Letter from the Editor
Martina Una
Class of 2026
Hello everyone,
I am so happy you have decided to pick up this zine. I worked diligently on it with the goal of showing everything that the Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies has to offer. I was the Co-op for LLACS during the Fall 2024 Semester, and it was a fantastic opportunity that has taught me so much. As the co-op, I worked to promote and set-up LLACS events with Katlin McFee, design and post social media posts with Holly Ludewig, as well as working with Dr. Martinez on her independent research. I have learned a lot about event promotion and community outreach through LLACS, and about the United States legal immigration system through my work with Dr. Martinez as a ULAMPER. Without them, this zine would not have been possible, so I thank them each for all their time and dedication.
I am excited for you to get a sense of what LLACS is all about through my zine, and I hope you come to cherish the program and the people who comprise it as much as I do.
Meet the Team
Isabel Martinez
Director of the Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies
Dr. Martinez is a scholar from Houston, Texas who has dedicated much of her career to Latinx studies and immigrant communities in the United States. She works alongside Safe Passage Project on her Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project to provide assistance to immigrant youth.
Kartlin McFee
Administrative Coordinator of Events
Katlin is a Kentucky native who moved to Boston in 2018 and managed Hideout Comedy Club. At Northeastern, she works with he Center for Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies, planning events for the Africana Studies, Global Asian Studies, and LLACS departments.
Holly Ludewig
Administrative Officer
Holly is from Bethesda, Maryland and has recently started working at Northeastern. She is in charge of course listings and registrations for the Africana Studies, Global Asian Studies, and LLACS departments. She also helps with LLACS social media accounts and content.
Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies Minor
The LLACS minor has been in place for over 30 years, and it has seen a recent spark in student interest. To obtain the minor, students need to take 4 courses, one required and 3 electives. The minor offers great benefits to students beyond academic learning, and will continue to grow in the near future.
What is LLACS?
The Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies Program already had a minor in place when a group of students and faculty proposed a LLACS major to Northeastern University in 1995. After seeing growing interest in Latin America and the Caribbean in a global context as well as in Latinx communities and social services, the group conducted a survey in which they gaged the interest of 174 students to pursue a LLACS major.
The major was meant to “develop an interdisciplinary approach to Latino/a, Latin American and Caribbean studies that enables students to integrate a rigorous academic program with research initiatives, community outreach, student experiences in community agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses as well as study abroad opportunities.”
In addition, the major was meant to “encourage students to be active in educational, policy, government, media and communications, service, nonprofit and business institutions that work in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Even though the LLACS major was not implemented, the LLACS program and minor continues to grow. Under Dr. Martinez’s leadership, the minor has sparked the interest of multiple students, and the number of students registered for the minor has grown a significant amount from the 2023 to the 2024 academic year.
Why Should You Get A LLACS Minor?
Develop a Global Perspective
Develop a broader perspective that together with your major will allow you to approach complex issues in a variety of different fields.
Signal Understanding
Signals to employers and graduate programs that you have a better understanding of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the US Latinx population.
Differentiate Yourself
Differentiate yourself from other applicants and make your resumé more competitive in the global job market.
LLACS Minor Courses
Complete ONE (4 credits) of the courses below:
LACS 1220: Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies
CLTR 1505: Latin American Culture, History, and Politics
AFCS/HIST/LACS 1261: Global Caribbean
Complete any THREE of the courses (12 credits) below. Two of the courses (8 credits) must be 3000 level or above.
Culture and Literature Electives
AFCS 2330: Afro-Latin American Studies
CLTR 1120: Introduction to Languages, Literature, and Cultures
CLTR 1240: Latin American Film
CLTR 1504: Cultural History of Spain
CLTR 1505: Latin American Culture, History, and Politics
CLTR 2001: World Cultures Through Film
CLTR 3240: Social Justice in Latin American and Latinx Film
CLTR 3715: New Narratives – Latin America after 1989 (conducted in Spanish)
CLTR 3720: Literature, Arts, and Poverty in Latin America (conducted in Spanish)
CLTR 3725: Representing Violence and Human Rights in Latin America (conducted in Spanish)
CLTR 4655: Latin American Literature (conducted in Spanish)
ENGL/WMNS 2451: Postcolonial Women Writers
History and Social Sciences Electives
AFAM/HUSV/SOCL 2355: Race, Identity, Social Change, and Empowerment
AFCS/HIST/LACS 1261: Global Caribbean
ANTH/WMNS/POL 3100: Gender, Social Justice, and Transnational Activism
ANTH 4500: Latin American Society and Development
HIST 1206: Drug Trade and Drug War: History, Security, Culture
LACS/SOCL 2365: Latinx Youthhood in the United States
SOCL 3270: Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality
SOCL 3407: The Immigrant Experience: Ethnicity, Race, and Inequity in America
SOCL 3450: Class, Power, and Social Change
SOCL 4526: Afro-Asian Relations in the Americas
Important Note: students majoring in Spanish who wish to minor in LLACS can double count no more than one course.
