HS17: Modern Latin American History

Collaborative Goals

Our goals for 2026–2027 build on the strong foundation established during our first year. Our workshops have drawn nearly 20 faculty and graduate students from corridor institutions and beyond. By intentionally including graduate students as both presenters and discussants, these workshops have advanced new scholarly conversations while providing participants at earlier career stages with meaningful intellectual and professional development. The energy and commitment these gatherings generated showed the depth of investment and the appetite for continued collaboration. Building on this momentum, we propose two core activities for 2026–2027. First, we will organize a Friday-to-Sunday writing retreat in late Fall 2026. Humanities scholars at all stages face a persistent structural challenge: the absence of dedicated funding and protected time for research and writing. Our retreat will directly address this gap. Following arrival on Friday, participants will gather for a structured session on writing practices—sharing strategies for managing long-term projects such as dissertations and books, and approaches to transitioning between projects. Saturday will be devoted to focused, community-supported writing, organized around dedicated work sessions and planned breaks. On Sunday, before departure, participants will gather for group reflection and a collaborative brainstorming session to identify directions for future work. This format is designed not only to produce tangible progress on individual projects but to strengthen the collegial bonds that make sustained collaboration possible. Second, in Spring 2027, we will convene a workshop focused on finished or near-finished work and use that occasion to develop a concrete plan for conference roundtables and a potential edited volume. This workshop will mark an important transition for our working group, from works-in-progress to publishable scholarship.