The Kansas Latin Americanist: 2023-2024

The 2023-24 academic year was momentous and packed with activities.  In the summer of 2023, we lost Assistant Director Carolina Simon-Pardo to graduate school after less than six months in her position.

On September 28-30, 2023, the Center organized and hosted the “Indigenous Responses to Climate Change” conference with funding from the 2018-23 and 2022-26 NRC grants. Twenty-nine presenters from 10 countries participated.

On April 15, 2024, the Center, Outreach International, and Unbound.org co-organized a symposium of regional and international Non-Governmental Organizations (iNGOs) to explore “Promises & Challenges of International Development in the Digital Age” on the KU campus.  The 9 iNGO participan

The Waggoner Research Colloquium is the signature event of the Center, to which affiliate faculty, graduate students, and the Advisory Board are invited.  The 32^nd annual Waggoner Research Colloquium, November 3, 2023, was quite an entertaining success, as those of you attended at

Marta Caminero-Santangelo (English), “Imagining a Latino Heartland: Migrant Placemaking, Corridos of the Midwest, and Tomás Rivera,” Melus: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Summer 2023,

George Woodyard, Professor of Spanish & Portuguese (1966-2005), expert in Latin American theatre, and founding editor of the Center’s Latin American Theatre Review journal, was a pillar in CLACS.  Upon his retirement, he and his wife, Eleanor Woodyard, established the George and Eleanor

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 co

Nate Blum

Nate Blum, Geography and Atmospheric Science graduate student and GTA, received a Tinker Field Research Grant to fund his project, “Food Sharing in Kaqchikel Communities.” Many of the Kaqchikel Maya continue to rely on subsistence agriculture to feed their families.

We are very proud to have funded the following KU students for these awards: Stansifer, Tinker, Herzfeld, and FLAS. 

Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, a wide variety of outreach activities filled the calendar for the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS).