Latin America Research Seminar (LARS)

About LARS

Research is the lifeblood of academia, just as evidence and analysis are the basis for sound policy decisions. Georgetown faculty, visiting researchers and fellows, and doctoral students whose work focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean engage in fascinating inquiry on an array of topics, in myriad contexts, using a diverse set of research methods. The CLAS Latin America Research Seminar (LARS) offers an opportunity for those scholars to share their research so that our community can learn about, celebrate, and promote their work.

LARS meets several times each semester, on Wednesdays, from 12:30-1:30pm. Lunch is served. Please see the schedule below for details.

Participation in LARS

We encourage Georgetown faculty, visiting researchers and fellows, and doctoral students whose work focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean to capitalize on this opportunity to share, and get multi-disciplinary feedback on, their research.

If you are interested in presenting your ongoing or recently completed research in LARS, please email Diana Kapiszewski (dk784@georgetown.edu) indicating (1) the month in which you would like to present; (2) the topic of your presentation. With regard to attending LARS, sessions are open to the entire university community and to the public.

LARS Presenter Guidelines

Presenters do not need to distribute anything written in advance, and there is no dedicated discussant. Instead, LARS sessions are structured in the following way:

For the first 20 minutes, presenters discuss their research, offering answers to four guiding questions:
- What is the research project / focus / question?
- What data collection methods and data analysis methods do you use and why and how?
- What are your findings / results — what are you teaching us?
- What are the BIG-PICTURE issues that your work takes on – why does it matter?
For the last 30 minutes, we open the floor for Q&A

Upcoming Seminars

“Migrant Archives: Violence, Memory, and Displacement in Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive and Balam Rodrigo’s El libro centroamericano de los muertos”

Presenter: Zyanya Dóniz Ibáñez
Date and Time: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: ACMCU (ICC 270)
Read more about the presenter and presentation abstract here

CLAS-Funded Research Showcase: “Redistribution and Coalition-Building: The Politics of Targeting and Universalism in Developing Countries,” and “Multi-hazard Vulnerability and Resilience in the Caribbean”

Presenters: Pedro Lara de Arruda and Camille Gaskin Reyes
Date and Time: Wednesday, Oct. 22, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: TBD
Read more about the presenters and presentation abstracts here.

“Health Impacts of Gold Mining in the Brazilian Amazon”

Presenter: Yifan (Flora) He
Date and Time: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: ICC 302-P
Read more about the presenter and presentation abstract here.

“Rethinking Small State IR with Relational IR Theory: A Case Study of Antigua & Barbuda”

Presenter: Alexander K. Rodriguez
Date and Time: Wednesday, Nov. 19, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: TBD
Read more about the presenter and presentation abstract here.

“A History of Participatory Action Research in Comics: A Participatory Approach”

Presenter: Joanne Rappaport
Date and Time: Wednesday, Dec. 3, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: TBD
Read more about the presenter and presentation abstract here.

“Reducing Disparities in Hereditary Cancer Risk Assessment among Latinas at-risk of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer”

Presenter: Alejandra Hurtado de Mendoza
Date and Time: Wednesday, Feb. 4, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: TBD
Read more about the presenter and presentation abstract here.

“The Disputed Amazon: Mixed Methods Approaches to Environmental Crime Convergence”

Presenter: Liliana Duica Amaya
Date and Time: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: TBD
Read more about the presenter and presentation abstract here.