2025 Program
REGISTRATION, 8:00am-2:00pm (Location: Alfond Inn)
BREAKFAST, 8:30am-9:30am (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 3)
FIRST BLOCK, 9:30am-10:45am
PANEL 1A: Violence and Social Justice | Moderator: Dr. Eldad Levy (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 1)
The Effectiveness of Peru's Law 30364 in Addressing Gender-Based Violence – Dania Verbena - Rhodes College
The Politics of Survival: Cultural Identity and Resilience in Guatemala’s Indigenous Communities – Pluto Foucher - Western Michigan University
The Grey Zone of Criminality’s Role in Disrupting Latin American Citizens’ Memories During Their Escape from Violence – Ansley Reid - Rollins College
PANEL 1B: Race, Religion, and Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean | Moderator: Dr. I. Carolina Caballero (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 2)
Sounds of Hope – Daniel Velazquez - Rollins College
Queer Liberation: An Alternative Perspective on Queerness in Latin Culture – Sarah Acosta - Rhodes College
Gender, Sexuality, and Black Identity Formation in the African-Derived Religions of Santería and Candomblé – Michael Planeils - Tulane University
La dos Marinas: rehumanización mediante la animalización – Caroline Wright - Tulane University
PANEL 1C: The Struggle for Identity in Latin America | Moderator: Dr. Ashley Kistler (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 5)
- A Vessel for Ethnic Expression: How Pottery Reflects Identity in the SIAR of Chan Chan – Xiomy Hernandez - University of Florida
- Flight, Feuds, and Tavernas: Intimacy Between Slaveholders and Police Control in Pelotas, Brazil, 1880-1888 – Patrick Buchanan - Presbyterian College
- Discrimination and Integration: Mestizo Nationalism and Palestinian Migrant Experience in Great Depression El Salvador, 1929-1944 – Nicholas Fowler - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Danzas Aztecas de Mesoamerica – Maricruz Zacharias - Southwestern University
SECOND BLOCK, 11:00am-12:15pm (Location: Alfond Inn)
PANEL 2A: Navigating Identity and Barriers: The Immigrant Experience | Moderator: Dr. Rosana Díaz-Zambrana (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 1)
Cerrando Brechas: Desafíos de Salud Mental para los Inmigrantes Hispanos – Jessica McCutcheon - Southwestern University
The Double-Edged Dream: How Transnationalism Shapes and Shatters Latin American Immigrant Identity – Alejandro Bailey - Tulane University
Strengthening Hispanic and Latino Patient Satisfaction Through the Improvement of Interpretation Services – Lauren Boone - Baylor University
Anti-Haitian Discrimination in the Dominican Republic: Historical Patterns and Legal Manifestations – Samantha Garvin - Western Michigan University
PANEL 2B: Indigenous Rights in Latin America | Moderator: Dr. Patricia Tomé (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 2)
Road to Recognition: How the U’wa Have Shaped Territorial Rights in Colombia – Michelle Polo - Rollins College
Maintaining Culture and Identity in Cities: How Are Indigenous University Students Affected by Migration from Rural Areas to Cuzco? – Amor Poalasin Pogyo - Rollins College
Understanding Ecuadorian Indigenous Mobilization – Brayton Phillips - Western Michigan University
Un desafío al sumak kawsay: El programa biocultura boliviana – Tanya Garcia - Tulane University
PANEL 2C: Mexican Politics and Policy | Moderator: Dr. Barry Allen (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 5)
Gender Parity in Mexico – Jorge Romero - University of North Georgia
The Impact of Electoral Systems on Mexico’s Politics and Capitalist Societies – Fatima Santillan - University of North Georgia
As the Smoke Clears: A Case Study of Community Ethos in the Context of Mexico’s Cannabis Legislation – Kayla Poholek - Rollins College
"To hell with their institutions!"; The Erosion of Democracy in Mexico. Arabella Arado Lilleslåtten – Rollins College
LUNCH & KEYNOTE, 12:15pm-1:45pm (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 3)
Keynote: “Archival Traps: The Fragility of Latin America's Past and Future Histories” by Dr. Ángela Pérez-Villa, Western Michigan University.
THIRD BLOCK, 2:00pm-3:15pm (Location: Alfond Inn)
PANEL 3A: Democratic Erosion in Contemporary Latin America | Moderator: Dr. Dexter Boniface (Location, Park 1)
Examining the Causes of Democratic Backsliding: A Comparative Case Study of Brazil and Chile – Samantha Foshee - Rollins College
The Erosion of Democracy in Brazil – Joao Victor Mascarenhas Farid - Rollins College
Democratic Erosion in Ecuador: Correa's Populist Discourse and Its Consequences – Gabriela Tirado - Rollins College
Democratic Erosion in Peru: Fujimori’s Autocratic Regime – Maia Feasel - Rollins College
PANEL 3B: Healthcare and Mental Health in Latin America | Moderator: Dr. Shan-Estelle Brown (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 2)
Public Health in Latin America: Analyzing the Progress, Successes, and Shortcomings of Universalized Healthcare Initiatives – Melissa Ratcliffe - Baylor University
Psychoanalysis in Argentina in Relation to Mental Health Care in the United States – Sasha Singh - Rollins College
Neurodivergent Rights in Chile, Before, During, and After the 2019 Uprising – Álvaro Rizo - University of Miami
PANEL 3C: Cultural Expression as a Tool for Identity and Social Change in Latin America | Moderator: Dr. Alvaro M. Torres-Calderón (Location: Alfond Inn, Park 5)
La palabra rebelde contra el imperialismo estadounidense: un análisis de la poesía Guna de Aiban Wagua y Leocadio Padilla González – Ciara Pruett - Tulane University
The Pronunciation of the Spanish Phoneme /b/ – Aidan Pavlich - University of North Georgia
The Latin American Icon: Frida Kahlo – Ariana Rodriguez - Tulane University
Mariana Enriquez: Una feminista gothic – Georgia Deitz - University of North Georgia
MUSEUM TOUR, 3:30pm-4:30pm (Location: Rollins Museum of Art, Rollins College)
Exhibition Tour of ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now led by Dr. Gisela Carbonell, Interim Director and Curator
RECEPTION, 4:30pm-6pm (Location: Dave’s Boathouse, Cornell Campus Center, Rollins College)
Dr. Ángela Pérez-Villa, Western Michigan University.
Dr. Ángela Pérez-Villa is an Assistant Professor of History at Western Michigan University. She is a historian of Latin America who specializes in the social history of the law during Colombia’s early nineteenth-century wars of independence. She has been awarded distinguished fellowships and grants from the Mellon Foundation, the American Society for Legal History, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation), and was appointed visiting scholar at the Latin American Centre at the University of Oxford in 2023-2024. Recently, the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education named her one of two 2025 Early Career Award Recipients. She’s currently finishing her first book manuscript on Colombia and has published academic articles in English and Spanish. Her Journal of Social History article “Enslaved Litigants, Emotions, and a Shifting Legal Landscape in Cauca, Colombia (1825-1831)” received the Honorable Mention for the 2024 Vanderwood Prize for Best Article from the Conference on Latin American History.
Archival Traps: The Fragility of Latin America's Past and Future Histories
In this keynote, Dr. Ángela Pérez-Villa (WMU) will reflect on her journey as an archival researcher, drawing on her work on Colombian women from the early 1800s. She will discuss how her encounters with the archives have shaped her methodologies as a historian, as well as her personal archival practices as a Latina in the United States. She will conclude by highlighting the thrilling possibilities as well as current threats facing archives across Latin America and what scholarly communities are doing to protect them.