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Welcome to the Crossroads in the Study of the Americas

Crossroads in the Study of the Americas (CISA) is a center dedicated to new teaching and scholarship on the Americas. Founded in 1997, CISA brings together faculty from Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who work together to explore relational aspects of identity in the Americas.

Instead of adopting a North-South approach, CISA has developed a triangular model for its work, where the three sides are formed by the Old World (Africa, Asia, Europe), the polities of the New World, and the indigenous peoples of the Americas. This conception of the Americas as a crossroads seeks to promote an awareness of the historical and material inter-relationality of citizenship, migration, diaspora, and nationhood.

Featured Events

02/25/2010 Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham lecture
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard, will speak at UMass-Amherst on "The Many Lives of W.E.B. Du Bois in the New From Slavery to Freedom."   more>

02/15/2010 Collaborative Solidarities lecture by Zaira Rivera Casellas
Zaira Rivera Casellas, from Universidad de Puerto Rico, will give the opening lecture for the Spring 2010 Women, Race and Culture lecture series 'Collaborative Solidarities,' on Mon, Feb 15, 2010, 4:30pm, in Seelye Hall 201 at Smith.   more>

02/11/2010 Haiti benefit concert, Fine Arts Center, UMass
The Fine Arts Center is producing a benefit concert for Haiti Relief on Thursday, February 11 at 7PM in the Concert Hall at UMass-Amherst. All proceeds from the concert will go directly to Partners in Health (PIH).   more>

02/10/2010 Food For Thought Books hosts documentaries on Chile
The Food For Thought Books Collective in downtown Amherst presents The Battle of Chile and Chile, Obstinate Memory every Wednesday in February at 7:00pm.  more>

02/08/2010 CLACLS lecture by José Angel Hernández
CLACLS hosts a talk at 4pm, Feb 8, by José Angel Hernández, professor of History at UMass, entitled "Gringos, Perros, y Cabrones: Mormon Colonization, Nationalism and Historiography in Revolutionary Mexico."  more>

02/08/2010 Leslie Alexander lecture at Smith
Prof. Leslie Alexander from Ohio State University will give a lecture entitled "The Black Republic: The Influence of the Haitian Revolution on Black Political Consciousness, 1817-1861" on Mon, Feb 8, 4:30pm, in the Neilson Library Browsing Room at Smith.  more>

02/04/2010 Frances Aparicio lecture
Frances Aparicio, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, will give a lecture entitled "MexiRicans and Other Intralatino/a Subjects in Chicago" on Thurs, Feb 4, at 7PM in the Neilson Library Reading Room.  more>

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