Enlace Autumn 2024 by Stanford CLAS

CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES (CLAS) TEAM

Director

Professor Héctor Hoyos

Director of Graduate Studies

Mikael Wolfe

Associate Director

Elizabeth Sáenz-Ackermann

Events and Communications Officer

Sara Clemente Vásquez

Academic and Student Services Officer

Megan Bonilla (until August 2024)

Joaquin-Emiliano Chavez (started October 2024)

Public Engagement Coordinator

Molly Aufdermauer

Curator for Latin American, Iberian and Mexican American Collections

Adán Griego

Cover: Gabriella Garcia took this photo “Hats” in San Juan, Guatemala. Above: Gabriella Garcia captured this photo “Flower Carpet” in Antigua, Guatemala.

The student photos featured in Enlace were submissions from the annual Stanford Global Studies student photo contest.

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at Stanford is the university’s hub for interdisciplinary research on the region. Located in the historic Bolívar House on Alvarado Row, we support faculty and student initiatives, including teaching, scholarly travel, and language study. Our partnerships include several private foundations, as well as the U.S. Department of Education. We collaborate with distinct programs on campus focused on cultural studies, political science, the Latin American diaspora, environmental studies, history, public service, and many others.

Latin America being more than the sum of its parts, CLAS features state-of-the-art scholarship from different subregions and nations, with special attention to their complex interrelations. Our purview is vast, from Mexico to Patagonia and from Rapa Nui to Barbados. While the linguae francae of our activities are English, Spanish, and Portuguese, we are also grounded in Hatian Creole and indigenous languages, especially Quechua and Nahuatl. Our programming includes ample community outreach.

This past winter quarter, I became CLAS’ 13th director since its founding in 1965. My broader goals are to make sure that important conversations on campus involve Latin America and to support the university in building regional expertise and faculty across disciplines.

We have much to look forward to this upcoming academic year. The 2025 M.A. cohort consists of 12 incoming students and two continuing M.A. students. A digest, with previous institutional affiliations and representative research interests, follows.

Annís Barron, a Spelman College graduate, examines dembow and reggaeton in Latin American public discourse, particularly around issues of race and hypersexualization. Fabián A. Carchi, a Columbia University graduate, researches alternative investments in infrastructure development in the region. Fabiola Cruz Li, a University of Toronto graduate, investigates policy changes that may reduce precarity among asylum seekers from Latin American countries. Chenyu Deng, a Peking University graduate, studies gender norms in consumer culture in the region. Yuritzi Estrada, a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), graduate, considers indigenous approaches to food and society. Botao He, a Beijing Foreign Studies University graduate, engages in a comparative historical and economic study of Latin America and China. Paola Parra, a Florida International University (FIU) graduate, analyzes migration from Latin America with a feminist and queer approach. Brandon Rubio, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate, focuses on lucha libre. Rebeca Santa Maria Granados, a University of Notre Dame graduate, examines Mexican foreign policy toward the rest of the region and the United States. Kallie L.V. White, a Stanford co-term, compares the carceral system of Brazil and the United States. Xinwen “Enru” Zhang, a University of Macau graduate, discusses Brazilian literature, gender issues, and education. Rachel Zila Hidalgo, a Stanford co-term, investigates healthcare accessibility for women in marginalized Latin American communities. Our continuing students, Solange Melissa Severino de Oliveira Godoy and Isa Calero Forero, focus on gender, policy, and social change, in Brazil and Colombia respectively.

Héctor Hoyos

The 2023-24 CLAS team (left to right): Megan Bonilla, Elizabeth SáenzAckermann, Héctor Hoyos, Molly Aufdermauer, and Sara Clemente Vásquez.

Stanford University

A bounty of Tinker Visiting Professors will enrich our intellectual community in the 2024-25 academic year, and we are appreciative of the Stanford colleagues who brought these visiting professors’ work to our attention. Jaime Araos San Martín, professor at the University of Chile, will teach on the ethics of democracy, from the Greeks to the student movement in Chile. His faculty sponsor is Professor Chris Bobonich from the Department of Philosophy. Ernesto Domínguez López , professor at the University of Havana in Cuba, will teach international relations and Cuban foreign policy, sponsored by Professor Mikael Wolfe from the Department of History. Julio Elías, professor at the University of the Center for Macroeconomic Studies of Argentina (UCEMA), will teach a course on financial incentives to alleviate organ shortages in Latin America and related moral issues. His sponsor is Professor Alvin Roth from the Department of Economics. Sergio Ugalde Quintana, professor at El Colegio de México in Mexico, will teach on contemporary Mexican intellectual history and literary culture, sponsored by yours truly from the Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures.

Our upcoming Nabuco Brazilian Studies Visiting Scholar will be Paulo Guimarães, professor at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, who works on evolutionary biology and statistical methods in relation to South America’s primeval forests. His sponsor is Professor Rodolfo Dirzo from the Department of Biology. Our Luksic Visiting Scholar this

autumn is Ana Figueiredo, professor at the University of O’Higgins in Chile, who examines collective memory, violence, and social psychology. Juan Matta, professor at the Diego Portales University in Chile, who researches gender inequality in education, will be our Luksic Visiting Scholar in the winter quarter.

Stay tuned for visitors’ talks and opportunities for collaboration!

On the home front, it gives me great joy to announce the recipients of the Tinker Dissertation Completion Fellowship for the 2024-25 academic year. They are Esteban Salmón Perrilliat , Department of Anthropology, whose dissertation is entitled “Guilty as Charged: Blame, Punishment and Prosecution in Mexico City” and Christian Robles-Baez , Department of History, with the dissertation “The Making of an Improbable Global Market: Coffee (1808-1850).” Their faculty advisors are, respectively, Professors Thomas Hansen and Zephyr Frank. Esteban and Christian are the first awardees in this newly established program, open to Stanford ABDs whose work in any discipline demonstrates the promise of future achievement in Latin American Studies, and whose commitment and tangible contributions to the advancement of Latin American Studies on campus are sustained and well-documented. Please spread the word about this program among rising doctoral candidates across campus.

Another bit of excellent news: this past May, Molly Aufdermauer, CLAS Public Engagement Coordinator, received the Dean’s Award of Merit from the School of Humanities and Sciences for her contributions to the university as a whole. She received this award in recognition of more than a decade’s worth of leveraging CLAS resources for the benefit of society, thoughtfully and creatively.

Before closing, I wanted to share a well-kept secret: Bolívar House has the best coffee on campus.

Now that the word is out, I invite you to become regulars at the Friday Lecture Series and also to drop by for a cup of coffee and Latin Americanist conversation.

Saludos cordiales, Héctor Hoyos

Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures Professor, by courtesy, of Comparative Literature

Ernesto Domínguez López

Juan Matta

Julio Elías

Sergio Ugalde Quintana

Paulo Guimarães

Ana Figueiredo

Jaime Araos San Martín

The Stanford University Libraries’ digital offerings have grown to include over 10,000 Spanish-language e-books from Spanish America and almost 4,000 similar holdings from Brazil. This year, two relevant databases were added to the libraries’ digital collections: Latinx Thought and Culture: The NPR Archive 1979–1990 and Border and Migration Studies Online.

The 2023-24 academic year marked the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile and the 30th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. Adán Griego, Curator for Latin American, Mexican American and Iberian Collections, searched the libraries’ archives to select visual material documenting both of the aforementioned historical events: for Chile, several oversized photos were displayed behind the Cecil H. Green Library’s main circulation desk and later in the CLAS lobby during a special event on the same topic. As a result, library staff reported receiving positive comments from visitors. Similarly, Zapatista materials were exhibited during a commemorative lecture held at Bolívar House.

