History of the Center

Long-noted for its effective marshalling of limited resources for widespread impact in teaching and research, the Center for Latin American Studies (CLACS) earned the marker of a nationally-ranked Latin America Studies program in 2006 through its designation as a Title VI Undergraduate National Resource Center by the United States Department of Education.  This designation was a testament to the decades of collaboration, continuous improvement, and leveraging of external support by students, teachers, and administrators dedicated to the exploration of issues facing Latin America.

1783:  Francisco de Miranda toured Providence and the Brown campus (then called Rhode Island College).  Miranda described the ‘college edifice’ (University Hall) as “quite spacious and located on a height which commands the town of Providence, and from its top one sees the entire bay, the island, an in very clear weather the city of Newport.” (1)  He remarked that the library and other buildings were “still in their swaddling clothes.”  Miranda listened to Reverend James Manning, first president of the college, deliver a sermon at the meeting house of the First Baptist Church, and then later observed Miranda baptize a young man in the Providence River.  At thirty-three years old, Miranda had served as a captain in the Spanish military and was engaged in two allied campaigns with French forces in the American Revolution against Great Britain.  Fleeing a sentence for illegal trading with the British (for which he was later exonerated), Miranda traveled to the United States.  His travels set the stage for his eventual plan for the liberty and independence of the entire Spanish-American continent.

1835: At the age of 19, Don Geronimo Urmenta graduated from Brown, becoming the university's first Latin American alumnus. He returned to Chile the following year and began his political career, which included posts as Chile's secretary of finance, minister of interior and foreign affairs, as well as seat in the Chilean senate. He planted the first large vineyard of French grapes in Chile, helping to found the country's modern wine industry. (2)

1850:  Spanish courses first appeared at Brown.

1916:   Eugene E. Vann of Stanford University, who had taught in Brazil, appointed for one year as a lecturer in Romance Languages and Latin American History to teach courses in both Spanish and Portuguese and one on Latin American history “covering all the southern republics, and laying special emphasis on economic conditions in South America, trading routes, commercial opportunities, etc.”(3)

1957:  José Amor y Vázquez hired as a faculty member (Hispanic American Literature) to the Spanish Department.(4)

1960s: A “small but dedicated group of faculty” worked toward developing institutional awareness and support for studies of Latin America in a multidisciplinary perspective.(5)

1965:  Kalman H. Silvert, Director of American Universities Field Staff, submits his “Report on Feasibility of Extending Latin American Scholarship & Training at Brown University” to President Barnaby Keeney, recommending that “Brown would be wise to extend its offerings in Latin American materials.”

1969:  Department of Spanish & Italian renamed Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies (a Portuguese language course had been introduced in 1968).(6)

1972:  Latin American Studies Committee formed by voluntary association of interested faculty.

1973:  Latin American Studies concentration approved.(7)

1976:  Center for Portuguese and Brazilian Studies established.(8)

The first cohort of Latin American Studies concentrators graduated, including:(9)
Mary V. Barney
Patricia C. Bond
Kristin A. Henderson
Ellen Lehrburger
Lendall A. Lloyd
Janice L. Rogers

1983:  Latin American Studies Program (LASP) established, with Professor José Amor y Vázquez serving as director. (10) 

Brown hosted the 8th Congress of Asociacion Internacional de Hispanistas.(11)

LASP joined national and international academic networks, including the Latin American Studies Association, the New England Council on Latin American Studies, and the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs.

Brown hosted the first conference of the New England Council on Latin American Studies.

1984:  The Latin American Studies Program designated as the Center for Latin American Studies (CLACS) on November 1, 1984(12), with Professors José Amor y Vázquez and Dwight B. Heath serving as its first directors.  First office located at the reconditioned International Studies building on 2 Stimson Avenue. (13)   

Latin American Studies departmental undergraduate group (DUG) formed. 

The United States Department of Education awarded a Title VI grant to the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at University of Connecticut in support of a Southern New England Consortium of Latin American Studies, of which Brown was a core member.  The University of Connecticut subcontracted funds to Brown to hire a part-time administrative assistant.  The consortium also received major grant support from the Tinker Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for a joint lecture series, joint research and teaching fellowships, and joint course offerings. 

A grant from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities supported a series of films and lectures at Brown dealing with culture, values, and development in contemporary Latin America.

1986:  Brown reactivated exchange agreement with El Colegio de Mexico, and established exchange relationship with Universidade de Bahia in Brazil.

1988:  CLACS received additional funds through the Title VI grant to the Southern New England Consortium of Latin American Studies to hire a faculty/coordinator position and a visiting professor position.  Renewed grants from the Tinker and Lampadia Foundations supported shared teaching and research activities among schools in the consortium (which added the University of Massachusetts as a new member and was renamed as the Latin American Studies Consortium of New England). 

