51����

“Making Lucha Libre Latinx Theatre”, a free public talk

📆 Thursday, October 30, 2025
🕚 11:30am – 12:30pm
📍 American Geographical Society Library (AGSL)
🏫 51���� Libraries, 3rd floor east wing

This talk explores the work of nationally-produced playwright and 51���� Associate Professor Alvaro Saar Rios, whose award-winning plays include Luchadora!, On The Wings of a Mariposa and Carmela Full of Wishes. Rios will discuss his journey to becoming a playwright, and how his Texican upbringing has shaped the stories he brings to the stage. This talk will cover both the creative and practical details of choosing source material and adapting it for theatre, as well as how Rios helps emerging creatives at 51���� nurture their talents for writing, acting, set and costume design, and directing.

Professor Alvaro Saar Rios (UW-Milwaukee, Theatre) is a Texican playwright living in Chicago. His plays have been performed in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, St. Louis, Seattle, Milwaukee and all over Texas. He has received playwriting commissions from various organizations, including Kennedy Center, Chicago Children’s Theatre, and the Zoological Society of Milwaukee. Rios holds an MFA in Writing for the Stage and Screen from Northwestern University. In addition to teaching at 51����, he is a Playwright-In-Residence at Milwaukee’s First Stage and is a proud veteran of the US Army.

Join us to learn about the many topics you can study through the interdisciplinary LACUSL major at 51����. And mark your calendar for our other Fall 2025 LACUSL Speaker Series talks!

Free & open to the public
No registration required
For questions or accessibility accommodations, please contact: clacs@uwm.edu

Cosponsored by the 51���� Military and Veterans Resource Center

This semester we are pleased to host three scholars whose research areas span diverse regions and disciplines within Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latinx Studies – capturing the diversity of topics you can study in our interdisciplinary LACUSL major.

We especially aim to provide students with a welcoming environment to learn about the rich variety of research in these fields. Please save the dates and join us!

All talks are free and open to the public. They will take place in the American Geographical Society Library (51���� Libraries, 3rd floor east wing):

Thursday October 16, 3:00-4:00pm
Professor Orlando Deavila Pertuz (University of Cartagena, International Institute of Caribbean Studies)
“Race and Space in the Making of the Latin American City during the Twentieth Century”

Thursday October 30, 11:30am-12:30pm
Professor Alvaro Saar Rios (UW-Milwaukee, Department of Theatre)
“Making Lucha Libre Latinx Theatre”

Monday November 10, 1:00-2:00pm
Professor W. Warner Wood (UW-Milwaukee, Department of Anthropology)
“Developing a Community-Led Ecotourism Museum in Oaxaca, Mexico”

No registration required. For questions or accessibility accommodations, please contact: clacs@uwm.edu

Thursday, October 9
6:00pm – 7:30pm CT
Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex, Room 1150
(3135 N. Maryland Ave.)
Free and open to the public

Hybrid event: join us on campus, or by zoom using the below meeting information

Zoom:

Meeting ID: 983 1826 8273 / Passcode: 813094

Salud mental en comunidad: a dialogue with Latin American Women Science Researchers

CLACS is delighted to partner with UW-Milwaukee’s (Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences) for a 3-talk Global Mental Health Talk Series this fall in honor of Latine Heritage Month.

This three-part Global Mental Health Talk Series brings to spotlight innovative approaches to community mental health in Latin America, led by women researchers and professionals committed to social transformation. This colloquium series will explore mental health interventions with displaced and refugee populations, collective care models, and the integration of mental health into community and primary care. Presentations will emphasize participatory, gender-responsive strategies grounded in lived experience, action research, and collaboration.

For the final event in this series we are joined by Carol Tremont, a Venezuelan psychologist and educator. Since fleeing Venezuela in 2017, Carol has lived in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. She served as the MHPSS Coordinator at the Asociación Protección Población Vulnerable (APPV), where she designed and facilitated support groups for refugee, migrant, and local women. In addition, Carol has been a fearless advocate for Venezuelan female sex workers living in Peru, providing critical psychosocial care and legal referrals.

This talk will be in English and/or with English interpretation, with refreshments provided. Cosponsored by the Nagy lab at UW-Milwaukee (Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences).