Events
The LLACS Program seeks to uplift and amplify the voices of individuals who have contributed greatly to the field of Latinx Studies and to the accurate representation of Latinx individuals in the media either through academic research and writing or through comedy and acting. Because of this, the program has hosted multiple events, including two series: Latinx & Comedy Speaker Series and Celebrating 30 Years of LLACS Scholarship: A Book Talk Series
LLACS Events Timeline
María B. Vélez 9/21 10/19 10/20 11/13 3/19 9/24 3/29 10/08 10/18
An Evening with Selenis Leyva
Actress, Author, and Activist
Selenis Leyva
Diversión and the Comedy of Race
Events in red are part of the Latinx & Comedy Speaker Series
Events in yellow are part of the Celebrating 30 Years of LLACS Scholarship: A Book Talk Series
Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration at Yale University
Dr. Albert Laguna
New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies (NECLS)
In Plain Sight: 50-ish years of Latinx Stand-Up
Comedy in New York City
Associate Professor/Director of Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies at Northeastern University
Dr. Isabel Martinez
Laughing and Learning with Suni Reyes
Actress, Comedian, Director, Writer, Choreographer
Suni Reyes
New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies (NECLS)
Surveillance, the Cold War, and Latin American Literature
Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies at Northeastern University
Dr. Daniel Noemi Voionmaa
LLACS Open House
Countering the Legacy of Redlining: Latino Immigrant Revitalization and Neighborhood Violence
Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland College Park
Northeastern University’s Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies Program kicked off its Latinx and Comedy Speaker Series with Afro Latina actress Selenis Leyva She is best known for her role as Gloria Mendoza in “Orange Is the New Black ”
The speaker series was pioneered by Dr. Isabel Martinez, who is the director of the LLACS program “Comedy, as a general field, pretty much ignored Latinxs,” says Dr Martinez, who hopes to make the efforts of Latinx comedians visible through the series.
September 21, 2023
Selenis Leyva
Actress, Author, and Activist
Part of our Latinx & Comedy Speaker Series
Before her talk, Leyva met with students during a meet and greet and signed copies of her book My Sister, which she coauthored with her sister Marizol Leyva. Students got the opportunity to meet Leyva before the event, and they got to ask her further questions during the Q&A portion of the event
During the event, Laguna talked about his book Diversión: Play and Popular Culture in Cuban America His book examines the aesthetic and social logics of a wide range of popular culture forms originating in Miami and Cuba from the 1970s through the 2010s.
Laguna presented Cuban America in a new light, portraying the community as a playful one despite preconceptions of it being an angry, nostalgic, and melancholic community.
October 19, 2023
Dr. Albert Laguna
Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration at Yale University
Part of our Latinx & Comedy Series
After his talk, Dr Laguna opened up the floor to questions, allowing for meaningful conversations between students and faculty about the ways in which the Cuban diaspora has used humor including stand-up comedy and social media to negotiate their place across the United States and the island of Cuba
On Friday October 20, 2023, a group of Latinx Scholars representing 13 different universities and colleges met at Northeastern University. There were two paper presentations: “Shifting Familial Expectations of Care” by Dr Melanie Plasencia from Dartmouth College, and “Puerto Rico Lindo: Nostalgia and Futurity in Puerto Rican Chicago” by Dr. Nicolás Ramos Flores from Colby College.
In addition to the paper presentations, there was a discussion on the state of New England Latinx Studies programs.
October 20, 2023
New England Consortium of Latino Studies
Lastly, faculty news, recent publications, and awards were recognized and celebrated by all attendees.
During her talk, Dr. Isabel Martinez discussed her research on the history of Latinx stand-up comedy in New York City
She emphasized the history of racial and spatial organization of Latinx stand-up comedy in New York City as well as the ways in which and why Latinx identifying comics integrate themes of Latinidad into their material
Dr. Martinez talked about her New York Latinx Comedy Project, in which she interviewed around 40 Latinx comics performing in New York about their experiences as Latinxs in the comedy sphere.
November 13, 2023
Dr. Isabel Martinez
Associate Professor/Director of Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies at Northeastern University
Part of our Latinx & Comedy Speaker Series
Lastly, she opened the floor for questions, allowing faculty and students to engage in a meaningful discussion.
LAUGHING AND LEARNING WITH SUNI REYES
Suni Reyes was the headliner of fourth event of the Latinx & Comedy Series
Reyes discussed the start of her comedy career at a young age, along with how she completed her comedy studies at the Upright Citizens Brigade while raising a child
Later, Reyes touched on her performances at various comedy festivals such as Del Close Marathon, New York City Sketch Festival, and Boston Comedy Arts Festival.
March 19, 2024
Suni Reyes
Actress, Comedian, Director, Writer, Choreographer
Part of our Latinx & Comedy Speaker Series
At the end of Reyes’s talk, Dr. Martinez led a Q&A, allowing for students and faculty to ask Reyes any questions they might have
Reyes also took pictures with the event’s attendees, making it a memorable evening for all.
March 29, 2024
New England Consortium of Latino Studies
Following the NECLS meeting during the Fall 2023 semester, Latinx scholars from 12 colleges and universities returned to Northeastern University to discuss the journey from assistant to full professor as well as the ways in which they can work with campus Diversity and Equity offices
Aside from the discussions, scholars attended the presentation of Bates College Professor Dr. Erik Bernadino’s paper “Creating the Immoral Worker: The Borderlands’ Contract Labor System ”
Lastly, all attendees enjoyed dinner at Angela’s after a day of insightful discussions.
