Program Description

The Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) Department prepares students for bilingual and bicultural participation in a rapidly changing world. Both Latin America and U.S. Latino communities are being transformed by globalization; at the same time, deep historical legacies continue to be very present. The Latin American and Latino Studies Department integrates the study of Chicano and Latino communities in the U.S. with analysis of the histories, politics, cultures, and societies of Latin America and the Caribbean.

LALS courses deal with changing political, social, economic, and cultural realities, including immigration and transnational communities; gender, racial, and ethnic identities; social movements; diverse forms of cultural expression; ongoing political and economic restructuring in Latin America; and the challenges of political and economic empowerment for Latino communities in the U.S. To understand these processes, we draw from interdisciplinary perspectives, including the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts.

In addition to academic knowledge, LALS also provides opportunities for students to acquire practical, real-world skills. Through program-related internship and field-study experiences, students can acquire useful, pre-professional skills in any of the following key areas: community development/advocacy, public policy, education, journalism, media, performance, and research/writing, among others.

Latin American and Latino studies courses span a number of disciplines and are augmented by courses taught by participating faculty in various departments. The Latin American and Latino Studies Department compiles a quarterly list of course offerings from across campus that count toward the major.

Graduates of the LALS major have made careers in a wide variety of fields, including teaching, community organizing, community and government service, journalism and the media, environmental science, global economics, health care, legal services, library science, music, publishing, and research. Many have gone on to pursue advanced degrees in the U.S. or abroad in anthropology, bilingual education, communications, ecology, economics, geography, history, law, literature, public health, and sociology—to name a few.

Major Requirements

Three lower-division courses are required for the major:

• Latin American and Latino Studies 1, Introduction to Latin American and Latino Studies
• and two lower-division electives (select from courses listed below):

  Latin American and Latino Studies
  80A, Peoples and Cultures of Latin America
  80B, Social Movements in Latin America
  80C, Power and Resistance in the Americas
  80D, Political Social Change in Mexico
  80F, Latinos in the U.S.: A Comparative Perspective
  80H, Comparative Latina/o Histories
  80I, Gender and Global Cinema
  80N, Drug Wars in the Americas
  80Q, Música Latina
  80X, Central American Culture and Society

  Community Studies 80A, Chicanos and Social Change

  History
  23, Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.
  34A, Introduction to the History of the Americas: Colonial Period
  34B, Introduction to Latin American History: National Period

  Literature 80P, Topics in Latin American Culture

  Spanish Literature 60, Introduction to Literary Genres

  Music
  4A and 4B, Latin American Ensembles (three quarters fulfill one lower-division elective)
  80F, Music in Latin American Culture: Regional Traditions

Other courses numbered 1–80 on Latin American and/or Latino subjects may be substituted with approval in advance from the Latin American and Latino Studies Department.

Courses with similar content taken at other institutions may be substituted with approval from the Latin American and Latino Studies Department upon declaration of major.

Without exception, Latin American and Latino Studies 1 must be taken at UCSC.

In addition, all majors must complete nine upper-division courses, including core courses, two of which are mandatory (no substitutions):

Latin American and Latino Studies

• 100A, Politics and Society: Concepts and Methods
• 100B, Culture and Society:Transculturation

The remaining seven electives must meet the following criteria:

• three must be within a specific cluster that is related to Latin American/Latino studies from within a single field (e.g., anthropology, Brazilian studies, cultural studies, economics, education, environmental studies, film and digital media, history, history of art and visual culture, literature, politics, sociology). These may or may not be Latin American and Latino studies courses.
• at least one must concentrate on pre-twentieth-century topics
• at least one must center on Chicano/a-Latino/a issues
• at least two must be taught in Spanish or Portuguese, one by an LALS associated faculty

Language Requirements

All Latin American and Latino studies majors are expected to learn to speak, read, and write Spanish or Portuguese and to make use of these skills on a regular basis in their academic work.

Majors must take at least two upper-division courses taught in Spanish or Portuguese. At least one of these courses must be taught by core or participating LALS faculty. Before participating in study abroad programs or upper-division course work in Spanish or Portuguese, students must demonstrate proficiency in the language equivalent to completion of Spanish 6 or 56 or Spanish for Spanish Speakers 63. Students who have achieved fluency in Spanish or Portuguese through life experience may request exemption from this requirement.

Field-Study and Internship Opportunities

All majors are strongly encouraged to undertake either a field study in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Latino community in the U.S., or formal academic study abroad through the Education Abroad Program (EAP); see EAP for more information. These paths are the best ways to improve your language skills, explore the nature and direction of your own specific academic and career interests in relation to Latin American and Latino studies, and deepen cross-cultural understanding and relationships based upon personal experience.

Field studies are independent, community-based study projects for academic credit, done under faculty sponsorship and arranged on an individual basis. Local opportunities for internships and field study in Latino communities on California’s Central Coast are numerous. Credit for up to three upper-division courses may be applied towards the major from field study and study abroad combined. Field study may count for two upper-division courses. Please contact the Latin American and Latino Studies Department for further information regarding the field-study process, course credit, and a listing of local field-study programs.