Adán continued to serve as the embedded librarian for the LATINAM 397:

Graduate Writing Seminar for Latin American Studies course co-taught by CLAS’ associate director, Elizabeth Sáenz-Ackermann, and former director Alberto Díaz-Cayeros. In this capacity, Adán guided students through the varied print and electronic resources offered by the libraries and advocated for students to cover Global South scholarship in their final projects.

Adán also participated in the libraries’ outreach projects, which included a quarterly pop-up exhibit showcasing “special, unique, and rare” materials on various themes, providing an opportunity to highlight a series of works like that of 19th century pictorial descriptions of Brazil by German artist Johann Moritz Rugendas or that of an Argentine artist’s book created by using the devalued paper currency of many countries to illustrate our relationship to money.

In addition to the exhibits noted above, Adán hosted external group visits from local high schools and colleges, so that students could explore historical maps at the Rumsey Map Center and other special and rare works. This year, the McNair Scholars Program visit from UCLA/UC Santa Barbara included over 40 participants.

Through his social media, Adán promotes new and useful resources to meet users beyond the libraries’ walls, sometimes highlighting material he has scoped at book fairs, both local and abroad (such as in Argentina, Mexico, and Spain).

Adán Griego giving UCLA/UC Santa Barbara students from the McNair Scholars Program his “Sí se puede” tour of resources from the Stanford Library and Rumsey Map Center.

Visual material documenting historic events in Chile and Mexico displayed in the Cecil H. Green Library’s main circulation desk.

2023-24 BOLIVAR HOUSE VISITORS

Tinker Visiting Professors

Javiera Barrera Martínez , Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

Javiera Barrera Martínez is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering and Sciences at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Santiago, Chile. She holds a Ph.D. from Paris Descartes University and another from the Universidad de Chile. Her research interests combine stochastic processes, stochastic optimization, and reliable network design. She is an expert in applied probability. Professor Javiera Barrera Martínez taught MS&E 224: Resilience and Reliable Network Design in winter quarter 2024.

Arturo Izurieta Valery, Independent Consultant

Arturo Izurieta Valery has a post-doctorate degree from the Charles Darwin University in Australia with a focus on participatory processes to evaluate the collaborative management of protected areas in the Northern Territory in Australia. He also has a Ph.D. in management of rural and natural systems from the University of Queensland in Australia. Izurieta was director of the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve and executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galápagos Islands from 2015-20. He taught HUMBIO 112G: Managing a fragile social-ecological system: Lessons from the Galápagos Islands in autumn quarter 2023.

Cristián Opazo, Pontificia

Universidad Católica de Chile

Cristián Opazo is a professor of Latin American cultural studies at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile where he also received his Ph.D. in Spanish. He was a postdoctoral fellow at King’s College London. With theater and performance studies as a starting point, his critical work explores the relationship among urban subcultures, marginalized masculinities, and cultural policies in contemporary Chile and Latin America. Professor Cristián Opazo taught ILAC 273: Kids: Youth Cultures in Contemporary Latin America in winter quarter 2024.

Latin American Perspectives Lecturer

Susan Eckstein , Boston University

Susan Eckstein is a professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies and the Sociology Department at Boston University. She has written numerous books and articles on Mexican urban poor, political-economic developments in Cuba, Cuban immigrants, immigration policy, and impacts of Latin American revolutions, and has edited books on Latin American social movements and social rights, and on immigrant impacts in their homelands. Among other awards, she is the recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the American Council on Learned Societies.

Luksic Visiting Scholars

Katherine Becerra Valdivia , Universidad Católica del Norte

Katherine Becerra Valdivia is an attorney and associate professor at the Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN). She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Missouri. In addition, she has an LL.M from UCN, and an M.A. in higher education from Universidad Mayor in Chile. She received a Fulbright Faculty Development Scholarship administered by LASPAU toward her doctoral work. She serves as the coordinator of the research group in indigenous studies for the Network of Law for Latin America and the Caribbean (REDALC).

Ignacio Cabib, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Ignacio Cabib is an associate professor of sociology and public health at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He holds a Ph.D. in social sciences from “LIVES: Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives,’’ a groundbreaking Swiss Research Center funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and hosted by the University of Lausanne and University of Geneva. His main academic interests are aging and the life course, social inequalities in old age, cross-national studies, and research methods. During his visit at CLAS, Professor Ignacio Cabib worked on a new book project about the extension of working life among older people and their gendered life course determinants in Chile.

2023-24 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Weekly Lecture Series

CLAS’ Friday lecture series is a space for scholars and the general public to learn about the various cultural, educational, artistic, and scientific developments in Latin America. This past academic year, the series was hosted in a hybrid capacity.

Zephyr Frank

Stanford University

September 29, 2023

“The Struggle for Land and Community: Oaxaca in the Age of the Ejido”

Carmen Boullosa

Macaulay Honors College, CUNY

October 6, 2023

“El libro de Eva / The Book of Eve”

William Durham

Stanford University

October 13, 2023

“We Should Call Him Carlos: How Mainland Experiences in South America Had More Influence on Darwin Than Anything Else”

Nicole T. Hughes

Stanford University

October 20, 2023

“Crossed Gazes: Seeing Lepanto in the Conquest of the Americas”

Victoria Sanford

Lehman College, CUNY

November 3, 2023

“Gender Violence and Migration: Co-Optation of the Guatemalan Judicial System and Post-Election Optics”

Alejandra Costamagna

Universidad de Chile, and Michael J. Lazzara

University of California, Davis

November 10, 2023

“Conmemoración del Golpe Cívico-Militar en Chile 1973 / 2023”

Mikael Wolfe

Stanford University

November 17, 2023

“Two Peas in a Pod? How Denying or Dismissing Climate Change and the Impact of the U.S. Embargo/Blockade on Cuba are Similar”

Sylvia Marcos, Scholar, Margara Millán, Universidad Nacional

Autónoma de México, and Yuriria Pantoja Millán Photographer

January 12, 2024

“A Window to the Zapatista Movement: 40 and 30 Years of Organizing”

Javiera Barrera Martínez

Adolfo Ibáñez University

January 19, 2024

“Power Systems and Telecommunication Networks Capable of Overcoming Disaster-based Disruptions”

Adela Pineda Franco

University of Texas at Austin

February 2, 2024

“The Prison and the University in the Borderlands: A LatinAmerican Perspective of Prison Literary Writing”

Cristián Opazo

Pontificia Universidad

Católica de Chile

Februar y 9, 2024

“Monalisa’s Hell’s Kitchen: Club Culture and Trans Friendship in New York City”

Mayra Feddersen

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

February 16, 2024

“The Evolution of Ideas in South America’s Immigration Policy in the Past Century”

Claret Vargas

Center for Justice and Accountability

March 1, 2024

“Human Rights Litigation and Transnational Collaboration: How Domestic Litigation in Foreign and International Courts Contributes to Accountability in Latin America”

Beatriz Jaguaribe

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

March 8, 2024

“Archives of the Wilderness: Expeditions and Imaginaries in 20th-Century Brazil”

Leila Gómez

University of Colorado, Boulder

April 5, 2024

“Indigenizing Feminism: Films and Land Struggle in Abya Yala”

Graciela Montaldo

Columbia University

April 12, 2024

“Bovarismo: El mal de América, el mal de Ifigenia”

Weildler Guerra Curvelo

Universidad de los Andes

April 26, 2024

“Pensamiento wayuu y cosmovisión jurídica”

Susan Eckstein

Boston University

May 3, 2024

“Latin American Perspectives Distinguished Lecture: Cuban Privilege: The Making of Immigrant Inequality in America”

Mónica Salas Landa

Lafayette College

May 24, 2024

“Visible Ruins: The Politics of Perception and the Legacies of Mexico’s Revolution”

Octavio Ferraz

King’s College London

May 31, 2024

“Can Science and Law Save the Amazon and Its Peoples?”

