with great sadness that I write to inform colleagues of the sudden and unexpected death of Dr Steven Rubenstein, Reader in Latin American Studies at the University of Liverpool, UK. A graduate student at Columbia University and a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University’s Society for the Humanities, Steve worked for eight years as an Assistant and then Associate Professor at Ohio University before joining us at the University of Liverpool in 2006. In Liverpool, Steve served as Director of the Research Institute of Latin American Studies, and was also programme director of our MA in Latin American Studies. He was instrumental in developing an interdisciplinary research network in Liverpool devoted to Children, Childhood and Communities. Steve will be remembered in particular for his passionate interest in the Shuar nation in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and for his commitment to the defence of the Shuar people’s rights to determine their own culture and identity. A Fellow at the National Humanities Center in 2008/9, Steve was planning fieldwork later this year to complete his collection of life histories of Shuar women. He was developing a series of ambitious projects that would have continued to challenge prior notions of indigenous politics, culture and identity in the Amazon and beyond. Steve was a valued colleague and an exceptional interlocutor who will be greatly missed by all those whose lives he touched. I am sure that those who knew Steve will wish to join colleagues in Liverpool in remembering his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers at this very difficult time.
Modern Languages and Cultures 