The LLACS Open House took place in the Latinx Student Cultural Center, and it was a great opportunity for students to learn more about the LLACS Minor
Dr. Martinez presented the minor, including classes required for it and the benefits of obtaining the minor. She also discussed previous events LLACS has hosted, and gave students a preview of future events
Students were encouraged to ask questions and share their passion for Latinx Studies while sharing some authentic Mexican food
LLACS OPEN HOUSE
October 8, 2024
Dr. Isabel Martinez
Associate Professor/Director of Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies at Northeastern University
At the end of Dr. Martinez’s presentation, many LLACS faculty members discussed their current research with students, encouraging them to reach out if they were interested. Both students and faculty greatly benefited from group and individual conversations about different research opportunities available to students.
COUNTERING THE LEGACY OF REDLINING: LATINO IMMIGRANT REVITALIZATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD VIOLENCE
María Vélez walked students and faculty through her research on redlining in San Antonio, Texas. She discussed the results of her research in great detail, emphasizing how those effects impact Latinx and Black communities the most
She shared a variety of maps illustrating redlining, exploring both past and present conditions not only in San Antonio but in other major cities as well
October 18, 2024
María B. Vélez
Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland College Park
At the end of Vélez’s presentation, her and Professor Ramiro Martinez opened the floor for questions, allowing students and faculty to reflect on the research presented.
Lastly, two copies of Martinez’s book Immigration and Crime: Ethnicity, Race, and Violence were signed and given out at random to event attendees.
Upcoming Events 2025
18 FEB
CROSSING DIGITAL FRONTERAS
REHUMANIZING LATINX EDUCATION AND DIGITAL HUMANITIES
Dr. Isabel Martinez
13 MAR DAUGHTERS OF LATIN AMERICA
Sandra Guzmán
18 MAR NOT ALL IN: RACE, IMMIGRATION, AND HEALTHCARE EXCLUSION IN THE AGE OF OBAMACARE
Dr. Tiffany Joseph
15 APR A DOG HAS FOUR LEGS BUT TAKES ONE PATH: AFRO-CUBAN RELIGIONS AND THE ARTS
Dr. Alan West-Durán
Faculty and Students
A major component of the LLACS program is the faculty and students that bring the program to life. The current LLACS faculty consists of 15 professors passionate about many different aspects of Latinx culture and history, including but not limited to representation, diasporas, race and ethnicity, gender roles, social networks, class, and immigration.
Nicole Aljoe
Professor of English and Africana Studies; Graduate Program Director
Professor Aljoe’s research focuses on 18th and early 19th Century Black Atlantic and Caribbean literature with a specialization on the slave narrative and early novels. In addition to teaching in these areas, she has published articles exploring the myriad ways in which subaltern voices appear in the archives. Currently, she is at work on two new projects that extend this research in productive ways: the first examines representations of Caribbean Women of Color produced in Europe and England between 1780 and 1840, and the second explores relationships between narratives of black lives and the rise of the novel in Europe and the Americas in the 18th century. She is also a member of the Mapping Black London Research Team and contributed to the development of the Unforgotten Lives exhibit, which explores the stories of African, Asian, Caribbean, and Indigenous Londoners who lived in the city between 1560 and 1860.
Publications:
Aljoe, N., Eron, S., & Kaul, S. (Eds.). (2024). The Routledge Companion to EighteenthCentury Anglophone Literature. Routledge Press.
Aljoe, N. (2023). Introduction: Romanticism and the early Caribbean. Keats-Shelley Journal, 71(2022), 114–116.
Amílcar Antonio Barreto
Professor & Chair, Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies; Professor & Interim Director, International Affairs; Professor, Political Science; Affiliated faculty member of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies; Affiliated faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs
Professor Barreto specializes in nationalism and ethnic politics, citizenship and race. Most of his work has focused on Puerto Rico and Latinos in the United States. His most recent books are The Politics of Language in Puerto Rico Revisited (2020) and American Identity in the Age of Obama. And among most recent articles are “Bifurcating American Identity: Partisanship, Sexual Orientation, and the 2016 Presidential Election” Politics, Groups and Identities, “Hierarchies of Belonging: Intersecting Race, Ethnicity, and Territoriality in the Construction of US Citizenship” Citizenship Studies, and “American Identity, Congress and the Puerto Rico Statehood Debate” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (2016).
Publications
Abraham, A., & Barreto. A. (2024). Bait and switch: The American alt-right’s manufactured martyrdom. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Barreto, A. & Maldonado, D.,(2024). Race and populism on the left: Political rhetoric in Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela. Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/17442222.2024.2393506
Layla Brown
Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology & Africana Studies
Layla D. Brown is an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology & Africana Studies and affiliate faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Brown’s research focuses on Pan-African, Socialist, and Feminist social movements in Venezuela, the US, and the broader African Diaspora. Layla was a 2020-2021 Research & Writing Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and a 2021-2022 Senior Research Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research.
Publications:
Brown, L. (2020). The pandemic of racial capitalism: Another world is possible. From the European South: A Transdisciplinary Journal of Postcolonial Humanities, Special Issue Surviving the Pandemic: Reflections on Intimacy, Care, Inequalities, Resistance and Transnational Solidarity, November. Brown, L. (2018). This ain’t nothing new: Contextualizing Black struggle in Trump’s America. In A. Johnson, R. Joseph-Salisbury, & B. Kamunge (Eds.), The fire now: Anti-racist scholarship in times of explicit racial violence. ZED Books.