Race and Space in the Making of the Latin American City during the Twentieth Century

📆 Thursday, October 16, 2025
🕒 3:00pm-4:00pm
📍 American Geographical Society Library (AGSL) – 51���� Libraries, 3rd Floor East Wing
🏫 University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Guest Speaker: Dr. Orlando Deavila Pertuz

Dr. Orlando Deavila Pertuz is a Tinker Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Caribbean Studies at the Universidad de Cartagena in Colombia. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Connecticut. His works explore the intersection between race and space in the transformation of Cartagena into an international tourist destination in the twentieth century.

Event Description

The literature on urban Latin America has often reified and naturalized political decisions regarding the production of urban space as racially neutral. While it acknowledges the westernization of Latin American cities since the early twentieth century—particularly through the adoption of architectural and urban planning models drawn from Europe—it has largely overlooked how racial ideologies have shaped urban policies. This presentation explores recent developments in the study of the racial foundations of urban planning in Latin America and examines the case of Cartagena, Colombia, during its transformation into an international tourist destination in the twentieth century.

Free & Open to the Public

No registration required
For questions or accessibility accommodations, please contact: clacs@uwm.edu

Join us to learn about the many topics you can study through the interdisciplinary LACUSL major at 51����.

And save the date for our other Fall 2025 LACUSL Speaker Series talks!

Wednesday, September 24, 2025
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Manfred Olson Planetarium, 51���� Physics Building room 139
1900 E. 51����.
Free and open to the public – first-come, first-served

Note that doors close 5 minutes after the planetarium show starts – sorry, no late admissions

Celebrate Latine Heritage Month with a night of sounds, stories, and stars! 51���� Film instructor Renato Umali will share his short film “Diaries From Guatemala” about a trip that opened his eyes to Guatemala’s vast culture and recent history. The program will include an indoor stargazing session of the night sky followed by the opportunity to ask questions. Not recommended for children under 4. No advance registration is required.

Additional details about the facility, accessibility, parking, and reserving your free ticket are available on the Planetarium’s website.

Thursday, October 2
4:00pm – 6:00pm
Holton Hall, room 380
(2442 E. Hartford Ave.)
Free and open to the public
Hybrid event: register for in-person or zoom attendance

Salud mental en comunidad: a roundtable with Latin American Women Science Researchers

CLACS is delighted to partner with UW-Milwaukee’s (Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences) for a 3-talk Global Mental Health Talk Series this fall in honor of Latine Heritage Month.

This three-part Global Mental Health Talk Series brings to spotlight innovative approaches to community mental health in Latin America, led by women researchers and professionals committed to social transformation. This colloquium series will explore mental health interventions with displaced and refugee populations, collective care models, and the integration of mental health into community and primary care. Presentations will emphasize participatory, gender-responsive strategies grounded in lived experience, action research, and collaboration.

In this second event we are joined by three impressive women physicians who will share about their professional experiences and identify common themes across their work.

Andrea Verónica Armijos Navarro served as the National Coordinator
of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Program at
HIAS-Ecuador. Her clinical and fieldwork spans multiple countries
and includes direct support to children, refugees, women survivors
of violence, and populations affected by humanitarian crises and
natural disasters.

Dra. Marcela Inés Freytes Frey is an Argentine psychologist,
educator, and leading expert in community mental health. Her career
spans clinical work, expressive therapies, public health leadership,
and academic program development, with a consistent focus on
intersectoral collaboration and locally grounded engagement.

Dr. Alejandra Paniagua-Ávila is a Guatemalan physician and public
health researcher, currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatric
Epidemiology at Columbia University. With over a decade of
experience in global mental health, Dr. Paniagua-Ávila’s work centers
on health equity, implementation science, and culturally grounded
mental health interventions in Latin America.

This event will be in English and/or with English interpretation, with refreshments provided. Cosponsored by the Nagy lab at UW-Milwaukee (Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences).

Note: registration QR code leads to our third and final event in the series, taking place on October 9. To register for the October 2 round table, .

