Latin American & Latinx Studies

The Latin American and Latinx Studies Program provides a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the history, cultures, geography, politics, literatures, and economics of Latin America and the Caribbean, along with Latinx populations elsewhere in the Americas and the world.

The LALS Program allows students to explore the multiplicity of cultures in Latin America and among Latinx populations in ways that acknowledge the permeability and permutations of national borders. Our courses emphasize knowledge of cultures, societies, global politics, economies, and nations as they are lived, remembered, and theorized in Latin America and Latinx communities.

Stories

Person standing behind and lectern and microphone with both arms in the air speaking emphatically.

Fighting for Immigrant Rights on Social Media

Carlos Eduardo Espina ’20—an immigrant rights activist, nonprofit leader, and veteran with 10 million TikTok followers, just added one more accomplishment to his CV—he spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August.

Diptych headshots of Erendira Rueda and Candice Lowe.

Erendira Rueda and Candice Lowe Swift publish Academic Belonging in Higher Education

Candice Lowe Swift, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Erendira Rueda, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Latin American and Latinx Studies, published Academic Belonging in Higher Education.

Person sitting at a table on a porch in the shade with a laptop, writing pad and a book smiling

Ford Scholars Program 2023

More than 30 Vassar students conducted humanities research projects under the auspices of the College’s Ford Scholars program.

Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa is a Recipient of New Directions Fellowship from Mellon Foundation

Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, is the recipient of a New Directions Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation in support of her project “Mesoamerican Worldviews: How Indigenous Philosophies Influence Latin America.”

Joseph Nevins researches ties between the United Fruit Company and Boston

Joseph Nevins, Professor of Geography, is an awardee of the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC) for 2022. Professor Nevins’s fellowship will allow for eight weeks of archival research this summer on the ties between the United Fruit Company and Boston, where the corporation was founded and headquartered.

Header image: Dance performance in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Jonah Bleckner