N. Fadeke Castor
Assistant Professor of Religion and Africana Studies
N. Fadeke Castor (she/they) is a Black Feminist ethnographer and African diaspora studies scholar, with research and teaching interests in religion, race, performance and the intersectional politics of decolonization. As a Yorùbá Ifá initiate of Trinidadian heritage they are inspired by African spiritual engagements with Black liberation imaginaries and the Black radical tradition. Their writings can be found in Cultural Anthropology, Fieldwork in Religion, Tarka, and The Black Scholar. Her current research focuses on an exploration of the spiritual ontologies and epistemologies of Black spiritual praxis as shifting our centers of being and ways of knowing towards collective care, healing, and social transformation.
Publications:
Castor, N. F., & Louis, B. M. (2024). Navigating the Africana Studies joint position. In E. Joy Denise & B. M. Louis Jr. (Eds.), Conditionally accepted: Navigating higher education from the margins. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Castor, N. F. (2022). Ifá/Orisha digital counterpublics. The Black Scholar, 52(3), 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2022.2079065
Anjanette Chan Tack
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies
Anjanette Chan Tack’s research interests include race/ethnicity, gender, immigration, urban sociology, health, and spatial analytics. Her research has won numerous national awards and has been supported by fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
Publications/Awards
Chan Tack, A. M. (2022). Indo-Caribbeans in New York City: Negotiating Identity at the Black/Asian Boundary (Doctoral dissertation). The University of Chicago.
2021. American Sociological Association: The Section on Race, Gender and Class’ Graduate Student Paper Award
Chan Tack, A. M. (2021). How gender shapes racial alignment: Gendered racial schemas and Black/Asian ethno-racial identity choice.
Daniel Cuenca
Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish and Portuguese; Director of the Spanish Major
Dr. Cuenca specializes in modernity theory from the perspective of literary and film studies and focuses specifically on the (de-)construction of the binary fictions of “First and Third Worlds” as textual and epistemological functions of mass media. He has written extensively on Guy Debord’s theories on the society of the spectacle and is currently working on updating the French philosopher’s postulations on time-space, derive and psycho-geographies as they apply to literary theory and the study of languages and cultures.
Publications
Cuenca, D. (2014). La picaresca del Siglo de Oro al cine: Una prueba del modelo modal-estructural de Ulrich Wicks. Romance eReview. ISSN: 23747897.
Cuenca, D. (2013). Cinco siglos entre pícaros y burladores: Un paralelo modal-estructural entre Nueve Reinas y El Lazarillo de Tormes. In Proceedings for the II International Congress of History, Literature and Art in Spanish and Portuguese Cinema, June. Hergar Ediciones Antema. ISBN: 978-84-940917-3-5.
Silvia Dominguez
Associate Professor of Sociology
Silvia Dominguez focuses on inequalities worldwide, particularly those related to cities and municipalities, poverty, immigration, race, violence, social networks, and space. She has regional expertise in Liberia, Chile, and Barcelona. Silvia
explores how immigrant women living in public housing get ahead through diverse social networks and self-propelling agencies through her book. In addition, she has developed a policy against gender-based violence in Liberia after doing field research there. She is an independent forensic evaluator for Massachusetts, and her work aims to prevent deportations and keep families together.
Publications
Domínguez, S., Weffer, S. E., & Embrick, D. G. (2020). White sanctuaries: White supremacy, racism, space, and fine arts in two metropolitan museums. American Behavioral Scientist, 64(14), 2028–2043.
Domínguez, S., & Hollstein, B. (Eds.). (2014). Mixed methods social network research. Cambridge University Press.
Nicole GuidottiHernández
Professor of English
During her tenure as the Inaugural Executive Director of the Mills Institute, Guidotti-Hernández worked closely with alumnae and was instrumental in creating a strategic plan, a plan of research, and graduate certificates that focused on
Gender and Racial Justice, DEI, and Disability advocacy. Promoting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) and queer access to higher education, leadership positions, and DEI best practices rounds out her experience as a public-facing intellectual and industry leader. She writes for and has served on the Ms. magazine editorial board for two decades and provides media expertise on Latinx and Feminist issues with regularity.
Publications
Guidotti-Hernández, N. M. (2023, March 31). The renewed Black genius of Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. Ms. Magazine.
Guidotti-Hernández, N. M. (2021). Archiving Mexican masculinities in diaspora. Duke University Press.
Régine
Michelle JeanCharles
Director of Africana Studies,
Dean’s Professor of Culture and Social Justice, and Professor of Africana Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Régine is a Black feminist literary scholar and cultural critic who works
at the intersection of race, gender, and justice. Her scholarship and teaching in Africana Studies include expertise on Black France, SubSaharan Africa, Caribbean literature, Black girlhood, Haiti, and the diaspora. She is currently working on two book projects–one explores representations of Haitian girlhood, and the other is a co-authored interdisciplinary study of sexual violence entitled The Rape Culture Syllabus. Dr. Jean-Charles is a regular contributor to media outlets like The Boston Globe, Ms. Magazine, WGBH, America Magazine, and Cognoscenti, where she has weighed in on topics including #metoo, higher education, and issues affecting the Haitian diaspora.
