Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean

Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean The Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) is an interdisciplinary research

The Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) is an interdisciplinary research unit concerned with the economic development, political and social organization, and cultural contributions of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Centre works to build academic and cultural links between these regions and Canada; to inform researchers, policy advisors, and the public on matters concerning the regions; and to assist in the development of research and teaching institutions that directly benefit the peoples of the regions.

CERLAC is Co-sponsoring: Film Screening, Panel Discussion: To Stay, to Leave, to Intervene: Art and Migration through La...
09/16/2026

CERLAC is Co-sponsoring: Film Screening, Panel Discussion: To Stay, to Leave, to Intervene: Art and Migration through La Última Cachada

Date: Monday, September 28
Time: 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Sensorium Flex Space – Room 326, Centre for Fine Arts, York University
Free. RSVP HERE
https://events.yorku.ca/events/film-screening-and-panel-discussion-to-stay-to-leave-to-intervene-art-and-migration-through-la-ultima-cachada/?occurrence=2026-09-28

In conjunction with the RUTAS festival on Monday, September 28, Sensorium, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), and the Graduate Program in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies will co-host a screening and discussion with artists-activists-scholars from the Hemispheric Encounters Network (HEN), including documentary filmmaker Andrea Rodríguez Marín (Mexico), Magdalena Henríquez (Salvadoran actress and co-founder of La Cachada Teatro), Alina Peña (researcher-professor, ITESO, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara), and Amparo Marroquín Parducci (researcher-professor, José Simeón Cañas Central American University).

Join us for a screening of La Última Cachada, a powerful documentary about the work of La Cachada Teatro, a Salvadoran feminist theatre collective whose members draw on their own lived experiences to create socially engaged performance about migration amid the shifting political and social realities of El Salvador.

Drawing on the short documentary, the conversation that follows asks the question, “What does a country lose when its people leave?” This discussion brings together theatrical experience, audiovisual creation, and research to approach migration as displacement, desire, loss, and possibility. Through the voices and bodies of La Cachada Teatro, we will explore how art intervenes in reality, transforms lived experience, and opens collective spaces for resistance, memory, and hope.

Following the screening of La Última Cachada and subsequent discussion, Sensorium is inviting all attendees, as well as Sensorium members and prospective members, to join us for a Fall Meet & Greet in the Sensorium Loft Space to mark the beginning of the semester. This event will be a fantastic opportunity to meet each other informally, learn more about the Sensorium and CERLAC communities, their upcoming events, and ways to get involved. Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP for both the Film Screening and Meet & Greet, to help us with snacks ordering (drop-ins also welcome).

CERLAC Presents:Official Screening of After Melissa - Survival is only the beginning.A Documentary Film by Kaneal GayleT...
09/03/2026

CERLAC Presents:

Official Screening of After Melissa - Survival is only the beginning.
A Documentary Film by Kaneal Gayle

Thursday, September 10, 2026
2:30 – 4:30
280N York Lanes
York University | Keele Campus

In the immediate aftermath of a devastating hurricane, communities across Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth, Trelawny, and St. James in Jamaica were thrust into a fragile reality where survival, grief, and resilience unfolded side by side.

This documentary chronicles the first two weeks after the storm, capturing the raw, unfiltered experiences of families and individuals as they grappled with trauma, loss, and uncertainty while still finding the strength to endure each day.
Through intimate, ground-level storytelling, the film follows hurricane survivors as they navigate damaged homes, disrupted livelihoods, and limited access to basic services. Mothers caring for children in overcrowded shelters, elderly residents confronting isolation, and workers attempting to rebuild small businesses; reveal how recovery is not only physical, but deeply emotional and psychological.

Set against the backdrop of Jamaica’s rugged landscapes and resilient spirit, the documentary explores how trauma manifests in the days immediately following disaster, and how hope begins to take root even amid despair. By focusing on lived experiences rather than statistics, the film offers a human portrait of recovery, which underscores the urgency of compassionate, people-centered disaster response, and honors the strength of those striving to survive, heal, and rebuild their lives, one day at a time.

About the Director
Kaneal Gayle is a Jamaican communications consultant, journalist and documentary filmmaker.
With a career in journalism and production that began in 2008, Kaneal has built a reputation for human-centered storytelling that blends strong editorial instincts with cinematic craft thus creating content that informs, moves audiences, and supports meaningful social change.

As a filmmaker, Kaneal is recognized for compelling, socially relevant documentary storytelling. He directed the award-winning documentary Battlelines: Javed Jaghai v The State, winner of the Press Association of Jamaica’s Special Award for Outstanding Television (2014). His work has screened internationally, including two documentaries that premiered at the CaribbeanTales Film Festival in Toronto: Rainbow Revolution (2016), which documents Jamaica’s inaugural Pride events, and Dancehall’s Asian Ambassadors (2018), a film exploring Japanese women who moved to Jamaica driven by their love for dancehall culture. Dancehall’s Asian Ambassadors also screened at multiple festivals in the United States and the wider Caribbean and Europe, extending the film’s reach to diverse global audiences.

