Contributed by Menglu Chen My research project aims to delve deeper into transnational narratives by exploring the interconnections between Latin America and Asia. Through an analysis of works such as José Eustasio Rivera’s La Vorágine, where the protagonist encounters the dreadful conditions of those coerced or misled into tapping rubber trees, my study tracks the […]

Contributed by Melissa Pérez Peña   La criatura de isla trasciende siempre al mar que la rodea y al que no la rodea – Dulce María Loynaz, Cuban Poet   Although islands contribute minimally to the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, they are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as […]

Contributed by Maria Isabel Palacio-Cano My research project examines the training of the Colombian Armed Forces during the period between 2002-2008. The overall objective is to conduct a critical analysis of the professionalization of the Colombian armed forces. This analysis will assess the extent to which increased capacity and an offensive posture created the conditions […]

Contributed by Apoliana da Conceição RACE IN BRAZIL REPRESENTED IN ALUÍSIO AZEVEDO’S MULATTO How does literature represent society? Our lives? An era? To what extent is the depiction accurate? There is no better way to answer these questions than analyzing what we already have available as great written literature. In this case, we talk about […]

Contributed by Apoliana da Conceição dos Santos During the César J. Ayala Workshop on the Comparative Study of Race in the Americas, Professor Ayala illuminated the nuanced nature of racism, emphasizing it’s variation across different regions. He underscored the ineffectiveness of importing U.S. racism into other contexts, highlighting the unique manifestations of racism in each […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator Santiago We are currently conducting a search for a senior scholar with a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and El Instituto. Three finalists will visit our campus on February 7th (Professor Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, American University), February 9th (Marta Maldonado, Oregon State University), and February 12th (Elizabeth M. Aranda, […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago The Connecticut Association of Latinos in Higher Education (CALAHE) will celebrate its annual conference on April 26, 2024, on the UConn Storrs Campus. The conference theme is: Navigating the Political Landscape for Latino/as in Higher Education: Smoke and Mirrors. Please visit their website for more information: https://calahedotorg.wordpress.com/ El Instituto and […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago As I noted in the previous issue of La Voz, for more than 3-years the leadership of the NDOUs has debated the creation of a new interdisciplinary department to house all units. During the fall of 2023, a majority of the faculty of El Instituto and the Africana Studies Institute […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago UConn’s Puerto Rican Studies Initiative (PRSI) is releasing a series of data dashboards designed to provide public access to different types of demographic and archival data addressing different dimensions of the Puerto Rican experience with the help of UConn Graduate students.   We have created dashboards addressing various demographic dimensions […]

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago On January 20, 2024, we celebrated Connecticut’s first Latino and Puerto Rican Policy Summit. Our goal is to establish a comprehensive non-partisan agenda for the Latino community in Connecticut. The event was titled Building a Better Future: The Latino and Puerto Rican Policy Agenda Summit and was held at the […]