Thematic Initiatives

Thematic Initiatives

Amazon Forest in Colombia

DRCLAS is dedicated to raising awareness about global themes currently relevant to issues in Latin America through various center-wide Thematic Initiatives.

Paths Toward Recovery

In most of Latin America and the Caribbean, the end of the coronavirus pandemic “remains a distant future,” as the Pan American Health Organization has put it. Planning and thinking about the recovery must be done now to avoid a freefall. Paths to Recovery will bring together academics and practitioners to study emerging and possible strategies for recovery in areas that Covid-19 has hit the hardest, including economies, public health, education, labor, housing, social welfare, and democracy. 

image of rocks and a body of water

Paths Toward Recovery Events

Haddad Distinguished Lecture: Arminio Fraga

April 18, 2023
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5:00PM - 6:30PM EDT
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CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium
For a recording of this event, click here. Speaker: Arminio Fraga, Founding Partner, Gavea Investimentos The Haddad Distinguished Lecture was established in honor of Claudio Haddad, Chair of the DRCLAS Brazil Office Advisory Group since 2006, and...

Religion and Civil Society in Contemporary Cuba

March 31, 2023
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12:00PM - 1:30PM EDT
For a recording of this event, click here. Speakers; Margaret E. Crahan, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Cuba Program at the Institute for Latin American Studies at Columbia University; Maha Marouan, Visiting Scholar, Weatherhead Scholars...

LatinX

With a growing number of activities in and around the Harvard community to study and celebrate Latinx communities and themes, DRCLAS seeks to serve as a resource to help spread information about these important initiatives. Some events are co-sponsored by DRCLAS as part of our Latinx Initiative while others are organized by groups affiliated with the university. 

image of 4 people watching a sunset

LatinX Events

Afro-Latinx Literature: Alejandro Heredia and Natasha Alford

April 14, 2026
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12:00PM - 2:00PM EDT
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S-020 (Belfer)
Join the Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights for a conversation on contemporary Afro-Latinx literature with novelist Alejandro Heredia and journalist-author Natasha S. Alford. This event is part of Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard...

Daughters of Latin America

November 6, 2025
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12:00PM - 1:15PM EST
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Thompson Room, Barker Center
This panel conversation and live reading explores Daughters of Latin America, a groundbreaking Latina feminist anthology that amplifies the voices of women across the Americas. The collection brings together the work of more than one hundred writers from...

Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most important long-term threats for the future of our societies. Solutions are complex, depending not only on engineering and policy, but also on imagination and public will towards alternative forms of inhabiting the planet.

Brazilian savannah

Amazonia & Our Planetary Futures

On May 7-8, 2019, DRCLAS hosted a symposium that discussed the past, present and future of Amazonia. Topics included deforestation trends and their ties to climate and health; moving towards a viable future, including the importance and role of indigenous peoples; and ongoing and emerging initiatives towards river-flowing, rainforest-based economies across Amazonia. 

Climate Change Events

The Future of Biodiversity: Reconciling Nature and Economics

May 7, 2026
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4:30PM - 7:00PM EDT
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Tsai Auditorium
As part of Boston Climate Week, The Harvard University Biodiversity and Planetary Stewardship Initiative (HUBS) , anchored at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability invites you to a panel discussion and networking reception around the Future...

Protecting the World’s Penguins. Pablo Borboroglu Lecture 2023 Winner of the Indianapolis Prize, the world's leading award for animal conservation

Oct 5, 2023
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6:00PM EDT
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Zoom or Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Free Hybrid Lecture Speaker: Pablo (Popi) Garcia Borboroglu, Founder and President of the Global Penguin Society and Winner of the 2023 Indianapolis Prize. Advance registration required for both in-person and online REGISTER Join Dr. Pablo Borboroglu, the...