The 2017 William M. LeoGrande Award and Prize Recipients Announced
CLALS and the School of Public Affairs are pleased to announce the recipients of the William M. LeoGrande Prize for the best book on U.S.- Latin American relations, and the William M. LeoGrande Award for the best scholarly book or article on Latin American or Latino Studies published by a member of the American University community, for 2016-2017:
2017 William M. LeoGrande Prize: Tore C. Olsson, Assistant Professor, Department of History, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Agrarian Crossings: Reformers and the Remaking of the US and Mexican Countryside (Princeton University Press, 2017)
2017 William M. LeoGrande Award: Michael Bader, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences, (with Siri Warkentien) "The Fragmented Evolution of Racial Integration since the Civil Rights Movement" (Sociological Science, 2016)
Click here for more information on the LeoGrande competition and the work of these two scholars.
CLALS Awarded Grant from the DC Office of Planning
As a part of the Center's DC-Metro Latino Research Initiative, CLALS has received funding from the District of Columbia Office of Planning to host a workshop on May 21, 2018, “Sharing Space: Examining African American and Latino Intercultural Exchanges in Dynamic Neighborhoods.” This workshop will convene a small group of academic
experts, policymakers, and practitioners to assess changing community demographics in the District, and identify the central issues associated with this in comparison with similar metropolitan areas, with the goal of benefiting policy development and planning in the District and region.
ALPAF-Inspired Segment on the Kojo Nnamdi Show
In March, the Center's Annual Latino Public Affairs Forum (ALPAF) explored access to health services for at-risk Latino youth. In an April 12 segment, The Kojo Nnamdi Show featured several ALPAF panelists for a discussion that highlighted the unique challenges facing Latino youth when accessing health care that isn't always culturally-competent. Check out the segment in full: "For Latino Youth, Health Is About Much More
Than Just Health Care."
UPCOMING EVENTS
Religion & Climate Change in Cross-Regional Perspective Capstone Workshop
Friday, May 11, 2018 | American University
This day-long meeting will convene a select group of scholars from the Religion & Climate Change in Cross-Regional Perspective project for a set of presentations and discussion with the goal of thinking synthetically about the project’s key findings. Scholars will discuss issues around three key areas: religion as a part of the political and public discourse on climate change; religious sources of environmental knowledge, as these inform community responses to climate change; and ways that climate change is currently driving forms of religious change. This workshop will support the preparation of project findings and outcomes, as major contributions to emerging scholarship at the intersection of religion and climate
change.
Diplomacy, Religion and Resilience in Small Island Developing States
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 | 12:00- 2:00 p.m. | Hogan Lovells, Rooms 13202 & 13203, 13th Floor | Washington, DC
Researchers from the Religion & Climate Change in Cross-Regional Perspective project will convene a public event on climate diplomacy. Co-sponsored by Sister Cities International, this public forum will address forms of collaboration around climate change, primarily among countries in the Caribbean. It will address the role of religious actors in shaping public perceptions and priorities regarding climate change in small island developing states (SIDS), including the ways in which climate concerns are connected to
other issues such as development, sustainability, and migration. It will also consider the roles of faith leaders as they participate in transnational climate advocacy networks and contribute to established and new forms of climate diplomacy among SIDS nations.
Workshop on Religion and Climate-Induced Displacement
Friday, June 1, 2018 | American University
This day-long meeting will bring together a small group of scholars, researchers, and practitioners in order to identify the critical dimensions of the relationship of climate change to population displacement and migration in Latin America, an issue we anticipate will be of enormous importance during the coming decades. While considerable evidence indicates that climate change increasingly will shape migration in the Americas, we note surprisingly little consideration of the challenges this will pose. This meeting will explore how faith-based actors and organizations are thinking about and responding to the problem.
Policies to Advance Community Integration of Central American Migrants: Lessons from the DC and Houston Metropolitan Areas
Thursday, June 7, 2018 | 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Catholic Charities' Cabrini Center, Houston, Texas
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 | 4:00- 6:00 p.m. | Claudio Grossman Hall, Washington College of Law
At two public events in June, researchers from CLALS and the University of Houston will present findings from a joint initiative examining the community integration of newly arrived Central American children and families. Based on data collected from 120 interviews with local community stakeholders and services providers in the Washington, DC and Houston metropolitan areas, as well as in North and South Carolina, the events will highlight the strategies and best practices employed by receiving communities to address the educational, legal, health, and social service needs of this newcomer population. A series of policy briefs will be released in conjunction with the two events.
Dos Años de la MACCIH: Event and Report Launch in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
New Date: Thursday, June 21, 2018 | 8:30-11:00 a.m. | Clarion Hotel Real Tegucigalpa
As a part of the Center's project on Monitoring MACCIH and Anti-Impunity Efforts in Honduras, CLALS and the Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (UNITEC) will host a public event to present a two-year report, authored by SIS Professor and project lead Charles Call, on the the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH)'s progress and challenges that it faces in an increasingly
polarizing atmosphere in Honduras. The event will feature experts from Honduras and Central America, as well as AU faculty.
EVENT RECAP
Religion and Climate Change Adaptation: Resilience or Resistance?
April 19, 2018
The role of religions in shaping public understanding and action in response to climate change today should be taken seriously by civil society and policymakers. CLALS Affiliate and AU Professor Evan Berry spoke about CLALS' two-year project on religion and climate change developed at this event at the University of Leeds. The presentation showcased diverse case studies to highlight how religious commitments can run at cross purposes to ecological sustainability.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
Fall 2018 Course on DC Latinx Communities
Fall 2018 Course: The Latinx Community of the DC Metro Area | AMST-340-001 or GOVT-423-002 | Tuesdays, 5:30-8:00 p.m.
This course will take an in–depth look at the local Latinx community, numbering over 800,000 in the DC metropolitan region. It will examine the historical factors that brought a mass migration of Central Americans to the DC-area in the 1980s and the more recent arrival of over 8,000 unaccompanied minors who crossed the border since the summer of 2014, fleeing regional violence, drugs, and poverty. Challenges faced by local immigrant communities faced with the loss of DACA, TPS, and the threat of deportation from the new administration will be also be addressed.
Students will actively engage in the critical issues that affect area Latinos today, such as legal rights and immigration policies; affordable housing and gentrification; youth programming; educational access; employment; domestic violence; and health/mental health care. Through “community-based learning” with local nonprofit groups, students will deepen their understanding of these issues. They are expected to volunteer for 20-25 hours or produce something of use to the community partner. Neighborhood visits, films, speakers, interviews, and cultural events will further being course content and class readings to life.
For more information, contact Professor Marcy Campos via email
(mfcampos@american.edu) or phone (202-885-1551).
Student Membership in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) has been fighting for diversity in the news for more than 30 years and is the leading organization for Latinos in the media and related fields. You do not need to be Hispanic / Latino or a journalist to join and benefit from NAHJ's network of more than 2,000 students and professionals.
The journalism division at AU's School of Communication will pay for the registration fee of $25 for the first 10 students who sign up for the one year membership.