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Updated March 11, 2015

Latina/Latino Studies

 

College of Ethnic Studies

Dean: Kenneth Monteiro

 

Department of Latina/Latino Studies

EP 103
Phone: 415-338-6160
E-mail: latinos@sfsu.edu
Acting Chair: Carlos Cordoba

 

Faculty

Professors: Almaguer, Cordova, Cuellar, Murguia, Rivera
Associate Professors: Carrillo, Duncan-Andrade, Garcia, Martinez, Mirabal
Assistant Professor: Reyes
Lecturers: Calloway, Dávila, Kury, Quiñonez

 

Programs

Bachelor of Arts in Latina/Latino Studies

Minor in Latina/Latino Studies

 

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Program Scope

Latina/Latino Studies is a unique liberal arts B.A. degree program with an emphasis on equity, social justice, and community empowerment. The program offers an opportunity to study within a multidisciplinary framework of knowledge to develop critical thinking skills, analytical and writing skills, and an area of expertise centered on Latinos in California and the United States.The program is designed to develop knowledge, skills, and consciousness that empower students to function as effective leaders in an increasingly complex, diverse, and global society. The major prepares students for graduate and professional schools for a wide range of public and private sector employment, and for a lifetime of community commitment and involvement.

 

The Latina/Latino Studies curriculum is critical, analytical, holistic, and cutting-edge. Students choose an integrated series of Major or Minor required and elective courses, as well as General Education classes focused on Latinos in the United States. Theoretical frameworks address race, class, sexuality, and gender inequities historically and in the present time in an analysis of multiple marginalities, community resistance, and empowerment.

 

Latina/Latino Studies curriculum favors a pan-Latino and comparative approach grounded in the U.S. but sometimes following a trajectory back to Latin American countries of origin and the indigenous cultures and histories connected to Latino diasporic communities. The institutional experiences, social and national identities, cultural expressions and resistance movements of Chicano/a, Mexican, Central and South American, and Caribbean-American communities in the U.S. are centrally addressed. The program emphasis is on gender, transnational identities, global economies, social movements, and literatures of resistance across the curriculum.

 

The Latina/Latino Studies curriculum is grounded in our local communities. Our programs stress commitment to community service, to civic engagement, social justice, and equity. We stress the importance of critical, socially responsible scholarship and link our classrooms to local communities and their empowerment through our own Community Service Learning Program. We also have short-term international study tours to Mexico and Cuba (Cuba travel suspended until the Cuba travel ban is lifted).

 

Community Service Learning Internships and International Study Tour

Supervised local community service learning internships and international study tours offer unique learning opportunities for students that enrich and expand their academic experience. Students may earn up to six units in each of these programs toward the Latina/Latino Studies Major or Minor. Students participate in organized group fund raising activities to support their travel. Permission of the supervising faculty is required to travel. Students report back to the campus community the results of the study tours.

 

The department requires that students complete at least one 3 unit, thirty-five hour local community service learning internship for the Latina/Latino Studies major and the minor. Internships are available every semester. Students choose internships from a wide variety of community-based organizations and government agencies, research and policy organizations, and schools. Students must concurrently enroll in a 3 unit online reflection component, LTNS 694 "Community Service Learning". The community service learning internships are designed to enrich the academic experience and to prepare students for future careers as well as to establish empowering mutually beneficial contacts within the Latino communities of the greater Bay Area. It is a goal of the CSL Program to instill in our students a life-long commitment to community service and civic engagement.

 

Students interested in joining the International Study Tour to Cuba must first successfully complete LTNS 692 "Cuba: Health, Education and Culture". The Cuba study tour is designed to provide students with opportunities to interact with local people and public officials and to learn about culture, social institutions and community organizations in Cuba.

 

The Mexico Study-Tour travels in late May and early June, leaving the Monday following graduation. The intensive twelve-day trip to Mexico DF and Morelos is faculty supervised. Students meet with activists from community-based organizations and schools to learn about grass-roots political and social change. Students planning to travel to Mexico must first successfully complete LTNS 670, "Mexican Politics and Society", covering Mexican history and politics and Mexico’s unique relationship to the United States. This course is offered every spring semester.