Study Abroad

Students may apply to study at foreign universities through EAP. EAP offers opportunities for students to study at universities in Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico; San José, Costa Rica; Santiago, Chile; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; and Madrid, Cadiz, Córdoba, Alcalá de Henares, Granada, and Barcelona in Spain. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors with two years of university-level Spanish may apply. In addition, through the EAP Field Research Program (FRP) in Mexico, during fall and spring quarters, students take classes in Mexico City and undertake a two-month research project while gaining first-hand experience of life in Mexico. The FRP offers six sites for regional research: Guadalajara, Merida, Monterrey, Morelia, Oaxaca, and Querétaro. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors may apply. Students may also take an intensive Spanish language program in Morelia, Mexico, during the summer; in Concepción, Chile, during the fall; or in Cordoba, Spain, during the fall or spring. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors may apply. Application deadlines are generally several months to a year in advance of the program, so come to the office early to plan your study abroad program. All credit for EAP classes transfers back to your UCSC transcript. Financial aid applies to all but summer programs and includes airfare and living costs.

Senior Comprehensive Requirement

Every major must complete a senior exit requirement in order to graduate. The preparation and completion of this requirement is structured into the senior year. There are five options to choose from:

• good to excellent performance in a Latin American and Latino Studies senior seminar (194 series), including a final research paper (20–30 pages), completed by the first or second quarter of the senior year;
• an extended research paper, 20–30 pages in length. This paper often builds on related course work and requires approval from the relevant faculty adviser before the end of the winter quarter of the senior year. Students may take a 2- or 5-unit independent study to complete this paper;
• a senior thesis is generally between 40–60 pages and is the result of one or two quarters of sustained independent research under the supervision of the faculty adviser;
• a senior project can be either a creative project or a community-action project. Creative projects include web site design, video, performance, slide show, photo exhibit, or other media work. A short written analysis of the student’s experience in conducting the project is required. Community-action projects often involve sustained research and/or activity conducted in a community organization or public interest group, usually stemming from an internship. A short written analysis of the connection between the student’s activity and research and the project itself is required;
• the Student-Directed Seminar option is available to unusually qualified students only. It requires three quarters of preparation directed by a faculty adviser and approval by the Academic Senate Committee on Educational Policy. This option can be taken only by petition with the approval of the faculty adviser. Petition forms are available at the Latin American and Latino Studies Office.

Latin American and Latino Studies Major Planners

The following are two recommended academic plans for undertaking basic preparation for the Latin American and Latino studies major. Plan One is a guideline for students who are committed to the major early in their academic career. Plan Two is for transfer students.

Combined Majors

The combined major option, requiring fewer courses than a double major, is established with the global economics, politics, and sociology majors.

Latin American and Latino Studies/Global Economics

For the combined major in Latin American and Latino studies/global economics, students complete a total of seven lower-division course requirements for both the Latin American and Latino studies and global economics majors. Students are assigned a faculty adviser from each discipline. Upper-division course requirements include Economics 100A, 100B, and 113; Latin American and Latino Studies 100A and 100B; and five additional elective courses, two from economics and three from Latin American and Latino studies. Two of the upper-division courses must be taught in Spanish (or Portuguese) and two to four (at least one quarter) must be courses of academic work, internship, or field study abroad in a Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking country. The comprehensive requirement is met by the completion of a senior thesis on a topic suitable to both global economics and Latin American and Latino studies, supervised by a faculty member from either department and read and approved by the student’s advisers from both departments.

Latin American and Latino Studies/Politics

For the combined major in Latin American and Latino studies/politics, students complete three lower-division course requirements. One of the lower-division courses must be Latin American and Latino Studies 1 (no substitutions). For transfer students, a petition may be made to substitute the other lower-division courses (one Latin American and Latino studies elective, one course from Politics 1–79) with appropriate course work from another institution. The 10 upper-division courses include four core course requirements (Latin American and Latino Studies 100A and 100B, Politics 100 and 140C), two courses from any Politics Department sequences (comparative, American, international, and theory), and four upper-division electives. To complete the senior comprehensive requirement, students may take either a Politics (190) or Latin American and Latino Studies (194) senior seminar.

Latin American and Latino Studies/Sociology

Students are required to take a total of 14 courses and satisfy a comprehensive requirement. There are four lower-division course requirements, two each from the sociology and Latin American and Latino studies majors. One of the lower-division LALS classes must be Latin American and Latino Studies 1 (no substitutions); transfer students may petition to replace the other lower-division class with an appropriate course from another institution. Students are assigned a faculty adviser from each discipline. Upper-division requirements include six core courses: Latin American and Latino Studies 100A, 100B; Sociology 103A, 103B, 105A, and 105B; and four additional elective courses, two from Sociology and two from Latin American and Latino Studies. At least one of the Latin American and Latino Studies upper-division courses must be taught in Spanish or Portuguese, and at least one course in the sociology/Latin American and Latino studies combined major must be on Chicano/Latino issues. Up to three relevant courses taken through study abroad programs from which credits are transferable to UCSC may be credited toward the major when the content is deemed appropriate by the faculty advisers of both sociology and Latin American and Latino studies. Students can satisfy the comprehensive requirement in one of three ways: (1) writing a senior thesis, (2) passing an appropriate Latin American and Latino Studies Senior Seminar (194 series), or (3) completing the sociology course option of two additional sociology upper-division cluster III courses. If the thesis option is selected, it should be planned in consultation with an adviser from each department, completed under the supervision of a faculty member from either department, and read and approved by both advisers; one adviser is sufficient if this faculty member belongs to both departments.

Minor Requirements

The minor in Latin American and Latino studies consists of seven courses, including two lower-division courses (Latin American and Latino Studies 1 and one other lower division course) and five upper-division courses (including either Latin American and Latino Studies 100A or 100B and any other four upper-division courses that count towards the major). Knowledge of Spanish and/or Portuguese is highly recommended, but not required for the minor.