2023-24 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Below are a few of the diverse hybrid events that CLAS organized, sponsored, co-sponsored, and/or funded during the 2023-24 year.

April 12-13, 2024

“100 años de Ifigenia de Teresa de la Parra”

This two-day event commemorated the centenary of one of the seminal works of early Latin American feminism: Ifigenia by Teresa de la Parra. A distinguished group of international experts collaborated by reading, interpreting, and discussing the significance of this Venezuelan masterpiece a century after its publication.

May 10, 2024

“LiterNatura: Environmental Humanities in the Americas”

The Latin American Studies Consortium of Northern California (LASC-NorCal), comprising the Department of World Languages and Literatures at San José State University (SJSU), the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at the University of California, Davis, and CLAS brought together writers, scholars, activists, and artists from across the Americas to share how the environmental humanities are being employed in their regions to express new realities and propose new visions for our future.

May 31, 2024

“Spring Fiesta 2024: Quechua Night”

During its annual celebration in honor of Quechua culture and language, the Cafecito Quechua working group organized an evening of Andean food, live music, dance, and Quechua language presentations.

June 12, 2024

“CLAS Reception at LASA, Bogota”

This reception, held alongside the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Congress in Bogota, Colombia, allowed affiliated faculty to foster connections and potential collaborations in the field over hors d’oeuvres, music, and drinks.

2023-24 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

The chart to the left illustrates the primary disciplinary affiliations of the speakers of events held during the 2023-24 academic year.

9. Human Rights

10. Immigration

11. Sociology

12. Anthropology

13. Statistics

14. Literature

15. Music

16. Theater

17. Law

18. Art

19. Humanities

20. Political Science

21. International Relations

22. Art History

23. Photography

24. Public Health

25. Public Policy

26. Ecology

27. Political Economy

The chart to the left illustrates the nations discussed in events held during the 2023-24 academic year.

10. El Salvador

11. U.S.A

12. Latin American Diaspora, U.S.A

13. Mexico, Peru

14. Central America

15. African Diaspora

16. Brazil

17. Palestine

18. Mapuche

19. Diaguita

20. Wichi

21. Chicanx

22. Venezuela

23. Argentina

24. Lenca

25. Honduras

26. Quechua

2023-24 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

CLAS Co-Sponsored Activities

Over the years, CLAS has co-sponsored conferences, performances, and events spearheaded by other departments and institutions both on and off campus. CLAS is pleased to provide financial and/or administrative support for a limited number of activities each year.

January 25, 2024

“Sin seguridad: Asad L. Asad and Javier Zamora in Conversation”

In this special Chautauqua, Professor Asad, Stanford sociologist and author of Engage and Evade: How Latino Immigrant Families Manage Surveillance in Everyday Life, conversed with Javier Zamora, poet and New York Times bestselling author of Solito: A Memoir, to reflect on the diverse and complex lived experiences of Latinx migrants to the United States.

March 8, 2024

“Genealogy, Islam and Sorcery in Post-Abolition Brazil: Digital Humanities Methods for African Diaspora Histories”

This workshop, hosted by the Slavery and Freedom Workshop at the Stanford Humanities Center, discussed digital humanities methodologies and individual trajectories of Alufás (Muslim leaders) in Brazil.

April 9, 2024

“19th Annual Anne and Loren Kieve Distinguished Lecture | Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind: Performance Lecture by Virginia Grise”

Playwright and producer Virginia Grise chronicled the process of adapting Helena María Viramontes’ epic novel Their Dogs Came with Them in a medium security women’s prison, and also spoke about her recent collaboration with musician Martha Gonzalez, a concept album and concert entitled Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind

April 11, 2024

“Day Jobs | Sandy Rodriguez: Codex RodriguezMondragón”

Los Angeles-based Chicana artist and researcher Sandy Rodriguez discussed works from the Day Jobs exhibition, her series Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón, and her work that intersects history, social memory, and contemporary politics.

April 18, 2024

“‘Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote’: Borges y la crítica”

This event was led by Professor Andrés Lema-Hincapié (University of Colorado, Denver).

April 24, 2024

“Agustina Comedi and Nico Pereda | Voices, Poses, and Gestures”

This discussion by Argentinian filmmakers was part of a collective effort to recover the traces of stigma from a judicial archive, within the framework of an ongoing film.

April 24, 2024

“Berta Soy Yo Screening and Discussion”

This film screening and discussion was hosted by the Central American Student Association.

April 25, 2024

“Bilingual Poetry Reading and Discussion of Current Situation in Cuba with Nancy Morejón”

Revered Afro-Cuban poet, critic, and essayist Nancy Morejón recited several poems, including one honoring the memory of George Floyd. Thereafter, she fielded questions from the audience about her life’s work, the difficult economic situation in Cuba, and the stifling U.S. sanctions on the island.

May 23, 2024

“Maquilapolis Screening and Post-Screening Discussion”

The Maquilapolis film screening was organized as part of the Stanford Environmental Justice Film Festival.

June 4, 2024

“Brazil: Challenge and Progress”

This all-day event was hosted by the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society and held at the Stanford Humanities Center.

July 4, 2024

“2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) in Viña del Mar, Chile”

Through more than 100 panels, interest group activities, and workshops, the conference aimed to bring together diverse approaches that center repair as they inhabit increasingly fragmented and fragile technological environments.

Scan for more information on CLAS co-sponsored activities.

Congratulations to the Class of 2024!

June 16, 2024

CLAS M.A. Students

Elias Aceves

Thesis: Reconstituting California: Lessons from Indigenous Plurinationalist Projects in Latin America

Advisor: Mikael Wolfe

Estefanía Acuña Lacarieri

Thesis: The 2014 “Humanitarian Situation”: The Portrayal of Central American Migrant Minors in the Mexican Press

Advisors: Didi Kuo and Mikael Wolfe

Lola Amaya

Thesis: Erasure in the Margins: Collective Amnesia and Memory of Violence in El Salvador

Advisors: Alberto Díaz-Cayeros and Beatriz Magaloni

Isa Calero Forero

Capstone: “No a la destrucción de la familia”: Gender Ideology Narratives and the Colombian Peace Accord Plebiscite

Advisor: Beatriz Magaloni

Anahi De La Cruz

Thesis: Inter- and Contra-Narratives of Land in Guerrero, Mexico: A Case Study on La Parota Dam

Advisor: Tomás Jiménez

Cydni Alexzandra Gordon

Thesis: Em nome de deus (ou exú): The Influence of Religiosity and Negritude on the Mental Health of Afro-Brazilians in Salvador da Bahia

Advisor: Alberto Díaz-Cayeros

Karen Hoshino

Thesis: Third Culture Voices: Perspectives on Cultural Identity Formation from Students, Faculty, Parents, and Administrators of an International School in São Paulo, Brazil

