CELAS supports all research in Latin American and Latinx studies by Rice faculty and students and every year gives out research awards to individual and collaborative projects in a competitive process. Information on projects we have supported in the past can be found here. CELAS also pursues specific lines of research via collaborative clusters:
Research Cluster 1 "Representation and Democratic Resilience" (led by Leslie Schwindt-Bayer and Guillermo Rosas, Political Science)
Democracy across the Americas faces mounting challenges, from dramatic ruptures like coup attempts to quieter erosion of democratic norms and institutions. This research cluster examines the quality, dynamics, and durability of democratic governance in Latin America, investigating both the threats that undermine representative democracy and the mechanisms that sustain it. Research within this cluster explores how citizens hold elected officials accountable, how institutional design shapes policy responsiveness, and how socioeconomic inequalities affect political representation and participation. Key questions address whether and how different electoral systems, party configurations, and accountability institutions enable meaningful representation, as well as how various actors—from voters to civil society—mobilize to defend democratic practices when they come under threat. By analyzing these dynamics across Latin America's diverse political landscape, the cluster contributes to understanding the conditions under which democracies prove resilient or vulnerable, and how representation functions in contexts of crisis, polarization, and institutional stress.
Research Cluster 2 “Inequality, Migration, Representation” (led by Laura Correa-Ochoa, History)
Racial, ethnic, gender and class-based inequalities persist in the Americas and have a profound impact on migration patterns across the region. Migrants are not only changing the racial and linguistic mark-up of societies, from Maya-speakers in the US, to Black Colombians and Venzuelans in Brazil and Chile, but are also challenging political systems as they clamor for dignity, representation, and access to services. This cluster aims to measure, document, and analyze these struggles via collaborative research methods that allow research subjects to be co-creators of knowledge.
Research Cluster 3 “Environment and Conflict” (led by Azucena Castro and Sophie Esch, Literature and Culture)
Conflicts and challenges in relation to environmental change, destruction, and natural/human-made disasters are bound to increase across the Americas, triggering displacement and violent confrontations. This applies as much to Houston as it does to Central and South America. This cluster aims to bundle the scientific and creative insights of the humanities, social and natural sciences, engineering, and the arts to comprehend and visualize these complex issues.
Research Cluster 4 “Arts and the Urban Sphere” (led by Fabiola López-Durán, Art History)
Utilizing Rice’s unique position in Houston (a central hub for Latinx art in the Americas) this cluster focuses on the arts as a key factor for creating thriving urban communities and deepening networks with artists and art historians in Houston, Texas, and the Americas. The aim is to create spaces for critical reflection on what “thriving” means for communities across different cities and neighborhoods.
Research Cluster 5 “South-South Connections and Methodologies” (led by Sophie Esch and Paula Park, Literature)
Despite long-standing criticism of the North Atlantic orientation of knowledge production, this profound imbalance continues to exist. This cluster proposes a methodological and epistemological intervention and reflection that centers South-South connections and comparisons and orients knowledge production towards, for example, the South Atlantic (Latin-America-Africa), the Pacific (Asia-Americas), and the US. South and Gulf Coast.