2024 Graduate Research Celebration

Every year since 2007, the Center has showcased the Latin American and the Caribbean research performed by graduate students across the KU Lawrence campus.  Initially, students met in the basement of Peter & Laura Herlihy’s home, then for a few years the celebration took the form of a competition that lasted an entire day, after which it became an entire afternoon without a competition, and in recent years it has become two hours of 5-minute lightning talks.  The graduate students get the chance to hear about each other’s research, explore potential collaborations, and celebrate each other along with the other members of the CLACS community.  On April 12, 2024, we had the pleasure of hearing about the research of the following graduate students, after which most of us went to La Tropicana for dinner:

Nate Blum (Geography), “Food Sharing in Kaqchikel Communities: A Core Aspect of Care Relations?”

Kiera Eckhardt (Anthropology), “Refugee Rights in Ecuador”

Cesia Maria Espinal (Spanish & Portuguese), “Can Cultural Tourism Lead to Cultural Sustainability?”

Rafa Gonzalez (Geography), “Bridging Generational Knowledge: Digital Storytelling in Rarámuri Community”

Seungjoo Lee (Spanish & Portuguese), “Peripheral Subempires: The Cinematic Representation of the Economic Crisis in Argentina, Greece, and South Korea (1990-2020)”

David Martinez (Education), “Foreign Language for Connecting Students”

Lorena Mosquera (Spanish & Portuguese), “Illustrating the Space: Addressing Rural and Urban Violence in Colombia”

Alexandra Navarro (Latin American & Caribbean Studies), “Central Americans Migration in Kansas City”

Claudia Salas-Forero (Spanish & Portuguese), “Intersectionality in Brazil: Race, Gender and Health”

Luis Sanchez Arrocha (Spanish & Portuguese), “Constructions of Roads and Identity: How the Interamericana Has Served as a Place of Protest and National Projects”

Silvia Sanchez Diaz (Anthropology), “Fashion in the Maya Lowlands: Ethnicity, Femininity, and the Social Lives of Ch’orti’ Maya Handbags”

Emily Tummons (Education), “Bilingual Kaqchikel Maya Teachers”