CLALS will at times support research projects that look at a variety of issues within a particular country or sub-region of the Americas. These initiatives typically involve scholarship that spans across CLALS’s thematic clusters.

Cuba Initiative

Cuba is undergoing potentially vast transformations at a moment when U.S.-Cuba relations remain mired in a logic dating back to the height of the Cold War. To promote better understanding of Cuba's future and to foster productive ties between Cuba and the U.S., CLALS is engaged in an ongoing program of activities involving scholars and students from both countries. Our efforts encompass basic research on social and economic change, iterative dialogues about bilateral diplomacy, and collaboration with Cuban educational and cultural institutions around common interests in cultural production and citizenship. Funding for the Initiative is provided by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation. (Learn more)

Central America Initiative

The Reconfiguration of Elites and Political Power in Central America

In collaboration with leading researchers and research institutions in the region, including the Universidad Rafael Landívar, Programa Salvadoreño sobre Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente (PRISMA), Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales (ICEFI) and the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – Costa Rica (FLACSO-CR), CLALS has begun work on an ambitious project about the composition and role of Central American elites who have long played an enormous role in shaping the political and economic landscape of Central America. This two-year program of research, dialogue, and publication is funded by the Ford Foundation. (Learn more)