News and Events

Upcoming Events

Mexico's Security Crisis, Violence, Militarization and US-Mexico Cooperation: A policy Perspective

April 2, 2024

US-Mexico cooperation

Past Events

March 13, 2024

Gather with friends, artists, and colleagues, and enjoy light refreshments as the Rose Art Museum marks the opening of "Noé Martínez: The Body Remembers" with a celebratory reception.

Explore Jamaica's Dancehall

March 5, 2024

Liberman-Miller Hall, Women's Studies Research Center

Out there without fear

Join us for a screening and discussion of Out There Without Fear: Jamaica's Dancehall. The 45-minute documentary explores Jamaica’s Dancehall dance through the lens of art, dance, classism, violence, sexuality, the Church, and Blackness.
 
Q&A with filmmaker Joelle Simone Powe and choreographer, performer, and instructor Latonya Style. 2-3:45
 
After a break,  explore Dancehall with a dance session led by Latonya Style, 5:30 - 6:30.
 
Refreshments will be served.
Violence Knows No Borders: a Continuum of Violence for Latin American and Caribbean Women

February 27, 2024

Caribbean women
Class with Claudia Mattos Avolese on Brazilian Indigenous Art, MCH G-10, 9:35 AM-10:55 AM

February 9, 2024

ÍNDIO PRESENTE”: Indigenous self-representation in the arts of Brazil

This class will discuss the emergence of Indigenous self-representation in the arts of Brazil, with special focus on the last decade. It will look at landmark exhibitions and closely examine the recent works of Indigenous artists active in the national and international art scene today. The class will also discuss the challenges of producing art from the border space between cultures inhabited by these artists.image.pngDenilson Baniwa, Natureza Morta (Still-life/Dead Nature), Digital print, 2017.

You can access the recommended readings here and here.

A conversation with Jordan Salama, 10-10:35am, Shiffman 120

February 6, 2024

Jordan Salama, a writer for National Geographic, The New York Times and more, is enthusiastic about a conversation with Brandeis students to share his own journey through Latin America as a non-fiction author and journalist looking to find his family's story (including topics like immigration, diversity, and memory). 
Salama has a new book coming out, Stranger in the Desert, which chronicles a journey Jordan made across Argentina in search of possible long-lost descendants of his Syrian Jewish great-grandfather, who worked as a travelling salesman in the Andes mountains. It is also a journey of self-discovery, as he grapples with his own hybrid Arab, Jewish, and Latin American identities, discussing the importance of intergenerational storytelling in order to preserve cultural memory.
This is a Q&A-based visit. Participants in the conversation are encouraged to read some of Salama's work. "Defending the Land, Paying with their Lives" (see Google link attached) and "The Candy Sellers" are great examples of Salama's.
La Fuerza de Brandeis: Latinx Portrait Project

November 3, 2023

Latinx Portrait
Decolonizing Environmental Governance

October 25, 2023

Climate event
First-year small group discussions with Dr. Patricia Alvarez Astacio

October 23, 2023

Small group discussion
In this talk, we will explore the intersection of tradition and modernity in a market-oriented world,  analyzing how these forces influence traditional textiles. We will also examine the challenges of plagiarism and cultural appropriation, as well as how indigenous communities in Mexico, respond to these dynamics, preserving their heritage and resisting in an increasingly globalized environment.

October 4, 2023

Gerstenzang 122
4:10-5:25 pm.
Artist-Alvarez

October 5, 2023

Meet the Majors
Yes to Yasuní. Ecuadorian Activists Discuss the Referendum Against Oil Drilling in the Amazon

October 2, 2023

Yes to Yasuni
LACLS spring celebration

April 28, 2023

LALCS celebration

April 16, 2023

The Latin American Jewish Experience: A Kaleidoscope of Shared Pasts, Present Activism and Future Legacies

The Launch Event celebrates the establishment of the Brandeis Initiative on the Jews of the Americas (JOTA) as a convener of study and collaboration, where the diversity of Latin American Jewish experience is known and valued, and where creative academic and community enterprises are nurtured. 

CHILDREN OF LAS BRISAS: a coming-of-age documentary

April 4, 2023

Children of brisas
Immigration, Political Instability, and U.S. Interventionism in Central America's Northern Triangle

March 23, 2023

Dany Diaz talk
Mexico and the USMCA: Risks and Challenges

March 16, 2023

usmca

March 3, 2023

film night
Say my name workshop

January 27, 2023

Say my name workshop
World Cup Watch Party

December 5, 2022

Argentina vs. Poland World Cup Party

2 p.m. | Mandel Center Room 128 

Please join the LACLS program as we host an exciting afternoon of World Cup Soccer. Come cheer on your favorite team! 

soccer ball on green field with text on party specifics
LACLS students watching the game.
world cup
Ice Cream Social

