Greater Caribbean Studies Program

Greater Caribbean Studies Program

The creation of a program for the study of the Greater Caribbean within the Institute of Latin American Studies is a welcomed initiative in many ways, and New York could not be a more appropriate site for the endeavor. The city has been closely linked to the region from its Dutch origins to the present, where one third of its inhabitants are of Caribbean birth or origin.

Unlike most other programs of Caribbean Studies in the United States, which limit their scope to the Antilles, this one encompasses, as its name indicates, the entire Caribbean basin. After all, the Atlantic coast of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, much of Central America, and even parts of Mexico and places like New Orleans, share with the Antilles not only geography, climate, and ecology, but also a historical trajectory and cultural traditions that range from architecture and cooking to popular humor and West African drums. Yet the region is also one of great linguistic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity and the program's wide scope enables it to address this diversity in a comparative manner that connects the study of Latin America to that of the non-Spanish West Indies, transcending thus the traditional limits of area studies.

Our Programming

Greater Caribbean Brown Bags

Enjoy your lunch while listening to leading scholars, journalists, artists, and public figures participate in a seminar-style discussion.

Leaders of the Caribbean

Our annual keynote forum provides an academic space for debate on Greater Caribbean art, politics, economy, and society.

Annual Conferences

The program hosts annual international conferences.

Our Team

A dark-haired woman wearing a blue sweater stands in front of a dark gray background, looking directly into the camera and subtly smiling.
Frances Negron-Muntaner

Director, Greater Caribbean Studies Program;

Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Department of English and Comparative Literature

Romina Quezada
Romina Quezada

Program and Outreach Manager

Affiliated Faculty

John H. Coatsworth
John H. Coatsworth

John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University, School of International and Public Affairs; Provost Emeritus

Maja Horn
Maja Horn

Associate Professor, Spanish and Latin American Cultures, Barnard College

Frances Negron-Muntaner
Frances Negron-Muntaner

Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Department of English and Comparative Literature

Chris Washburne
Chris Washburne

Associate Professor of Music, Department of Music

Student Research

The Greater Caribbean Program would like to feature some of the academic works undertaken by undergraduate students on topics related to Latin America, specifically in the Greater Caribbean region. 

To learn more, click here

Support the Program

The Great Caribbean Studies Program would like to thank its patrons Herman Sifontes and Ernesto Rangel for their generosity and support.

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