Latin American Studies Concentration

Lee M. Penyak, Ph.D., Director

Overview

The Latin American Studies Concentration is designed to advance students' awareness and understanding of Latin America. It seeks to provide both broad, general knowledge of the entire Latin American region, and indepth knowledge of specific countries, regional groupings of countries, and cultures both dominant and marginal. The concentration is open to all majors and it consists of courses from a variety of disciplines with a primary focus on Latin America. These courses fulfill general education requirements in the Humanities area (World Languages and History), the Social Sciences area (Political Science), and some of them also carry cultural diversity and writing intensive credit. Supporting courses may fulfill general education requirements in other areas as well.

The Latin American Studies Concentration is an attractive complement to many existing majors. Related fields include world languages, international business, international language/business, international studies, history, political science, theology, philosophy and sociology. Some related professions or careers include law, government, non-governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, banking and teaching.

Core and supporting courses are listed below. Others will be added as they are developed.

Language (4.5–6 credits)
	SPAN 311-312* or PORT 210 †
History (6 credits)
	HIST 125-126	Latin American History
	HIST 213	Gender and Family in Latin America
	HIST 215	Church & Society in Latin America
	HIST 327	The African Experience in Latin America
Politics (6 credits)
	PS 219	Survey of Latin American Politics
	PS 3XX	Topical or country-specific courses
Supporting Courses (6 credits)
	SPAN 320	Introduction to Literature
	SPAN 314	Topics in Latin American Culture & Civilizaton
	SPAN 331	Spanish American Literature
	SPAN/PS 295	Contemporary Mexican Culture and Language
	T/RS XXX	Liberation Theologies
	PHIL XXX	Latin American Thought

* At this level or higher; intermediate Spanish (211-212) is a prerequisite for 311.

† Elementary Portuguese is taught intensively, only 4.5 credits are required.