Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University

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Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University

Since 1966, CLACS at NYU has served as a nexus for students, faculty, and community.

04/02/2026

We are thrilled to invite you to the 2026 Professor Emeritus Christopher Mitchell Distinguished Lecture, featuring political scientist Jo-Marie Burt ( / ).

In her talk "The Pursuit of Justice in Post-Genocide Guatemala," Dr. Burt will share her perspective on the landmark Sepur Zarco sexual violence trial, exploring the power of transnational activism and systemic change.

EVENT DETAILS
📅 Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026
⏱️ Time: 6:00-8:30 PM ET
📍 Location: Jurow Lecture Hall (Silver Center) | 31 Washington Place, NYC
👤 Format: In-person and Zoom

🔗 Register now at the link in our bio!

04/01/2026

Next Wednesday at CLACS: Kreyòl Language Lounge: Haitian Poetry and Storytelling

📅 Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2026
⏱️ Time: 6:00 p.m.
📍 Location: Espacio de Culturas (53 Washington Square South)
📄 Registration: Please use the link found in our bio.

The Kreyòl Language Lounge is a space where you can gather with others who love Haitian Creole, whether you’re a beginner, fluent speaker, or simply curious. This is a chance to practice your Kreyòl in a relaxed environment, meet new friends, and build community through conversation. This month's topic is "Haitian Poetry and Storytelling."

There will be good vibes, good food, drinks, and plenty of snacks to keep the conversations flowing. No pressure, no classroom setting—just laughter, learning, and connection. 🌿

03/30/2026

Next Monday at CLACS: The First Installment of the Spring Graduate Research Colloquium, featuring Marina Bedran (Johns Hopkins University)

📅 Date: Monday, April 6, 2026
⏱️ Time: 6:00 p.m.
📍 Location: Espacio de Culturas (53 Washington Square South)
📄 Registration: Please use the link found in our bio.

Between the 1950s and the 1980s, Brazil saw an escalation of developmentalism, with several attempts to develop Amazonia and bring economic investment into the region. During this period, many prominent intellectuals, artists, and writers embraced modernizing principles centered on urban and industrial imaginaries, often in ways that reproduced the government’s rhetoric of political and economic progress and development. This talk examines, through select case studies, the work of Brazilian and Brazil-based artists who turned to Amazonia at the height of developmentalism, crafting experimental aesthetics in response to the multifarious and often unfamiliar universe they encountered. It discussed developmentalism’s grounding in monoculture as both a material practice and a worldview: an ideology of progress, linearity, and teleology that devalues the universe of human and nonhuman multiplicities not always immediately apprehensible. In turn, it shows how formal experimentation articulated new ways of thinking about the nonhuman, Indigeneity, and development, helping shape public perceptions of Amazonia in the decades that followed.

03/10/2026

Despite living in New York, Carlos Jimenez Cahua is a resolutely unyielding Peruvian. A Professor of Art at Pratt Institute (Brooklyn), he studied in the Quechua Language and Culture Program at NYU. Over the years, he developed a nobly quixotic plan: to delve into the open markets and public auctions where artifacts of Andean culture are traded. And so, with his own funds, he managed to buy/rescue more than a dozen exquisite pieces of ceramics and silverware belonging to the pre-Inka and Inka cultures. The rescue/mission rejects museums (Peruvian and foreign) and advocates for their safekeeping in the homes of academics, students, and select Andean guardians. The exhibition of these pieces, and the lecture Makiykupi, hoqmanta/In Our Hands, Once Again, will stimulate a public conversation on the illicit art market and strategies of cultural repatriation.

📅 Monday, March 23rd

📍 Espacio de Culturas KJCC - 53 Washington Square South

🕕 7:00–8:30 p.m.

🔗 RSVP In bio

03/03/2026

✨SAVE THE DATE…EXCITING NEWS COMING SOON!!✨

02/23/2026

TODAY via Zoom (6 p.m. ET): Keila Grinberg (Pitt/UNIRIO) will deliver a public talk titled "What Happened to Lydia's Savings? Slavery, Savings, and Reparations in Brazil."

Due to inclement weather, Professor Grinberg’s presentation will occur via Zoom. Please access the registration link below.

https://nyu.zoom.us/meeting/register/e8kmbkGKRQWtn5cfFeHqVg #/registration

02/19/2026

Announcing the 2026 Christopher Mitchell Distinguished Lecture by Jo-Marie Burt

Thursday, April 16, 2026, 6:00 p.m. | Jurow Lecture Hall | 31 Washington Place | Zoom Attendance Available

In the face of different forms of violence, women are often at the forefront of movements resisting oppression and defending rights. In post-genocide Guatemala, women have played a critical role in the search for justice for atrocities committed during the internal armed conflict (1960-1996). Women’s voices and narrations in war crimes trials are a critical part of the healing process for them as individuals, for their families and their communities. Their demands for accountability also provided new tools for understanding the role of the state in mass atrocities and for a broader rewriting of difficult pasts.

