Latin American and Caribbean Studies
THR | MAY 6 | 4:30 PM | Caribbean Updates and Demands
and Townhall Meeting, CSA & LASP
Register for the meeting at: tinyurl.com/2fm8ub6a
Join the Caribbean Students' Association & the Faculty of the Latin American Studies Program for a short presentation on the beginning of the CSA demands to the University and our progress so far. To be followed by an informal discussion led by the CSA for the community to express their concerns, comments, etc.
Additional Information
CUD Talk, CSA & LASP Townhall Meeting, Caribbean Updates and Demands
May 6, 2021
4:30 pm
CUD Talk, Caribbean Updates and Demands, CSA & LASP Townhall Meeting:
Join the Caribbean Students' Association & the Faculty of the Latin American Studies Program for a short presentation on the beginning of the CSA demands to the University and our progress so far.
To be followed by an informal discussion led by the CSA for the community to express their concerns, comments, etc.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
"Migration at the US-Mexico Border During the Biden Era"
LASP Seminar Series and Migrations Initiative co-sponsored
Journalist and translator Alice Driver is joining the Latin American Studies Program seminar series to share her work on migration, human rights, and gender equality.
She is currently based in Mexico City, and is the author of More or Less Dead: Feminicide, Haunting, and the Ethics of Representation in Mexico (University of Arizona 2015). She received a 2017 Images and Voices of Hope Restorative Narrative Fellowship and 2017 Foreign Policy Interrupted Fellowship and also participated in the Women's Media Center Progressive Women’s Voices 2017 media and leadership training program.Driver has received first aid training for combat and wilderness wounds through Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC) and from the DART Center and Columbia Journalism School course on Reporting Safely in Crisis Zones. She is currently partnering with Longreads Originals to produce a series of articles on migration in Central America. Buzzfeed recently included her work in "8 Visual Stories That Will Challenge Your View of the World."
Additional Information
Area Organizations Working to Get Area Farmworkers Vaccinated
Mary Jo Dudley, LASP
Mary Jo Dudley, director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, discusses efforts to get farmworkers vaccinated. Richard Stup, a workforce specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, also discusses the vaccination centers designed to reach farm and food production workers on Fox 40 WICZ.
Additional Information
Roundtable with Journalist Molly O'Toole on the Global Refugee Crisis
May 7, 2021
2:00 pm
Join us for a conversation with Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Molly O'Toole '09, moderated by the undergraduate migrations scholars and Shannon Gleeson, professor of industrial and labor relations and Migrations initiative taskforce co-chair.
Her talk, "Extracontinental: How the Global Refugee Crisis Is Colliding with Immigration Policies," will be an interactive forum about the global refugee crisis, migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration policy, its effects on people on the move, and the work of journalists covering these situations. O'Toole is the Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences and an immigration and security reporter with the Los Angeles Times.
This conversation, presented by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and Cornell’s Migrations initiative, is part of Beyond Borders: Undergraduate Migrations Symposium.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
COVID vaccine pop-up sites coming to New York farms
Mary Jo Dudley, LASP
"They already have trust among the farmworkers," says Mary Jo Dudley, director of the Cornell Farmworker program. "They have the language and cultural competency to give these vaccines, as well as refrigeration for transporting these vaccines."
Additional Information
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Graduate Fellows
The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACS) is pleased to invite graduate students to apply to become a LACS Graduate Fellow for AY 2025-2026. The Graduate Fellowships are competitive and provide an opportunity for a select number of graduate students to engage with a broad, interdisciplinary community dedicated to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Graduate Fellows will be expected to actively participate in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program’s activities. Responsibilities include attending and shaping the seminar series—with an eye toward several themes around which the series might be structured—and organizing at least one event that promotes interactions between undergraduate and graduate students. LACS funding will be available for the organization of Fellow-sponsored events. Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend events this semester organized by the current Graduate Fellows to get a sense of how the program works.
As many as six LACS Graduate Fellows will be selected for a period of one academic year (Fall 2024 and Spring 2025). Each fellow will receive a stipend of $250/semester for research-related activities to be employed at the student’s discretion (e.g., books, field research, survey research, or conference-related travel).
