Latin American & Iberian Studies Program

YouTube Video on Nadim Bawalsa's Book Talk
2024-03-14 01:47 (America/Los_Angeles)
The LAIS Program, the Center for Middle East Studies, and the History Department welcomed author Nadim Bawalsa to present his book Transnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return Before 1948 on March 1st. Here on the LAIS YouTube channel you can watch his presentation and the following discussion.

Tertulia with Prof. Kathleen Bruhn on her New Book!
2024-04-05 15:00 - 17:00 | Girvetz 2320
Congratulations to Professor Kathleen Bruhn (Political Science) for her forthcoming book Politics and the Pink Tide: A Comparative Analysis of Protest in Latin America (Notre Dame Press, April 2024). Her book will be the subject of our next tertulia on April 5th from 3-5pm in Girvetz 2320, with the participation of Nicole Cerpa (Global Studies), Juan Pablo Lupi (Spanish and Portuguese), and Galo Mayorga (Political Science). Read more on her book here.

Tertulia with Federico Finchelstein: The History and Politics of Wannabe Fascism
2024-05-10 12:00 - 13:30 | HSSB 4020
LAIS is pleased to invite the campus community to a tertulia with Professor Federico Finchelstein. In this talk, Professor Finchelstein will discuss his latest book, The Wannabe Fascists: A Guide to Understanding the Greatest Threat to Democracy (University of California Press, 2024), where he maintains that Trumpism and similar movements across the world belong to a new political breed, the “wannabe fascists”. This new type of populist politician is typically a legally elected leader who, unlike previous populists who were eager to distance themselves from fascism, turns to totalitarian lies, racism, and illegal means to destroy democracy from within. The author lays out what he calls the “four pillars of fascism”—xenophobia, propaganda, political violence, and ultimately dictatorship. He explains how and why wannabe fascists like Trump, Bolsonaro, and Modi embrace the first three pillars but don’t quite succeed in dictatorship and a total suppression of the popular vote.
Federico Finchelstein is an Argentinean historian and Professor of History at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College in New York City, and Director of the Janey Program in Latin American Studies. A world-renowned scholar of fascism, populism, and dictatorship, his most recent books include Fascist Mythologies. The History and Politics of Unreason in Borges, Freud, and Schmitt (Columbia University Press, 2022), A Brief History of Fascist Lies (University of California Press, 2020), and From Fascism to Populism in History (University of California Press, 2017 & 2019 ). His books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Hungarian, Korean and Turkish. For more information, check his website.
This event will take place on May 10th from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in HSSB 1174. After his lecture, Professor Finschelstein will hold an informal conversation in HSSB 4020 from 1:45 to 2: 30 pm, with students, faculty, and any other members of the campus community who may be interested in learning more about his work. Please fill out this form if you would like to join the conversation– it will help us very much with the logistics!
This event is organized by The Program in Latin American & Iberian Studies and co-sponsored by the Department of History. ** Free and open to the public.

Tertulia with Marisol Ramos, "Cosmopolitanism and Feminism in Puerto Rico"
2024-05-20 12:00 - 13:30 | Girvetz 2320
Congratulations to Dr. Marisol Ramos (Library) for defending her PhD thesis “La nación del porvenir: La literatura fundacional cosmopolita de Alejandro Tapia (1823-1882)” at the University of Connecticut. Her dissertation will be the subject of our next tertulia on May 20th from 12-1:30 pm in Girvetz 2320.

LAIS End of Year Celebration and Awards Ceremony!
2024-05-31 12:00 - 14:00 | Girvetz 2320
The LAIS Program is pleased to invite the LAIS community to our end of the year celebration and lunch to recognize the achievements of our students, faculty and staff. It will conclude with an awards ceremony.
The event will take place on Friday, May 31st from 12-2:00pm in Girvetz Hall 2320. We hope to see you there!

Adriana María Linares-Palma, "Community-based archaeology in the Ixil region, Guatemala"
2024-10-08 16:00 - 17:00 | Las Maestras Center, South Hall 1415
In this presentation, Dr. Adriana María Linares-Palma shares their reflections on the processes, challenges, and outcomes of a community-based archaeological program conducted in San Juan Cotzal, in the Maya highlands of Guatemala. Linares-Palma explains how their research emerged in collaboration with the Ancestral Authorities of San Juan Cotzal and the Ixil University towards Indigenous autonomy, especially facing extractivism by transnational corporations that had settled in their territory. Dr. Linares-Palma situates their talk in the context of the conflicts created by a hydroelectric plant built without the communities’ consent and the principal damages, including the constellation of memory in Cotzal. The processes of this research informed about archaeological methodologies anchored to colonial notions of cultural heritage, cultural appropriation, and national discourses of homogeneity.

