Eighth International Conference on the Historical Links between Spain and the Americas, May 3-5, 2023


Climate change poses the gravest threat to humanity and the multitude of other species that inhabit planet Earth. Record temperatures and extreme weather events -from hurricanes and flooding to droughts and raging wildfires- and their associated ecological destruction including loss of life and livelihoods and forced immigration within and across borders.  These issues along with the rise of authoritarian populist movements on both sides of the Atlantic urgently require the attention of scholars across all academic disciplines. 

The Eighth International Conference on the Historical Links between Spain and the Americas will grapple with the causes, dynamics, and consequences, including trans-Atlantic relations, of what has now become widely labeled as an emergency. From colonialism and imperialism to neoliberalism and globalization, the understanding of asymmetrical relationships and unsustainable consumption patterns are foundational to fully comprehend the 21st century’s most pressing collective-action dilemmas.  

The City College, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies, the Cervantes Institute of New York, and the Franklin Institute of the University of Alcala, Spain, join for the eighth year in organizing this conference.  This important gathering will take place on May 3, 4, and 5, at City College Downtown (panels) and Cervantes Institute (Keynote Speakers). 

This year we were able to schedule several panels on climate change, two of which are led by colleagues from our College, as you’ll see in our program.  In addition, one of our keynote speakers is Dr. Kaveh Madani, currently the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and a Research Professor at the City College of New York/CUNY-CREST Institute. Prior to this, Madani held positions at Imperial College London and was the Henry Hart Rice Senior Fellow at Yale University’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.