The Research Network for Latin America consists of three institutions: the competence pool, the board of directors and the coordination office.
The competence pool consists of the following institutions:

• Education and Research Center Latin America (LFZL), University of Cologne

• Interdisciplinary Latin America Center (ILZ), University of Bonn

• Education and Research Network Inter-American Studies, University of Bielefeld

• Prof. Dr. Silke Hensel, Modern and Contemporary History with special reference to non-European history, University of Münster

• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gabbert, Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, Leibniz University Hanover

At least one Phd is assigned to each of these five associates, and to the three institutional members one Postdoc is attached.

Within the competence pool, the sub-projects focus on the following questions:

• Ethnicity, Citizenship and Belonging in political communication (University of Bielefeld)

• The importance of space for the three key terms (University of Bonn)

• Interdependence of social categorizations (University of Cologne)

• Ethnic differentiation in the Mexican nation-building process (University of Munster)

• Ethnicity, citizenship and belonging and their interaction with other categories of difference (University of Hanover)

The project staff meets regularly to discuss their specific research, to coordinate a joint approach and comment on interim results and problems. To ensure an intensive exchange between the working groups, the staff organizes an annual week-long meeting during the semester break in the form of conferences, workshops and summer schools (see News).

In alternate years, each working group is responsible for the preparation of the event as regards content and one of the three participating institutions is the host. In addition, a conference is held every fourth year in a Latin American country. Besides the permanent members of the competence pool, there are collaborations with other institutions or individuals who add to the skill pool in respect of content. The objective is in particular to integrate scientists from Latin America.

The board of directors consists of the following persons:

• Prof. Barbara Potthast, Department of Iberian and Latin American History, University of Cologne. She is coevally the network coordinator.

• Prof. Nikolai Grube, Department of American Studies and Anthropology, University of Bonn

• Prof. Christian Büschges, Department of Iberian and Latin American History, University of Bielefeld

• Prof. Silke Hensel, Modern and Contemporary History with special reference to non-European history, University of Münster

• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gabbert, Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, Leibniz University Hanover.

The board of directors is responsible for the Research Network in matters of staff and project decisions, and also runs investigation on aspects of the research areas. The coordination office is responsible for organisation and coordination of the content of the Research Network, it represents the Research Network, it is responsible for organisational processes and collaborates closely with the members of the competence pool, e.g. in the planning and execution of the annual week-long work meeting. It consists of the Managing Director Dr. Sarah Albiez-Wieck and academic as well as student assistants. Additionally, the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Cologne funds the position of research associate Dr. Débora Bendocchi Alves.