Join us for “International Law and (In)Justice: Venezuela, Extrajudicial Force, and Caribbean Impacts,”  a timely conversation exploring legal frameworks, human rights concerns, and regional implications. The event will be moderated by Vierelina Fernández and is co-sponsored by CLAS. We invite you to be part of this important discussion and engage with scholars and participants on these pressing issues. Don’t miss this opportunity, register here.

More information here

Josh Anthony, CLAS grad student affiliate and PhD candidate in History, participated in the making of a children’s book about the Aztecs. We talked to him about this exciting project. Keep reading to find out about Josh’s experience. 

Please give us some basic details about the book.

The book is called The Aztecs: The Rise and Fall of a Mighty Empire, and it's middle-grade kids' book (so 9-12 years old) about the people of the Aztec Empire. It's published by the publishing company DK (owned by Penguin Random House), and they focus on producing high quality visual non-fiction books, for kids and adults. This book is part of the of DK Ancient Histories Series, which also includes Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Ancient Egypt.

What was your role in the making of the book?

I served as one of two "Expert Consultants" for this book, advising the authors and illustrators. I helped them plan the organization of the book and the topics it discussed, provided them with sources to reproduce, and reviewed the text and images for accuracy. DK was very invested in showing their readers how the Aztecs saw themselves, and looked to me to help them avoid the harmful tropes about the Aztecs that are still so common. I'm especially proud of the final couple of pages, which I worked on pretty closely, which discuss the persistence of Nahua culture in Mexico after the fall of the Aztec Empire. DK really liked the idea that even though the Aztec Empire fell, its people survived and continue to survive, and I'm thankful they were interested in talking about the present even in a book in an ancient history series. 

Can you describe some of the challenges and joys you experienced during this process? 

It was definitely a challenge packaging this history in a way that is both accessible and age-appropriate for middle-grade readers, but it was also a lot of fun. Talking about religion, sacrifice, and warfare especially required a lot of back-and-forth between the authors and myself, and it was a great learning experience for me to engage in this kind of public-facing history. I also got to think a lot about questions that don't make it into most academic works, like "what kind of makeup did people in the Aztec Empire wear?" and "how did people in the Aztec Empire brush their teeth?". Working with the illustrators and the design team was also a great experience. The maps are all excellent, their diagram of the Templo Mayor is wonderful, and the portrayals of the New Fire Ceremony and the ballgame are both really stunning. Even for adults, I think this will be fun to look through!

This book is relevant to audiences in Latin America. Is it going to be available in other languages?

Yes, a Spanish translation will come in September 2026.

Josh is currently the Richard S. Dunn Dissertation Fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies (University of Pennsylvania) and plans to defend his dissertation, “Amaquemecan's Royal Relations: An Indigenous Family History of the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire,” in the summer, 2026. He is also the co-editor, with Camilla Townsend, of After the Broken Spears: The Nahuas in the Wake of Conquest, recently published by Oxford University Press.

Several CLAS grad student affiliates participated in the NeMLA convention, contributing to panels that explored contemporary debates in Latin American literature, culture, and critical theory.

Roni Lakin, PhD student in Comparative Literature, presented “Las sonrisas tienen dientes: Consumo, producción y mujeres caníbales en Fruta podrida” in the panel “Awakening Monsters in Latin America: From Eco-horror to Tech Doom.” His presentation explored the use of both literal and metaphorical cannibalism in Lina Meruane’s Fruta Podrida. By highlighting moments of rebellious consumption, this analysis demonstrated how the figure of the cannibal allows Meruane to critique global patterns of consumption under neoliberal capitalism.

Ana Llurba, PhD candidate in Latin American, Iberian, and Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literatures and Cultures, presented her paper, “Un banquete ancestral: cosmopolítica y ecofeminismo en ‘La comunera Triguero cerró fuertemente los ojos’ de Mafe Moscoso,” as part of the panel “El vértigo de las nuevas mitologías: poshumanismos en el arte y la literatura latinoamericanas.” Her paper argues that Moscoso challenges Western narrative conventions and linear time notions, presenting an ancestral future grounded in ecofeminist survival practices, while exploring themes of food, loss, and grief within the context of the environmental crisis and the Anthropocene in Latin America.

Jennifer Vilchez, PhD candidate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, organized and chaired the panel “(Re)Generating Keywords for EcoLatinx Studies and Praxis,” which offered a creative feminist space to explore the ecological and intersectional commitments of Latinx studies and praxis that have unduly become secondary to its political and institutional uses. Jennifer also presented her paper, “The Orchid: A Metaphor for Colonialism and Over-tourism in Latinx Studies,” where she explored how in self-taught New Jersey-based Dominican-born artist Bony Ramirez’s exhibition Cattleya, he positions the Cattleya orchid as a way to understand both the history of colonialism and the toxic impact of tourism in the Caribbean, its people, and those in the diaspora. This paper expands on Ramirez’s articulation of the Cattleya orchid and its ability to simultaneously convey and veil the violence of tourism as the after effect of colonialism. 

Congratulations to all of you!

The conference “Critical and Creative Perspectives from and about Colombia, its Territories, and Diaspora”  took place on February 27–28 at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. The bilingual event, held in Spanish and English, brought together scholars, researchers, and activists to explore diverse perspectives on Colombia, its territories, and its diaspora. It was organized by the Colombian Studies Group (CSG), an initiative that promotes academic collaboration, cultural exchange, public engagement, and connections with the Colombian diaspora. 

Rutgers affiliates Sol Cristina Escobar and Gloria D'Alessio participated in the panel “Migration and Hemispheric Geopolitics.” Below is a summary of their presentations.

Sol Cristina Escobar, who teaches in the Global Studies Program at Rutgers University–Camden, presented her talk “Return.” Drawing on a chapter from her forthcoming book on Colombian migration, she examined the different ways return migration can be understood, including its direction, frequency, and whether it occurs voluntarily or through forced processes. Her presentation also addressed multiple dimensions of Colombian migration, ranging from retirement migration to deportation. Her broader research focuses on international migration, external citizenship, and political rights.

Also participating in the panel, Gloria, a second-year Ph.D. student in Cultural Anthropology, presented “The Making and Unmaking of a Migration Corridor: Migration, Labor, and Reconfigurations at the Darien Borderlands.” Her talk shared preliminary findings from her dissertation research, which examines migration dynamics, labor, and shifting territorial configurations in the Darién borderlands.

CLAS affiliate, Laura de Moya-Guerra, also participated in this conference. She presented the paper “From ‘Chinese Capitalists’ to ‘Leprous Beasts’: The Chinese and Immigration Laws in the Colombian Pacific, 1903-1931,” which is part of her dissertation “Chinese Immigrants and the Making of Modern Colombia, 1903-1980.”