UMassGives 2024

This year, we are excited to participate in UMassGives 2024 and to break our record of donations! We are hoping to get as many gifts as we did last year to partially fund a series of initiatives via donations made during our POWER HOUR on April 25 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET The center or department with the highest number of contributions during this hour, an average of 100 donations in previous years, wins an extra $2000. The dollar amount does not matter, so let’s shoot for (110) donations this time!

Please consider making a gift to the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACLS) during 1:00 -2:00 p.m. ET and ask (4) friends to boot!

CLACLS is consistently organizing and sponsoring events and opportunities for our community while promoting research, training, and public engagement on the histories, cultures, and politics of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx peoples across the Americas and throughout the world. 

During AY 2023-24, CLACLS has left a huge mark on our campus and comunidad by organizing the inaugural UMass Amherst Latinx Film Festival (Oct. 9-13, 2023) and bringing three important Latinx filmmakers on campus. The Center and our director Stephanie Fetta marked an important political and international milestone at UMass Amherst by hosting Colombia’s Vice President Francia  Márquez. Aside from these two important achievements, we also organized and co-sponsored more than twenty events such as a concert by Latin Grammy Nominee Gina Chavez,  preceded by a Meet and Greet for our students and members.  By making a gift, you will be helping us to advance our vision and provide support for the following activities:

1. LACL Indigenous STEM conference

Our Spring 2025 conference brings together scholars from the Americas and locally who employ indigenous and decolonial approaches to the sciences. We are planning an inaugural and international two-day conference, which will cover topics ranging from:

Taíno and Black Caribbean Practices and/or Philosophy, Arts, Dance, and STEM, 

Interdisciplinary Recognition of Indigenous STEM in LACL Social Movements and in Migrant Work, 

• Indigenous Research Methods and Environmental Science, 
• Spirituality and Indigenous LACL STEM, and
• Latin American Music in STEM Pedagogy
• Western Massachusetts indigeneity, Latin American indigeneity, and Black Caribbean agricultural work: Interdisciplinary Collaborations in Local Agriculture

2. Indigenous Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Film Festival

In Fall 2024, we will host our second film festival which is going to take place during the Latinx Heritage Month. We have curated a line up of indigenous Latin American and Latinx films that address important issues ranging from the erasure of indigenous peoples in the Americas or indigenous Latin American/Caribbean diasporas in the US, among others. 

3. Pre-dissertation grants – Supporting our students in the completion of their dissertations!

This initiative aims at enhancing graduate students’ Pre-Dissertation research opportunities in Latin America, the Caribbean, or among Latinx communities across the United States. The award may be used for travel to assist in the development of dissertation proposals by undertaking preliminary research, performing field work, exploring archives, conducting interviews, and overall data collection activities. 

4. Visioning grants – Lending a hand to help each other get our projects off the ground!

Visioning grants support new and continuing faculty-graduate research initiatives that promote interdisciplinary, new, or alternative “visions” of key topics/problems in the field of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies. We expect these initiatives to stimulate existing collaborations among our faculty and help inspire new ones. 

Consider donating during CLACLS Power Hour on Thursday, April 25 from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. for a chance to earn extra funding for CLACLS

*CLACLS Team with Colombia’s VP, Francia  Márquez, who gave a speech on October 20th, 2023,  to inaugurate international relations among our Center, UMass Amherst, and Colombia’s Ministry of Education.