LATINA/O STUDIES (Div. II)
Chair, Associate Professor CARMEN WHALEN
Advisory Committee: Associate Professors: KENT**, KITTLESON*, WHALEN. Assistant Professors: CEPEDA, CHAVOYA**, JOTTAR, RÚA*, VARGAS.
Latina/o Studies is an interdisciplinary and comparative field of study that explores the histories and experiences of Latinas and Latinos in the United States. Latinas and Latinos include peoples who come from or whose ancestors come from Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. The program seeks to cover the widest range of experiences, encompassing Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans, as well as more recent migrations from a wide variety of Central and South American countries. Courses, most of which use a comparative approach, seek to provide students with the tools to continue their work in areas of their particular interest. Focusing on a diverse group with a long history in the United States, which is also one of the fastest growing populations in the contemporary era, provides an opportunity to explore complex dynamics globally and within the context of the United States. The program examines topics such as the political and economic causes of migration, the impact of globalization, economic incorporation, racialization, the formation and reformulations of identities and communities, the uses of urban spaces, inter-ethnic relations, artistic expression, aesthetics, and visual and popular culture.
THE CONCENTRATION
The concentration in Latina/o Studies requires five courses. Students are required to take the introductory course (LATS 105), one 400-level Latina/o Studies seminar, and three electives. Two electives must be core electives, and one elective can be a related course in Comparative Ethnic Studies or in Countries of Origin and Transnationalism. The three electives must include two different disciplines, and at least one elective must be at the 300 or 400 level. Additional courses may be approved by the Chair. Students, especially those considering graduate work or professional careers in the field, are encouraged to enroll in Spanish language courses at Williams.
Required Courses
Latina/o Studies/American Studies 405 Home and Belonging: Comparative Explorations of Displacements, Relocations, and Place-making
Latina/o Studies/American Studies 409 Tracing the Roots of Routes: Transnationalism and its (Dis)Contents
Latina/o Studies/American Studies 464/INTR 405 Latina/o Visual Culture: Histories, Identities, and Representation
Latina/o Studies/History 471 Comparative Latina/o Migrations
Latina/o Studies/American Studies 481 Locating Latino Studies: Approaches to Latinidad
Latina/o Studies/ArtH 203 Chicana/o Film and Video
Latina/o Studies/Music 232T Latin Music USA
Latina/o Studies 240/Comparative Literature 210/Linguistics 254 The Politics of Language in the Literature and Culture of U.S. Latinas/os
Latina/o Studies/Spanish 241T Redefining the "Helping Hand": Community-Based Approaches to Latina/o Language and Identity in Northern Berkshires
Latina/o Studies/History 286 Latina/o History From 1846 to the Present
Latina/o Studies/American Studies 310 Latino Cityscapes: Mapping Place, Community, and Latinidad in U.S. Urban Centers
Latina/o Studies/American Studies/Theatre 330 The Aesthetics of Resistance: Contemporary Latino/a-American Theatre and Performance
Latina/o Studies/American Studies/Theatre/Women's and Gender Studies 331 Sound and Movement in the Diaspora: Afro-Latin Identities
Latina/or Studies/American Studies/Theatre 335/Women's and Gender Studies 337 Contemporary U.S. Theatre and Performance: Latinos/as in the Everyday
Latina/o Studies/Comparative Literature 338 Theorizing Popular Culture: Latinas/os and the Dynamics of the Everyday
Latina/o Studies 346/Comparative Literature 359 Latinos in/and the Media: From Production to Consumption
Latina/o Studies/History/Women's and Gender Studies 386 Latinas in the Global Economy: Work, Migration, and Households
Latina/o Studies/History/Women's and Gender Studies 387 Community Building and Social Movements in Latino/a History
History 243 Modern Latin America, 1822 to the Present
History 249 The Caribbean From Slavery to Independence
History 342 Creating Nations and Nationalisms in Latin America
History 343 Gender and History in Latin America
Latina/o Studies 221/Africana Studies/Music 220 Rhythm and Jazz in America, Brazil, and Cuba
Music 230 Seminar in Caribbean Music
Political Science 222 The United States and Latin America
Political Science 346 Mexican Politics
Political Science 349T Cuba and the United States
Theatre 330 The Aesthetics of Resistance: Contemporary Latin American Theatre and Performance
History/American Studies 368 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
THE DEGREE WITH HONORS
Honors in Latina/o Studies may be granted to concentrators after an approved candidate completes an honors project, delivers a public presentation of the work, and is awarded an honors grade by her/his advisor and two other faculty readers. In consultation with the advisor, faculty readers may be from outside the Latina/o Studies Program.
The honors project will be completed over one semester plus winter study. It may consist of a conventional research thesis of 40-70 pages or of other forms of presentation (e.g., video, art, theater). It may also combine a shorter research thesis with another medium.
To be accepted as a candidate for honors in Latina/o Studies, a student must meet these criteria:
1) Submit and earn approval of a project proposal in April of the junior year. The proposal should be no longer than 5 pages and should lay out the project's aim and methodology, identify the student's advisor for the work, and include evidence of competence in the necessary media for projects that include non-thesis forms.
2) Achieve a grade point average of at least 3.33 in LATS courses at the time of application.
Students admitted to the honors program must submit a 5-8 page revised proposal, with an annotated bibliography, by the second week of classes in the fall semester of her/his senior year. They should register either for LATS 493 in the fall semester and LATS 031 in Winter Study, or for LATS 031 in Winter Study and LATS 494 in the spring semester. These courses will be in addition to the 5 courses that make up the regular concentration.
STUDY ABROAD
Study abroad and other off-campus programs offer excellent opportunities for students to build on, and expand, the intellectual interests they develop as part of the Latina/o Studies concentration. Through their connections to various institutions in the U.S. and other nations, Latina/o Studies faculty can help place students in U.S. borderlands programs as well as programs in Mexico, Cuba, and other "countries of origin." Any student seeking to include courses as part of a concentration in Latina/o Studies should feel free to contact the Program chair or other faculty. A maximum of 1 course taken away from Williams can count (as an elective) toward the completion of the concentration.