Publications
Jean-Charles, R. M. (2022). Looking for other worlds: Black feminism and Haitian fiction. University of Virginia Press.
Jean-Charles, R. M. (2023). The language of Lakay: Diaspora as project and process in Haitian texts. In A. Naimou (Ed.), Cambridge companion to African diasporic literature. Cambridge University Press.
Tiffany Joseph
Associate Professor of Sociology and International Affairs; Graduate Program Director, Sociology
Dr. Joseph joined the Northeastern faculty in 2018 after serving as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University from 2013-2018. Prior to that,
she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Scholar at Harvard University. Her research explores the micro-level consequences of public policy on individuals, immigrants’ health and healthcare access, comparative frameworks of race and migration in the Americas, and the experiences of faculty of color and women in academia. Her awardwinning research has been published in various peer-reviewed journals and national media outlets.
Publications
Joseph, T. D., & Van Natta, M. (2024). A bold policy agenda for improving immigrant healthcare access in the US. In K. Budd, H. Dillaway, D. Lane, G. W. Muschert, M. Nair, & J. Smith (Eds.), Agenda for social justice 3: Solutions for 2024 (Chapter 11). Bristol, UK: University of Bristol/Policy Press.
Joseph, T. D., & Hirshfield, L. E. (Eds.). (2023). Reexamining identity taxation, racism, and sexism in the academy. New York, NY: Routledge Press.
Matthew Lee
Teaching Professor of Human Services
Matt Lee has taught courses in counseling theory and practice, crosscultural psychology, ethnic identity and conflict (in Romania, Germany, Poland, and Croatia), intro to psychology, lifespan development, developmental psychology, race and
Publications
Lee, M. R. (2020). Making accommodations: A classroom activity to learn about ability status and intersectionality. In M. Wong, L. Chen, & J. Vieira (Eds.). Society for the Teaching of Psychology e-book series on Teaching Diversity.
[Accepted]
Lee, M. R. (2020). Unpacking the pedagogy of vulnerability in three contexts: Large lecture, intergroup dialogue, and study abroad. In E. J. Brantmeier, & M. K. McKenna (Eds.). Pedagogy of vulnerability. (pp. 239-257). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. and empowerment, Asian American identity, psychology and literature, and senior capstone. His research examines campus climate and advocacy for diversity/inclusion in the classroom, and Asian American mental health as it relates to experiences of micro-aggressions that may be associated with phenotype or socialization.
Kris Manjapra
Stearns Trustee Professor of History and Global Studies
Kris Manjapra works at the intersection of global history and th critical study of race and colonialism His research connects the Caribbea and Indian Ocean worlds. His book include a comparative study of glob emancipation processes and the
Publications
Manjapra, K. Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation. Penguin UK and Simon Schuster USA. 2022. Translated into French and Portuguese. Shortlisted for the New England Book Award 2022 and the British Academy Global Cultural Understanding Prize 2023.
Manjapra, K. and James Ikeda. “Performing Public History as AntiGentrification.” To be submitted for review in July 2024. implications for reparations movements today. He has contributed to the emerging field of global race, colonialism, and diaspora studies. Professor Manjapra is a general editor of The Cambridge History of Colonialism and Decolonization. He is the founder of a site-based nonprofit, Black History in Action, dedicated to the restoration and reactivation of a Black cultural heritage center in Cambridge, MA. Professor Manjapra directs the Arts & Humanities Social Action Lab at Northeastern University.
Isabel Martinez
Associate Professor and Director of Latinx, Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Dr. Isabel Martinez is a Latinx youth immigration scholar whose research has primarily focused on the transnational lives of unaccompanied
immigrant teenagers from Mexico/Central America. She is currently developing the New York Latinx Comedy Project, an oral history project that situates Latinx voices within a history of the New York City stand-up comedy industry. She is the founding director of the Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project (U-LAMP) and is the Fall 2022 Center of Mexican American and Latino/a Studies Visiting Scholar at University of Houston.
Publications
Martínez, I., Montelongo, I. V., Natividad, N. D., & Nieves, Á. D. (2024). Crossing digital fronteras: Rehumanizing Latinx education. Albany: SUNY Press.
Martínez, I., Tanks, C., & Nieves, Á. D. (2024). Introduction: Digital divides, borders, and liberatory edges: Latinx DH finally comes of age. In I. Martínez, I. V. Montelongo, N. D. Natividad, & Á. D. Nieves (Eds.), Crossing digital fronteras: Rehumanizing Latinx education. Albany: SUNY Press.
Ramiro Martinez
Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Criminal Justice
Ramiro Martínez, Jr. is a quantitative criminologist whose work contributes to violent crime research. His core research agenda asks how violence varies across ecological settings, and, whether violent crime and violent deaths vary across racial/ethnic and immigrant groups. He
assembled a team to collect violence data directly from police departments and medical examiner offices in cities on or by the U.S./Mexican border in Miami, Florida and other places, to answer these questions. Over the past fifteen years, Dr. Martinez has received several honors and awards. Since 2004 he has been a member of the National Science Foundation funded Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice-Network working group at The Ohio State University. At the national level, Martinez serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals and recently completed a three-year term as a member of the Sociology Advisory Panel at the National Science Foundation.