Book Presentation with Giovanni Batz on The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Extractavism, and Maya Resistance in Guatemala
2025-02-05 11:00 - 12:30 | McCune Conference Room HSSB 6020
On February 5, Professor Giovanni Batz will have a book presentation on his new publication, “The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Extractavism, and Maya Resistance in Guatemala.” This presentation will feature commentators Charles Hale, the Dean of Social Sciences, and Javiera Barandiarán, Associate Professor of Global Studies. Assistant Professor Daina Sanchez of Chicana/o Studies will moderate. This event will be the first sponsored by the new Center for Latin American and Iberian Research at UCSB!
The presentation will be held from 11AM to 12:30PM in HSSB 6020.

Book Presentation with Juan Cobo on The Coming of the Kingdom: The Muisca, Catholic Reform, and Spanish Colonialism in the New Kingdom of Granada
2025-02-07 17:00 - 18:30 | McCune Conference Room HSSB 6020
Professor Juan Cobo Betancourt, Director of the LAIS Program, has an upcoming event on February 7 for his recent publication of “The Coming of the Kingdom: The Muisca, Catholic Reform, and Spanish Colonialism in the New Kingdom of Granda!”
The event will be co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Center for Latin American and Iberian Research.

LAIS Community Breakfast in February
2025-02-12 10:00 - 12:00
Our monthly community breakfast will be on Wednesday, February 12, at 10am. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee, while hearing our LAIS graduate students share some of their research!

Tertulia: "Violence and Drug Trafficking in Ecuador"
2025-02-14 11:00 - 13:00 | Girvetz 2320
Please join us for the first LAIS Tertulia of this year, on Friday, February 14th, at 11 am, in Girvetz 2320, on the subject of Violence and Drug Trafficking in Ecuador. The event will feature interventions by Michelle Maffei (Universidad de Guayaquil), Alejandro Borja (Universidad San Francisco de Quito), and José Zurita (University of Bergen), and has been organised by LAIS Graduate Affiliate Eduardo Castro (History). There is also the option to join by Zoom, by registering at https://bit.ly/lais-tertulia-ecuador.
For those of you new to LAIS, tertulias are open-format conversations that bring together students, faculty, instructors, and staff from our community and institutions in Latin America to discuss issues that concern us — from current affairs to our work within and beyond the academy.

LAIS Community Breakfast in March
2025-03-12 10:00 - 12:00
Our monthly community breakfast will be on Wednesday, March 12, at 10am. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee, while hearing our LAIS graduate students share some of their research!

LAIS Community Breakfast in April
2025-04-09 10:00 - 12:00
Our monthly community breakfast will be on Wednesday, April 9, at 10am. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee, while hearing our LAIS graduate students share some of their research!

Lottery in Quechua and other games
2025-04-18 17:00 - 19:00 | Girvetz 2320
Please join us for a night of games, as we celebrate indigenous languages from across the Americas. You are welcome to bring your own games, ideas, and languages to share.

Book Talk: The Letters of Fernando Túpac Amaru
2025-05-02 14:00 - 16:00 | Girvetz 2320
Please join us for a book presentation to mark the publication of Las cartas de Fernando Túpac Amaru y otros documentos (1782-1798) [The letters of Fernando Túpac Amaru and other documents], co-edited by a collective of scholars, artists, and educators including our own Cecilia Méndez and Viola Varotto, and recently published in Lima.
Cecilia Méndez and Viola Varotto will be in conversation with Jairo Melo, digital humanities research facilitator at the UCSB Library, who is a specialist of the political and judicial institutions of the Spanish monarchy in the 18th century. The event will be in English.

LAIS Breakfast in May
2025-05-14 10:00 - 12:00
Our monthly community breakfast will be on Wednesday, May 14, at 10am. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee, while hearing our LAIS graduate students share some of their research!

Film Screening and Discussion: The Market and the Monkey's Paw: The Bitcoin Experiment in El Salvador
2025-05-23 14:00 - 16:00 | Girvetz 2320
Please join us on May 23rd, from 2 to 4 pm, in Girvetz 2320, for a screening a discussion of The Market and the Monkey’s Paw: The Bitcoin Experiment in El Salvador, a documentary by Global Studies undergraduate Leo Safir, produced in collaboration with CLAIR Affiliate Prof. Nicole Cerpa Vielma (Global Studies). They will be in conversation with Prof. Giovanni Batz (Chicana/o Studies).

