Program in Latino Studies

Faculty

  • Director

    • Anne Cheng

  • Associate Director

    • Rachael Z. DeLue

  • Acting Associate Director

    • Aisha Beliso-DeJesus

  • Associated Faculty

    • Jeremy I. Adelman
    • Aisha Beliso-De Jesus
    • Vera S. Candiani
    • Miguel A. Centeno
    • Anne Cheng
    • Patricia Fernandez-Kelly
    • Rubén Gallo
    • Tod G. Hamilton
    • Brian E. Herrera
    • Amaney A. Jamal
    • Christina Lee
    • Christina Leon
    • Rosina Lozano
    • Douglas S. Massey
    • Dan-El Padilla Peralta
    • Marta Tienda
    • Ali A. Valenzuela
    • Deborah J. Yashar

Program Information

The Program in Latino Studies, administered by the Program in American Studies, offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that traverses the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The program is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the emergence, transformation, and consolidation of Latino/a/x as a pan-ethnic group central to the development of the United States as a nation. The course of study also highlights the transnational connections and contexts of Latino/a/x peoples across the Americas, including dynamics of globalization, migration, colonialism, imperialism, citizenship, and diaspora.

In addition, the Program in Latino Studies’ structure facilitates productive engagement with the fields of American studies and Asian American studies and encourages comparative and intersectional work with the Program in African American Studies, the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies and other relevant fields of study that help to contextualize Latino histories and cultures within the diversity of American experience.

Admission to the Program

Students from all departments are welcome to the program. Students may enroll in the Latino Studies certificate program at any time, including the first year. There are no prerequisites, and courses taken prior to enrollment may count towards the certificate requirements. Students may take AMS 101 at any time during their studies, including after enrollment in the certificate program. To enroll in the program, students should complete the online enrollment form.  New students should plan to meet with the Associate Director or Undergraduate Administrator of the Program in American Studies before the end of their first year of enrollment, to review their plans for fulfilling the certificate requirements.

Program of Study

Students may earn a certificate in Latino studies by successfully completing the following requirements, consisting of five courses:

  1. AMS 101, America Then and Now
  2. Three courses in Latino Studies, either originating in the program or cross-listed and preferably representing disciplinary breadth in the social sciences, arts, and humanities. No more than one course taken in fulfillment of the student’s concentration may be counted toward the certificate. With the approval of the associate director, a student may substitute a comparative race and ethnicity course that contains substantial Latino studies content for one of these courses.
  3. A capstone seminar in American Studies, preferably taken in the senior year.

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
) Not offered this year 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, one preceptorial. Instructed by: Staff

LAO 210 Urban Sociology: The City and Social Change in the Americas (See SOC 210)

LAO 219 Translating America (See ENG 219)

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

LAO 232 Documentary Film and the City (See URB 202)

LAO 239 Rap, Graffiti and Urban Cultures in the Hispanic Worlds (See SPA 239)

LAO 250 Identity in the Hispanic World (See SPA 250)

LAO 278 Histories and Themes in Mexican Religion (See REL 278)

LAO 304 Spanish in the Community (See SPA 304)

LAO 306 Latino History (See HIS 306)

LAO 323 The Politics of Hip-Hop Dance (See DAN 323)

LAO 327 Latino Global Cities (See SPA 327)

LAO 328 Immigration, Race, and the Black Population of the United States (See SOC 327)

LAO 329 Immigrant America (See SOC 329)

LAO 333 Latino Politics in the U.S. (See POL 333)

LAO 354 An Introduction to Latino Literature and Culture (See ENG 354)

LAO 385 Theater and Society Now (See THR 385)

LAO 389 Poisonous Flowers: Radical Women in Latin America (See SPA 329)

LAO 401 Latin American Studies Seminar (See LAS 401)

LAO 404 Advanced Seminar in American Studies (See AMS 404)

LAO 465 Latino Urban History (See HIS 465)