Publications
Martinez, R., Jr., Hollis, M., & Stowell, J. (Eds.). (2018). The handbook of race, ethnicity, crime, and justice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Martinez, R., Jr. (2014). Latino homicide: Immigration, violence, and community (2nd ed.). New York, NY, and London, UK: Routledge Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Brinda J. Mehta
Mills College Germaine
Thompson Professor of French
and Francophone Studies and Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Program
Head, Transcultural
Francophone Studies & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Brinda Mehta is an award-winning scholar of postcolonial literature, transnational feminist thought, and Francophone Studies. Her publications include five monographs along with three co-edited journal issues on Indo-Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean Intellectual Traditions, Indian diaspora writings in French, and Iraqi women ’ s gendered realities under war and occupation. She has also published over sixty-five articles and book chapters on postcolonial literature that have appeared in peerreviewed journals such as the South Atlantic Quarterly, Callaloo, Research in African Literatures, meridians, among others.
Publications
Mehta, B. J. (2014). Dissident writings of Arab women: Voices against violence. New York, NY: Routledge. Mehta, B. J. (2009). Notions of identity, diaspora and gender in Caribbean women ’ s writing. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
William F.S. Miles
Professor of Political Science
A five-time Fulbright award recipient and author of a dozen solely authored books, Professor Miles teaches the undergraduate courses Comparative Politics, Religion and Politics, Music and Politics, and the Politics of
Developing Nations; on the graduate level, courses on international development. A former Peace Corps Volunteer, Professor Miles is fluent in French, Hausa and Bislama and conversational in Creole/Kreol and Hebrew. Public radio, including NPR, has broadcast a dozen of his commentaries.
Publications
Miles, W. F. S., & Walther, O. (Eds.). (2018). African border disorders: Addressing transnational extremist organizations. London, UK: Routledge.
Miles, W. F. S., Lis, D., & Parfitt, T. (Eds.). (2016). In the shadow of Moses: New Jewish movements in Africa and the diaspora. Los Angeles, CA: Tsehai Publishers.
Daniel Noemi Voionmaa
Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies
Daniel Noemi Voionmaa is a cultural critic, chronicler, and scholar of Latin American literature and culture. His research and teaching focuses on the intersection of critical theory and literature, and on visual arts, film, and
politics. He is the author of four books and many articles. His current research –for which he obtained a FIFA-CIES fellowship– is on Latin American literature, soccer, modernization, and national identities. He teaches courses on human rights and violence, literature, poverty and soccer, politics and contemporary Latin American Film and narrative. Before coming to Northeastern University, Professor Noemi Voionmaa was on the faculty in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he earned tenure, and in the Department of Languages and Literatures at Bard College, where he was a visiting assistant professor. He is a regular contributor to Chile’s most important online newspaper, El Desconcierto.
Publications:
Voionmaa, D. N. (in progress). World Cup! History, politics, and art of the beautiful game. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press.
Voionmaa, D. N. (2023). Crítica milica: Leyendo en dictadura. Árboles y Rizomas, 5(3), 108–121.
Louise Walker
Professor of History
Louise E. Walker is a historian of Mexico and Latin America. Her new book illuminates how ordinary people fought for economic justice in Mexico from 1808 to 2008. It argues that conflicts over small-scale debts were a stress test for the economic order, showing how power struggles between debtors and creditors shaped economic
transformation from the emergence of capitalist relations to the recent global financial crashes. Professor Walker examines how the middle classes shaped the history of economic and political crisis in the 1970s and 1980s, facilitating the emergence of neo-liberalism and the transition to democracy. Walker raises new questions and revisits older debates about studying class and about the role of the middle classes in Latin American history. She teaches courses on colonial and modern Latin American history, social movements, natural disasters, and the history of capitalism.
Publications: Walker, L. (2013). Waking from the dream: Mexico’s middle classes after 1968. Stanford University Press.
Walker, L., & Parker, D. S. (Eds.). (2013). Latin America’s middle class: Unsettled questions and new histories. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Alan WestDúran
Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies
Alan West-Durán was born in Cuba and raised in Puerto Rico. He is a poet, translator, essayist, and critic. His interests and research are in Caribbean literature, Afro-Cuban culture (art, music, religions, and literature) and Latin American Film. West-Dúran had
Publications:
West-Duran, A. (2025). A Dog Has Four Legs but Chooses One Path: AfroCuban Religions and the Arts. Lexington Books. (Forthcoming, under peer review).
West-Duran, A. (2021). Mpambu Nzila: José Bedia and the crossroads. In Religious syncretism and liminality in Latin American and Latinx religions. Basel, Switzerland. been teaching at Northeastern University since 1999, focusing primarily in Latin American culture, literature, and film. He has been involved with the Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies Program for many years now, as he was the Director of the program from 2000-2002 and then again from 2005-2013.
