What is the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies at UC Berkeley?

Updated

The Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CLACS) is UC Berkeley's home for research, publications, and events about Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a research unit that brings together academics, artists, and community members from the region, the United States, and the world, and it provides academic and research resources for studying the region. It is the right starting point if you are a Berkeley student or faculty member looking for regional research support, funding, events, or publications — and a useful public resource if you want to follow the center's events and writing.

What CLACS does

The center describes its mission as fostering and supporting new ideas and research by convening scholars, thinkers, leaders, and artists of Latin America and the Caribbean into a community. In practice, its work falls into four areas:

  • Events — a public calendar of upcoming and past events connecting the region's scholarship and culture to educators, students, and community members at Berkeley and beyond.
  • Publications — research written by Berkeley students, faculty, and the wider community, including the CLACS Blog, Revista Pihhy, and the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies.
  • Academics — academic and research resources for studying the region, including CLACS Seminars, information on degrees and programs, K–14 outreach, and library resources.
  • Opportunities — funding for research and study in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Who it is for

You are What CLACS offers
A Berkeley graduate student Graduate affiliation, conference travel grants, summer dissertation writing fellowship
Faculty or an affiliated scholar Faculty affiliation, event and conference cosponsorships, working groups
An educator (including K–14) Outreach programs and the ORIAS Speakers Bureau
A researcher or visitor Field research support, working groups, seminar programming
A general reader Public events, the CLACS Blog, and the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies

Funding and opportunities

CLACS runs ongoing grant programs for students, faculty, and visitors. The named opportunities on the site include:

  • Conference Travel Grants
  • Event Series and Working Groups
  • Fellows en Pedagogías de Lenguas Indígenas
  • Field Research
  • ORIAS Speakers Bureau
  • Event & Conference Cosponsorships
  • Summer Dissertation Writing Fellowship

Each program has its own eligibility and application terms, so check the specific opportunity page before planning around a deadline or award amount.

Getting involved or staying informed

  • Follow events: the Upcoming Events section lists current programming; Past Events shows the archive.
  • Read the publications: the CLACS Blog, Revista Pihhy, and the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies are linked from the Publications section, and CLACS also maintains a YouTube channel.
  • Subscribe: the site offers a newsletter signup for updates.
  • Support the center: there is a Donate to CLACS option, including a call to support student research.
  • Contact: staff, faculty, and advisory board contacts are listed under People, and the center also lists a conference room and contact details under About.

A practical example

Suppose you are a Berkeley graduate student planning dissertation fieldwork in Central America. You would check the Field Research and Summer Dissertation Writing Fellowship pages for eligibility, confirm deadlines on the specific opportunity pages, and use the Events calendar to find working groups or seminars connected to your region. If your department is hosting a conference on the region, the Event & Conference Cosponsorships page explains that route. The same site is where you would later publish a short piece through the CLACS Blog.

What to keep in mind

CLACS is a research center, not a degree-granting department: it provides resources and programming that support study of the region across UC Berkeley's existing degrees and programs. Details such as award amounts, application windows, and event schedules change, so treat the individual pages as the authoritative source rather than summaries like this one.