David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard

08/25/2026

The DRCLAS Open House is an opportunity to meet faculty, students, and colleagues across Harvard who share an interest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Join us on September 16 for an evening of conversation and connection.

📅 Wednesday, September 16, 2026
🕠 5:30 - 7:30 PM ET
📍 CGIS South Building, Harvard University

Register: https://loom.ly/0hQTQlk

07/17/2026

Wondering what the DRCLAS Visiting Scholars & Fellows Program actually provides?

Each year, 7 to 10 scholars and fellows are selected for named positions that include a $35,000 living stipend, up to $4,000 in relocation support for themselves and their dependents, office space at DRCLAS, Harvard library access, the opportunity to audit classes and attend seminars across Harvard's schools, J-1 visa sponsorship, and health insurance coverage.

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Are you a scholar or practitioner working on Latin America and the Caribbean? Apply to join the 2027–28 DRCLAS Visiting Scholars & Fellows Program. Applications are open through September 4, 2026.
https://loom.ly/xlnGf8k

07/16/2026

Scholars and practitioners working on Latin America and the Caribbean — join us for an information session on the DRCLAS Visiting Scholars, Visiting Fellows, and Ivorra Visiting Scholars positions at Harvard.

Sessions cover fellowship opportunities, the application process, and tips for submitting a competitive application.

🗓️ July 30, 2026 at 6:00 PM ET
🗓️ August 11, 2026 at 6:00 PM ET

🔗 Learn more and register: www.drclas.harvard.edu/visiting-scholars-fellows

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Are you a scholar or practitioner working on Latin America and the Caribbean? Apply to join the 2027–28 DRCLAS Visiting Scholars & Fellows Program. Applications are open through September 4, 2026.

07/13/2026

When Andrés Barrios Fernández arrived in Cambridge as the Fall 2025 Luksic Visiting Scholar, he was seeking more than uninterrupted research time. He was looking for intellectual friction.

"The academic community here is extremely attractive," he said. "There's an incredible concentration of people thinking seriously about related questions, but from very different angles."

Over four months, Barrios Fernández presented his work at universities across the United States and developed new research ideas through those exchanges. For him, the value extended beyond his own scholarship.

"This experience doesn't just benefit me. It creates spillovers for colleagues, students, and the broader research environment back home."

Read his full story: https://loom.ly/lGH5pJo
Applications for the 2027–28 DRCLAS Visiting Scholars & Fellows Program are open through September 4, 2026.

07/10/2026

"It is rare to find such a welcoming and intellectually engaged community united by a shared commitment to understanding Latin America."
- Christopher Carter, DRCLAS Central America Visiting Scholar 2026–27.

Applications open through September 4, 2026
Learn more: drclas.harvard.edu/visiting-scholars-fellows

07/06/2026

Applications for the 2027–28 DRCLAS Visiting Scholars & Fellows Program are now open.

Each year, DRCLAS selects a cohort of distinguished academics and practitioners working on Latin America and the Caribbean to spend one or two semesters at Harvard pursuing independent research.

Application deadline: September 4, 2026.
https://loom.ly/xlnGf8k

06/30/2026

Our hearts are with the people of Venezuela as they continue the enormous task of recovery and reconstruction following the recent devastating earthquakes.

We are inspired by the solidarity shown across Latin America as communities, organizations, and countries come together to support those affected by this tragedy.

Desde DRCLAS, enviamos nuestro más profundo mensaje de apoyo y solidaridad al pueblo venezolano. Les deseamos fortaleza mientras enfrentan este enorme desafío y acompañamos con el corazón a quienes han perdido seres queridos, hogares y miembros de sus comunidades.

06/23/2026

Congratulations to former DRCLAS Visiting Scholar Patricia Ames, whose article—developed during her time at Harvard—received the 2025 José María Arguedas Award from LASA’s Peru Section for the best article published that year.

The award honors outstanding scholarship on Peru and recognizes work of exceptional originality, relevance, and academic rigor. Patricia’s winning article, co-authored with Camilla Morelli, Almendra Aguilar, and Roldan Tumi, examines educational trajectories among young Indigenous women in Amazonia.

We are delighted to see this work receive such meaningful recognition and proud that DRCLAS could support it during her residency.

🔗 Learn more: https://loom.ly/wyAygMw

06/15/2026

The future of the Pantanal may depend less on choosing between production and conservation than on learning how to hold them together.

After two centuries of extensive livestock farming, about 85% of the Pantanal's native vegetation remains preserved. In this Nexo essay, a group of co-authors spanning research, ranching, and conservation shared that there is a growing understanding that traditional Pantanal livestock farming can be an ally of conservation — and that integrating production and conservation is not only desirable, but necessary. Its future will depend on the ability to strengthen this model, based on science, innovation, and dialogue among the different actors.

Part of a series emerging from the 2026 Lemann Dialogue.

Read more: https://loom.ly/eeLi4fI

Integrar produção e conservação não é apenas desejável, mas necessário

06/11/2026

What did the 2026 Lemann Dialogue make clear about Brazil’s environmental future?

In this reflection, Talita André, a candidate at the Columbia Climate School, draws four central lessons from the convening: Brazil’s biomes cannot be treated in isolation; strong laws mean little without enforcement; environmental destruction has long been justified through false narratives of “empty” territory; and the central bottleneck is no longer diagnosis, but financing and political translation.

Read the full recap: https://loom.ly/6UZ66i0

Six Biomes, Multiple Realities, One Country: What Was Learned at the 2026 Lemann Dialogue Talita André, Columbia Climate School candidate, shares her reflections on restoration, economic development, and the future of Brazilian biodiversity as discussed at the 2026 Lemann Dialogue: Six Biomes, Mult...