Latino/a Studies Minor

The Latino/a Studies* minor is one of four minors that the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity was mandated to develop through a curricular focus on traditionally marginalized, under-represented, or misrepresented groups in the U.S.  The point of such a focus is to prepare students to meet the increasingly complex demands of living in a multiracial, multiethnic, and poly-cultural world.

The courses will cover a broad range of issues, from the historically constructed and contested nature of identity to issues of cultural representation and social justice.  

• study the Self in relationship to the Other,
• use historical and comparative methodologies for developing a contextual understanding of the issues being studied,
• combine epistemological /theoretical concerns with an analysis of "real-life" problems as a way to understand the relationship between theory and practice,
• develop a critical approach to the processes of knowledge construction; and
• explore the linkages between U.S. and global politics, economics, culture, etc.

Students are required to take a total of six courses (18 credit hours), at least one from each of the five categories.  The two courses in Conceptual Frameworks are required. 

Courses to Fulfill the Latino/Latina Studies Minor

Students choosing a minor in Latino/Latina Studies will need to complete at least 18 credit hours in order to fulfill the minor requirements. The courses listed under Conceptual Frameworks (1.) are required courses and make up 6 of the 18 credit hours needed. The remaining 12 credits should consist of 1 class from each of the remaining course topics (2.-6.). ▪The Capstone Seminar may count toward the Latino/a Studies minor if the course topic is relative, please see your minor adviser with any questions or concerns.

1. Conceptual Frameworks (required)

CSCR-10700 Intro to Latino/a Studies
CSCR-12300 Intro to Culture, Race, & Ethnicity Concepts **formerly known as Concepts in Race and Ethnicity**

2. Policy and Praxis (elective)

CSCR-35200 Punishment, Prisons, & Democracy
HPS-20500 Critical Health Issues

3. Culture and History

CSCR-23700 History & The U.S. Mexico Borderlands
CSCR-26100 Watching Race in American Media
HIST-20900 Ethnic US since the Civil War
SPAN-3800 Latino/a Culture through Lit

4. Power and Liberation

CSCR-35100 Race & Sexual Politics
CSCR-37400 Latino/a Social Movements
POLT-14100 Power: Sex, Class and Race
POLT-34200 Liberalism and Marxism

5. Comparative and International

ARTH-26500 Modern Latin American Art
CSCR-30700 Race and Colonialism
CSCR-47800 Las Americas: Globalizing Latino/a Studies
ENGL-47000 Adolescence in Multicultural Lit
POLT-40100 Seminar: Comparative and International Studies1

6. Capstone

CSCR-43400 Capstone Seminar in Culture, Race, and Ethnicity

▪This seminar will fit within the Latino/Latina Studies minor requirements if the topic of discussion relates, please see your minor adviser if you have any questions or concerns.

*Prior to Fall 2009 any student who completed POLT – 14500, Politics of Identity, along with Intro. to Latino Studies has fulfilled the required courses requirement for this minor.