Advisor: Ramón Antonio Martínez

Solange Melissa Severino de Oliveira Godoy

Capstone: Chemical Castration as Gender Justice: How Punitive Attitudes Inform Gender Policy Preferences and Voting Behavior Among Brazilian Women

Advisor: Beatriz Magaloni

Ana Elena Smith

Capstone: An Artistic Exploration of Adjusting to Life in the United States: Sequoia High School’s Newly Arrived Immigrant Youth’s Experiences

Advisors: Ana Minian and Vivian Brates

Jesus Eduardo Urbano Gonzalez

Thesis: Language Dis/Service: AI Translation Tools in Asylum Proceedings

Advisor: Jonathan Rosa

Left to right: Héctor Hoyos, Elias Aceves, Anahi De La Cruz, Ana Elena Smith, Cydni Alexzandra Gordon, Solange Melissa Severino de Oliveira Godoy, Isa Calero Forero, Estefanía Acuña Lacarieri, Lola Amaya, and Alberto Díaz-Cayeros

Keynote address by Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science

SPONSORED RESEARCH & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

CLAS offers research grants and fellowships, internships, scholarships, language study programs, and other funding options to students, faculty, and visiting scholars both in the United States and abroad. The map below is a visual representation of the student research, study, and internships carried out in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Elias Aceves, Lola Amaya, Anahi De La Cruz, María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchi, Melissa Franco, Luisa Genes, Jesus Urbano Gonzalez, Cydni Gordon, Tomás Guarna, Kola Heyward-Rotimi, Karen Hoshino, Adan Marquez, Víctor Manuel Márquez Padreñan, Christian Robles-Baez, Matthew Randolph, Ana Elena Smith, Weronika Tomczyk United States

Elias Aceves, Natalie Chaudhuri, eli melgar Guatemala

Xavier Luis Burgos, Rubén Díaz Vásquez, Nicolás ForeroVillarreal, Davíd Morales, eli melgar, Tomás Guarna, Galia Santana-Oikawa Mexico

Lola Amaya, Natalie Chaudhuri El Salvador

Tomás Guarna, Zaith Lopez, Víctor Manuel Márquez Padreñan, María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchi, Esteban Salmón Perrilliat, Sergio Sánchez Chile

Elias Aceves Bolivia

Jaime Landinez Aceros Canada

Emily Russell Cuba

Pamela Andrea Martinez Barrera Panama

Isa Calero Forero, Sarah Thompson, Esteban Salmón Perrilliat, Christian Robles-Baez, Miryea Sturdivant Colombia

Annel Andrea Leon Tenorio Peru

Tania Flores, Sergio Sánchez Argentina

Adrian Blattner, Mariel Camargo, Cydni Gordon, Ethan Hill, Karen Hoshino, Sehaj Kaur, Vlasta Rasocha, Christian Robles-Baez, Ronak Shetty Brazil

Tania Flores Uruguay

STUDENT FUNDING RECIPIENTS

Fellowships

Ayacucho Fellowships

The Ayacucho Fund was established with a generous gift from the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Foundation to award fellowships to graduate students at Stanford University.

• Karen Hoshino, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

• Jesus Urbano Gonzalez , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships

CLAS administers FLAS fellowships for graduate and undergraduate students pursuing language training in less commonly taught languages of Latin America. FLAS fellowships are made possible with funding from the U.S. Department of Education under the auspices of Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Academic Year 2023-24

Haitian Creole, Stanford University

• Ana Elena Smith, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

Nahuatl, Stanford University

• Lola Amaya , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

• Anahi De La Cruz , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

Quechua, Stanford University

• Elias Aceves , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24 Summer 2024

Haitian Creole, Florida International University Haitian Summer Institute, Florida, U.S.A.

• Ana Elena Smith, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

Nahuatl, University of Utah Intensive Nahuatl Language and Culture Program, Utah, U.S.A.

• Adan Marquez , B.A., Iberian and Latin American Culture, B.S., Science, Technology, and Society, ’25

Portuguese, Language and Culture Program, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Mariel Camargo, B.A.H., Urban Studies, ’25

• Cydni Gordon, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

• Ethan Hill , Ph.D., Iberian and Latin American Cultures, ’28

Quechua, Centro Tinku, Cusco, Peru

• Annel Andrea Leon Tenorio, B.S.H., Bioengineering, ’25

The Hugh and Josephine Knotts Knowles Fellowships

The Knotts Knowles Fellowship Fund was established with a generous gift from Josephine Knotts Knowles and Hugh Knowles to provide fellowships to Latin American Studies graduate students at Stanford University.

• Cydni Gordon, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

Soares Fellowships

The Soares Fund was established with a generous gift from Edward J. and Margaret S. Soares to provide fellowships to Latin American Studies graduate students at Stanford University.

• Elias Aceves , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

• Lola Amaya , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

• Anahi De La Cruz , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

CLAS Internship Grants

Monica Miller Walsh Internship Grants

Thanks to a generous gift renewal from Stanford alumna Monica Miller Walsh and her husband, David Walsh, CLAS was able to support undergraduate internships in Latin America for the 20th year in a row.

Icicle, Curitiba, Brazil

• Ronak Shetty, B.A., Iberian and Latin American Cultures and English, ’26

Oficina de Resiliencia Urbana (ORU), Mexico City, Mexico

• Galia Santana-Oikawa , B.A., Human Biology, ’25

Pessoa Trejos Internship Grants

Thanks to a generous gift renewal from Stanford alumna Ana Pessoa-Trejos and her husband, Raul Trejos, CLAS was able to support undergraduate internships and graduate field research in Latin America.

Instituto Igarapé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Sehaj Kaur, B.A., Science, Technology, and Society, ’24

SPONSORED RESEARCH & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Student-Led Working Group Grants

Student-led working groups collaborate with a faculty sponsor to organize events, including lectures, speaker series, symposia, collaborative research efforts, and the exchange of working papers. CLAS awarded grants to the following student-led working groups for in-person and hybrid programming during the 2023-24 academic year:

Cafecito Quechua

Cafecito Quechua promotes the learning of the Quechua language and builds community at Stanford University and its surroundings. Cafecito Quechua promotes Andean issues and cultures, inviting members to share their experiences with the region.

Student Coordinator:

• Annel Andrea Leon Tenorio, B.S.H., Bioengineering, ’25

Faculty Sponsor:

• Marisol Necochea , Quechua Instructor, Stanford Language Center

Scan for more information on CLAS sponsored research & learning opportunities.

Latin America and Caribbean Working Group (LACWG) Based in anthropology, the Latin America and Caribbean Working Group responds to the disparity between the number of Stanford scholars whose research focuses on Latin America and the quantity of graduate students whose field sites, research, and theoretical interest are rooted in the region.

Student Coordinators:

• María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchi, Ph.D., Anthropology, ’28

• Víctor Manuel Márquez Padreñan, Ph.D., Anthropology, ’28

Faculty Sponsor:

• Angela Garcia , Associate Professor, Anthropology

Plurinational Land Reform in California Working Group

The Plurinational Land Reform in California Working Group is an interdisciplinary network of researchers and scholars inspired by global movements for land/agrarian reform focused on (green) transition and indigenous landback initiatives.

