During the 1970s, Puerto Rican and Mexican communities came together to build what is now the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS). Founded in 1974, the department is a space of…
Listen to LALS’ very own Professor Soledad Álvarez Velasco talk about child migration on Diálogos Académicos podcast by the Universidad de Guadalajara.
On April 25, 2025, the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies held its annual Degree Celebration to honor graduates earning a Major, Minor, or Master of Arts in LALS The event began…
Students from the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) and Criminal Law and Justice Program (CLJ) presented their research at the annual National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) conference…
Read the blog post “Listening to MAGA Politics within US/Mexico’s Lucha Libre” co-written with Crossing Latinidades fellow Rebeca Rivas was the #2 most read for 2024 in the blog: https://soundstudiesblog.com/.
On November 8, 2024, the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies closed its 50th Anniversary events with a large event co-hosted by Alianza Americas who is also celebrating its 20-year anniversary. A…
The Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at UIC held its Black Diaspora event on November 4, 2024. This event was part of the broader celebration of 50 years of the LALS…
On September 19, 2024 the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies continued its 50th Anniversary celebrations by hosting the Bordando Esperanza event at 18th Street Casa de Cultura. This exhibition features hand-stitched…
We are pleased to announce that the Mellon Foundation has approved a grant of $5,000,000 to the University of Illinois Chicago to continue support for Crossing Latinidades, a Latinx Studies research and training…
On April 26, 2024, the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies held its annual Degree Celebration event. In this event we honored and recognized our graduates with a Major, Minor, or Master…
On April 9, 2024 the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies welcomed Rachel Nolan to campus. In this event Rachel talked about Guatemalan child adoptions and her research on the topic. She…
On April 2, 2024 the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies welcomed Cecilia Menjivar to campus. In this event Cecilia met with graduate students, faculty from LALS, and hosted a talk open…
On March 15, 2024, the Transnational Migration Network (TMN) convened for a workshop at El Colegio de México in Mexico City. This meeting aimed to establish the conceptual framework of their research agenda…
On March 13, 2024, the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies hosted its annual MA Symposium highlighting our Master of Arts student’s research projects. For this event LALS tried a new format…
As part of the community-based and migrant-centered research focus of the Transnational Migration Network (TMN), on March 8, 2024, we hosted a meeting with representatives of worker centers, migrant leaders, and other state,…
On February 28, 2024, the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at UIC held an event that focused on the migrant arrivals to Chicago. The event was to bring awareness and to…
On January 23 the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at UIC hosted its Faculty Book Celebration. This event featured core faculty and affiliated faculty books. Students and faculty gathered to celebrate…
Legendary political scientist Dr. María de los Angeles Torres discusses her most current work on Cuba’s long military intervention in the Angolan War (1976-1989) and reflects on her decades of experience and research…
The Department of Latin American and Latino Studies’ very own Professor Alvarez Velasco was interviewed by two outlets recently. She was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune to discuss about the influx of migrants…
The sound studies blog Sounding Out! is currently featuring a series of posts submitted by the Latinx Sound Cultures Studies research working. This week a post by Professor Esther Díaz Martín co-written with graduate fellow…
We are sharing the article: The Candy Sellers The lives and livelihoods of some of the city’s newest migrant children by Jordan Salama from New York Magazine. Several months ago, he interviewed Professor…
During the summer UIC welcomed around 20 students from across the country to partake in the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP). The Latin American and Latino Studies Program welcomed Yoshi Castro to conduct…
This issue includes a piece written by Nicholas De Genova and me, about the migrant caravans: “A Mass Exodus in Rebellion” – The Migrant Caravans: A View from the Eyes of Honduran Journalist…
On March 15, 2023 the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at UIC welcomed Kim Ricardo to give a talk on the abortion battle happening both in the United States and Argentina.
