Americas

Study Of The Americas Initiative

With a fully hemispherical focus, the Study of the Americas Initiative supports interdisciplinary research engaging in comparative analysis of culture, history, society, politics, music, art, media, language and literature of the Americas as it explores the interconnections between North, South, Central America and the Caribbean.

The Study of the Americas Initiative takes full advantage of our amazing strategic location in Florida, at the nexus of South, North, Central America and the Caribbean to bring different spaces of the western hemisphere into conversation by providing fora for scholars to come together and share knowledge.

Our Core Objectives

The Study of the Americas Initiative at Florida Atlantic University brings multiple disciplines within the humanities together to research and discuss the history, culture, society, politics, languages, literature, media, music, and arts of the western hemisphere in an effort to foster dialogue and promote understanding and appreciation of the multiple connections, influences and confluences of our common historical and geographical background. 

To accomplish these objectives, the Study of the Americas Initiative maintains the unique Marvin and Sybil Weiner Spirit of America Collection organizes lectures, symposia, workshops and other events that support our hemispheric, interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the study of the Americas. The initiative, in coordination with the academic programs in the FAU Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Collection Letters, awards a Fellowship.

We invite you to explore our website and find out more about our initiative and events. 

Faculty SpotLight

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Features of the Americas Initiative include:

• FAU’s unique geographic, demographic and cultural relation to the Americas and Caribbean
• Specialized resources for research including The Marvin and Sybil Weiner Spirit of America Collection which contains more than 13,000 publications and artifacts including rare works from the 16th century.
• Substantial number of interdisciplinary faculty with extensive specializations on topics throughout the Americas
• The College’s Ph.D. Program in Comparative Studies and the Caribbean and Latin American Studies Certificate especially encourage an extensive and interdisciplinary hemispherical focus.
• A unique intellectual hub featuring lecture series from FAU and distinguished international scholars, an annual conference dedicated to Americas study, publication opportunities and affiliation with Americas-centered research centers around the globe.
• The Americas Initiative aligns with FAU’s university-wide strategic plan platforms on Diversity, Community Engagement, Globalization, South Florida Culture and the Peace, Justice and Human Rights Initiative.
• The Initiative showcases draws on FAU’s strengths as a minority serving institution where more than half the student population represent racial or ethnic difference and/or our robust international student body.

 

She is the author of Entre el bronce y el olvido: heroísmo y afrodescendencia en Colombia, Brasil y Cuba / Between Bronze and Oblivion: Heroism and Afro-descendants in Colombia, Brazil and Cuba (2023) published by Iberoamericana- Vervuert. She has published articles on Latin American poetry, narrative and theater in journals such as Latin American Research Review, Afro-Hispanic Review, and Latin American Theatre Review. Her article, “Heroísmo y conciencia racial en la poeta afrocubana Cristina Ayala,” was awarded the 2017 Ibero-American Prize for an Academic Article on the Nineteenth Century (LASA) as well as the Harold Eugene Davis Prize by the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS). Feministas Unidas awarded the Adela Zamudio Prize (2019) to her article “Activismo, literatura y cambio social en el Caribe hispano: aproximación en tres movimientos.” In 2022, her project “En nombre de la madre: el valor político del heroísmo en la narrativa de Maria Firmina dos Reis” was awarded the Marielle Franco Prize by the Gender and Feminist Studies section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). For more information, please visit her website:  /artsandletters/about/directory/dornelles

Affiliated Faculty

Anthropology

• Cliff Brown *on sabbatical until January (ctbrown@fau.edu)
• Meredith Ellis (ellism@fau.edu)
• Michael Harris (mharris@fau.edu)
• Valentine Martinez (vmartine@fau.edu)

English

• Eric Berlatsky (eberlats@fau.edu)
• RJ Boutelle (rboutelle@fau.edu)
• Sika Dagbovie-Mullins (sdagbovi@fau.edu)
• Regis Fox (mannr@fau.edu)
• Andrew Furman (afurman@fau.edu)
• Stacey Lettman (slettman@fau.edu)

History

• Evan Bennett (ebennett@fau.edu)
• Candace Cunningham (ccunningham@fau.edu)
• Adrian Funicane (afinucane@fau.edu)
• Barbara Ganson (cruz@fau.edu)
• Ben Lowe (bplowe@fau.edu)
• Jermaine Scott (scottj@fau.edu)
• Kelly Shannon (shannonk@fau.edu)
• Jason Sharples (jsharples@fau.edu)
• Eyal Weinberg (eweinberg@fau.edu)

Languages, Linguistics & Comparative Literature

• Carla Calargé (ccalarge@fau.edu) 
• Frédéric Conrod (fconrod@fau.edu)
• María Alejandra Aguilar Dornelles (maguilardornelle@fau.edu)
• Yolanda Gamboa (ygamboa@fau.edu)
• Nuria Godón (ngodon@fau.edu)
• Mary Ann Gosser (gosser@fau.edu)
• Mike Hamilton (mhamilton@fau.edu)
• Michael J. Horswell (horswell@fau.edu)
• Viktor Kharlamov (vkharlamov@fau.edu)
• Gonzalo Aguiar Malosetti (gaguiarmalosetti@fau.edu)
• Martha Mendoza (mmendoza@fau.edu)
• Nancy Paulson (npaulson@fau.edu)
• Nora Erro Peralta  (peralta@fau.edu)
• Ilaria Serra (iserra1@fau.edu)

Music

• Andrés Espinoza Agurto (espinozaa@fau.edu)
• Patricia P. Fleitas (pfleitas@fau.edu)

Philosophy

• Clevis Headley (headley@fau.edu)
• Richard Shusterman (shuster1@fau.edu)

Political Science

• Aimee Arias (akanner2@fau.edu)
• Angela Nichols (nicholsa@fau.edu)

School of Communication & Multimedia Studies

• Anthony Guneratne (guneratn@fau.edu)
• Lindsay Harroff (lharroff@fau.edu)
• Marquese McFerguson (mmcferguson@fau.edu)
• Deandre Poole (dpoole3@fau.edu)
• Christopher Robe (crobe@fau.edu)
• William Trapani (wtrapan1@fau.edu)
• David Williams (dcwill@fau.edu)

Sociology

• Daniel Auguste (augusted@fau.edu)
• Phillip Hough (phough2@fau.edu)
• Carter Koppleman (ckoppelman@fau.edu)
• Stephanie M. Ortiz (ortizs@fau.edu)

Theatre and Dance

• Desmond Gallant (dgallant@fau.edu)

Visual Arts & Art History

• Camila Afanador-Llach (cafanadorllach@fau.edu)
• Emily Fenichel (efenichel@fau.edu)
• Joseph Velazquez (jvelasquez@fau.edu)

Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies

• NA

Materials include rare books, pamphlets, historical newspapers and journals, broadsides and cartoons, and documents.This collection consists of over xxx publications of British pamphlets published throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The pamphlets in this collection are mostly concerned with politics, legislation, religion, and revolution within Great Britain and the American colonies. View the collection.