The Latino Observatory is an academic research project linked to the Department of Political and Economic Sciences (DCPE) of the Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP – Campus de Marília, a non-profit activity. It is also part of the Institute for Studies on the United States (INCT-INEU).

The project aims to monitor the main political, economic and cultural issues of the Latin American community in the United States. This monitoring will feed this website with updated information, highlighting the main news, whose links will be informed on the portal. Conjuncture analyzes will also be carried out on these selected events. In parallel to this, academic activities such as seminars, interviews and the publication of studies will be organized. Concurrently with the website, other forms of interaction were created through social media. To achieve its purposes, the portal is available in Portuguese, English and Spanish, with similar content.

The project relies on the collaboration of undergraduate students from the International Relations course at Unesp, Campus de Marília. Students were awarded scientific initiation scholarships (CI) from the Rectory of Unesp and INCT-INEU.

Why study the Latin American community in the United States?

The population of Latin American origin in the United States, the so-called “Latinos” or “Hispanics” is approximately 60 million people, or almost 20% of the total. This huge contingent, which maintains many of its cultural and linguistic roots, has substantially expanded its influence in the political, social and economic affairs of the country. If the economic contribution of the Latino/Hispanic community in the United States were grouped into a single country, it would have the eighth largest GDP in the world.

However, this community is not a uniform mass, despite the large percentage of the population of Mexican origin. There is a specific weight of descendants of Cubans, Costa Ricans, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Brazilians and Colombians, among others. Its political agendas and identities are also different, as well as the position of its members in the country's social structure.

In this sense, for researchers who try to understand the political, social and economic movements of the hegemonic nation in the world, it is of fundamental importance to stick to this specific aspect of American society. Hence the creation of an Observatory of the activities of the Latino/Hispanic community to monitor their demands, their forms of articulation, political and cultural manifestations, as well as their aspirations are reflected in the social structure of the United States as a whole.

Affiliation: The Latino Observatory is linked academically with the main network of studies on the United States in Brazil, the INCT-INEU, and with the Institute of Economic and International Studies (IEEI-Unesp). However, the responsibility for the content and opinions published in the Latino Observatory rests with its coordinators, except for texts signed by their authors.

Our content is available on the following social networks:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latino-observatory/

Instagram: @latinoobservatory

Twitter: @LatinoObserva

Facebook: @latinoobservatory

Contact: through our social networks or by email:

latinobservatory@latinobservatory.org