Lydia Millhon focuses on Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian authors, emphasizing Nicolás Guillén's role in linking cultural identities across Latin America in the mid-20th century. Her dissertation explores Concretism and Negrismo, reflecting on the shared aesthetic and political histories between Cuba and Brazil, and their impact on Afro-diasporic consciousness.
In July 2025, Henry Sales, Ph.D. student in Education and a 2025 Tinker CLACS Research Grant recipient, encountered educational disruptions in Guatemala due to a national teachers' strike, which transformed his research focus. Instead of formal classrooms, he observed Maya Mam communities sustaining learning through cultural practices and community engagement. The experience revealed that education is strengthened through cultural identity, emotional labor, and resilience amid uncertainty.
Anna Feign's research at the Walter Rodney National Archives in Guyana explores the intersections of extractivism and climate change. Promises that growth in the oil industry would fuel economic prosperity have gone unfulfilled, and the country's development has tended to serve the industry, rather than the other way around.
