Tulane University

On Saturday, December 2nd, undergraduate and graduate students presented their research on Latin America at the XV Annual TUSCLA Conference. The conference consisted of 6 panels and a luncheon celebrating students’ and their progress thus far. Each panel was organized according to a theme from the Latin American Studies major curriculum, led by discussants, who were staff from the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Discussants helped to facilitate questions and comments after the presentations, and incorporate broader themes to connect the panel participants’ research in new and exciting ways.

The TUCLA Conference began in 2003 as a means to provide Latin American Studies undergraduates with an opportunity to present papers in the style and atmosphere of an academic conference. This year the conference expanded to include first-year graduate students, becoming the TUSCLA Conference. The conference was facilitated by Dr. Edith Wolfe, SCLAS Assistant Director for Undergraduate Programs, and Dr. James Huck, SCLAS Assistant Director for Graduate Programs. Both Professors also teach and advise the undergraduate Latin American Studies seniors in a LAST Core Seminar. The majority of this year’s participants were from the core seminar, as it is a requirement of the class, accompanying their semester-long, independent and original research project. Three of the students from this class, Olivia Bancroft, Emily Murphy and Eliza Kauffman, reminisced about their experience at the conference this past weekend:

“TUSCLA was a great opportunity to present my research to my peers and an audience and receive feedback about ways to further my work. It was exciting and nerve-wracking, but overall a fantastic experience.” stated Bancroft.

“The TUSCLA Conference was a hands-on way to see what the world of academia is really like,” Murphy said. “It made my research feel a lot more applicable to the real-world, something I do not always see in my other classes.”

“I found this experience not only exciting but a great way to think about the structure and organization for my research paper that I will be submitting at the end of the semester,” commented Kauffman.

Although grateful for the chance to participate in the conference and exhibit their ongoing research, all three girls were overjoyed to have one component of their core seminar completed.

“We feel like a huge weight has been lifted now that we have presented our work! We’re ready to relax and celebrate, but the final paper is definitely looming. Overall, this experience has enhanced our experience as Latin American Studies majors.”

To learn about the panelists and read abstracts of their papers, please check out the program from the conference here.