Program in Latino Studies
Launched in 2009, the Program in Latino Studies at Princeton University offers an interdisciplinary curriculum to expose students to the dynamic and socially complex U.S. Hispanic population. As the most rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, Hispanics today account for nearly half of total demographic growth and represent over 16 percent of all U.S. residents. Subsuming 20 different nationalities, Hispanics include the descendants of early Spanish settlers in what is now the United States, multiple cohorts of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, and, importantly, a swelling second generation—that is U.S. born children of Latin American immigrants.
Like African Americans and prior immigrant groups, Hispanics are infusing cultural diversity through art, music, and theater. These cultural expressions represent new hybrids—neither Latin American nor Anglo American, but distinctive combinations that convey the blend of origins and destinations. Art, music, theater, and literature provide tangible manifestations of cultural transformation and imprints on the U.S. ethno-racial landscape.
Building on course offerings in politics, sociology, history, literature, population, religion and performing arts and supplemented with lectures and cultural activities, the Program in Latino Studies allows students to understand the social and culture experience of the Hispanic population of the United States.