Student Coordinator:

• Elias Aceves , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

Faculty Sponsor:

• Mikael Wolfe, Associate Professor, History; Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Latin American Studies

Members of the Plurinational Land Reform in California Working Group presenting their findings of warehouse development on soil permeability and subsequent organizing strategies from Bolivia to defend and acquire land at the People’s History of the Inland Empire Conference.

Throughout the academic year, Cafecito Quechua has consistently been a vibrant learning space enjoyed by many Stanford students and the community.

Technology in the Global South Working Group

The Technology in the Global South Working Group is a response to boundaries in knowledge production and intellectual imagination, which are echoed in Stanford’s institutional dynamics. The working group challenges provincial ways of thinking about technology and the Global South in conversation with Sareeta Amrute and Luis Felipe R. Murillo’s work.

Student Coordinators:

• Tomás Guarna , Ph.D., Communications, ’27

• Kola Heyward-Rotimi, Ph.D., Modern Thought and Literature, ’27

Faculty Sponsor:

• Héctor Hoyos , Professor, Iberian and Latin American Cultures; Director, Center for Latin American Studies

Transnational History Symposium: Baltimore and Latin America in the 19th Century

The symposium explored Baltimore’s lesser-known connections with Latin America and the Caribbean, in all of its economic, cultural, political, ecological, and intellectual dimensions. With a transnational exploration of urban history, the symposium explored how Latin America and the Caribbean were critical regions in the making of the modern Atlantic World.

Student Coordinators:

• Christian Robles-Baez , Ph.D., History, ’25

• Matthew Randolph, Ph.D., History, ’25

Faculty Sponsors:

• Zephyr Frank , Professor, History; Director, Stanford Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis

• Mikael Wolfe, Associate Professor, History; Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Latin American Studies

On February 8, 2024, Stanford

Conference Travel Grants

CLAS provides funding for Stanford graduate students to attend and present on topics related to Latin America at professional meetings and conferences.

45th Annual North American Meeting of the Society of Medical Decision Making, Pennsylvania, U.S.A

• Melissa Franco, Ph.D., Health Policy, ’27

89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Louisiana, U.S.A.

• Weronika Tomczyk , Ph.D., Anthropology, ’24

American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada

• Jaime Landinez Aceros , Ph.D., Anthropology, ’24

Caribbean Philosophical Association, Cancun, Mexico

• Xavier Luis Burgos , Ph.D., Education, ’27

ESA 2024 - Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, California, U.S.A.

• Luisa Genes , Ph.D., Biology, ’25

Latin American Peace Science Society 5th Annual Conference, Bogota, Colombia

• Sarah Thompson, Ph.D., Political Science, ’24

Sarah Thompson toured the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) campus after presenting at the Latin American Peace Science Society’s fifth annual conference.

Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Congress, Bogota, Colombia

• Esteban Salmón Perrilliat , Ph.D., Anthropology, ’25

• Christian Robles-Baez , Ph.D., History, ’25

Special Interest Group in Computing, Information, and Society 2024, Viña del Mar, Chile

• Tomás Guarna , Ph.D., Communications, ’27

students, faculty,

graduate

guest scholars, and community members shared a series of discussions about the connections between Baltimore and Latin America in the nineteenth century.

SPONSORED RESEARCH & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Field Research Travel Grants

CLAS supports Stanford graduate field research in Latin America.

Brazil

• Cydni Gordon, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“Em Nome de deus (ou Exu): The Influence of Religiosity and Negritude on Mental Health of Afro-Brazilians in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil”

Chile

• Zaith Lopez , Ph.D., Anthropology, ’26

“¿Anexando Masculinidades?: An Ethnography of Rehabilitation Centers in Tijuana, Mexico” at Latin American Summer School on Social Issues

• Víctor Manuel Márquez Padreñan, Ph.D., Anthropology, ’28

“Biblical Landscapes. Labor and Indigeneity in Wallmapu, Chile” at Latin American Summer School on Social Issues

• María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchi, Ph.D., Anthropology, ’28

Latin American Summer School on Social Issues

• Esteban Salmón Perrilliat , Ph.D., Anthropology, ’24

“Guilty as Charged: Blame, Punishment and Prosecution in Mexico City” at Latin American Summer School on Social Issues

Colombia

• Isa Calero Forero, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“The Anti-Gender Movement: Impact of the “Gender Ideology” Narratives in the Colombian Peace Accord Plebiscite”

Guatemala

• Elias Aceves , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“CODECA and the Popular and Plurinational Constituent Assembly Process”

Mexico

• Rubén Díaz Vásquez , Ph.D., Modern Thought and Literature, ’25

“Between Tenochtitlan and CalifAztlan: Making Mexicanidad and the Poetics of Indigeneity, Performance, and Culture”

• Nicolás Forero-Villarreal , J.S.M., Law, ’24

“The Global Governance of Human Rights in Mexico: Understanding the Intersection Between Architecture, Design, and Law Through the Detention of Unaccompanied Child Migrants Within Migration Centers”

• Davíd Morales , Ph.D., Education, ’25

“Educator Encounters that Transcend Colonial-Imperial Borders, Activist Pedagogies that Transcend Classroom Walls”

Various: Argentina and Chile

• Sergio Sánchez , Ph.D., Environment and Resources, ’26

“Replicability of the Favorable Conditions of Lithium Extraction in the Atacama Region”

Various: Argentina and Uruguay

• Tania Flores , Ph.D., Iberian and Latin American Culture, ’25 “A Poet in Montevideo and the Black Fígaro: Diasporic Consciousness, Transatlantic Race-Making, and the AfroUruguayan Press”

Various: Guatemala and Mexico

• eli melgar, Ph.D., Theater and Performance Studies, ’29 “Plants in Mesoamérica, 1600-1800”

United States

• Ana Elena Smith, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“Adjusting to Life in the United States: A Collage-Based Exploration of Sequoia High School’s Newcomer Students’ Experiences”

Tinker Graduate Field Research Grants

Thanks to the generosity of the Tinker Foundation, CLAS is able to support field research for graduate students developing an independent research project and conducting preliminary field research in Latin America.

Bolivia

• Elias Aceves , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“Indigenous Land Titling in the Chapare Region of Bolivia”

Brazil

• Adrian Blattner, Ph.D., Economics, ’25

“Breaking the Bubble - The Determinants and Effects of Contact”

• Cydni Gordon, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“Por Deus: A Case Study of, Understanding the Saude Mental of Afro-Brazilians in Salvador, Bahia”

• Karen Hoshino, M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24

“How Do K-12 American/International Schools in São Paulo, Brazil, Support the Cultural Identity Formation of Third Culture Kids (TCKs)?”

• Vlasta Rasocha , Ph.D., Economics, ’26

“Contact at Work: Exposure to Political Opinions in the Brazilian Labor Market”

• Christian Robles-Baez , Ph.D., History, ’25

“Assessing the Scope and Feasibility of a Database on the Commercial Exchange Between Brazil and the United States”

Colombia

• Miryea Sturdivant , Ph.D., Political Science, ’27 “Colombianas y castigo: The Impacts of Female Incarceration on Political Efficacy”

Cuba

• Emily Russell , Ph.D., Political Science, ’26 “Labor for Empire: The Status of Immigrant Labor in Modern Cuba”

El Salvador

• Lola Amaya , M.A., Latin American Studies, ’24 “Erasure in the Margins: State Sanctioned Violence and Collective Amnesia in El Salvador”

Mexico

• Tomás Guarna , Ph.D., Communications, ’27 “Transnational Startup Cultures in Mexico City”

Various: El Salvador and Guatemala

• Natalie Chaudhuri, Ph.D., Political Science, ’28 “The Violent Foundations of Incumbency: Central American Presidents and Changing Rates of Crime”

Venezuela Field Research Grant

Through a generous gift from the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Foundation, CLAS supports Stanford graduate student-led research in or about Venezuela.

