The Latinx Research Center is a faculty-led research center offering support and collaboration to campus and other researchers focused on U.S. Latinx and hemispheric communities. The “x” in our name signals our commitment to centering non-binary sexual and gender diversity. It also marks the unknown factors in the history, experience, conditions, contributions, and needs of California’s and the country’s diverse and rapidly growing Latinx populations that we investigate. We are an internationally recognized hub for Latinx-focused research and partner broadly across campus, the state, the U.S., and the globe. Originally founded through state mandate in 1989, as the Center for Latino Policy Research, the CLPR produced social sciences-centered research, conferences, symposia, and white papers on Latinxs and education, the environment, Indigenous communities, migration, and technology. Today, the new LRC research portfolio has expanded to also include the arts, education, gender, health, history, media, the sciences, and sexuality. Through our independent fundraising, the LRC provides numerous full-time staff positions and paid post-doctoral, dissertation, and undergraduate research opportunities to five current major research initiatives. The LRC showcases cutting-edge Latinx research by the University of California, Berkeley’s top experts through public programming which is available through our YouTube channel.
$2M
DISTRIBUTED TO RESEARCH INITIATIVES
$360k
DISTRIBUTED TO FACULTY-MENTORED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWS
$25k
IN SUPPORT OF THE CENTER'S UNDERGRADUATE WORK-STUDY STUDENTS
$373k
DISTRIBUTED TO DISSERTATION AND POST-DOC FELLOW
Research Initiatives Hosted by the LRC:
Working with UC Berkeley scholars, students, and staff, the Latino Social Science Pipeline Initiative contributes to training and developing the next generation of social scientists, data analysts, policymakers, and public intellectuals focused on Latino communities. In addition, it uses academic research to shed light on U.S. and transnational Latino communities in efforts to improve socioeconomic conditions and advance racial justice. The Initiative is spearheaded by professors Cristina Mora, Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz, and Nicholas Vargas.
The Democracy + Media Lab is a multidisciplinary faculty initiative at the Latinx Research Center (formerly the Center for Latino Policy Research) of the University of California, Berkeley. As a “lab,” our work as scholars and community partners focuses on the conditions and practices of democracy from the perspective of Latinx communities in the United States and the American hemisphere. DM is ran by Dr. Angela Marino and Prof. Ray Telles.
Center for the Critical Study of the Health of Latinx Communities is a research initiative led by Professor Charles Briggs and Dr. Clara Mantini-Briggs, M.D. The CCSHLC initiative is dedicated to researching the health of UC Berkeley Latinx students, families, and their communities.
Decolonial Knowledges & the Pluriversal University is an interdisciplinary research initiative dedicated to engaging the “pluriversal” philosophies of different communities within the U.S. and throughout the globe. Research at the DKPU works to illuminate cultural and intellectual diversity and the importance of building communities based on knowledge of difference, respectful relationships, and coalition. DKPU is directed by Dr. Patricia Baquedano-López and Dr. Laura E. Pérez.
The Latinxs and the Environment Initiative (LEI) seeks to establish a comprehensive program designed to generate knowledge and encourage increased study and research on Latinxs and the environment—both in the U.S. and abroad with the coordinated participation of policy makers, community based organizations (CBOs) and the academic community. LEI intends to create a space where Latinx students are provided with the guidance and resources in order to demystify research, graduate school and other higher education programs that are not as accessible for first-generation students. LEI is lead by Lupe Gallegos Diaz and Dr. Federico Castillo.