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Program in Latino Studies

• Admission to the Program
• Program of Study
• Certificate of Proficiency
• Courses

Program in Latino Studies

The Program in Latino Studies offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that traverses the arts, humanities, and social sciences designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the emergence, transformation, and consolidation of Latinos as a pan-ethnic group, and to appreciate the range of Hispanic imprints on American society and culture.

Courses that satisfy the program certificate are offered by the departments of anthropology, English, history, politics, sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese languages and cultures, as well as the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the Center for African American Studies, and the Program in American Studies. Faculty affiliated with the program direct the study plans of students seeking a certificate in Latino studies, which is pursued in tandem with a disciplinary concentration.

Admission to the Program

Students from all departments are welcome to the program, but interested students are encouraged to complete the required gateway course, LAO 200 Latinos in American Life and Culture, by the end of their sophomore year.

Program of Study

In addition to the required gateway course, students must complete four courses outside their department of concentration that draw from both the social sciences and the arts and humanities. Of these, at least one should be a seminar (please consult with the program for the most current list of options), and one must emphasize comparative race relations. In order to qualify for the Latino studies certificate, a course must devote at least half of its content to the U.S. Hispanic population.

Students are also required to write a senior thesis on a topic relating to the Hispanic population of the United States. With the program director's approval, students majoring in one of the sciences, mathematics, or engineering whose senior thesis does not deal with the Hispanic population of the United States may complete the program by submitting an original piece of research dealing with a topic relating to Latinos in the United States. This should be written under the supervision of a faculty member associated with the program.

An up-to-date list of courses fulfilling the seminar and comparative race relations requirements, as well as Latino studies-related courses in the social sciences, arts, and humanities, may be found on the program's website.

Certificate of Proficiency

Students who fulfill all program requirements will receive a certificate of proficiency in Latino studies upon graduation.

Courses

LAO 200 Latinos in American Life and Culture (also SOC 341/LAS 336)   Spring SA

This required gateway course will consider how Latinos are transforming the United States even as they embrace a racialized pan-ethnic identity.Readings expose students to the demographic underpinnings of the dramatic growth and historically unprecedented geographic dispersal, the ethical dilemmas posed by undocumented immigration, the historical and contemporary trends in social, economic, and political participation, and the hybrid cultural imprints forged in musical, literary, and artistic work. Two lectures, two preceptorials. M. Tienda

LAO 201 American Places: An Introduction to American Studies (see AMS 201)

LAO 222 Introduction to Latin American Cultures (see SPA 222)

LAO 402 Forms of Literature (see ENG 402)

LAO 423 Seminar in American Politics (see POL 423)