CLACS has launched a new research platform for Latin America and the Caribbean, NEXO. NEXO (which means “nexus” in both Spanish and Portuguese) leverages horizontal researcher-to-researcher relationships between MSU faculty and their partners from top institutions in the region around themes of shared interest. Flexible and driven by researchers themselves, this network-of-networks model enables collaborating faculty to quickly conceptualize projects, develop proposals, and secure funding to address contemporary challenges. Each member brings their own professional networks to the collaboration, enabling the integration of additional scholars into the network as new opportunities emerge. 

To date, CLACS has supported the development of three thematic networks: 

The Network on the Amazon and Climate Change secured external grant funding for a collaborative project within a year of launching. In 2023, CLACS convened MSU scholars Emilio Moran (GEO), Maria Claudia Lopez (CSUS), Scott Stark (FOR), and Nathan Moore (GEO) and nine scholars from top research institutions in Brazil and Peru for a symposium and workshop at MSU to expand and deepen their collaborations. They developed a new project that aims to reverse forest degradation through the expansion of a sustainable bioeconomy in the Amazon. This network engaged additional Canadian partners to submit a proposal to the Canadian-led International Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, funded by research agencies from eight countries. In 2024, the team was awarded $1.5 million in grant funds. Moran, Lopez, Stark, and Moore from MSU were awarded $600,000 by the US National Science Foundation, while their project partners won grants from their respective countries’ national research agencies (Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, Brazil’s FAPESP, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the German Research Foundation). Follow this link to learn more: MSU researchers to explore climate change solutions based on Indigenous knowledge in new NSF grant | Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences | Michigan State University

The Network on Racial and Gender Justice kicked off in spring 2024 with a conference co-organized by CLACS, MSU RISC, and the University of Puerto Rico. Focusing on Intersectional Environmentalism, a philosophical framework that investigates the nexus between gender justice, racial justice, and climate justice, the event featured presentations by scholars and activists from the Caribbean, Latin America, and the US that will serve as the starting point for the production of an open-access bilingual (English/Spanish) e-textbook and a public humanities digital archive to advance the field of Intersectional Environmentalism. PI Elena Ruiz (PHL/RISC) has submitted grant proposals to NEH and Mellon to fund these collaborative projects. A complementary digital archive project led by Leonora Paula (ENG) links MSU scholars of Afro-Latin political thought and activism to Brazilian scholars and the Brazilian National Archives. 

The Network on Counter-Hegemonic Environmental Discourses in Latin American Contexts will launch in spring 2025 with a symposium and workshops at MSU to establish a core network of Latin American scholars working in the field of environmental communication. Scholars from Latin America and the US will present current research and case studies that highlight current knowledge of the ways environmental discourses shape public policies, social movements and conflicts, funding priorities, behaviors, and decision making in Latin American contexts.

Led by Bruno Takahashi (JRN), participants will consider a key environmental challenge confronting South American countries: The transition to a green economy in rich countries, one characterized by electrification (e.g., electric vehicles), further oppresses marginalized populations in low- and middle-income countries in Latin America. The marginalization of those populations occurs through the exertion of direct power (e.g., racist policies) and through discursive strategies that present these populations and the ecosystems which they inhabit as expendable, in the name of progress and development. Workshop participants will collaboratively address this problem by highlighting how these oppressive strategies operate and how their collective research efforts can lead to applications that challenge the status quo. The workshops will produce a white paper that outlines pressing research priorities, develop plans for collaborative research projects, and identify funding opportunities to support these projects and ensure the sustainability of the network itself.