Events

LAS@UofT creates community and nourishes a different and continuing exchange of ideas through its sponsored events and activities. Our programming is ever-changing, responsive to arising possibilities and a broad community’s interests. Current highlights include the following series and emphases:

The Latin American Studies Luncheon Series gathers the university community and general public around a light lunch on many Wednesdays throughout the academic year. Speakers are a multi-disciplinary mix of UofT faculty, advanced graduate students, and visiting scholars; all are encouraged to present accessible papers in a congenial setting, with an invitation to discussion foremost in mind.

SemillaS is a broad salon for the exchange of ideas between undergraduate students, faculty and graduate students, and members of the public. This is a discussion forum with a popular touch, generosity of spirit at its core, and a stylish difference that works to erase the boundaries between learning and life itself.

Making News in the Americas is the fruit of collaboration between LAS@UofT and Ryerson University’s School of Journalism. This series features investigative journalists and commentators who work in print, on radio and television, and via the web. “Making News” is designed to encourage reflection upon journalistic coverage of Latin America within the contexts of Canada, the hemisphere, and the world.

The Latin American Studies Speaker Series welcomes distinguished speakers from a broad range of disciplines and interests. They typically offer public lectures and workshops, or deliver keynote addresses at larger meetings.

The Latin America Film Series presents a selection of films throughout the year, from independently released movies and documentaries, through bigger-budget works, to experimental short films.

The annual Dissertation Day is a forum for graduate students researching and writing about Latin American subjects to outline and discuss their dissertation plans with a multidisciplinary group of other students and faculty. The day is founded upon the principle that we have more to learn from one another than the work-a-day world allows us to realise.

The “Living Document” Series invites prominent scholars and public figures to treat themselves as “living documents” – that is, to reflect upon their personal and professional trajectories, their influences, their twists and turns, as well as upon their regrets, their paths-not-taken. The goal is to spark uncommon discussion in a congenial setting – before a mixed audience of graduate students, undergraduates, faculty, and the interested members of the general public.