08/11/2026
Last week, Ph.D. student Briseyda Barrientos Ariza participated in LASA Centroamérica, 2026. Here are Briseyda’s reflections on the experience:
“I had the absolute privilege of attending LASA’s first-ever regional conference in Central America, “Centroamérica en la encrucijada: Resistir en tiempos de asedio,” held August 4–7 in San José, Costa Rica.
I chaired the panel “Embodied Performance and Visual Memory in Postwar Guatemala,” where I presented my paper “Espectrealidades: diálogos de memoria, duelo y desobediencia visual en las obras artísticas de Ricardo Martínez Teruel y Regina José Galindo.” It was an honor to be in dialogue with my colleagues: Andrea García Rodríguez, Santiago Barrios de la Mora, Sebastian Barajas, and Melissa Valenzuela Gómez.
It was also wonderful to run into friends and colleagues throughout the conference — we all kept dipping in and out of talks because we simply couldn’t resist trying to catch every panel, roundtable, magistral session, and workshop!
As the only in-person Yale representative at this conference, it was especially lovely to run into former Central American Yalies like Dr. Jorge Cuellar and Dr. Cristian Padilla Romero. ¡Aquí estamos! 🌊🌟
And the community- and network-building didn’t stop at the conference — hence the airport reunion photo with Professor Charlene Villaseñor Black, Dr. Carlos Rivas, and Leda Ramos Prietto.
It’s so exciting to be a part of the growing field of Central American Studies and its ongoing scholarship! This conference was one for the history books (literally)! I cannot wait to do this again!
¡Centroamérica desde el istmo hacia el mundo! 🤍🌎.”