1-3 p.m. May 6, Fellows Garden

Join us for ice cream from JP Licks and a musical performance from DJ Radical One

Virtual award Ceremony

Noon-1 p.m. May 2, Zoom

A virtual award ceremony for our graduates

3 p.m. Sunday, March 13

Tour of  Bittersweet exhibition at Somerville Museum, led by the artist Santiago Montoya and curator José Falconi

Admission paid for by LACLS program

3:30-5 p.m., Lown Hall 201

Guest speaker in ANTH/HIST 143, Sugar: Cultivation, Circulation, Power

Vincent Brown

Charles Warren Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies

Fruits of Labor

February 17, 2022

Join us for a virtual Screening and discussion of "Fruits of Labor"

5-7 p.m. Feb 17, Zoom

Filmmaker Emily Cohen Ibañez will be present for a Q&A Conversation after the film. 

"Fruits of Labor" follows Ashley, the film's protagonist and co-writer, a Mexican-American teenager who dreams of graduating high school and going to college. But when ICE raids threaten her family, Ashley is forced to become the breadwinner, working days in the strawberry fields and nights in a food processing factory. "Fruits of Labor" is a coming of age story about an American teenager traversing the seen and unseen forces that keep her family trapped in poverty. 

Under the Skin: a workshop of a new play

October 19, 2021

fresco drawing of a human body

"Under the Skin," fresco, by Claudia Bernardi

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021
Noon-1:30 p.m., Zoom

Please join the minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST), Hispanic Studies, Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies (LACLS), and Theater Arts, for an online workshop of "Under the Skin," a new one-person play about the artist and human rights activist Claudia Bernardi’s life growing up in Argentina under a military junta, and her subsequent work digging up the past. This presentation is hosted by Professor María J. Durán as part of her course, Latinx Theatre: Politics, Performance, and Social Change and is funded in part by the Dean's Research Fund.

"Under the Skin"
A new play by award-winning playwright Catherine Filloux 
Performed by Mercedes Herrero
Directed by Elena Araoz
Commissioned by INTAR (Lou Moreno, Artistic Director; Paul Slee Rodriquez, Executive Director)

After the workshop, Claudia Bernardi and Catherine Filloux will join us online for a discussion.

April 16, 2021

2-4 p.m.

Film screening and discussion. Please join us and meet LACLS faculty, fellow LACLS students, and students interested in learning more about the LACLS major and minor!

Performing Indigenous Blackness: Ancestral Memory in the Garifuna Diaspora

April 12, 2021

Paul Joseph López Oro, Smith College

4-5:30 p.m.

Ancestral memory is conjured, performed, and reenacted in multiple spaces and times in the Garifuna diaspora. Garifuna peoples are descendants of shipwrecked enslaved West Africans and Carib Arawak Indians on the lesser Antillean island of St. Vincent. Their exile by British colonial powers in 1797 from St. Vincent to the Bay Islands of Honduras marks a collective nostalgia of arrival memorialized and invoked as an act of resistance to enslavement and European colonial governance. Garifuna Settlement Day marks this arrival to Central America’s Caribbean Coast as one of ancestral exile, maroonage, and history of cultural survival. In this chapter, I turn to ancestral memory as an embodied archive performed to conjure a past in the present to reenact marronage and survival.

In conversation with the works of M. Jacqui Alexander, LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant, and Omise’ke Natasha Tinsley, I closely examine the sacredness and spirituality of memory as a manifestation of ancestral presence onto and through the flesh in the public spaces of Garifuna Settlement Day, visual mediums of films such as El Espíritu de mi Mamá (1999) and Garifuna in Peril (2011), and digital spaces of Twitter #GarifunaTwitter, Facebook, and YouTube as multi-sited spaces of embodied archives of Garifunaness.

Paul Joseph López Oro is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Smith College. His research and teaching interests are on AfroLatinidades in the Américas, specifically on Black Central Americans in the United States, by closely examining hemispheric political mobilizations of Garifuna New Yorkers and by engaging with Black Feminist Queer theory & ethnography, he argues that queer politics are at the center of how and why Garifuna New Yorkers perform, articulate, and mobilize their multiple subjectivities as Black, Indigenous, and Latinx.

Paul Lopez
Garifuna spiritual gathering, Orchard Beach, the Bronx.

 Co-Sponsored by:

The Latin American and Latino Studies Program
The Department of African and African-American Studies
The Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
The Department of Anthropology
Hello I am Kitty

April 12, 2021

JoanaToro
2-3:30 p.m.

Being an immigrant is an enormous challenge, this book provokes a reflection on the status of Latin immigrants in the U.S., their cultural appropriation and new identities, ironies of immigrant life on the margins of a globalized world.

