Institut des Amériques

About the Institut des Amériques

The Institut des Amériques (IdA) is a French institution that promotes research on the Americas. It values comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to the humanities and social sciences and is headquartered in Paris, France. The institute maintains a robust network of interdisciplinary researchers and universities throughout France and the Americas.

IdA at UT Austin

To foster international cooperation, the IdA has established 12 hubs in institutions of higher education or research in the Americas. In 2019, The University of Texas at Austin became the newest center to join this prestigious group.

The IdA - Texas Center promotes the development of scholarly activities with the aim to:

• Disseminate research between the Americas and France, with an emphasis on transdisciplinary and trans-American projects.
• Encourage exchange between European and American specialists, enriching academic knowledge on the Americas.
• Serve as a gateway to France and Europe, participating in the construction of a Euro-American hub of higher education and research.

IdA Fellows

Spring 2025-2029 Fellows

Florian Griffon

Doctoral candidate, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

Thesis Project: Understanding the Paradox of Voting Against One’s Interests: Towards a New Theoretical Model to Understand Direct Democracy in the United States

Host: UT Austin Department of Government

Florian Griffon is the coordinator of the West-US cluster and a PhD student at Sorbonne Nouvelle University hosted by the UT Austin Department of Government. His thesis, “Understanding the Paradox of Voting Against One’s Interests: Towards a New Theoretical Model to Understand Direct Democracy in the United States,” supervised by Jean-Baptiste Velut, investigates why voters sometimes reject policies that appear to serve their material interests. Drawing on two recent cases—the rejection of a progressive tax in Illinois (2020) and a minimum wage increase in California (2024)—Florian’s research develops a multi-scalar model that integrates individual motivations, group dynamics, and systemic structures.

Situated at the intersection of political sociology, electoral studies, and political science, his work combines content analysis, surveys, media narratives, and interviews to explore how these factors interact in the context of direct democracy. Supported by the Institute of the Americas, Florian will conduct fieldwork within the West-US cluster, organize scholarly events, and foster dialogue among experts to deepen understanding of electoral behavior and democratic engagement.

Spring 2025

Augusto de Britto

Doctoral candidate, Université Paris-Saclay

Project: Writers without Borders: The Writers in Prison Committee and the International and Literary Solidarity Network of International PEN (1960–1987)

Host: UT Austin Department of American Studies

Augusto Britto is the coordinator of the Texas cluster and a PhD student at the Université Paris-Saclay. His thesis, “Writers without Borders: The Writers in Prison Committee and the International and Literary Solidarity Network of International PEN (1960–1987),” supervised by Caroline Moine, explores PEN International’s efforts to defend freedom of expression while navigating ideological and geopolitical tensions. Focusing on the Writers in Prison Committee, one of the earliest transnational networks for literary solidarity, Augusto examines how PEN’s claim to neutrality was tested by Cold War politics, anti-colonial movements, and cultural hierarchies. His research draws on archives across Europe, the U.S., and Latin America, and intersects cultural history, human rights, and international relations.

As Texas cluster coordinator, he is hosted by the Department of American Studies and will engage with key collections at the Harry Ransom Center and lead collaborative initiatives on freedom of expression in the Americas, positioning his work as both a scholarly inquiry and a platform for intellectual engagement and transmission.

Past Events

Joint Symposium: Transatlantic Ties and Opportunities in a Transformative Age

In the fall of 2025, UT Austin hosted a joint symposium sponsored by Texas Global, Institut des Amériques, Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l'Ecole Militaire (IRSEM), Observatory of American Foreign Policy (OPEXAM), and Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. 

As the United States and Europe continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, they are faced with a range of pressing global developments: renewed geopolitical tensions, the accelerating impacts of climate change, the digital transformation of societies and economies, and shifting dynamics of global power. These complex and interrelated trends have reshaped transatlantic relations, opening new avenues for cooperation while uncovering areas of divergence. This event offered a platform for intellectual exchange on critical themes—diplomacy, trade, political institutions, and strategic alliances—through a multidisciplinary lens, fostering academic exchange and institutional collaboration at a time of global transformation.

(Re)Thinking borders in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Gulf Coast of the Southern United States: Separation, Circulation, and Identification at an American Crossroads

In fall of 2021 the Texas, Mexico, and Caribbean centers of the Institut des Amériques (IdA), and their host institutions, Texas Global, the Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos (CEMCA), and the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), hosted an interactive three-part virtual series that explored questions of construction and deconstruction of material and symbolical borders, in the pivotal space that links the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean.

About the Series

When experienced by migrants, by land or by sea, borders never fail to conjure up dramatic images. They interrupt the circulation of people with both material and immaterial barriers. The US/Mexico border is one such visual sign of fragmentation, creating a North and South in one similar region, materializing a gap between the developed and the underdeveloped or developing – enacting asymmetrical power relations. Yet ideas and phenomena such as culture are a constant reminder that these borders are not strict lines of separation. Gloria Anzaldúa thus uses the word “Nepantla” – the “Nahuatl word for the space between two bodies of water, the space between two worlds,” – to define the in-between space that her poetry and identity occupy. Through a truly plural voice – bilingual and bicultural – the Chicana poet breaks through the liminal space and recreates community.

The seminar strives to challenge the audience to rethink borders and their multi-faceted realities in a space that includes Central America, the Caribbean, and the Gulf Coast of the United States. This unusual grouping will make for a unique exploration of the phenomena of border fragmentation and hybridity. Calling upon a broad theoretical understanding of borders, the seminar also invites us to think of this American crossroads as a space that is at once perceived, conceived, and lived, through a variety of cuts and junctions.