Friday, September 19, 2025
3:00pm – 4:30pm
CLACS offices (Northwest Quadrant B, 2479 – use red elevators)
2025 E. Newport Ave., Milwaukee WI 53211

CLACS staff warmly invites all of our affiliated students, faculty, and campus partners to reconnect and meet new people as we return to the routines of the academic year. Anyone with a connection to, or interest in, Latin American and Caribbean studies at 51���� is welcome. Learn about our upcoming programs and share your own updates with CLACS staff and other classmates and colleagues.

We look forward to seeing you there!

This past June, Professor Pamela Harris (Mathematical Sciences, 51����) traveled to Bogotá, Colombia to present a week-long seminar as part of , a multi-institution professional training hosted at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. The collaborative event, an initiative of the (UMALCA), gathers leading researchers in the field alongside undergraduate and graduate students to promote mathematics across the continent.

Harris, a specialist in algebraic combinatorics, offered the mini-course “Computaciones en Permutaciones y sus Generalizaciones”. She shared these words about her experience:

Thanks to CLACS funding I was able to travel to Bogotá, Colombia to participate in Dias de Combinatoria, where I delivered a week-long on permutations and their statistics. The course was attended by students from all over Latin America and it was the first time I delivered a course in Spanish, which is my mother tongue, but not the language I learned mathematics in. The trip was a tremendous success and it has opened the door to collaborate with new mathematicians. This would not have been possible without CLACS funding and I am grateful for the support!

Program participants gather for a group photo at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia

Harris wrote about her experience at length in an article for , the news magazine of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The publication is forthcoming, but you may read a pre-print of her article here.

Thursday, September 11, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm CT
Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex, Room 1150
(3135 N. Maryland Ave)
Free and open to the public
Hybrid event: register for in-person or zoom attendance

Salud mental en comunidad: a dialogue with Latin American Women Science Researchers. Dr. Zelde Espinel.

CLACS is delighted to partner with UW-Milwaukee’s (Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences) for a 3-talk Global Mental Health Talk Series this fall in honor of Latine Heritage Month.

This three-part Global Mental Health Talk Series brings to spotlight innovative approaches to community mental health in Latin America, led by women researchers and professionals committed to social transformation. This colloquium series will explore mental health interventions with displaced and refugee populations, collective care models, and the integration of mental health into community and primary care. Presentations will emphasize participatory, gender-responsive strategies grounded in lived experience, action research, and collaboration.

In this first lecture we are joined by Dr. Zelde Espinel, a Colombian psychiatrist, psycho-oncologist, and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Espinel’s work bridges clinical care, training, and global mental health. She has contributed to research on disaster psychiatry, including mental health responses to climate-related crises and the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Espinel has been deeply involved in global initiatives, including supporting displaced Colombian women through evidence-based mental health interventions such as Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). Since 2020, she has provided clinical supervision to psychologists across Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador, training them in IPT to address the psychosocial needs of Venezuelan migrants.

This talk will be in English and/or with English interpretation, with refreshments provided. Cosponsored by the Nagy lab at UW-Milwaukee (Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences).

At the close of spring semester 2025, CLACS Regional Faculty Affiliate (UW-La Crosse, Global Cultures & Languages) traveled to San Francisco, CA to present her literary research at the Latin American Studies Association annual congress, which took place May 23-26, 2025.

Professor Ochoa Campo’s presentation, entitled “Invasión: cuerpos, territorios y afectos en Plaga de Juliana Javierre,” was part of the panel Cuerpos en conflicto: Transgresiones, narco-estéticas y violencia en la literatura y el cine latinoamericanos contemporáneos. Her paper analyzed the negative affects of fear, terror, shame, humiliation, and disgust in the Plaga, tracing how these affects register protests from the novel’s protagonists against the corporal and territorial violence they experience.

Professor Ochoa Campo reflected on the value of participating in the conference and visiting San Francisco:

My experience at LASA 2025 in San Francisco, California was truly wonderful and enriching. It was amazing to be intellectually stimulated through engaging conversations, to reconnect and network with colleagues, and to explore the vibrant Mission District—an area so meaningful to the Latinx community. I had the privilege of chairing one panel on Latinx literature [Gender and Immigration in South American Latina Literature in the 21st Century] and present on another about Colombian literature. Overall, it was an unforgettable professional development opportunity. Thank you for supporting us.

Professor Ochoa Campo’s conference participation was supported by CLACS as part of the Upper Midwest Latin American Studies Initiative, through a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.