“Hello I am Kitty” is the result of a personal journal to find my new “identity” viewing right through an eye hole in the head of my Hello Kitty costume while I asked for donations after posing for pictures in Times Square between 2012-13.

The phenomenon of Latino immigration is a cultural issue of social appropriation, in which symbols play an integral role in generating images and self-images of Latinos in a society that is itself globalized. This project challenges symbols and misconceptions about Latino immigrants.

Joana Toro
New York, UNITED STATES: A street performance dressed up as Cookie Monster asks for donations after posing for pictures in Times Square. Joana Toro

 

April 8, 2021

7 p.m.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States who engage in social activism do so at great risk: the threat of deportation. In "Organizing While Undocumented," Kevin Escudero shows why and how — despite this risk — many of them bravely continue to fight on the front lines for their rights. Drawing on more than five years of research, including interviews with undocumented youth organizers, Escudero focuses on the movement’s epicenters — San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City — to explain the impressive political success of the undocumented immigrant community. He shows how their identities as undocumented immigrants, but also as queer individuals, people of color, and women, connect their efforts to broader social justice struggles today.

Kevin Escudero
Kevin Escudero

 

Indigenous Activism without Borders: a Conversation with Erika Pérez (Mayans without Borders) and Willy Barreno (Desarrollo Sostenible de Guatemala - DESGUA)

March 17, 2021

4-5:30 p.m.
DESGUA is a grassroots organization and network of community groups in Guatemala and the United States working to create economic and educational development with and for returned migrants and Mayan communities in Guatemala.  We strive to reintegrate returned migrants into Guatemalan society and to provide an alternative to emigration for those who feel like they have no other choice.

Mayas sin Fronteras/Mayans without Borders is an organization led by women in the Mam and K'iche communities in the Boston area, focused on mutual aid, language justice, immigrant rights and revitalization.
Willy Barreno
Willy Barreno
Erika Perez
Erika Pérez
Co-Sponsored by:
The Latin American and Latino Studies Program
The Department of History
The Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
The Brandeis International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

March 11, 2021

7-8: p.m.

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Ron Duncan Hart, anthropologist and author of "Crypto-Jews: The Long Journey (2020), and Mary Morris, author of Gateway to the Moon" (2018), will engage contemporary cultural and political ramifications of the historic crypto-Jewish presence in the Americas. The event will also feature a complimentary private link to the movie "A Long Journey" by Isaac Artenstein for those registered.

Panelists:

  • Ron Duncan Hart, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist, author and filmmaker. He is the author of numerous books, most recently "Crypto-Jews: The Long Journey" (2020).
  • Mary Morris, author of author of  "Gateway to the Moon" (2019), was awarded the Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts & Letters for "Vanishing Animals & Other Stories." Her many novels and story collections have been translated into Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish and Japanese. 

Co-sponsors: Brandeis Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Hispanic Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies

February 22, 2021

12:30-1:30 p.m.

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Join LAJGS for a mediated conversation between Edith Scott Saavedra, author of "The Lamps of Albarracín" (2019), and Spanish historians Lucía Conte Aguilar and Miguel Angel Motis, as they discuss the feminist experience of the Inquisition and end of Iberian Jewry, as well as the revival of Spain’s Jewish heritage in the present day. 

Moderated by Dalia Wassner, PhD, Director, HBI Project in Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Panelists: 

  • Edith Scott Saavedra, author of the historical novel "The Lamps of Albarracin/Los Candiles de Albarracin" (2019).
  • Lucía Conte Aguilar, Ph.D., lecturer at the Humanities Department and the Hispanic and European Studies Program at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. 
  • Miguel Ángel Motis Dolader, Ph.D. Professor of Communications and Social Sciences, University of San Jorge de Zaragoza and author of "Vivencias, emociones y perfiles femeninos. Judeoconversas e inquisición en Aragón en el siglo XV" (2020). 

Co-sponsors: Brandeis Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Hispanic Studies, and Latin American and Latino Studies

Your Healing is Killing me

November 18, 2020

FEATURE EVENT:

Your Healing is Killing Me

by Virginia Grise

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020

5-6:20 p.m., Zoom 

Part performance, part lecture, part writing workshop — this event is unprocessed and gluten and guilt free.  

Co-sponsored by the Department of Romance Studies, The Latin American and Latino Studies Program, and the Minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST). 

Voices of Comedy

November 14, 2020

voice of Comedy

Topic: Voices of Comedy
7 p.m. Nov. 14

Town Hall Meeting

November 13, 2020

We are inviting interested students, including but not limited to people already majoring and minoring in LALS, to a "town hall" from 10:30 a.m.-noon Nov. 13.

