Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas

Mission

The Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas (CESPA) is devoted to the principle that education is the basis for solutions to societal tensions. To this end a primary concern of the Center is the issues stemming from the lived experiences of our students. The purpose of (CESPA) is to promote interest in and knowledge of peoples descendent of Latin American communities, whether of Latino/a, Asian, European, African or indigenous origins, within the US and south of the border through service learning, student and faculty research. CESPA also promotes faculty and public intellectual workshops, symposia, conferences, and lectures. Multimedia forums are utilized to distribute Center programs and research.

The peoples of the Americas have their roots in African, European, Asian, and indigenous cultures. The Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas (CESPA), is committed to a deeper understanding of the creation and movements across borders, and the development of border cultures, identities and economies. A primary concern is the lived experiences of our students. The California State University system has among the largest concentration of students of Mexican and Central American extraction of any four-year university system in the country, as well as substantial populations of Asian American and African American students.

To this end CESPA will bring together a group of scholars, researchers, and creative artists from a wide range of disciplines to more effectively provide accessible information to all students and communities about the experiences and the cultures of the more than 50 million Americans of Latin-American extraction and the more than 600 million people living to the south of the United States.

Upcoming Events:

Webinar, Thursday, Oct. 21, 4-5:15pm with Juan Francisco Sandoval, Former Head of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity

Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 4:00pm to 5:15pm

Juan Francisco Sandoval is the former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, where he worked for over a decade. He has directed the investigations of some of the most important cases in Guatemalan history. Some of these cases have led to the detection and prosecution of Criminal and Illicit Political-Economic Networks. On July 23, 2021, Sandoval was removed from his post by Guatemala’s attorney general without an explication. He has continued to be politically persecuted by virtue of the investigations he carried out. In his webinar, he will discuss the work carried out by the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity and explain how illegal political-economic networks are created, functioned, and maintained in Guatemala.

Monday, March 22, 2021 - 4:00pm to 5:15pm

In their talk at CSUN, Drs. Sánchez and Pita will examine the complicated and often conflicted identity formation of Californios. They will also discuss their recent study on Indigenous and Mexican dispossession. In Spatial and Discursive Violence in the U.S. Southwest (Duke University Press 2021), they critically examine the participation of Chicanx in the dispossession of Indigenous populations before being dispossessed themselves with the U.S. invasion of the Southwest. Their work takes on an important political task, both in terms of Chicanx relationship to the past but also to their positioning in the present. Read more

College of Humanities