During the academic year, CLACS compiles a weekly email newsletter with upcoming events, classes, and opportunities relevant to the Center and its activities. To subscribe to the newsletter, please fill out this form. 

Dr. Faye Harrison (African American Studies, Anthropology) will receive the 2022 Bronislaw Malinowski award from the Society for Applied Anthropology!  The Brownislaw Malinowski Award is presented to an outstanding social scientist in recognition of efforts to understand and serve the needs of the world's societies, and who has actively pursued the goal of solving human problems using...

Dr. Korinta Maldonado's (AIS/Anthropology) and Pixan Konob's work helping CU's Q'anjob'al community overcome language barriers during the pandemic will be honored on Saturday when Dr. Maldonado receives the 2021 Immigrant Leadership Award from the CU-Immigration Forum.  ...

Congratulations to CLACS MA student, Cintia Martins Freitas, who recently published a piece on the role that collective candidacies played in Brazil's recent municipal elections in Red Pepper, a UK-based quarterly focused on culture and politics.  Check out her article here.

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies invites current and prospective CLACS faculty affiliates to submit proposals for possible inclusion in our application to the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI for renewal of its status as a National Resource Center in Latin American and Caribbean Studies for the AY 2022-2026 period. CLACS encourages projects from disciplines and...

CLACS is pleased to welcome a new cohort of Summer Graduate Research and Global South Language Fellows in the new academic year. We are able to offer Summer Graduate Research Fellowships thanks to the generous support of the Tinker Foundation, Norman Whitten, Joseph Love, and the family of Werner Baer.  These fellowships support graduate student research in Latin America.  Due to the...

Three current and former Latin American History Ph.D. students are making waves with important publications in Hispanic American Historical Review, the flagship journal for Latin American History in the US.   Nancy van Deusen's (Ph.D.1993) work, entitled "Indigenous Slavery's Archive in Seventeenth-Century Chile" will be featured in issue 101:1 (Feb. 2021),...

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign stands in solidarity with our colleagues, friends, and family in Peru as they fight to protect democracy in the aftermath of the controversial impeachment of President Martin Vizcarra on November 10th, carried out by political parties in the Peruvian Congress. These actions played a direct role in...

The Illinois Maya Initiative, an interdisciplinary projected housed in CLACS is in the news!  The core research/engagement team, Ryan Shosted (Linguistics), Margarita Teran-Garcia (Human Development and Family Studies), Andrew Orta (Anthropology), Julia Albarracin (Political Science, Western Illinois University), Alejandra Seufferheld (Outreach Coordinator, CLACS), and Kasia Szremski (...

Atmospheric Sciences Professor (and CLACS Affiliate), Stephen Nesbitt, was recently featured in the New York Times for his research storm chasing with the RELAMPAGO project in Argentina.  Click here to read the full article.

In Solidarity We share the anguish of our families, our coworkers, and our community as George Floyd’s killing is added to so many others.  We urge all to listen to communities who experience the many forms of violence that have shaped our history and cloud our future.   We express our gratitude to people around the world who have shared their pain and indignation,...

Julie L. Williams   Julie L. Williams is a friend of CLACS and UIUC alumna who received her Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology.  She is also a former FLAS fellow.  Currently, she serves as the vice-dean of the College of Social Sciences and the Humanities at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, where she is also a professor of anthropology.   Just a few weeks ago...

CLACS extends heartfelt congratulations to affiliate Dr. Kora Maldonado (Anthropology/American Indian Studies) for her recent receipt of the J. Fedrick Miller Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service from the University YMCA for her work with the local Maya community.  Click to learn more about Dr. Maldonado's work and her award.

  Dear Colleagues, As this difficult semester winds down, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies is thrilled to share three items of good news from the past few months. First, CLACS has been selected as an inaugural member of the...

by Joe Coyle   Joe Coyle is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology who has recently returned from Brazil after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his dissertation fieldwork.  Joe's research focuses on "igrejas inclusivas" or LGBTQ-inclusive evangelical churches in Brazil.   As Brazil began reporting its first local transmissions of coronavirus in early March of...