On March 8, 2023 the Latin American and Latino Studies Program hosted its Master of Arts Research Symposium. Students highlighted their research and presented their findings. Adriana Soto: Confianza y Coraje: Building a…
Lorena Garcia, UIC associate professor of sociology and Latin American and Latino studies, is interviewed during the latest episode of The Pulso Podcast which explores the historical and societal influences surrounding Latina beauty…
LALS is proud to share with you a link to an article published by the BBC containing an excerpt from an interview Professor Soledad Alvarez Velasco gave last week about Ecuadorean migration through…
Read more about a story about migrants coming to the U.S. from Latin America includes comments from Andreas E. Feldmann, UIC associate professor of Latin American and Latino studies and political science, who…
Professor Esther Díaz Martín is an Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was born in the state of…
Professor Soledad Álvarez Velasco is a social anthropologist and human geographer whose research analyses the interrelationship between mobility, control, and spatial transformations across the Americas. She investigates the intersection between undocumented global south-north and…
The University of Illinois Chicago has received two grants totaling nearly $1.3 million from the Mellon Foundation in support of threatened humanities scholars from Latin America and a curricular and pedagogical program concerning…
Ana Martinez is a fourth year student at UIC, double majoring in Anthropology and Global Asian Studies with a minor in Latin American and Latino Studies. She is from the Albany Park area, and due…
Michelle Correa is a fourth year student at UIC, majoring in Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) with a concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies. After graduation, she plans to travel to Thailand and…
Ivan Raya was born and raised on the far southeast side of Chicago and is the son of Mexican immigrants. He is a first-generation college student graduating from UIC with a Bachelor of…
Anissa Camacho is a senior double majoring in Anthropology and Latin American and Latino Studies. After graduation she plans on attending graduate school to further her studies and hopes to continue her interests…
Felipe Hinojosa’s Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio casts churches as protagonists in Latinx social movements.
A multi-institution partnership, involving Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Chicago in collaboration with other academic and community partners, has been awarded $25 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy
Professor Barbara Sostaita is a scholar of religion and global migration. She grew up undocumented in the south, the daughter of a minister who taught her how religion informs and shapes migrant-led organizing.…
Nayeli Jimenez, a life-long learner, is a senior Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) major with minors in Sociology and Spanish for Professions. Graduating at the end of this semester, she plans to…
Cata Herrera is a current senior at UIC double majoring in Anthropology and Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) with a minor in Spanish. She is interested in researching the decolonization of education,…
Congratulations to Prof. Julie Dowling for receiving the American Sociological Association’s (ASA) 2022 Public Understanding of Sociology Award. This award is given annually to an ASA member or group of members who have made…
LALS faculty Esther Díaz Martín, Ralph Cintrón, and Jonathan Xavier Inda, and LALS affiliates Teresa Córvoda and Rosa Cabrera have received Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative Grants. In awarding these grants, the Initiative…
Prof. Adam Goodman has been awarded a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University for the 2022–23 academic year. He will be working on a…
Jennifer Juárez, an adjunct lecturer in LALS and assistant director of the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) program, received an Honoring Our Professors’ Excellence (HOPE) Award. Started in 2015, the HOPE awards…
LALS is thrilled to announce that Prof. Patrisia Macías-Rojas has been awarded a prestigious Russell Sage Foundation Pipeline Grant. This grant supports early- and mid-career tenure-track scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences…
On Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released a long-awaited report estimating the 2020 census undercount. Latinos were significantly undercounted. Prof. Julie A. Dowling (Sociology and LALS) and Prof. Cristina Mora (UC Berkeley) wrote…
The University of Illinois Chicago has been awarded a three-year, $5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a national initiative in Latino humanities studies called “Crossing Latinidades: Emerging Scholars…
It was recently announced that LALS faculty Amalia Pallares and Maria de los Angeles Torres are among faculty leading this initiative as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator. The University of Illinois Chicago will…
The selection committee determined that Cintrón “represented the best of rhetorical studies and that his work — as a scholar, leader, and mentor —more than merited his designation as an RSA Fellow.” For…
Adam Goodman, UIC assistant professor history and Latin American and Latino studies, recently joined the New Books Network podcast to discuss his recent publication “The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants.”…
Xóchitl Bada, Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship to the Institute for Advance Study, Berlin. While there, she will work on her project entitled Transnational…
Each year the Hilda López-Arce Scholarship Selection Committee, in conjunction with the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Latinos and the Latina Network, awards a scholarship to a Latinx student who exhibits leadership…
Adam Goodman, an Assistant Professor of LALS and History, was named a Fellow at the UIC Institute for the Humanities for the 2018-2019 academic year. Professor Goodman will spend the year finishing his…
Mexicans in Chicago: Honoring the Legacy of Louise Año Nuevo Kerr Friday, September 16, 2016 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Student Center East – Cardinal Room 750 S. Halsted Ave – Chicago IL…
Students and instructors work hard together to prepare our graduates for their varied futures. We are happy to announce that Jorge Mena, who recently graduated with an MA in LALS, will be joining…
You are cordially invited to the University of Illinois Latin American and Latino Studies Program FACULTY BOOK PRESENTATION & CELEBRATION Wednesday, November 11th, 2015 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. UIC Daley Library –…
LALS will officially announce the launch of our new Student Scholarship Fund at our Anniversary Celebration Kick-Off event on October 29, 2014. Please take the time to donate and take advantage of this…