A Conversation with a LLACS Student
MynameisDanielaChristinaBalvaneda; Iamafourthyearandammajoringin CulturalAnthropology.Ihavetaken variousLLACScoursesthroughoutmy timeatNortheasternincluding:Latin AmericanFilm,LatinAmericanLiterature, LiteratureArts&PovertyinLatinAmerica, DrugTradeandDrugWar.Iamalso currentlytakingtwoLLACScourses, ImmigrantExperienceandNew Narratives.Inallofmycourses,Ihave learnedaboutthewaythatthehistory ofcolonizationhas impactedLatine societiesandculturebothin LatinAmericaandintheUnitedStates.IalwaysrecommendLLACScoursestomy friendsandpeersbecauseofhowinterestingandrelevantthecontentis,butalso becauseIhavemetsomeofthemostpassionateanddedicatedprofessorsinmy LLACSclasses.IfeellikeI’vebeenluckythatmanyofmymajorrequirementscan countLLACScoursestowardsmydegree,butIknowit’sdifficultforpeopleoutsideof thehumanitiestotakemultipleLLACScourses.However,Ithinktherearesomany beneficialcoursesintheLLACScatalogthatpeopleshouldtakewhenevertheyhave spacetotakeone!IchosetopursuetheLLACSminorbecausemymajorofCultural AnthropologydoesnothaveconcentrationsforstudentsandIwashopingto individualizemydegreecurriculum.AsaLatina,Ifeltitwasimportantformeto focusonthecultureandcommunitythathasshapedmyacademic&professional interests,andalsowhoIamasaperson.Ihopetobecomeateacherinthenear futureandamfocusingongettingajobnearthecommunityIgrewupin,whichhasa predominantlyLatinxpopulation.Ifeelit’simportanttolearnmoreaboutLatinx cultureandhistoryfromanacademicperspectiveoutsideofjustmylived experienceinordertobestsupportandrelatetomyfuturestudents.
Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project
Seeking to expand her work to include how Mexican and Central American youths who were detained and placed into removal proceedings understood this process, Dr. Isabel Martinez met with Professor Lenni Benson - Distinguished Chair in Immigration and Human Rights Law, and Founder and Senior Advisor of the Safe Passage Project - to discuss the possibilities of working together.
Their shared history and commitment to support unaccompanied minors in the United States has brought these two professors together to work in collaboration to create U-LAMP.
What is ULAMP?
Our Mission
Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project (ULAMP) is a program that focuses on providing academic, social and legal support to recently arrived immigrant minors, or newcomers, who are presently in deportation proceedings.
Since 2014, over 100 U-LAMP interns have assisted youth, families, attorneys, and social workers with the preparation of status adjustment, placement in proper educational programs and overall social support and integration Safe Passage Project
Working with and Catholic Charities, these students receive professional development via New York Law School Immigration Law courses and numerous workshops.
Research:
This project includes two research foci The first focus examines the lives of unaccompanied child and teenage minors who have been apprehended, detained and
placed in removal proceedings and their understandings
This program is currently funded by Northeastern University and CUNY Service Corps. , as well as the understandings of service providers, about age, immigration, or the criminalization of youth immigrants, and human rights for children and adolescents.
The second focus aims to understand the impact that participating in ULAMP has on Latina/o college students Data includes pre and post ULAMP surveys and interviews to examine changes in knowledge, skills, self-efficacy and academic achievement related to this internship, weekly reflection papers, etc.
U-LAMP at Refugee Day in 2015
Vicarious Trauma Training in 2019
Second Annual Latina/o Studies Association Conference in 2016
What is Safe Passage Project?
SafePassageProjectisahighly-focusednonprofitimmigrationlegalservicesorganization.Itprovides freelawyerstorefugeeandimmigrantchildrenintheNYC-area&LongIslandwhofacedeportation backtolife-threateningsituations,despitetheirstronglegalclaimtostayintheUS.SafePassageProject defendsthelegalrightofimmigrantchildrentoapplyforprotection,followingtheslogan“Nochild shouldfacetheimmigrationprocessalone.”
SafePassageProjectworkswithyoungpeoplewhoembarkedonalonganddangerousjourneytothe UnitedStatesseekingsafetyfromthegangviolence,parentalabuseandneglect,sexualassault, poverty,andtraumatheyknewathome.Unabletoeffectivelyarguetheirclaimforthelegalprotections theymayqualifyfor,morethan80%ofthesechildrenareissueddeportationorders.Seeingthissevere issue,SafePassageProjectprovidestheseyouthwithfreelegalservices.
Theorganizationstandsupforchildrenbystandingwiththeminimmigrationcourt.The governmentdoesnotprovidethemwithlegalcounsel,soSafePassageProjectdoes andtheywin over80%oftheircases.
ULAMPers work closely with Safe Passage Project as part of the program. Each ULAMPer is assigned a member of Safe Passage Project Staff as a supervisor, who guides them through numerous tasks including scheduling young people for legal screenings, interpreting, translating legal documents, etc.