Panama

• Pamela Andrea Martinez Barrera , M.F.A., Art and Art History, ’25 “The Darien Jungle, Beyond a Liminal Space”

Angelina Rivas captured this photo “One of Many” in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, as part of the 2024 SGS Student Photo Contest.

SPONSORED RESEARCH & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

FACULTY FUNDING RECIPIENTS

CLAS Faculty-Led Events Grants

CLAS Faculty-Led Events Grants offer faculty and students from Stanford and other institutions the opportunity to present their current research and explore topics of common intellectual concern.

“100 años de Ifigenia de Teresa de la Parra”

April 12-13, 2024

• Hector Hoyos , Professor, Iberian and Latin American Cultures; Director, Center for Latin American Studies

“Workshop on History of Latin American Technology, Aesthetics, Design, and Craft”

May 24, 2024

• Mikael Wolfe, Associate Professor, History; Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Latin American Studies

Stanford-Tinker Faculty Fund

CLAS is pleased to announce the recipients of the StanfordTinker Faculty Funds, made possible through the generous support of the Tinker Foundation. With this fund, CLAS aims to enhance Stanford faculty scholarship and student engagement and to continue contributing to the generation of knowledge and learning about Latin America.

Stanford-Tinker Faculty Research Fund

• Gabrielle Hecht , Professor, History; Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

“Inside-Out Earth”

• Nicole Hughes , Assistant Professor, Iberian and Latin American Cultures

“Stages of History Renewal”

• Lisa Surwillo, Director, Iberian and Latin American Cultures “Creole Women and the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans to Cuba”

Stanford Tinker Seed Fund

• Asad L. Asad , Assistant Professor, Sociology “Legal Status and Labor Market Outcomes: Perspectives from the Global South”

Gepeng Ding captured this scene “Where Fates Collide” in Lima, Peru, as part of the 2024 SGS Student Photo Contest.

FACULTY AND ACADEMIC AFFILIATE NEWS

Publications Relevant to the Field of Latin American Studies

Asad L. Asad

(Author) “Parenthood Matters: The Institutional Surveillance of U.S. Latinos by Citizenship and Parental Status.” Immigration Policy and Immigrant Families (Springer Nature, 2024)

(Co-author) “Deportation Threat Predicts Latino U.S. Citizens and Noncitizens’ Psychological Distress, 2011-2018.” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 2024, 121.9)

Ximena Briceño

(Author) “Animal.” Handbook of Latin American Environmental Aesthetics. (De Gruyter, 2023)

Héctor Hoyos

(Author) “Borges and the Crucible of Aesthetic Autonomy in Latin America.” The Oxford Handbook of Jorge Luis Borges (Oxford University Press, 2024)

Rodolfo Dirzo

(Co-author) Before They Vanish: Saving Nature’s Populations — and Ourselves. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024)

Angela Garcia

(Author) The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death and Hope in Mexico City’s Anexos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024)

Nicole T. Hughes

(Author) “Set in Stone: Jesuit Martyrdom at Land and Sea in Sixteenth Century Brazil” (Colonial Latin American Review; 2023, 32:2: 108–140)

(Author) “Fiestas Fit for a King: Contested Regimes of Symbolic Power in New Spain” (Renaissance Quarterly ; 2023, 76.3: 980-1022)

Javier Mejia Cubillos

(Author) “Social Networks and Elite Entrepreneurship in Latin America: Evidence from the Industrialization of Antioquia.” (Journal of Economic History ; 2024)

(Co-editor) “Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003): Lecturas conmemorativas en el vigésimo aniversario de su muerte.” (Revista Chilena de Literatura; 2023, 108: 175-330)

(Author) “Modernizing Elites in Latin America: Socialnetwork Evidence from the Emergence of Banking in Antioquia.” Roots of Underdevelopment: A New Economic (and Political) History of Latin America and the Caribbean (Palgrave / Macmillan, 2023)

Ana Raquel Minian (Author) In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States. (Viking, 2024)

FACULTY AND ACADEMIC AFFILIATE NEWS

Academic Affiliate Updates

Asad L. Asad received a Latina/o Sociology Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award from the American Sociological Association, a Robert J. Bursik Junior Scholar Award in the Communities and Place Division from the American Society of Criminology, and both a C. Wright Mills Award and an Edwin H. Sutherland Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Rodolfo Dirzo was awarded a BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Prize in the area of ecology and conservation.

Angela Garcia was promoted to full professor and appointed to the position of chair in the Department of Anthropology.

Héctor Hoyos was named CLAS Faculty Director and began his term during winter quarter 2024.

Nicole T. Hughes received an honorable mention for the Renaissance Society of America’s William R. Nelson prize for the best article in 2023 for her article “Fiestas Fit for a King: Contested Regimes of Symbolic Power in New Spain,” which was supported by a Stanford-Tinker Faculty Research Fund.

Rachel Jean-Baptiste won a grant for 2024-25 from the France-Stanford Center to make the documentary film “Roots and Routes: Belonging and Citizenship of Métis in France, Senegal, Benin, and Mali.” Her most recent book Multiracial Identities in Colonial French Africa: Race, Childhood, and Citizenship won the David H. Pinkney Prize from the Society for French Historical Studies.

Terry Karl celebrated the triumph of Colombian victims over the banana company Chiquita Brands International. Playing a pivotal role alongside a team of organizations, attorneys, professors, and activists, she supported victims and their families in a case that held the company liable for killings by a Colombian right-wing paramilitary group between 1997 and 2004.

Javier Mejia Cubillos completed his post-doctoral degree and is now a lecturer in the Political Science Department at Stanford University.

Thomas O’Keefe recently launched an international mediation and consensus building legal practice (Indigenous ADR) that facilitates consultations between Indigenous communities and natural resource extraction businesses whose investment projects impact these communities.

Rebecca Tarlau received a Spencer Foundation Large Research Grant for her new project “Educating for Food Sovereignty: Social Movements, Sustainable Agriculture, and Latin American Institutes of Agroecology,” which will take place between July 2024 and December 2027.

Virginia Walbot received the 2023 Barbara McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies.

Lyris Wiedemann presided over the initiation of four new members into the Stanford Chapter (Sigma Tao) of Phi Lambda Beta, the Portuguese Collegiate Honor Society of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, during its third year as a chapter.

Mikael Wolfe became director of the new Cuba Observatory and Director of Graduate Studies at CLAS in autumn 2023. The Cuba Observatory is an initiative, supported by CLAS, to promote interdisciplinary study of, and education about, Cuba through sponsored events, guest lectures, and classroom visits at Stanford, CLAS, and our ever-growing Caribbean studies community. In 2023-24, the Cuba Observatory sponsored the visits of world-renowned Afro-Cuban feminist poet Nancy Morejón, Afro-Cuban journalist and filmmaker Liz Olivia Fernández of the media company Belly of the Beast, filmmaker Catherine Murphy, historical sociologist Susan Eckstein, and Professor Wolfe. This coming year the Cuba Observatory will feature a symposium on media coverage of Cuba both in and outside Cuba, a documentary screening about renowned Cuban singer and songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, and a major conference on the past, present, and future of the Cuban Revolution, among other events. Please look out for programming announcements on the CLAS website under The Cuba Observatory and on X, Instagram, and Facebook.

