Did you know you can study Latino culture in the classroom at college?
Colleges and universities across the nation are implementing Latino studies programs and concentrations in an effort to educate about Latino culture and issues, as well as to accommodate a growing Hispanic student population.
The goals
“What we hope to do is to help people better understand the role and contributions of the Latino community in the United States,” says Allert Brown-Gort, associate director of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
Latino studies programs don’t just teach about issues surrounding Latinos, but about the Latino culture and population.
“Our viewpoint is that the Latino studies [program] is only incidentally about diversity,” Brown-Gort says. “It is instead about the great demographic change of the century.”
How they started
Latino studies developed largely in an effort to keep up with the growing Hispanic-American population. As more and more Latino students enrolled in college, institutions began to see a need for study of Latino culture, history, art and politics.
What you’ll study
Latino studies programs often encompass courses in immigration law and policy, Hispanic literature and film, and the history of Latinos in the United States.
Notre Dame has run a course in Latino theology. The University of Texas at Austin offers classes in Mexican photography and “Spanglish,” and students at Duke can study the impact of Latino women on the 20th century, and the Cold War’s effect on Latin America.
“They were the most enjoyable courses I had,” says Tony Carrizales, a recent Cornell alumnus who majored in history with a concentration in Latino studies, of his Latino-focused classes.
Carrizales says the courses equipped him with a better understanding of Latino culture and its influences on American society.
Perks on campus
Institutions that run Latino studies programs are likely to have other support and research initiatives for Hispanic students. Notre Dame, for example, houses the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, a consortium with 18 colleges and universities as members.
Cornell has a theme house for Latino living, as well as a Latino studies research center that houses a library and support center for students.
“This helps [students] create groups of friends who are looking for common knowledge,” says Mary Pat Brady, director of the Latino Studies Program at Cornell. Students can also receive grants to do independent research and internship work.
Not up for a major? How about a minor?
Although Latino studies isn’t yet a mainstream major, many colleges offer the subject as a secondary major or minor.
And it isn’t only Hispanic students who want to learn about Latinos; many programs educate students from other cultures, as well as the surrounding community.
Even colleges that don’t have a Latino studies program may run courses about Latinos in departments such as history, art or political science.
“If a course is not offered, it should not stop you from wanting to learn about it,” Carrizales says. He says to ask administrators for additional courses in Latino studies, or create your own courses through independent study and research.
The frequency of Latino programs are likely to continue growing as the Latino population also grows.
“Latino studies isn’t something that’s going to go away,” Carrizales says. “I hope that it’s headed in the direction of becoming a department at institutions as opposed to being a program.”