To apply:
Send the following to lacs@cornell.edu by Friday, February 28th, 2025 by 11:59pm.
From the applicant:
- CV
- Completed application form, which requires describing how the student envisions contributing to building a vibrant LACS community
From the applicant’s dissertation advisor:
- A letter of recommendation
Selection Process:
A selection committee appointed by the current LACS director will review applications. Fellows will be selected based on the applicant’s academic merit and the potential for collaborative engagement. The new cohort of fellows will be announced by late March in order to meet and conduct planning for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Questions:
For questions, please contact LACS Program Manager (lacs@cornell.edu) with the subject line, “Grad Fellow Application Question.”
Additional Information
Amartya Sen: Attacks on Democracy (Bartels World Affairs Lecture)
May 5, 2021
4:30 pm
Nobel prize–winning economist Amartya Sen joins Cornell’s Kaushik Basu for the 2021 Bartels World Affairs Lecture, hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.
At the turn of the millennium, many would have said that understanding the need for democracy was the most important change in the world over the preceding century. Yet in the past 20 years, democracy has been treated with contempt and hostility in many parts of the world—including countries in the West (such as Hungary, Poland, and others), but also elsewhere.
It is important to ask why this is happening and how we should deal with it, Sen advises.
“Some countries seem to be undergoing a big transition in this respect, and my own country, India, may be a significant example—despite its being often described as the largest democracy in the world, which in some sense it still is,” Sen said. “As someone who is dismayed by recent developments, I would like to discuss the nature of the problems we may be facing and what can be done about them.”
Sen’s talk, “Attacks on Democracy,” will kick off a discussion with Cornell faculty and students moderated by Basu. Three faculty commentators and audience members, including several students, will join Sen for conversation and Q&A on democratic challenges—and ways forward. The event is part of the Einaudi Center’s democratic resilience global research theme.
Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University. He has served as president of the Econometric Society, American Economic Association, Indian Economic Association, and International Economic Association. Translated into more than 40 languages, Sen’s books include Collective Choice and Social Welfare (1970, 2017), Development as Freedom (1999), Identity and Violence (2006), and The Idea of Justice (2009). Sen’s awards include the Bharat Ratna (India); Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur (France); National Humanities Medal, George Marshall Award, and Eisenhower Medal (USA); Bodley Medal and Edinburgh Medal (UK); Ordem do Merito Cientifico (Brazil); Aztec Eagle (Mexico); and the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Moderator:
Kaushik Basu is the Carl Marks Professor of International Studies, professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank.
Faculty Commentators:
Robert Hockett, Edward Cornell Professor of Law, Cornell University
Marco Battaglini, Edward H. Meyer Professor of Economics, Cornell University
Rachana Kamtekar, Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University
The Bartels World Affairs Lecture was established in 1984 to foster a broadened worldview among Cornell students, especially undergraduates. The lecture and related events are made possible by the generosity of Henry E. Bartels ’48 and Nancy Horton Bartels ’48.
***
Our hearts are with Cornellians currently in India and South Asia, or with family or friends in the region, during the COVID-19 tragedy. Consider supporting this aid effort led by South Asian students, including Cornellians.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Southeast Asia Program
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Global PhD Research Awards
Details
Conduct your international field research with a $10,000 award to support fieldwork expenses.
The Einaudi Center’s Amit Bhatia ’01 Global PhD Research Awards fund international fieldwork to help Cornell students complete their dissertations. Through a generous gift from Amit Bhatia, this funding opportunity annually supports at least six PhD students who have passed the A exam. Recipients hold the title of Amit Bhatia ’01 Global PhD Research Scholars. Meet the scholars.
All disciplines and research topics are welcome. Please indicate in your application if your project aligns with one of the Einaudi Center's global research priorities or one of our regional and thematic programs.
Eligibility
Cornell graduate students who have passed the A exam and been admitted to candidacy are eligible to apply. International fieldwork must be a critical component of your dissertation research. You must commit to travel abroad to conduct fieldwork for 9–12 months.
