University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies

Every fall our community grows! 🧡💙 This week, we welcomed another MALAS cohort, our Kislak Artist in Residence Yucef Merhi, four Bushnell scholarship students from Chocó, Colombia, and a host of familiar faces among faculty, students, staff, and alumni all returning to Grinter Hall for happy reunions and new beginnings. 🥰 Have a great fall semester!

Our fall COLOQUIO series starts next week! 🤓 Please join us on Friday, August 28 for the talk "1992: 500 Years of Anti-Colonial Resistance," by Sara Garzón, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Harn Museum of Art.

Drawing from her book project, Dr. Garzón maps the "counter-commemoration movement" of 1992, examining how artists, activists, curators, and intellectuals challenged the visual and epistemic structures through which the conquest of the Americas was being rememorialized.

Meet Heather Vrana, Associate Professor of History at the University of Florida and Associate Editor of the Latin American Research Review. Her research focuses on social movements, Central America, race, disability, medicine, and nationalism.

👉 Meet the editorial board: https://loom.ly/2UaVRCQ

Did you know the first MALAS degree was awarded in August 1952? 🌎🎓 Latin American thesis topics had long existed at UF, but in 1951 the Institute of Inter-American Affairs transformed into the School of Inter-American Studies so that we could award a master's degree in Latin American Studies specifically.

When Nicolás A. Rodríguez of Yabucoa 🇵🇷 graduated with the thesis "The Movement for the Annexation of Cuba to the United States, 1848-1851," he became the first MALAS alum! 💙🧡

(He also might have been the first student to have three typos in their yearbook entry, but we are unable to confirm this. 😅)

Here are some of the classes we're offering this fall! ✨ Check out the full list and the syllabi at latam.ufl.edu/academics/courses 🤓
🖐️Populisms
🌿 Development Theory and Practice
🪘 Latin American Music
🇻🇪 Venezuela: from Puntofijismo to Chavismo
🦙 Beginner Kichwa (Quechua) Culture through language

A huge FELICITACIONES to the student journalists of "The Price of Paradise" for winning a Mark of Excellence Student Journalism Award in the category of in-depth reporting at a large university! 🌿

Led by two pros (professionals and professors) Cynthia Barnett and Gabby Salazar, the team reported on the limits of ecotourism in Costa Rica, a global model for nature-based tourism. 🇨🇷

We were thrilled to help fund the students' travel to Costa Rica last year, where they conducted interviews with experts and gathered footage at research stations, national parks, and local farms. Enhorabuena to the whole team for your brilliant work and well-deserved recognition! 🎉

View "The Price of Paradise" here (se puede leer en español también!): https://www.wuft.org/the-price-of-paradise

Join us for an Author Talk with Judith A. Bense on Early Spanish Florida: Unearthing the History of America's Oldest Colony.

🗓️ Wednesday, August 5 | 🕖 7 PM

Discover the rich history of early Florida through the stories of Spanish, Indigenous, and African communities. Books will be available for purchase, followed by a Q&A with the author.

We're offering beginner Kichwa in the fall! Once the language of the Inca Empire, today Kichwa/Quechua is spoken by more than 10 million people across South America. Join instructor Micaela Jerez to learn basic language skills as well as cultural, historical, and political context.

🏔️ MWF | 12:50 - 1:40 pm | Matherly 0251
🦙 LAS 3930 | KB01 | 27681

Grad students, you may audit this course or use it toward requirements for independent study 🤓