Kaneal’s journey into filmmaking was a natural evolution of his journalistic mission. After years of chasing daily headlines, he recognized that the limitations of short news formats often restricted the depth and nuance required to tell complex human stories. That realization pushed him toward long-form features that could explore root causes, elevate underrepresented voices, and create space for dignity, context, and truth. Over time, those deeper features became documentaries and projects defined by careful listening, strong character development, and a commitment to impact.

This event is being co-sponsored by The Harriet Tubman Institute - York University

CERLAC is Co-sponsoring the Canadian Documentary Premiere ofWalter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know Walter Rodne...
08/28/2026

CERLAC is Co-sponsoring the Canadian Documentary Premiere of
Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know

Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know is an original 72-minute documentary featuring a murder, Cold War conspiracies, Black Power, the end of the Empire, and how that connects to the policing, surveillance practices, and social movements of today. This is the first film where Walter’s widow reveals the personal impact on the family of Walter’s assassination. It feeds a growing global appetite for history from a different perspective, as we grapple with the legacy of empire and colonialism and its impact on the modern world.

The Rodney family will be in attendance for the screening.
Directed by Arlen Harris and Daniyal Harris-Vajda with support from Ameena Gafoor Institute, Walter Rodney Foundation, and Urban Garden Productions.

The Mach Form link for people to register for September 16 with York: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=GBNTNBFw1E-H8KQ4FsSb0NEvYMKcOT9BgXPDP7MVVZNUNkVLMVo1MFdFV0M5V0FDNVNRQzM2UjAzVy4u&origin=lprLink&route=shorturl

The Eventbrite link for people to register for September 18 with UoT

CERLAC and CALACS present: The Uncomfortable Scrutiny of the Global FootballsphereDebates on and about Latin American an...
08/25/2026

CERLAC and CALACS present: The Uncomfortable Scrutiny of the Global Footballsphere

Debates on and about Latin American and Caribbean teams and nations in the aftermath of the 2026 Men's World Cup


You are invited to join us online for a talk exploring how football became a stage (and a mirror) for national identity across Latin America and the Caribbean during the 2026 World Cup.

Get a critical read on the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the USA, and what it revealed about Latin American and Caribbean nations.

Explore how political and social issues become "footballized" — and how football itself is used as both spectacle and smokescreen.

Hear directly from Dr. Pete Watson, author of Football and Nation Building in Colombia: The Only Thing that Unites Us (Liverpool University Press, 2022) and a leading voice in Latin American sport history.

Wednesday, 16 September 2026

12:00PM (Toronto/Easter Time)

Online via Zoom - Register here: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tQ-k80oCSBKB95gc2eKYbQ


About the talk

Sporting mega-events let nations tell stories about themselves — and have stories told about them. This talk examines the narratives surrounding Latin American and Caribbean nations at the 2026 World Cup: how political and social issues became "footballized," how football was politicized as both spectacle and smokescreen, and what fractures in national identity this exposes.

About the speaker

Dr. Watson is an expert in Latin American sport history and its ties to culture, politics, and society. He has recorded 60+ podcast episodes on Latin American football and cinema (Footpol, Outside Write, These Football Times, Your Boys Took a Hell of a Beating, and Soccernostalgia), and is currently researching British referees in 1940s–50s Latin America with Dr Alexander Jackson (National Football Museum). More at linktr.ee/drpetewatson.

CERLAC is Co-Sponsoring: Conversatorio: Situación de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas en Centroamérica y Nicaragua*...
08/14/2026

CERLAC is Co-Sponsoring: Conversatorio: Situación de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas en Centroamérica y Nicaragua*

La Cátedra Centroamérica invita a un espacio de diálogo sobre la situación actual de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas en Centroamérica, tomando como caso de análisis la situación de Brooklyn Rivera, quien falleció el 30 de mayo de 2026 bajo custodia del Estado de Nicaragua.

El caso ha motivado pronunciamientos de la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos y de la CIDH, que han solicitado una investigación imparcial.

Palabras de inicio:
Claudia Pineda, directora de la Asociación Memoria y Justicia.

Invitada especial:
Anexa Alfred Cunningham, vicepresidenta del Mecanismo de Expertos sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas de la ONU.

Jueves 20 de agosto de 2026
2:00 p. m. (CST)
Facultad de Ingeniería, primer piso, miniauditorio 1

Trasmisión en vivo: https://www.youtube.com/webtvucr

CERLAC is Co-Sponsoring: Mass Incarceration in El Salvador: State of Exception, State of RepressionLeo Panitch School fo...
08/07/2026

CERLAC is Co-Sponsoring: Mass Incarceration in El Salvador: State of Exception, State of Repression
Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education

What is going on in El Salvador and how does this matter to Canada?

In March 2022 the Nayib Bukele administration in El Salvador invoked an emergency measure called a “state of exception” in reaction to a spike in gang violence.

Under the pretext of protecting public order, this measure suspends freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, as well as fundamental rights surrounding arrest and detention. These include the right of habeas corpus, the right to be informed of the reasons for detention, access to legal assistance, and numerous guarantees of due process.

