Research
A vibrant and supportive community for research on Latin America and the Caribbean.
Our research agenda works across the disciplines
It includes the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Engineering, Marine Science, and Medicine.
We investigate all parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, from Mexico in the North to Argentina in the South and Barbados in the East.
We also undertake research on Latin American and Caribbean diasporas in Europe, North America, and beyond.
Research areas
Our interests cluster in four main areas.
The reproduction and contestation of power
How has domination been structured and contested in Latin America and the Caribbean, from colonial times to the present?
How have histories of colonialism, slavery, and indigenous exclusion contributed to the organization of Latin American and Caribbean societies today?
Our research pays attention to:
- formal and informal politics
- state formation
- gender relations
- race
- religion
- the development and reproduction of capitalism
Cultural production, language, heritage and identity
We have a sustained interest in minority and indigenous languages. We are the only UK University that teaches Quechua.
Our researchers also study the creative use of language in Latin American, Caribbean, and diaspora poetry, prose, drama.
Our work investigates cultural production in arenas of music and visual culture. We look at concerns regarding the protection and development of heritage and its interaction with concerns related to identity.
Mobility, livelihood, and everyday life
We investigate labour processes and the maintenance of livelihoods, particularly in the informal sector.
We have ongoing projects in urban settings in Colombia and Brazil. These examine everyday processes by which people lay claim to cities or spaces within them.
We examine historical and contemporary processes of mobility. This includes transnational migration and movement within national boundaries.
Resources, sustainability and health
We research the availability of and access to resources across Latin America and the Caribbean.
We have particular expertise in:
- extractive industries and their consequences
- the politics of water rights
- the condition and health of marine resources such as fisheries and coral reefs
Our medical research focuses on epidemiology in contexts of social inequality.
Examples of our current projects
Translating cultures and the legislated mediation of indigenous rights in Peru’
Project Lead: Professor Rosaleen Howard
Funding: the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
‘Cultural Narratives of Crisis and Renewal’
Project Leads: Dr Jorge Catala-Carrasco, Dr Patricia Oliart and Dr Philippa Page
Funding: Marie Skłodowska-Curie RISE scheme
‘Understanding and addressing the impacts of threats to marine ecosystems/biodiversity in the UK overseas territories in the Caribbean’,
Project Leads: Professor Nick Polunin, Dr Clare Fitzsimmons, Dr Selina Stead
Funding: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
‘Future of reefs in a changing environment: an ecosystem approach to managing Caribbean coral reefs in the face of climate change (FORCE)’
Project Leads: Professor Nick Polunin, Dr Clare Fitzsimmons, Dr Selina Stead
Funding: European Commission FP7 research framework
‘Cultural Diversity Expression and Products, Promotion, Protection and Access’ (En-compass)
Project Lead: Dr Gerard Corsane
Funding: European Commission
DESAFIO: Democratisation Of Water & Sanitation Decisions By Means Of Social Innovation
Project Lead: Professor Esteban Castro
Funding: European Commission
The politics of recognition in the context of extractive development
Project Leads: Professor Rosaleen Howard, Dr Juan Pablo Sarmiento Barletti, Lexy Seedhouse, Dr Katy Jenkins
Santander Mobility Scheme
Fieldwork on Andean Textile Production (PDF: 77 KB)
June Abbott
Sport in Mexican Cultural Diplomacy (PDF: 186 KB)
Keith Brewster
Social and Cultural Position of the 'Illegal' Immigrants in Majorca (PDF: 115 KB)
Katerina Brunclikova
Investigation of the sustainability of responsible, homestay tourism in Vicos, Peru (PDF: 456 KB)
Jane Carnaffan
Report of visit to Newcastle University (PDF: 164 KB)
Luis Andrade Ciudad
Investigation of the position of modern nationalism in Panama and to assess the effects the dictatorship has had on Panamanian identity (PDF: 347 KB)
Gina Collings
Research at Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (August 2011) (PDF: 359 KB)
Josep Cru
Research at Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (August 2014) (PDF: 683 KB)
Josep Cru
Culture, Nature and Development in a Context of Change: Discourses of Tourism and Senses of Place in Mancora, Northern Peru (PDF: 77 KB)
Fernando Gonzalez-Velarde
Fieldwork in Latin America (PDF:295 KB)
Jens R Hentschke
Language Students and Staff Interpreting for Human Rights Lawyers in Columbia (PDF: 397 KB)
Angela Uribe de Kellett
Is Schooling the best way to educate children in the developing world? (PDF: 135 KB)
Julie Ward
Other funders
Community-led rural landscape evaluation in Chile
Menelaos Gkartzios,Guy Garrod, Liz Oughton and Marian Raley
This project was concerned with the development of an innovative, community-led methodology for assessing rural landscapes in the Valparaiso region in Chile. The methodology was developed collaboratively with the Centro Regional de Innovación Hortofrutícola at Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. The methodology provided a systematic tool for generating information about the value of rural areas and for informing strategies for sustainable rural development, according with the needs and potentials of the specific territory.
'Paleoecological data analysis with R' course for Latin American researchers
Steve Juggins and Julieta Massaferro