Brown established an exchange program with the Universidad de las Americas in Pueblas, Mexico.
 
1989:  Professor Thomas Skidmore, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Professor of Modern Latin American History, appointed CLACS director. 

President of Mexico Carlos Salinas de Gortari attended Brown Commencement to receive an honorary degree.

1990:  Brown hosted 28th Congress of Instituto Internacional de Literatura Iberoamericana.(14)

1992:  The Brazil Fund established through the generosity of an anonymous Brazilian donor to support campus activities related to Brazil.

CLACS launched the Comparative History and Society of the Americas workshop, to integrate students and faculty who study any of the societies in the Americas—primarily English, Spanish, and Portuguese Americas.

Brown established exchange program with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

1993:  Brown hosted the New England Council of Latin American Studies Annual Fall Meeting on October 2, 1993.

Rhodes Endowment Fund established to support the Center for Latin American Studies’ programming.  Citibank Mexico Fund established to support the Center for Latin American Studies’ programming dealing with Mexico. 

1994:  CLACS convened a Tenth Anniversary celebration, featuring a panel discussion on financial fragility in Latin America, chaired by William R. Rhodes ’57, Vice Chairman of Citibank, Antonio Arguelees, Subcoordinator of Finance and Administration for the PRI Presidential Campaign, and Carlos Hernandez Delfino, Second Vice President and Director of the Central Bank of Venezuela.

1996:  CLACS moved its office from Stimson Avenue to the New Pembroke campus.

1997:  Yale University joined the Latin American Studies Consortium of New England, which continued to receive Title VI grant support from the U.S. Department of Education.

2000:  Brown hosted a conference on “The Discovery and Rediscovery of Brazil” which was a celebration of 500 years of the Portuguese presence in Brazil.  The conference brought together some of the leading scholars in the world on a number of topics dealing with Brazil, and was kicked off by the Honorable Rubins Barbosa, Brazilian Ambassador to the United States.  The Hewlett Foundation provided critical support for the conference.

2001:  Brown launched Mesolore, a multidisciplinary, multimedia CD set on the science, mathematics, history, linguistics, language, and visual arts of Mesoamerica.  The Ford Foundation was a major contributor to the development of the program.

Professor David Lindstrom, of the Department of Sociology and the Population Studies and Training Center, appointed CLACS Director.

2002:  CLACS moved to its current location at the Rhodes Suite in the Watson Institute for International Studies.  The first film Series, run by the DUG in collaboration with one or more courses that covered a Latin American theme, was established.  Tinker Foundation supported pre-dissertation travel by graduate students working on topics related to Latin America.

2003:  Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, appointed to a five-year term as professor-at-large.

Brown established a three year program with CitiGroup Brazil to bring annually to Brown two students from Brazil to attend courses, an executive/economist from Citibank Brazil for a seminar on economic and finances in South America, and a scholar from Brazil to teach and conduct research.  Mellon Foundation funded two annual graduate fellowships.

2005:  Professor James Green, Associate Professor of History and Brazilian Studies, appointed CLACS Director. 

2006:  Center for Latin American Studies designated as one of 18 Title VI Undergraduate National Resource Centers for Latin American Studies by the United States Department of Education. 

CLACS established two future target goals:  1)  the consolidation of Brown as the nation’s flagship undergraduate university in Brazilian Studies in both its undergraduate and graduate programs; 2) the development of a Caribbean Basin Initiative to position Brown as the leading institution of higher education in Southern New England that focuses on the Caribbean.

CLACS began work on a Haitian Creole language acquisition program, a new Caribbean Forum lecture series, a Caribbean Film Series, a Caribbean Symposium, art exhibit, and outreach to local Caribbean communities. Planning began to establish a study abroad program in Cuba.

2007: Brown President Ruth Simmons designated 2007-2008 as the "Year of Focus on Latin America."

Matthew Gutmann, Associate Professor of Anthropology, chairs fact-finding delegation of the Latin American Studies Association to investigate the 2006 social conflict in Oaxaca, Mexico. Acclaimed Latin American film director Fernando Birri donated his cinematic archive to the Brown Library. Former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and Ricardo Lagos of Chile delivered a joint lecture entitled, “Inequality in Latin America: A Presidential Dialogue.” The two presidents led separate student study groups at the Watson Institute through the fall of 2007.

2008: CLACS hosted a two day conference entitled “Changes in the Andes” which examined the similar and distinct challenges and opportunities faced by the Andean nations of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

With generous financial support from Oliver Kwon '87, CLACS launched CineBRASIL to bring the latest in Brazilian cinema to New England, with four days of films and panel discussions with acclaimed directors.

President of Bolivia Evo Morales delivered a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs.

Ten Brown students were selected to study abroad for the fall 2008 semester at the Casa de las Américas in Havana, the first Brown contingent under the new agreement.