Nicolas Barnum is from Birmingham, Alabama. He received his B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Rhodes College and his M.A. in Latin American Studies from Tulane University. He is currently a Ph.D student in Latin American Studies at Tulane University where his research focuses on contemporary issues of language revitalization and policy in Mesoamerica with a particular emphasis on Mayan languages. He also researches Mesoamerican writing systems and the early Colonial history of New Spain through the lens of decolonization.

Samara Smith received her B.A. in Sociology- Health, Medicine & Society from Xavier University of Louisiana. She has traveled to Ethiopia to conduct research on stroke awareness in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia and more recently to Cuba to learn how Cubans are maintaining the lowest Covid-19 infections rates in the Americas. Her academic interests include International Health Policy, Cuban and Caribbean Studies, Ethiopian Studies, as well as disaster medicine, medical sociology, and cultural studies. Samara hopes to visit Ethiopia again as soon as she can and learn more about her ancestors. In the future, she sees herself as an advocate for international health policy and equality in healthcare.

Edith Romero is originally from Honduras; she grew up in a banana town in the north coast of Honduras and moved to New Orleans to begin her higher education. Edith holds a Master’s in Healthcare Management and has experience in community health, Latinx health, reproductive justice, and health equity. Edith is an activist, organizer and poet who envisions art and storytelling as a tool for social change. Edith was awarded the Reproductive Justice Youth Champion award in 2019, a program by Rise Up for young leaders who advocate and organize for reproductive justice around the world. Edith is interested in exploring the intersection of reproductive justice in Latin America, women in social movements and the storytelling of these movements.

Sebastian is from Guatemala. He holds a B.A. in Political Science. Currently an MA student in Latin American Studies at Tulane University. His interests focus on the intersection between law and politics, especially in judicial institutions, law & economics, and sociology of law. He is passionate about competitive and academic debate.

Nicole Jozwik is a student in the joint Art History and Latin American Studies Ph.D. program. She studies the religious art of the colonial Andes, with a current focus in Cuzco, Lima, Huancavelica and Potosí. Her research investigates how post-contact religious and cultural interchange impacted the formation of religious identities for both Indigenous peoples and their descendants. Her additional research interests include apparitional imagery, hagiographic artwork, pigment materiality and circulation, and religious studies. She earned her M.A. in Art History from the Pennsylvania State University and has received Quechua instruction through Centro Tinku, Cuzco, and Ohio State University.

Xena is a second-year Ph.D. student in Art History and Latin American Studies. She received her B.A. in Art History from Grinnell College and her M.A. in Art History from SMU. Her research addresses the intersections of visual art and performance in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with a focus on the Society of Jesus.

Tara Yanez is originally from Houston, Texas. After receiving her B.A. in English and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin, she developed as an educator with the Teach for America program in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Fulbright ETA program in Cali, Colombia. She received her M.A. from Columbia University in Latin American studies while interning with International Center for Transitional Justice and writing a thesis on Colombian victim reparation laws. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American Studies at Tulane University and a fellow with the Mellon Graduate Program in Community-Engaged Scholarship. Her dissertation research aims to understand how women in the urban periphery of Cali, Colombia create informal networks of resistance, security, and justice creation in environments with high rates of criminal violence. She works in collaboration with 

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