Emiliano Arizmendi writes about the Mexican Working Group, focused on exploring Mexico's literary and cultural landscape. Graduate students engage in discussions on works like Fernanda Melchor's Temporada de huracanes emphasizing historical subjects and contemporary issues. The group aims to broaden its themes next year, integrating diverse perspectives on Mexican life and literature.
Juan C. Campos, Ph.D. student in Political Science and a 2025 CLACS Summer Dissertation Fellow, studies the effects of police reform efforts in Mexico. Do efforts at centralizing control of police forces strengthen their ability to control organized criminal groups, or do they increase collusion between the two groups?
In July 2025, four members of the Coletivo de Tradutores Berkeley-Brasil (Berkeley Brazil Translators Collective) — Derek Allen, Ana Claudia Lopes, Liam Seeley, and Luíza Bastos Lages — traveled to Brazil. They went to experience first-hand some of the realities that they worked on translating as part of Revista Pihhy, a project presenting Indigenous knowledge by Indigenous authors in English.
Traveon Rogers, Ph.D. Student in African American & African Diaspora Studies and a 2025 Tinker Field Research grant recipient, takes a culinary approach to research, using food to investigate the Afro-descendant impact and "Caribbean-ness" in Veracruz, Mexico and Cartagena, Colombia.
Pablo Eduardo Paredes Burgos, a Ph.D. student in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies and a 2025-26 CLACS Graduate Affiliate, explores Bad Bunny's powerful homecoming at the 'No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí' residency, celebrating Puerto Rican pride and cultural roots.
2025 Summer Dissertation Fellow Adriana P. Ramírez has spent years researching the experience of children who, after growing up in the United States, return to Mexico because of their or their parents' immigration status.
![Rafael Tufiño, (1954). “La música puertorriqueña” in Porfolio “El Café”. [Linocut on paper, 14.5 in x 17.5 in.] Una ilustración en blanco y negro que muestra a un grupo de personas reunidas, algunas tocando instrumentos como guitarras y maracas, mientras otras observan y participan en una celebración musical. La escena transmite un ambiente festivo y comunitario.](https://clacsberkeley.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Lamusicapuertorriquena_RafaelTrufino-600x484.png)
Rodney Padovani, estudiante de doctorado de Música, aborda la metáfora de José Luis González sobre la cultura puertorriqueña y los cuatro "pisos". Raymond Torres-Santos le añade un quinto piso, tecnológico, que aborda la movilidad cultural y musical del país frente a las estructuras históricas de clase. Padovani examina tanto la metáfora original como su interpretación musical a través de una lectura crítica de la cultura musical puertorriqueña
Carolina de Wit began her research in Brazil, looking at the intersection of medical, political, and legal policies trying to control populations that authorities deemed a threat, and found a similar phenomenon in the Caribbean.
Greg Louden, CLACS Publications and Infrastructure Coordinator, works with the Coletivo de Tradutores Berkeley-Brasil to translate and publish Revista Pihhy, which highlights "Indigenous knowledge from Indigenous scholars." In July 2025, they traveled to central Brazil to visit the program which gave rise to the publication and the environment in which it is produced.
Cristina S. Méndez reflects on a recent panel at the Latin American Studies Association Congress, where participants discussed the challenges faced by women doing field research in Latin America and the Caribbean.
