Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans|Connecticut Creating a Collective Agenda Connecticut Legislative Office Building Saturday, 11 January 2025 As the UConnPRSI has documented, Puerto Ricans consistently experience the highest inequalities among all racial and ethnic groups in the state in the state of Connecticut. The goal of this inaugural summit was to […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago               Congress possesses the constitutional power to unilaterally enact legislation abolishing birthright citizenship in the United States territories. While Congress cannot unilaterally enact legislation stripping persons born in a U.S. territory of their birthright citizenship, it can enact a statute that prevents persons from […]

Contributed by Bessy Reyna  I can’t remember when I first learned about El Instituto. Sadly, when I was a grad student at UCONN (1970-72 MA) and a PhD candidate later, there were no Latino groups I could be involved with. The Puerto Rican Center was the first of the student centers to be created. I […]

Contributed by Anne Gebelein  El Instituto and the Human Rights Institute hosted filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís February 12th for a showing of their new documentary “Borderland: The Line Within”.   Pamela Yates is the Founder and Creative Director, and Paco de Onís the Executive Director and Executive Producer of Skylight, a non-profit media […]

Contributed by Apoliana da Conceição dos Santos With the support of travel funding of El Instituto, I attended and presented at the II Congresso Nacional de Linguística Aplicada (CONALA) & I Congresso Internacional de Linguagem, Literatura e Discurso (CILLID) in Maranhão, Brazil. My presentation, “XIX-Century Brazilian and Cuban Racial Realities: Aluísio Azevedo’s Mulatto and Manzano’s […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator Santiago This academic year El Instituto will hold a graduate conference that explores New Perspectives in Latin American and Latine studies. Our understanding of new perspectives extends beyond contemporary regional matters; their grounding connects to its longstanding historical, political and economic challenges rooted thoroughly in Latin America and the Caribbean.  […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator Santiago UConn’s El Instituto (Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies) awarded small seed grants to support faculty-led workshops, reading groups, or other research on any theme of relevance to Latine, Latin American, or Caribbean studies in the academic year 2023-2024. Please join us this fall semester in this […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator Santiago We are saddened to note that Wilfredo “Willie” Matos passed away on October 14, 2024, during a panel presentation at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. Willie was sharing his thoughts and experiences in a panel addressing the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator Santiago The University of Connecticut’s Puerto Rican Studies Initiative for Civic Engagement and Public Policy (UConnPRSI) was founded during the Summer of 2021. The UConnPRSI is a research initiative seeking to document and support Puerto Ricans’ vital economic, intellectual, and cultural contributions to Connecticut and provide research-based support for developing public […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator Santiago El Instituto is also happy to welcome Professor Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, who has a senior joint appointment with the Department of Sociology. Professor Vidal-Ortiz will be joining us during the Fall of 2025. Dr. Vidal-Ortiz’s scholarship cuts across racialization, sexuality, gender, migration, and religion; his work is interdisciplinary. He co-edited […]