Category: Features
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To the Reader, 2026
A letter to the reader summarizing the contents of the 2025–26 issue of Portal magazine and celebrating achievements of the past year.
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Reframing the Age of Revolutions at the Benson
Veronica Valarino, Exhibitions Curator at the Benson Latin American Collection, writes about an exhibit that frames the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence within a broader…
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The Evolution of Violence in Latin America
Summarizing a 2025 conference on the evolution of violence in Latin America, Professor Raúl Madrid discusses broad trends over time and the latest scholarship on…
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Mexican Bilingualism Matters: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Mexico’s Language Diversity
This article explains what psycholinguists have learned about bilingualism in Mexico and changes in the brains of individuals exposed to an Indigenous language early in…
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Staff Spotlight: Caroline Garriott
Meet Caroline Garriott, a historian who runs the diverse and interdisciplinary programming of the LLILAS Public Engagement Office.
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Mesoamerica Meetings Coming Fall 2026
The Mesoamerica Meetings will take place November 5–7, 2026, on the UT Austin campus.
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AI and Latin America: Between Colonialism and Aspiration
Iván Chaar López and Edgar Gómez-Cruz discuss the complexities of the universal embrace of AI.
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Intraregional Relations in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: The Case of Tikal and Teotihuacan
Dr. Edwin Román Ramírez, director of South Tikal Archaeological Project, reviews evidence of extensive connection and interchange between the peoples of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico…
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The Roque Dalton Archive at the Benson Latin American Collection
Author James Iffland, the pre-eminent biographer of Salvadoran revolutionary and writer Roque Dalton, writes about Dalton’s life and his important archive at the Benson Latin…
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Environmental Amnesia and the Rio Grande: Thoughts on Remembering Where We Are
By C. J. ALVAREZ RIVERS ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND. I grew up in southern New Mexico about a mile from the Rio Grande. As a…
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The Cristina Rivera Garza Papers
Benson Acquisition News By LAUREN PEÑA DECIDING WHAT TO KEEP, what to let go, and how to care for the objects that tell the story…
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The Unbounded Territories of Cinema: Gael García Bernal at UT Austin
By ADELA PINEDA FRANCO THIS YEAR, the Austin Lecture on Contemporary Mexico, a signature event of the LLILAS Mexico Center, was especially memorable. In celebration…