Recently Affiliated Faculty

Fernando Alarid-Escudero, Assistant Professor, Health Policy

Rachel Jean-Baptiste, Professor, History

Jose H. Blanchet , Professor, Management Science and Engineering

José Ignacio Cuesta , Assistant Professor, Economics

Javier Mejia Cubillos , Lecturer, Political Science

Fiorenza Micheli, Professor, Oceans; Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Melanie Morten, Associate Professor, Economics; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

Pedro Regalado, Assistant Professor, History

Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa , Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Population Health

Fatoumata Seck , Assistant Professor, French and Italian

Harold Trinkunas , Deputy Director, Center for International Security and Cooperation Scan for more information on CLAS academic affiliates.

New Faculty Members

The following faculty, whose academic work is relevant to the field of Latin American Studies, are among the recent appointments to Stanford University.

RebeccaTarlau’sresearchfocusesonstate-societyrelations,socialmovements,andLatin Americaneducation.HerbookOccupyingSchools, OccupyingLand(2019)isontheeducational initiativesoftheBrazilianLandlessWorkers Movement.HerforthcomingbookTeacher OrganizingAcrosstheAmericasanalyzesteacher activisminBrazil,Mexico,andtheUnitedStates. Currentlysheisleadingamulti-countrystudyof LatinAmericanagro-ecologicaleducation.

Emma Shaw Craneisanurbanandenvironmental anthropologist.Hercurrentworkinvestigateshow environmentalandspatialrelationshipssustain theU.S.empireinasuburbofMiami,Florida,home toamilitarybaseanddetentioncampformigrant children.Hersecondprojectturnsto“post”-conflictenvironmentalrepairinperipheralneighborhoodsofBogota,Colombia.

ReginaPieckAzuaraisanincomingassistant professorofComparativeLiterature.Shehasa Ph.D.inHispanicStudiesfromBrownUniversity andlawdegreesfromHarvardLawSchoolandthe InstitutoTecnológicoAutónomodeMéxico.Sheis ascholarofthehemisphericculturesofthe Americas,includingclassicandcontemporary Indigenousliteratures.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

CLAS is a U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center, receiving funding to further Latin American language and area studies at Stanford as well as in K-12 and community college education. The following professional development opportunities were offered throughout the 2023-24 academic year to educators from K-12 and higher education institutions.

CLAS could not have been successful without meaningful collaborations. Special thanks to our partners: Stanford Global Studies (SGS) programs and centers; Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) and Stanford World Language Project (SWLP); The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies); Stanford University Libraries; Stanford Language Center; Lacuna Stories (Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis); Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP); San José State University (SJSU) Department of World Languages and Literatures and Connie L. Lurie College of Education; University of California, Berkeley, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; University of California, Davis, Hemispheric Institute on the Americas; University of California, Los Angeles, Latin American Institute; and University of Utah Center for Latin American Studies.

Educator Participation

K-12: 111

Community College: 129

University: 26

Língua Portuguesa Professional Development Program

This program brings together service professionals in medicine, law, education, and other community-serving fields to study Portuguese language and culture with the goal of expanding the offering of Portuguese language courses in secondary and community college education and broadening the accessibility of professional services within Portuguese-speaking communities. The 2023-24 course was led by Valéria Caldas Vieira and included conversation practice sessions with Priscila Catalão. November 2023-June 2024

Heritage Spanish Teachers Seminars

This academic-year professional development course is tailored to the pedagogical needs of the Heritage Spanish classroom in secondary education. The 2023-24 course featured scholars Ramón González, Pamela Martinez Barrera, Ximena Briceño, Davíd Morales, and Adán Griego. The course was led by SWLP instructor leaders Antonio Tunzi and Michael Silva.

October 14, 2023, December 2, 2023, January 20, 2024, February 24, 2024, and March 16, 2024

Indigenous Languages of Latin America Workshops

CLAS offers annual workshops for instructors of indigenous languages of Latin America from universities and language programs across the U.S. and Latin America to discuss curriculum design, pedagogy, and the use of technology in the indigenous language classroom. The winter 2024 workshop was held on Stanford campus and featured lesson demos and ongoing discussions on indigenous language epistemologies and pedagogies and was led by Adriana Roque Corona, Molly Aufdermauer, and Pia Castilleja. March 7-9, 2024

Américas Book Award Author Workshops

CLAS co-sponsored the 2024 CLASP Américas Book Award, awarded to Mexikid, written and illustrated by Pedro Martín, and Saints of the Household, written by Ari Tison. This year’s award activities included a webinar with Yasmín Ramírez, author of the award-winning memoir ¡Ándale, Prieta!, as part of the 2024 Global Read Webinar Series. CLASP also produced educator guides to accompany My Two Border Towns and Child of the Flower Song People (both 2022 winners) in the classroom, and presented on using graphic novels in the classroom at the 2023 NCSS Annual Conference and 2024 LASA Congress. December 17, 2023, April 3, 2024, and June 15, 2024

Summer Programs for Educators

In the summer of 2024, CLAS convened former Intercambio educator participants for “Intercambio encuentro.” Intercambio programs took place in summer 2022 and 2023, featuring visits to various popular and alternative education projects in Mexico, bringing U.S. educators together with educators from urban, rural, and indigenous communities in Mexico. These programs are a collaboration of SJSU’s Connie L. Lurie College of Education, CSET, CLAS, and Ph.D. candidate in education Davíd Morales.

During the 2024 summer encuentro, educators shared space to reflect on and strengthen their ongoing work in teacher activism, social justice pedagogy, alternative education projects, and educators’ community-building. This encuentro was led by Davíd Morales, Tawheedah Abdullah, CSET Social Justice Implementation Director; and Marcos Pizarro, SJSU Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies and former Associate Dean of the Connie L. Lurie College of Education.

July 5-7, 2024

Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC)

EPIC offers an annual series of outreach programs focused on strengthening the internationalization of curricula at community colleges and K-12 institutions. EPIC is a partnership between SGS area centers, CESTA, CSET, and SPICE. In 2023-24, EPIC welcomed 14 community college educators into the EPIC Faculty Fellowship Program and another six into the EPIC Leadership Program. EPIC offered four workshops, a symposium, and a one-day fair for community college students interested in global studies and/or global careers.

Língua Portuguesa in Rio

Scan for more information on the EPIC program.

In its second year, Língua Portuguesa in Rio, an intensive Portuguese language program, took place in partnership with Caminhos Language Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants included highschool teachers; the Stanford Curator for Latin American, Mexican American and Iberian Collections; and leadership of Latin American Studies programs from Florida International University, Michigan State University, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to participating in this professional development opportunity, participants engaged in conversations with local scholars and stakeholders with the objective of exploring future collaborations. A highlight of the program was a visit to the National Library of Brazil, where the group met with the library’s president Marco Lucchesi to discuss potential partnership.

July 15-26, 2024

Participants of the Língua Portuguesa in Río program meeting the president of the National Library of Brazil, Marco Lucchesi.

ALUMNI UPDATE

Makaela Anderson (M.A. ’14) transitioned from being a 15-year educator and researcher to joining the ranks of the U.S. Foreign Service. She looks forward to completing her Foreign Service Orientation training and finding out where her first assignment will be.

