Since 1984, the Latina/o Studies Program (LS) has been a primary site on the University of Michigan campus for the scholarly study of Latina/o culture, history and social dynamics. The program sponsors important cultural and academic events on campus, and has a developing agenda for community/university partnerships and internships. Our core curriculum offers an interdisciplinary and pan-Latina/o approach to the study of Latina/o history, politics, culture, social relations, and artistic expression within the U.S. and in transnational perspective. Our faculty consist of jointly appointed core and many affiliated faculty in various departments and Schools (such as Natural Resources and Environment, Nursing, Public Health, and Social Work) who provide richly varied undergraduate and graduate curricula and mentoring in humanities, social scientific, health, and scientific fields as well as community service learning. Our institutional connections to the Department of American Culture enable our faculty and students to engage in productive scholarly collaboration and dialogue with members of other ethnic studies units. We also maintain close ties to the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS), and to other interdisciplinary units and initiatives, such as the National Center for Institutional Diversity and the Arts of Citizenship Program.
Latina/o Studies offers a minor as well as a major degree to undergraduate students. These degree programs are designed to give students an opportunity to develop cultural competence on the diverse groups that comprise U.S. Latino populations. We offer a variety of courses, some focusing on particular national groups or specific academic disciplines, and others organized around comparative topics or issues. Some examples of these courses include: History of Latinos in the U.S., Latinas in the United States, Latina/o Media, Latina/o Religions, the Latin Tinge, Schooling and the Community, Empowering Latino Families and Communities, Latina/o Literature, Migrant Bodies and Hybrid Texts, Puerto Rican Literatures: The Island and the Mainland, Cuba and Its Diaspora, and more.
Departmental Policies
For more information on departmental policies, please click the links below. You will be redirected to the policies of our parent unit, the Department of American Culture.
