Paula Ioanide, Assistant Professor and Coordinator
Latino/a Studies Minor
The courses in the Latino/a Studies minor cover a broad range of issues, from the historically constructed and contested nature of individual identities to issues of cultural and historical representation and social justice for groups of people.
Specifically, the minor’s goals are to encourage, allow, and facilitate
- a study of the self in relationship to the "other" by investigating the particular areas of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity as well as the nature of encounters between diverse groups of people. (The focus of many of the courses is on social movements, diasporas, migrations, and a questioning of borders/boundaries, identities, and representations.)
- the use of historical and comparative methodologies for providing a contextual understanding of the issues being studied.
- a creative combination of epistemological and theoretical concerns with an analysis of real-life problems so that theory can serve as an entry point into praxis. This is necessary for understanding that ideas shape practices and that practices, in turn, reframe our ideas about the world.
- a critical approach to issues of representation and identity and, for those so motivated, an opening to construct theories of ethnic/cultural/racial encounters.
- an interrogation of notions of location and place. While the minor focuses on the experiences of Latinos/Latinas, it will also call into question the inside/outside binary (e.g., the United States versus groups that are geographically outside the United States, or that are geographically within the United States but excluded from the dominant discourse). In other words, the minor will allow students to study the United States within various global contexts. This is necessary for understanding the interconnected nature of contemporary social life.
Requirements for the Minor in Latino/a Studies
Required courses
Conceptual Frameworks
| CSCR 10700 |
Introduction to Latino/a Studies |
3 |
| CSCR 12300 |
Introduction to Culture, Race and Ethnicity Concepts |
3 |
Policy and Praxis
| HPS 20500 |
Critical Health Issues |
3 |
| CSCR 35200 |
Punishment, Prisons and Democracy |
3 |
Electives
Culture and History
Select one of the following:
| CSCR 23700 |
History and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands |
3 |
| HIST 20900 |
Ethnic United States since the Civil War |
3 |
| SPAN 38000 |
Latino/a Culture through Literature |
3 |
| CSCR 26100 |
Watching Race in American Media |
3 |
Power and Liberation
Select one of the following:
| CSCR 37400 |
Latino/a Social Movements |
3 |
| POLT 14100 |
Power: Sex, Class, and Race |
3 |
| POLT 34200 |
Liberalism and Marxism |
3 |
| CSCR 35100 |
Race and Sexual Politics |
3 |
Comparative and International
Select one of the following:
| CSCR 47800 |
Las Américas: Globalizing Latino/a Studies |
3 |
| ARTH 26500 |
Latin American Art |
3 |
| ENGL 47000 |
Seminar1 |
3 |
| POLT 40100 |
Seminar: Comparative and International Studies1 |
3 |
| CSCR 30700 |
Race and Colonialism |
3 |
| CSCR 43400 |
Capstone Seminar in Culture, Race and Ehtnicity2 |
3 |
|
Total, Latino/a studies minor |
18 |
1 Students should check with the director of the program for a list of approved seminars.
2 This course will be designated to the appropriate electives category depending on the topic of the course.