Research Groups

Diversifying the Classics

Diversifying the Classics brings together academics, playwrights, translators, directors, and actors to translate and promote Hispanic classical theater, under the direction of Professor Barbara Fuchs. Since January 2014, the group has translated one play a year in a collaborative workshop setting, with additional plays translated by individual members. A publication series from Juan de la Cuesta makes the translations available in print; they are also available open-access on the DTC website.  DTC collaborates with theatermakers in Los Angeles and beyond on adaptations, outreach, K-12 initiatives, and more. Partners include Playwrights’ Arena, 24th St. Theater, Red Bull Theater (NYC), Repertorio Español (NYC), New York Classical Theatre, the Stratford Festival (Canada) and the Globe (UK). Since 2018, DTC has organized Los Angeles’ biennial festival of Hispanic classical theater, LA Escena.

S&P Linguistics Research Methods Group

The Linguistics Research Methods Group is a group of students and faculty dedicated to keeping abreast of current trends in Spanish and Portuguese linguistic research, particularly in the domains of phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax and in the areas of first and second language acquisition, bilingualism, and heritage languages. We meet for the purposes of learning and sharing research tools and methods, present work in progress, workshop conference abstracts, and practice talks, among other things. Once a quarter we also organize hikes and other outdoor activities!

UCLA Brazilian Studies Research Working Group

The UCLA Brazilian Studies Research Working Group is a year-round, in-person forum for graduate students and faculty in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and allied fields. Meeting weekly or every other week during the regular academic year, the group supports enrollment under Portuguese 296 (2 units) and centers on collaborative work: presentation of drafts (chapters, articles, conference proposals), generous peer feedback, guest lectures, translation-practice workshops, archival source sharing, and occasional collaborative public events. Anchored in UCLA’s Portuguese and Brazilian Studies offerings—courses such as Afro-Luso-Brazilian World, Advanced Portuguese, Portuguese Creative Writing, and special topics in gender and 19th-century literatures—and leveraging the resources of the UCLA Center for Brazilian Studies, and the Spanish and Portuguese Department faculty whose specialties include translation studies, Afro-Luso-Brazilian literatures, gender studies, Indigenous studies, and historical/19th-century Brazilian cultures.

Our focus explicitly includes the study of Afro-Brazilian histories and expressive cultures, Indigenous original peoples and endangered languages of Brazil, and gender and 19th-century studies, alongside translation theory and practice. We welcome work that investigates how translation shapes cultural memory, identity and power; how gendered narratives emerge in nineteenth-century Brazil; how Indigenous cosmologies and languages at risk can be documented, theorized, and woven into broader literatures; and how Afro-Brazilian music, oral histories, visual art, and archives articulate resistance, identity and belonging. Events may involve archival explorations (for example, the UCLA MEAP/E Special Collections related to Brazilian archives), translation workshops, public panels including community voices, and co-organized programming with UCLA’s Center for Brazilian Studies. Participants gain not only intellectual mentorship and peer community but also hands-on experience in organizing, presenting, translating, and contributing to public humanities. For faculty, the group acts as incubator for new projects, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and strengthens ties between students and Brazil-focused scholarship.

Lido em LA/Read in LA

A series of informal and online encounters between Luso-Afro-Brazilian writers, poets, editors, and translators. The invited speakers shared with the larger audience their writing and reading experiences during the COVID-19 quarantine. More information about future encounters TBA.