In this presentation, Jo-Marie Burt (George Mason University and Washington Office on Latin America) will discuss her work witnessing the Sepur Zarco sexual violence trial as an international trial monitor and the lessons for understanding how local, national and transnational activism can bring about positive social change.

The family of Professor Emeritus Christopher Mitchell established this endowment to honor his impactful contributions as a teacher and scholar of Latin American political science and foreign policy. The series brings leading experts to CLACS to share their profound work and showcases a wide range of intellectual perspectives on the region.

02/15/2026

Doce colombianos —excombatientes, víctimas, personas desplazadas y ciudadanos de diferentes regiones del país, pertenecientes a diversos estratos sociales, niveles educativos e ideologías— comparten sus memorias sobre el conflicto armado desde sus propias perspectivas y contextos. Sus relatos se entrelazan y dialogan, revelando distintas versiones de los hechos y mostrando cómo el conflicto en Colombia ha sido, históricamente, una realidad compleja que nos toca a todos.

Manuel Vélez-Arboleda (Manizales, 1988) es artista, curador, productor y gestor cultural. Es director y miembro de ACCAC, propietario de La Fábrica Terminal, director de FESTICINERIO y curador de Videos sobre Ruedas. Sus trabajos han sido premiados y seleccionados en diversos festivales de cine nacionales e internacionales, y ha expuesto en espacios como ExTeresa (México), The Chapel (Bélgica), The Space (Países Bajos), Casa de la Cultura de Cusco (Perú), Zapadores Ciudad del Arte (España) y Parque Explora (Colombia), entre otros.

Les invitamos a la proyección del documental, seguida de un conversatorio con el director. ¡Nos vemos!

https://wp.nyu.edu/colombianstudiesinitiative/proyeccion-y-conversatorio-memorias-en-dialogo/

(Recibirán un enlace para conectarse el día del evento)

02/09/2026

In his new book, historian José Ragas (Universidad Católica de Chile) uncovers a largely forgotten chapter of Peruvian history: the first major wave of Andean migration to Lima between 1850 and 1920.

Long before the better-known migrations of the 20th century, thousands of Andean men and women reshaped the capital through their labor, initiative, and ingenuity, helping transform a colonial town into a modern city. Drawing on archival sources, newspapers, and family memoirs, Lima Chola reconstructs who these early migrants were, what they sought, and how they were received. At a moment when racism and exclusion are once again resurgent, their story reminds us that the history of Lima is, above all, a history of migration.

Co-presented with the CLACS Working Group on Racisms in Comparative Perspective.

RSVP here: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/clacs/events/spring-2026/lima-chola--a-history-of-the-great-andean-migration.html

02/07/2026

On Thursday, February 19, Charles F. Walker (UC Davis) will deliver a lecture and participate in a workshop on the Shining Path's March 1982 attack on the Ayacucho jail.

On March 2, 1982, participants successfully freed all 250 prisoners. Hours later, humiliated police officers executed three patients in the local hospital, accused of being part of the Maoist insurgency, dumping their bodies in front of the university. Based on in-depth interviews and recently released archival sources, Walker's exercise in microhistory probes how a single event can alter a conflict and even a nation and illuminate how people experienced the phenomenon.

The workshop portion of the event will be moderated by Prof. Renzo S. Aroni Sulca. A week before the event, we will circulate a portion of the book. For those interested, please contact Prof. Aroni at [email protected].

RSVP here: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/clacs/events/spring-2026/the-shining-path-s-march-2-3--1982-jailbreak--the-night-that-cha.html

02/04/2026

📍 Coming up this month at CLACS

Feb 11 | Kreyòl Language Lounge: Love & Haitian Desserts

Feb 13 | Trans Caribbean: Q***r & Trans Arts & Activism

Feb 19 | The Shining Path’s March 2-3, 1982 Jailbreak: The Night that Changed Peru

Feb 23 | What Happened to Lydia's Savings? Slavery, Savings Banks, and Reparations in Brazil

Feb 24 | Lima Chola: A History of Andean Migration

Feb 26 | Unraveling Textile Bodies: Dance of the Ndukun

🔗 RSVP is required! Head to the link in our bio to register for these public events.

01/28/2026

It has been said that Quechua cannot express scientific or academic knowledge because it is too complex; however, nothing could be further from the truth. This Friday, January 30th, at 6 PM, three student presenters from the CLACS Quechua Program will demonstrate that the language can express any aspect of human knowledge precisely, rigorously, and meticulously.

In a milestone event, Garrett Cessna, Yue Tan, and Aranzazu Cristina Bravo Cerpa will deliver the program's first-ever lectures conducted entirely in Quechua. Their presentations will encompass both scientific and everyday topics, with English translations to follow.

Address

53 Washington Square S
New York, NY
10012

Website

http://clacs.as.nyu.edu/

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