Rolando Aragon (M.A. ’80) is currently retired after serving as the CEO of Cal Systems Architects Engineers, Inc. He engages in post-retirement consulting for the U.S. Census, where he manages the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of census facilities in Maryland, Arizona, and Washington, D.C.

Miguel Bacigalupe (M.A. ’11) is wrapping up a judicial clerkship with a federal judge in his home state of Virginia. After his judicial clerkship concludes, he will join Freshfields, one of England’s oldest and most prestigious law firms, as an antitrust litigator in its offices in Washington, D.C. He hopes to connect with Stanford CLAS students who want to explore a legal career.

Claudia Bobadilla (M.A. ’22) joined Egon Zehnder, an executive search and leadership advisory consulting firm, after graduating from CLAS. She was later recruited to work at General Atlantic on their Portfolio Human Capital team. In her current role, she works closely with the LATAM team and uses both Portuguese and Spanish on a daily basis.

Jerome Casagrande (M.A. ’97) is the co-founder of Cairn and Sky.

Cory Conover (M.A. ’99) is currently a professor at Augustana University.

Mariana de Heredia (M.A. ’11) is excited to announce that she is embarking on a new journey as a Learning Experience Designer at SoftwareOne’s Global Academy. In this role, she is able to fully immerse herself in her passion for integrating technology and education. She looks forward to building bridges between education and employment opportunities for people around the world.

John Dinges (M.A. ’77) has a forthcoming book, Chile in Their Hearts: The Untold Story of Two Americans Missing After the Coup (University of California Press), which presents a completely new investigation into the executions of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, the subject of the Costa-Gavras movie Missing. Its findings challenge the official story. Dinges also recently published Chile en el Corazón: El enigma de dos norteamericanos asesinados por la dictadura (Debate/Penguin Random House, 2023).

Nathan dos Santos (M.A. ’21) has been leading Human Rights First’s Emerging Leaders Advisory Board program for the past two years, also serving as a liaison with senior boards and spearheading peer-to-peer fundraising initiatives. On the side, Nathan has been working on the first English translation of the Foral de Macau, a 16th-century charter that played a key role in Portuguese imperial consolidation in East Asia. In collaboration with experts at the University of Groningen, who are preparing an accompanying landmark Chinese translation, they plan to publish the annotated text in three volumes over the next three years. He continues to volunteer with the World Aral Region Charity in Uzbekistan.

Mark Eisner (M.A. ’01) is working on Art of a Weapon: Tina Modotti and the Mexican Cultural Renaissance, his narrative biography of Tina Modotti, which was acquired by Yale University Press earlier this year.

Carlos Gervasoni (M.A. ’95) recently published “Subnational Dimensions of Autocratization” in The Routledge Handbook of Autocratization.

Monica Hurtado (M.A. ’01) is an associate professor at Universidad de La Sabana. She recently published the article “Beyond Terrorism and Sexual Slavery: Dynamics of Armed Conflicts, Trafficking, and Forced Migration” in the Anti-Trafficking Review.

Gustavo Lisboa (M.A. ’17) is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Politics at New York University.

Raymundo Lopez (M.A. ’21) recently passed his comprehensive exams and third-year paper review for his Ph.D. program and is now a Ph.D. candidate! Additionally, he was awarded the Young Adult Volunteer of the Year award by the United Way of South Central Michigan and State Senator Sarah Anthony.

Angelina Rivas captured this photo “A Breath of Chilean Country” on the Island of Chiloé, Chile, as part of the 2024 SGS Student Photo Contest.

Morton Marks (M.A. ’66) is the owner of Batuque Records: Amazonian Crossroads: Carimbó, Batuque, and Umbanda.

Veriene Melo (M.A. ’12) transitioned from the non-profit sector to the tech industry, holding various positions within TikTok’s trust and safety organization. In this role, she has leveraged her social sciences training and research experience to advance data-driven content moderation policies and enhance platform research transparency. She currently lives in The Hague, Netherlands, with her husband and two young daughters. Veriene’s time at CLAS and Stanford University remains a foundational pillar in her professional trajectory, and she continues to stay connected with Bolivar House colleagues and professors.

Albert Javier Milo (A.B. ’73) attended the Class of 1973 50th reunion on campus in October 2023. He played a key role in organizing a mini-reunion for Chicano students from that class. The Class of 1973 had 71 Chicano students, who were the focus of Frank Sotomayor’s book The Dawning of Diversity: How Chicanos Helped Change Stanford University. Several of these alumni participated in the Stanford-in-Mexico Program, which was based in Mexico City for three years in the early 70s. They also played a significant role in the creation of MEChA, Casa Zapata, El Centro Chicano y Latino, and various cultural events on campus.

Linda Moore (M.A. ’70) is a novelist and has recently published Attribution, about an art history student who finds a hidden painting she believes is a baroque masterpiece, and Five Days in Bogota, which was released in May. Both books have won awards and are available at Stanford Bookstore or wherever books are sold.

Alberto Mora (M.A. ’22) will begin a master’s degree program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the upcoming academic year. He will be part of the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship program.

Joshua Paulson (M.A. ’99) entered semi-retirement from legal practice during the pandemic after fifteen years as a state and federal public defender in Northern Virginia and Manhattan. He and his wife have moved to Green Valley, CA (just east of downtown Napa), where they maintain a philanthropic consulting business, grow organic Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, focus on raising their two young sons (ages 8 and 11), and care for their elderly in-laws (ages 94 and 101).

Hari Seshasayee (M.A. ’15) recently moved to Panama City, Panama, to start an advisory firm along with a local partner. Their first clients are a regional developmental bank and a healthcare company. He remains affiliated with the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank in India, as a visiting fellow. He has conducted interviews and written articles on the elections in India and Mexico for publications including France24 Español, Perfil (Argentina), and the Hindustan Times.

Hunter Txaba (M.A. ’12) now serves as Director of Early Care and Education at the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

Jean Ellen von Wittenburg (B.A. ’54) is currently retired after working for the Chamber of Commerce World Trade Department in Los Angeles many years ago.

Dalia Wassner (M.A. ’01) continues to serve as the founding director of a new initiative at Brandeis University dedicated to broadening notions of Jewish Diaspora while also diversifying current conceptions of Latin American religious and ethnic identity.

Colin Wied (A.B ’60) was president of the State Bar of California and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego law school.

Emily Yates-Doerr (M.A. ’02) went on to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from New York University after graduating from CLAS. She is currently an associate professor at Oregon State University. Her second book, Mal-Nutrition: Maternal Health Science and the Reproduction of Harm, based on fieldwork in Guatemala, is now available for pre-order from the University of California Press.

Scan for more information on CLAS alumni.

CLASS OF 2025

CLAS Welcomes the Class of 2025

Annís Barron Fabián A. Carchi

Brandon Rubio Paola Parra

Fabiola Cruz Li

Rebeca Santa Maria Granados

Chenyu Deng

Kallie L.V. White

Yuritzi Estrada

Xinwen “Enru” Zhang

CLAS Thanks our Generous Donors

The Center for Latin American Studies extends its sincere appreciation to our contributing organizations, alumni, parents, students, and friends for their generous support and action. Financial support provides core funding to strengthen our existing programs and help create new ones where needed.

For more information about CLAS’ initiatives and to discuss advancing our academic community as we learn from and engage with the diverse ethnic, linguistic, cultural, biological, and historical geographies of the Americas, kindly contact Elizabeth SáenzAckermann, CLAS associate director, at esaenz@stanford.edu or scan the QR code.