Stone Center Graduate Student Summer Research Symposium 2026

The Stone Center is excited to host the Summer Field Research Symposium. Graduate Students who received grants this past summer through the Stone Center for field research, language study, or technical training will be making brief, informal presentations on their summer grant-funded experience. Join us to learn about the fascinating research and study that Latin Americanist Graduate Students across the university are undertaking. It will be a hybrid in-person/online Zoom format. Register here to join us via Zoom.

Our program is below. You may also download a PDF here. 

8:30 - 9:00 am | Light Breakfast & Coffee

9:00 - 10:00 am | Thinking Three-Dimensionally: Sculpture and Architecture

Moderator: Dr. Gretel Acosta López

• Claire Justin Fontaina, Art History, “Philippine Retablos: Niches of Early Modern Faith, Race, and Dialogue.”
• Clare Gucwa, Art History and Latin American Studies, “The Soil and Toil of Salvadoran Modernity.”
• Caroline Rodrigues Alves, Art History, “Radical Pedagogies in Modern Architecture and Urbanism at the Universidade do Distrito Federal, Rio de Janeiro (1935–1939).”

10:00 - 10:10 am | Coffee Break

10:10 - 11:10 am | Indigenous Knowledges and Practices

Moderator: Dr. Hannah Palmer

• Kaylin Jury, Latin American Studies, “Xopantla pan El Tecomate: Nahuatl Summer Language and Culture Program.”
• Grace Vanden Heuvel, History, “Cooperatives, Catholic Action and Civil War in Guatemala (1960-1996).”
• Hope Mutter, Art History, “Los Negritos: Ritual Uses of the Whip in the Peruvian Highlands.”
• Marcario Harnett, Anthropology, “The Historical Ecology of Xukuru Environmental Practices.”

 11:10 - 11:15 am | Coffee Break

11:15 - 12:15 pm | Caribbean Currents Across Time

Moderator: Dr. Alex Sastre-Rivera

• Sebastian Amaya Palacios, History, “The Cost of the Caribbean: Supplying the first permanent Coast Guard Armada in the Americas (1578-1599).”
• Sarah Brokenborough, Art History and Latin American Studies, “Black Girls’ Needlework and Creative Agency in Pre-Emancipation Jamaica.”
• Sylvette Dupé-Vété-Congolo, French and Italian, “Forming Martinican Modern Art: The Case of Fwomajé.”
• Calebb Louis, Linguistics, “ZuZu or The Frenchification of Modern Haitian Creole.”

12:15 - 1:30 pm | Lunch (On Your Own)

1:30 - 2:30 pm | Political Science and Regional Analysis

Moderator: Dr. Luis Rubén González Márquez

• Cristian Andres Sena Salcedo, Political Science, “The Impact of Communal Conflicts on Policy Change and Regulatory Development.”
• Omayra Peña Jimenez, Latin American Studies, “The Politics of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Latin America: A comparative case study in Peru and Colombia.”
• Mitchell Nuland, Political Science, “The Impact of Decentralization and Municipal State Capacity in Peru.”
• Daniel Garcia, Political Science, “Elite Cognition and Extractive Governance in the Amazon.”

2:30 – 2:40 | Break

2:40 - 3:40 pm | Economic Organizing, Bodies, and the State

Moderator: Dr. Lucas Sorzano Azambuja

• Nyasha Franklin, Latin American Studies, “Black Entrepreneurship, Agency, and Tourism in Western Colombia.”
• Brenda Borges Aguiar, Latin American Studies, “The Fitness Gospel: Bodily Discipline and New Christian Subjectivities in Brazil.”
• Caleb Austin, Spanish and Portuguese, “Corporate Discourse and the Production of Violence during Argentina’s Guerra Sucia.”
• Ben Arias, History, “Local Elites and State Formation in Postcolonial Bolivia.”

 3:40 - 3:50 pm | Coffee Break

3:50 - 4:50 pm | Archaeology and Engagements with the Natural World

Moderator: Dr. Adrian Chase

• Maia Edwards, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, “Exploring the Effects of Environmental Variation on the Competitive Dynamics of Avian Species Pairs in Northwest Ecuador.”
• Oscar Arias Espinoza, Anthropology, “Beyond the Frontier: Archaeological Research in the South American Upper Amazon during the Formative period (3500-2000 BP).”
• Olivia Shorter, Linguistics, “Calakmul Epigraphy and Archaeology.”
• Ariana Ramirez, Anthropology, “A Study of Puuc Residential Complexes at Kiuic (Yucatán, Mexico).”