November 10, 2020

Out there without fear: A dancehall ocumentary

After the Dance: Performing Sovereignty in the Caribbean  invites you to an open class. Explore the global impact of Jamaica's Dancehall dancers and their struggle for local recognition. The documentary screening of "Out There Without Fear" will be followed by a panel discussion with the documentary filmmaker, Joelle Powe, the leading scholar on Jamaican popular culture from Jamaica, Dr. Carolyn Cooper, and internationally renowned Dancehall choreographer Latonya Style.  The intersection of dance with art, classism, violence, the empowerment of women, the church, tourism, and blackness will be discussed.  Panelists will be calling in for this virtual event from Jamaica. 

November 6, 2020

Please join us at 2 p.m. Nov. 6 for the Brandeis Anthropology Research Colloquium Hunt Lecture in Economic Anthropology, featuring David Freidel. "Flashing Cash: Celts, Mirrors, Money and Power in Olmec and Maya Civilizations."  

October 23, 2020

Border South: Anthropology, Documentary Film, and the Politics of Border Crossing.

Dia De Los Muertos

November 4, 2019

Thank you to the Intercultural Center (ICC) for opening their space and allowing us to host the movie COCO while we enjoyed authentic Mexican hot Chocolate and spent a bit of time telling stories about our ancestors and what this day means to us.

Eddie's Perejil, followed by Q&A

November 1, 2019

6:30 p.m.Nov. 1

"Eddie's Perejil" is a gripping solo play, written and performed by Edward Paulino, about a working-class Dominican-American college student who stumbles upon a document describing a long-forgotten genocide against Haitians by Dominicans known as the 1937 Haitian Massacre, el Corte, and temwayaj kout kouto. This discovery and subsequent self-reflection sets him on an inescapable collision course with his romanticized notion of what it means to be Dominican in the diaspora.

Meet and Greet with LALS Program

September 19, 2019

Come and join us at the Intercultural Center from noon-2 p.m. Sept. 19, 2019. We will be having a meet and greet with LALS for an opportunity for current and interested students to meet each other, learn more abou the program and meet some of our LALS faculty!

LALS Annual get together 2019

May 3, 2019

We gathered with graduating LALS students and Jane's Award and Prizes' recipients to celebrate another year with our program.

The Modern Jungle

February 4, 2019

The Modern Jungle screening, a film by Charles Fairbanks (USA) and Saul Zak (Mexico).

Día de los muertos

November 1, 2018

Held in the Intercultural Center (ICC).

Non-Fiction Documentary Photography Workshop

October 19, 2018

Presented by Stephen Ferry and Elizabeth Ferry.

La Batea Presentation: Elizabeth Ferry and Stephen Ferry present their book on Gold Mining in Columbia.

Aurelio Martínez acoustic performance

October 11, 2018

BLIFF Film Festival

September 28, 2018

Two-day film festival held this year at Brandeis held Sept. 28-29.

Past Events

LALS Annual get together

April 27, 2018

October 23, 2023

LACLS Film Night

March 3, 2023

Film night image
En el séptimo día

April 20, 2018

Film screening of "En el séptimo día" (On the Seventh Day) to promote the September 2018 Boston Latino International Film Festival at Brandeis.

Clínica de Los Migrante

March 27, 2018

Screening of "Clínica de Los Migrantes," a medical drama about a year in the life of Puentes, one of the only health clinics in the U.S. involved in the politically controversial practice of providing health care to undocumented immigrants. By law, illegal immigrants cannot obtain health insurance and receive no regular medical treatment. At Puentes, a team of volunteers led by Dr. Steve Larson attend to an ever-growing population of housekeepers, prep cooks and construction workers. Many come to Puentes after being turned away at other hospitals. Full of unforgettable patient-doctor interactions and human portraits, "Clinica de Migrantes" tells the story of America's true untouchable class and of the heroic few who reach out to help them.

Max Sedita, Janes' Travel and Research Grant

March 16, 2018

Kiss of a Spider Woman

March 12, 2018

Exclusive screening of a 35mm copy of a classic film, "Kiss of a Spider Woman," the story of political imprisonment during a military dictatorship in a Latin American country. But it is also a story about the emergence of queer identities and the power of film and storytelling.

Jessica Priestley, Jane's Travel Grant

March 9, 2018

BARS Anthropology Friday Seminar

February 9, 2018

"Touched by Music: Enchantment and Aspiration in Venezuela," presented by Dr. Yana Stainova, Dartmouth University.

Panela de Barro

February 2, 2018

Lunch field trip to Panela de Barro (Brazilian per kilo and churrascaría) co-sponsored by IBS Latin American and Brazilian Initiative.

Dolores

January 25, 2018

Screening of the movie "Dolores," co-sponsored and hosted by Sin Frontiers, Heller School. Documentary followed by discussion.

BARS Anthropology Friday Seminar

January 19, 2018

BARS Anthropology Friday Seminar, "Violence Unresolved: Argentina and the Problem of the Perpetrator," presented by Professor Ram Natarajan, University of Arkansas.