Though the Constitution allows for such exceptional measures on a temporary basis, the state of exception has been renewed continuously on a monthly basis, making it a permanent security policy. It is also wielded as a tool of repression against environmental defenders, human rights workers, lawyers, journalists, political opposition members, and others.

Over 91,000 people have been imprisoned under the emergency regime, making El Salvador’s incarceration rate the highest in the world at 2% of the population.

There has been a dramatic drop in gang-perpetrated murders, but at the cost of a human rights catastrophe. National and international organizations have documented dismaying patterns such as arrests for alleged gang membership with no evidence, often in poor communities, persecution and arrest of courageous defenders of human rights, environment, and democracy, severe mistreatment in detention amounting to torture, and preposterous and cruel collective trials of hundreds at a time on gang-related charges. According to the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) there have been 483 deaths in custody.

Join us on August 10, Prisoners’ Justice Day, for a panel discussion and educational Q&A session on who is being affected by unjust imprisonment in El Salvador, and Canada’s stake in the erosion of democracy and human rights in El Salvador.

When – August 10 – doors open: 6:30pm, event starts 7pm
Where – College Street United Church – 502 Bathurst Street, Toronto ON | + Online
How – Advance registration required https://www.tickettailor.com/events/panitchschool/2301924 – Free

This event will be taking place in person in Toronto and online. Please register for further details and online meeting link.

This informational event is being co-organized by the Leo Panitch School and the Committee in Solidarity with the Victims of the State of Exception in El Salvador.

Event endorsements:
Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) at York University.
Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique latine (CDHAL)
The Department of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies (ISPLAS) at University of Toronto

Our featured speakers

Samuel Ramirez, activist with the Movement of Victims of the Regime (MOVIR)

Ingrid Escobar, human rights defender, and Director of Socorro Juridico Humanitario (Humanitarian Legal Aid)

Those in attendance are warmly invited to gather afterwards to continue this important conversation. Complimentary refreshments will be on offer.

Accessibility
College Street United Church is located at College and Bathurst in Toronto. The building is wheelchair accessible and features multiple accessible, gender neutral washrooms. We kindly ask all attendees to refrain from wearing scented products at Leo Panitch School events.
Any questions or requests regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to [email protected].

Uruguayan Film Screening: "Julio, Felices por Siempre"You are invited to a bilingual screening exploring love, time, and...
06/08/2026

Uruguayan Film Screening: "Julio, Felices por Siempre"

You are invited to a bilingual screening exploring love, time, and relationships.

Presented by
Consulate General of Uruguay in Toronto
and Spanish Program of the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University

In collaboration with
Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC)

When: Thursday, June 25, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Where: York Lanes 280N | York University | Keele Campus

"Julio, felices por siempre" is a subtle and emotionally resonant Uruguayan film that explores love, distance, and the passage of time within a couple’s relationship. With a minimalist aesthetic and emotionally nuanced performances, this Uruguayan film offers a quiet yet powerful reflection on intimacy and the complexity of connection.

Join us for a compelling cinematic experience and discussion afterwards.

Free

Refreshments will be served.

CERLAC is Co-Sponsoring: Trade Fetishism: How much is trade policy driven by economic or magical thinking? WebinarDate: ...
05/27/2026

CERLAC is Co-Sponsoring: Trade Fetishism: How much is trade policy driven by economic or magical thinking?

Webinar

Date: June 25, 2026
Time: 12 to 1:30 p.m. ET
RSVP: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/sumy5J-vTz-MwwTymXIAsg

Join Gavin Fridell and Patrick Clark, authors of the new book, Trade Fetishism: Magical and Materialist Thinking in Global Political Economy, and guest commentators Carlo Dade and Laura Macdonald as they discuss trade policy, trade activism, and the role of fantasy and desire in an increasingly unstable and uneven trading world.

Moderated by Stuart Trew, Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Trade and Investment Research Project).

Sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Department of Political Science and Global Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University, the New North America Initiative at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University, and the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).

Authors

Gavin Fridell, University Research Professor of Political Science and Global Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University

Patrick Clark, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science and Global Development Studies at St. Mary's University and Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher at CERLAC.

Discussants

Carlo Dade, Director of International Policy and the New North America Initiative at the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary

Laura Macdonald, Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Political Science and Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University

Registration required

RSVP: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/sumy5J-vTz-MwwTymXIAsg

Event Sponsors: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Carleton University, Saint Mary's University, School of Public Policy, New North America Initiative, University of Calgary, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) - York University

CERLAC is Co-sponsoring: A conversation with: Stephanie Sophie LouisHaitian political activist advocating mounité: mutua...
04/16/2026

CERLAC is Co-sponsoring:

A conversation with: Stephanie Sophie Louis

Haitian political activist advocating mounité: mutual dignity & respect that recognizes humanity in others.

Moderator: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Tuesday, April 21, 2026
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Blackhurst Cultural Centre (777 Bathurst Street)

We encourage everyone to register.

Address

4700 Keele Street • Kaneff Tower Suite 825
Toronto, ON
M3J1P3

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