Research at the HCIAS
Research program Spaces and Dynamics in Ibero-America
Research at the HCIAS unites a variety of disciplines from the social sciences, the humanities, cultural studies, and environmental studies which all aim at contributing to an integral description and analysis conducive to a better understanding of the macro-region of “Ibero-America”. In our research and teaching, we set a focus on Latin America as well as the Iberian Peninsula, explicitly including those areas with which there are close historical, cultural, political, or socioeconomic ties.
Framed under the theme of “Spaces and Dynamics”, our cross-cutting research program is structured around three main areas of inquiry that explore the social, cultural, and environmental dimensions of Ibero-America. Drawing from diverse perspectives, we investigate the continuities and disruptions, transformations, and internal and external interconnections that shape the region’s networks, institutions, and communicative dynamics.
Research Focus 1: Multiple Transformations and Social Cohesion
Ibero-America has undergone major political, economic, social, and cultural shifts in recent decades—changes accelerated by globalization and digital technologies. Democracy, though widespread since the 1970s, remains fragile in places, often challenged by authoritarian tendencies. Neoliberal reforms and global market integration have reshaped economies, intensified social tensions, and revived populist politics, while traditional hierarchies and inequalities persist. Culturally, the region is marked by uneven modernization, reflecting a mix of traditional and post-materialist values.
Our research examines these transformations through the lens of democratic stability and social cohesion. We focus on communication—especially digital platforms—as a key factor in political engagement and public opinion, while also studying socioeconomic transitions, environmental inequality, and their social impacts. We explore how individuals and movements challenge or reinforce cohesion, including responses to injustices in food systems and innovative strategies for reducing inequality. Gender dynamics and feminist movements form another key area of inquiry, especially their roles in resisting right-wing conservatism, defending environmental activists, and confronting gender-based violence.
In the cultural sphere, we analyze the role of churches and religious groups in shaping political life and social cohesion, particularly in Latin America, where these institutions hold significant influence over moral debates and issues of social and economic ethics.
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Research Focus 2: Globalization and Mobility of Cultural and Natural Heritage
Research Focus 2 examines how mobility and circulation—both historical and contemporary—shape cultural, natural, and social connections across Ibero-America. Our research explores the ongoing negotiations between movement, cultural heritage, and the environment, viewing both heritage and nature as dynamic and continuously shaped by individuals, institutions, and societies.
In collaboration with heritage and environmental research at Heidelberg University, we emphasize that cultural heritage is not fixed but evolves through historical and transcultural influences, while the natural environment remains deeply intertwined with social, political, and economic factors. We investigate how natural and cultural resources are produced, circulated, and at times contested, uncovering patterns of inclusion and exclusion across various geographic and historical contexts.
Research in Focus 2 also addresses pressing global challenges such as environmental degradation and climate change, focusing on their impact within Ibero-America and its related spaces. It also includes a particular emphasis on forced migration flows and irregularized mobility, which create complex spatial and social dynamics throughout the region. This includes studying social processes occurring in the ‘in-between’ spaces of irregular cross-border mobility, which affect the material and immaterial landscapes of the region. In the same vein, by studying migratory corridors as geopolitical connectors, especially between Central America, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S., we gain insight into the south-north interdependencies that define Ibero-America today.
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Research Focus 3: Social and Cultural Communication
Research Focus 3 centers on the social and linguistic dynamics of communication that exist within Ibero-America and between Ibero-America and connected regions like the USA and Europe. Given the multilingual nature of many geographic, political, and cultural spaces in the macro-region, language interactions are complex and varied. Focus 3 examines how languages and cultures come into contact both within Ibero-America and with external regions, exploring the social, cultural, and cognitive effects of these interactions.
Key areas of study include perceptions of linguistic and cultural realities, the role of social media and digital communication, and the preservation and management of linguistic and cultural heritage.
Our research also addresses the linguistic and cultural diversity that results from migration, which over the past 150 years has significantly influenced Ibero-American societies, politics, economies, and education. Migration has shaped linguistic landscapes and communication practices across the region and beyond. We pay special attention to the unique language dynamics and social customs that emerge in border areas, urban communities, and among second- and third-generation heritage speakers in Ibero-America and its areas of contact.