Latin American Studies v. the Psychedelic Renaissance
2025-05-28 09:45 - 10:45 | PSYCH 1924
The last two decades have seen a resurgence of research with psychedelic substances for medical purposes that has concurred with a proliferation of neo-shamanic or mystical practices, retreats and communities that have the consumption of psychoactive plants and preparations at the center of their rituals. This “psychedelic renaissance,” largely popularized by Michael Pollan’s best-selling book How to Change Your Mind (now a Netflix documentary) has a significant economic and cultural impact on indigenous societies, cultural practices, and fragile environments in Latin America that needs a critical engagement from the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Alberto Ribas-Casasayas is Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Santa Clara University. He is the author of Luces y sombras del renacimiento psicodélico (Lights and Shadows in the Psychedelic Renaissance) and co-editor (with Amanda Petersen) of Espectros: Ghost Hauntings and the Talking Dead in Transhispanic Narratives, and (with Ana Luengo) of Otras iluminaciones: Narrativa, cultura y psicodélicos (Other Illuminations: Narrative, Culture, and Psychedelics), which was released just this month with Almenara Press.

2025 End-of-Year Celebration and Awards Ceremony for LAIS and CLAIR
2025-05-30 12:00 - 14:00 | Girvetz 2320

Discovering Columbus (and his Many Lives)
2025-11-04 13:00 - 14:30 | McCune Conference Room HSSB 6020
“I thought there were too many books on Columbus until I read Matthew Restall’s,” judged one reviewer of The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus— “which has made me realize that formerly there were at least nine too few.” Said the New York Times: “Entertaining and unpredictable.” For answers to the questions you’ve always had—and some you didn’t know you had—join us in hearing Professor Restall present some of the things he discovered (or Columbused) in his mind-changing, myth-busting new book.
This event is organized by the Department of History and sponsored by CLAIR; the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program; the Departments of Art History, Religious Studies, and Global Studies; and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center

LAIS Community Breakfast in November
2025-11-05 09:00 - 11:00
Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, November 5, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

Discovering Colonial Latin American History
2025-11-05 10:30 - 12:00 | Girvetz 2320
Matthew Restall is a historian whose scholarship focuses on six areas of specialization: the Spanish Conquest era in the Americas; Aztec and Maya history; the history of colonial Mesoamerica, primarily Yucatan but including Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize; the African diaspora in the Americas; the history of Christopher Columbus; and the history of popular music. Join LAIS graduate students and graduate affiliates for a discussion of his work, including his latest book, The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus.
*Contact jcobo@ucsb.edu for pre-circulated reading.
This event is organized by the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program and co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Iberian Research, Latin American and Iberian Studies; the Departments of Art History, Religious Studies, and Global Studies; and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

LAIS Community Breakfast in December
2025-12-03 09:00 - 11:00 | Girvetz 2320
Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, December 3, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

LAIS Community Breakfast in January
2026-01-06 09:00 - 11:00 | Girvetz 2320
Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, January 7, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

LAIS Community Breakfast in February
2026-02-04 09:00 - 11:00 | Girvetz 2320
Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, February 4, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

The Power of Partnership: Revitalizing Limonese Creole (Costa Rica) Through Joint Action
2026-02-12 15:30 - 17:00 | South Hall 3605
Despite being Costa Rica’s most widely spoken minority language, Limonese Creole lacks constitutional recognition and continues to bear a legacy of social stigma. In response, a collaboration between the Programa de Lingüística Centroamericana (PROLINCA) at Universidad Nacional and the speaker community has pursued a strategy of direct empowerment and revitalisation. This partnership has produced an official alphabet, new legislation advancing language recognition, and community-led immersion projects. This presentation reflects on lessons from this collaboration, illustrating how such partnerships can restore visibility and dignity to a language and its speakers.
Prof. Dr. René Zúñiga Argüello is Professor, researcher and Coordinator of the Centroamerican Linguistics Program (Programa de Lingüística Centroamericana) at the School of Literature and Language Sciences at the National University, Costa Rica.
Moderated by Prof. Jaime Pérez González (Dept. of Linguistics, UCSB).
This lecture is part of the Series of Indigenous Languages of Latin America (SILLA) organized by the Awakening Languages; Actions for Revitalization and Maintenance (ALARM) Lab, with co-sponsorship from CLAIR.

Connecting Archaeological Legacies, Memory, and Communities in the Northern Peruvian Andes
2026-02-19 16:00 - 18:00 | Arts 1332
Archaeology in the Northern Peruvian Andes is not only about the past—it is about how memory continues to live in bodies, territories, and everyday practices. In this talk, I draw on more than a decade of research and community-based work in Cajamarca. I examine urban and community-centered archaeological projects developed in collaboration with local governments and residents, highlighting how archaeological practice participates in the construction of local and regional identities. I also explore my collaborative work with master artisan weavers and other knowledge keepers, foregrounding textiles and embodied practices as critical modes of transmitting memory, knowledge, and identity beyond written archives. I argue for an archaeology grounded in practice—one that seeks to challenge hierarchies of knowledge by recognizing community expertise as central to research, interpretation, identity-making, and shared authority.

LAIS Community Breakfast in March
2026-03-04 09:00 - 11:00 | Girvetz 2320
Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, March 4, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!
