Latin American and Iberian Studies Receives Education Grant

New initiatives, including teaching foreign languages across the curriculum and enhancing the Latin American studies curriculum in professional schools, could result from renewal of a U.S. Department of Education grant to the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program.

According to LAISP director Alda Blanco, the grant also will enable the development of collaborative ventures between LAISP and other area studies programs.

For example, next year LAISP will join the UW–Madison Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the International Institute to organize a project on “Legacies of Authoritarianism: Cultural Production, Collective Trauma and Global Justice.” Blanco says the aim will be to study the impact of authoritarianism in many disciplines.

In addition, the grant will allow LAISP to offer year-long Quechua language classes and hold Quechua and Portuguese summer institutes, among other activities.