Conversations with ULAMPERS
MynameisAbrilVentura,andIama sophomoreatNortheastern University,studyingCriminalJustice andBusinessAdministrationwitha concentrationinAccounting.Ijoined U-LAMPbecauseI’vealwayshada personalconnectiontothe immigrationsystem,growingupin Brownsville,TX,abordertown.I wantedtohelpimmigrantfamilies navigatecomplexprocesseswhile contributingtomeaningfulchange intheirlives.Myresponsibilitiesincludetranslatingintakeinterviews,birth certificatesandassistingwithfillingoutimportantlegalpaperwork. I’velearnedthatimmigrantyouthareremarkablydeterminedand resilient.Despitechallenges,theyfocusonmovingforwardandfinding opportunitiestobettertheirlives.Theydonotseetheircircumstancesas faultsormistakes,butratherexperiencesmotivatingthem.BeingaULAMPERhasallowedmetodirectlyhelpmymomassheworkstoward residency,givingherhope.It’salsostrengthenedmyunderstandingof immigrationprocessesandmydesiretocontinuesupportingthese communities.Myexperiencehasbeenincrediblyrewarding,thankstothe guidanceofmysupervisor,ErickHernandez.I’vegainedvaluableskillsin attentiontodetailandclientadvocacy,whichIknowwillservemewell
Conversations with ULAMPERS
MynameisErikaZavaleta,andI amasecond-yearPre-Law BehavioralNeuroscienceand Philosophymajor.IjoinedULAMP becauseIhavealwaysbeen passionateaboutimmigration reform.Sincemymajordoesn’t offerasmanyopportunitiesto engagewithlaw-relatedcourses asI’dlike,I’malwayslookingfor waystogetinvolved.ULAMPhas beentheperfectfitforthe experienceIwasseeking.AsaULAMPer,myresponsibilitiesinclude translatingbirthcertificatesandspeakingwithclientsonthephone. Thesephonecallsprimarilyinvolveintakeworktodeterminewhetherwe cantakeonacase.IhavelearnedalotabouttheSIJSvisaapplication processthroughULAMP.Withnewupcomingadministration,the futureofmanyimmigrantsintheUnitedStatesisuncertain,butthat ismorethereasontokeepdoingthiswork.BeingaULAMPerhas impactedmeinthesensethatithasfueledmypassionforimmigration reform.WhileI’vealwaysknownIwantedtopursuealegalcareer,Iam nowcertainthatIwanttospecializeinimmigrationandasylumlaw tosupporttheunderrepresentedimmigrantcommunityintheU.S. I’vealsothoroughlyenjoyedworkingwiththeSafePassageProject. Cristina,theparalegalIworkwith,hasbeenincrediblyhelpful,teaching mealotabouttranslationsandspeakingwithpotentialclients.
Conversations with ULAMPERS
Hi,I’mLizbethRobledo.I’ma first-yearmajoringin CriminologyandCriminal Justice.IchosetojoinULAMP becauseofmyinterestin immigrationlawandthought theirworkwithSafePassage Projectwasinspiring.My responsibilitiesasaULAMPER aremoresocommunicating withtheclientsontheirfirst stepswithSafePassageProject. Iinterpretduringscreenings,callthemwhentheircasehasbeenaccepted withSafePassageProject,and/ortofilloutformsforfunding.Whilehaving talkedtoimmigrantyouth,Ihavelearnedsomuchofwhytheyneededtobe hereintheUSandhowtheycometoadjustindifferentways.Beingan ULAMPERhasimpactedmeonwantingtopursueimmigrationlawand howIgoaboutmydailylifewithmoregratitude.MyexperiencewithSafe PassageProjectasaULAMPERhasbeeninsightfultolearningabout immigrationlawandclientsbyhearingtheirstories.Iamverygratefultobe aULAMPERandtoseetheworkSafePassageProjectisdoingtohelpthese youngclients.
Conversations with ULAMPERS
MynameisMartinaUnaandIama thirdyearstudentatNortheastern studyingInternationalAffairswith minorsinPoliticalScienceand StudioArt. IchosetojoinULAMP togiveotheryoungpeople supportduringtheimmigration process,whichIknowfrom personalexperiencecanbetough. Iwantedtoeasetheirtransition fromLatinAmericatotheU.S.,at leastinthelegalaspect.
AsaULAMPER,Imostlyassistwithschedulingpeopleforlegalscreenings, gatheringtheiridentificationdocuments,completingformswiththem, translatingduringlegalscreenings,andtakingcareofvoicemailsSafe PassageProjectreceives.Ihavelearnedthattheimmigrantyouththat cometoSafePassagefacevariouschallengessimultaneouslywhen navigatingtheimmigrationsystemintheU.S.,especiallyinalanguage thatisnottheirnativetongue,andthatthecircumstancesthatcausethem toleavetheirhomecountriesaremuchmoredireandviolentthanI imagined.BeingaULAMPERhasmademeincrediblymoregratefulforall thesupportIreceived,andithasfueledmydesiretocontinuehelping immigrantyouthnavigatetheimmigrationprocess.Thisexperiencehas mademegrowbothprofessionallyandpersonally,andIamthankful
If you have any questions about the program or the minor feel free to email Dr. Martinez at is.martinez@northeastern.edu
Sincerely, Martina
Ways to Get Involved with LLACS
Apply to be a Co-op for LLACS through NUworks for the Fall or Spring cycle
Take a LLACS course with a member of our faculty and pursue a LLACS minor
Attend our events and follow us on social media
Keep up with the Latinx Student Cultural Center and other Latinx student organizations
Follow the Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies Program on Social
Media
Instagram: @llacs_northeastern
X: @llacs_nu
LinkTree: @llacs.nu
Eventbrite: NU Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies
“Let us come together and move forward with hope as we defend and care for the Earth and its spirits.”
Berta Cáceres