Please note that this award is meant to be supplementary to your primary funding source. This award does not provide tuition credit and requires students to be in absentia. A report is required upon completion.
Amount
$10,000, to be used before the end of the sixth PhD year. The award can cover the following expenses:
- International travel (economy airfare, visa fees)
- Domestic travel within the fieldwork country
- Accommodation and living expenses
- Research expenses (permits, translation costs, internet, archive access, survey costs, lab fees, etc.)
We encourage you to apply for other Cornell and external funding to complement this award, but please note that you are not eligible to apply for Einaudi’s travel grants. If you have already received a travel grant and wish to apply for a Global PhD Research Award, you may return your travel grant if you receive this award.
Please note that you may only bill for a research expense once. If an expense is already covered by this award or a Graduate School research travel grant, you may not use other Cornell or external grants to pay the same expense.
International Travel Approval
All international travel must be registered with the Cornell International Travel Registry. In line with Cornell’s international travel policy, selected students who plan to travel to a country flagged by the US Department of State as a "Level 4: Do not travel," or by the CDC as Level 4 "Special Circumstances," must get their travel plans reviewed and approved via a petition process by the International Travel Advisory & Response Team (ITART). ITART petitions are triggered by rules built into the Travel Registry, so if selected students’ travel requires a petition, the Travel Registry will prompt them for additional information about, and a rationale for, their elevated risk travel plans.
Please be aware that regardless of your destination, approval may be withdrawn if there is a change in the risk level of your destination or if we find that you have violated any contingencies of approval given. In such instances, you will be required to refund the award.
To receive the award, selected students must follow the university’s guidelines to petition for permission to travel internationally, to be submitted no earlier than six weeks and at least two weeks before the scheduled travel. In addition, students must participate in a short, online international travel predeparture orientation course designed by the university’s International Health & Safety team in order to receive travel approval.
Deadline
Applications, recommendation letters, and transcripts are due Friday, March 7, 2025 (11:59 p.m. ET).
How to Apply
Please order your official electronic transcript through the Office of the Registrar (see below); do not send your transcript directly. In the application, you will be asked to provide the following:
- Official electronic transcript (send to programs@einaudi.cornell.edu)
- Abstract of your dissertation project (maximum 150 words)
- Introduction to your dissertation project (maximum 400 words)
- Statement explaining the contribution of your research to existing literature and its relevance to advancing the human condition, planetary sustainability, or other impacts (maximum 400 words)
- Statement about publications that have most significantly informed your research (maximum 100 words)
- Statement explaining your plans for international field research (maximum 600 words)
- International field research budget information
- NetID email address of your recommender (your graduate thesis advisor)
FAQ
More Questions?
Join us for an upcoming information session.
Please email our academic programming staff if you have additional questions about the program or your application.
Additional Information
The Future of Tech in India: Leveraging Digitalization for Inclusive Growth
April 22, 2021
12:00 pm
Over the last decade, India has become the fifth-biggest economy in the world, taking an innovative approach to digitalization with the unique combination of large-scale diffusion of bank accounts for the unbanked, a nationwide biometric database for 1.3 billion citizens, and the widespread adoption of mobile technology — now second largest in the world with over 600 million subscribers.
Despite being hit hard by the pandemic, India’s digital success is now enabling the economy to rebound sharply while also ushering in new business models across a range of sectors, such as financial payments and healthcare.
The Emerging Market Webinar Series, organised by Cornell's Emerging Markets Institute, invites a distinguished panel of experts to discuss how digital transformation is a key enabler for sustainable and inclusive growth in India.
Speakers
Lourdes Casanova, Senior Lecturer, Cornell SC Johnson College of BusinessSaurabh Agrawal, Executive Director and Group CFO, Tata SonsShobana Kamenini, Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd.Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Management and Former Founding Dean, Cornell SC Johnson College of BusinessModerator: Vinit KR Khicha, EMI Fellow and FT MBA '21
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
South Asia Program