The University of Texas plans to expand Latin American studies with $2.1 million in grants from the Department of Education for curriculum development and interdepartmental collaboration.
LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, a collaboration between the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, received two grants this year—the National Resource Centers grant and the Foreign Language Studies grant and area.
LLILAS is an undergraduate program that houses Latin American studies, and the Benson Latin American Collection is an undergraduate library with resources for Latino/Latina studies.
Project director Adela Pineda Franco said the grants, which will be used from 2022 to 2026, will allow the university to expand its Latin American studies across the school and share its resources beyond UT’s scope.
“If you’re a National Resource Center, you’re doing a lot for national and regional communities,” Pineda Franco said. “It’s a way to make (the university) a knowledge exchange center.”
The grant will help LLILAS Benson work with professional schools such as Dell Medical School to increase collaborations with Latin America.
“This grant allows us to carry out our mission of developing horizontal relations with Latin America,” said Pineda Franco. “We do not see Latin American countries as needing our advice to move forward. We consider them partners in knowledge engagement.”
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Paloma Díaz, assistant director of LLILAS Benson, said exposing students to Latin American cultures reduces harmful stereotypes and promotes cultural appreciation.
“It’s very easy to have distorted images of other cultures,” Díaz said. “If we can facilitate that diversity, … we help (people) understand the complexity of our culture.”
Gabriela Torres, a Latin American studies senior at UT, received a community engagement award from LLILAS Benson in the past for her work promoting access to health care. She said that the university should evaluate the perspectives of the community in academic cooperation.
“The academic setting is very different from the community setting or living through things in person,” Torres said. “I think it would be important to talk to people who have received services … (or) are community organizers.”
Melissa Guy, director of the Benson collection, said the library will digitize and purchase materials that K-12 curricula and partner institutions, such as Texas State University and Huston-Tillotson University, can use.
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“This allows us to put the uniqueness of the Benson (collection) in front of audiences that might not normally be aware,” Guy said.
Pineda Franco said creating curricula for grades K-12 will allow children to learn history from a more global perspective, especially given the importance of Latin American culture in Texas history.
“We put global events within the perspective of a Latin American perspective,” said Pineda Franco. “The other aspect has to do with bringing pride to Hispanic heritage, the idea that if you’re Latino or Latino, you come from a history of communities of people who have developed art, literature and science.”
In addition to program development, the grant focuses on teaching less commonly taught languages such as Portuguese, Quechua and Haitian Creole. The grant will fund university students studying abroad and allow the library to purchase materials to help with teaching, Guy said.
“We are very intertwined in this world and not so isolated,” Pineda Franco said. “We want to break down islands (and) create connections.”
This story was originally published by The Daily Texan, the University of Texas’ independent student-produced newspaper.
