CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES

CLAS is in Session

February 20, 2023

Learn Portuguese in Curitiba, Brazil!

The Intensive Portuguese Abroad for Spanish Teachers (IPAST) program is accepting applications. The program will include remote Portuguese language learning starting in April, followed by an exchange experience in Curitiba, Brazil from June 12-30, 2023. On-site language study will take place at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR).

The program cost of the course is approximately $1,507 USD, which includes 3 hours of Ohio State graduate tuition, course materials, and a wide array of educational activities in Curitiba. Learn more and apply here!

Email ipast@osu.edu with any questions.

Resources on Blackness in Latin America

Florida International University offers MI-BRIDGE (Minority Institutions Building Resources to Ignite Development and Growth in Education), a collaborative bank of open-access teaching resources on Blackness in the Spanish language classroom.

Resources range from strategies to center Afro-descended communities in course content to tools for supporting Black students of Spanish.

In addition to a wide variety of lesson plans and tasks, MI-BRIDGE also includes links to academic articles on Afro-Indigenous Latinidad, Black Spanish dialectal features, study abroad for Black students, and more!

Latin American Research Highlight:
Dr. Nora Bello

Dr. Nora Bello, professor of statistics and systems modeling in the Department of Animal Sciences, was awarded a CLAS Faculty Travel Grant to fund capacity building work abroad in the summer of 2022. Bello’s unique interdisciplinary background in statistics, veterinary medicine, and animal sciences allowed her to bring tailored quantitative expertise to Uruguay.

Bello, who holds a doctor of veterinary medicine and a PhD in animal science, led a five-day technical short course on modern statistics for the agricultural sciences at the University of the Republic (Universidad de la República, Montevideo) and two research seminars, one at said university and another at the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) Experimental Station “La Estanzuela.” The exchange also included meetings with local researchers and their teams, and visits to local farms.

Find the full news story prepared by CLAS Student Intern Ella Meyer here.

Summer Study Abroad in Panama

Tulane University's Stone Center for Latin American Studies is accepting applications for Summer in Panama, a 5-week study abroad program for undergraduates.

Program dates: May 19 - June 24, 2023
Application deadline: March 3, 2023

Note: This is an independent program. Students on such programs do not maintain Ohio State enrollment, earn only transfer (K) credit, and usually do not have access to financial aid. Find more details here.

Faculty Research Initiative:
Dr. Miranda Martinez

CLAS faculty affiliate Miranda Martinez, associate professor in the Department of Comparative Studies, was recently featured in the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Initiative Video Series. In the video, Martinez discusses her work on "financial citizenship," which examines how minority community members have relied on informal, often predatory sources of credit in order to finance houses and start businesses.

Martinez specifically highlights her work on Puerto Rico, a portion of which was supported by a CLAS Faculty Travel Grant in June 2022. With this funding, Martinez visited the credit unions that serve the most economically depressed regions in the central mountains and on the southwest coast. She also held interviews with cooperativistas, as well as US-based activists concerned with social conditions in the archipelago.

View the video here.

Virtual Series: African Diasporas in Brazil

Brazil Cultural and Claflin University invite you to attend their virtual series on African Diaspora Culture in Salvador, Brazil.

Upcoming talks (all held Thursdays, 12:30-1:30 PM EST) include:

Feb 23, "Candomblé: An Afro-Brazilian Religion"
Mar 2, "Filming Black Culture in Salvador"
Mar 16, "Maroon Communities in Brazil"
Mar 23, "Black Brazilian Women Writers"
Mar 30, "Human Rights & Public Policy"
Apr 6, "Literature against Racism and Homophobia"
Apr 13, "Salvador: The Fight for Reparations for the Black Population"

Join the Zoom meetings here. Email Brazil Cultural (study@brazilcultural.com) with any questions.

Capoeira in the Classroom K-12 Outreach

Julio Beltrán (Administrative Assistant, CLAS) and Leila Vieira (Coordinator for the Portuguese Language Program, Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese) have been busy sharing their knowledge of capoeira in local schools. Their Capoeira in the Classroom program showcases the body movements, music, history, and social meaning of this art form to teach K-12 students about Afro-Brazilian culture.

Recently, Julio and Leila visited Westerville Central High School and led a three-part series for Ohio State alum Pablo Chignolli's Spanish classes. Having attended a CLAS capoeira workshop himself last year, Chignolli invited Julio and Leila to celebrate Black History Month by teaching students about the cultural and national identity of Afro-Latinos in Brazil. Read the full news story about this visit here.

To arrange a Capoeira in the Classroom visit to your school, contact Leila Vieira (vieira.31@osu.edu).

Julio also teaches capoeira at the Tuttle Park Community Center; sign up here for spring classes (March 21 - May 16). Contact Julio directly (beltrantapia.1@osu.edu; Instagram @beriba_capoeira) for questions.