 

Clínica Martín Baró. Clínica Martín Baró is a community clinic providing health and medical services in San Francisco’s Mission District. The Clínica was established by faculty, students and licensed medical personnel from Latina/Latino Studies at San Francisco State University and from the Medical School at the University of California, San Francisco. Clínica Martín Baró offers service learning internships to students considering careers in the health and medical fields. Students must first successfully complete or concurrently enroll in LTNS 210 "Latino Health Care Perspectives."

 

Extra Curricular Activities: Latina/Latino Studies fosters mentoring relationships with students. A range of support services is offered, including educational planning, advising, academic skills development, professional and graduate school and scholarship application assistance and career development. Cipactli, a journal of creative works by students is published annually. Students are encouraged to become members of the academic Association of Latina/Latino Studies Major and Minor Students, (ARMMS).

 

General Education/American Institutions

General Education Lower Division Social Sciences U.S. and California Government (Area D3), U.S. History (Area D2), and American Institutions courses offered by the department (must earn a grade of C- or better to satisfy the requirement):

• LTNS 276  Latina/o, U.S. Government, and Constitutional Ideals
  • American Institutions: U.S. Government and CA State & Local Government
  • GE D3: Social Sciences: U.S. and California Govt.
• LTNS 278  History of Latinos in the U.S.
  • American Institutions: U.S. History
  • GE D2: Social Sciences: U.S. History

 

Complementary Studies

Students completing a Bachelor of Arts in Latina/Latino Studies must complete at least twelve units in Complementary Studies with a prefix other than LTNS, and not cross-listed with LTNS. These units may be in (1) a Spanish or other Latin American Language (2) one course from each of these prefixes: AAS, AFRS, AIS, and RRS; (3) 12 units in one of the prefixes AAS, AFRS, AIS or RRS; (4) partial completion of a minor, or partial completion of a certificate; (5) a study abroad program in Latin America; or (6) upon advisement, a coherent group of courses complementary to the major. With the approval of an advisor in the major, courses which fulfill the Complementary Studies requirement may be lower or upper division units, resident or transfer units.

 

Students who have earned AA-T or AS-T degrees and are pursuing a similar B.A. degree at SF State are required to fulfill the Complementary Studies requirement as defined by the major department. Students should consult with a major advisor about how transfer units and/or SF State units can best be applied to this requirement in order to ensure degree completion within 60 units.

 

Bachelor of Arts in Latina/Latino Studies

The Bachelor of Arts in Latina/Latino Studies program provides students with a solid grounding in the theoretical approaches and methodologies that define the field. The program prepares students to pursue graduate and professional studies or alternatively to begin careers in the public or private sectors. The consists of 12 units of core courses, 12 units of courses chosen from three focus areas, and 15 units of electives chosen on advisement from the list of courses that are offered by the department. Students must complete at least one 3-unit Community Service Learning internship and online reflection component for the major.

 

There are three broad areas of course offerings in Latina/Latino Studies:

1. Arts and Humanities - The department offers courses in art history, Aztec philosophy, literature, film, journalism and comparative music folklore.
2. History - The department offers, a comparative Latino history course that fulfills the statutory requirement for U.S. History as well as specialized history courses on the diverse Latino subgroups in the United States: Mexican American, Central, South and Caribbean Americans.
3. Behavioral and Social Science - The department offers a range and variety of courses on public and social policy issues in health, education, family, immigration, community life, politics, economy, communications, juvenile and criminal justice as well as courses on race, gender, and social inequality.

 

Latina/Latino Studies (B.A.) — 39 units

Courses are 3 units unless otherwise indicated.

Note: A minimum of 40 upper division units must be completed for the degree (including upper division units required for the major, general education, electives, etc.). A student can complete this major yet not attain the necessary number of upper division units required for graduation. In this case additional upper division courses will be needed to reach the required total.

 

Note: Students must complete at least one community service learning module consisting of 3 units of LTNS 694 and 3 units selected from Latina/Latino Studies courses designated (CSL). The two courses must be taken concurrently. Courses marked (CSL) offer internship opportunities.

 

Minor in Latina/Latino Studies

A minor is available to students who have selected a different major but also want to pursue a coherent course of study in the field of Latina/Latino Studies. The minor program enables students to supplement a major in a different field with course work in Latina/Latino Studies. The minor requires a set of core courses supplemented with a selection of electives chosen on advisement that complement the major they have chosen. The minor consists of 24 units of which 9 are required core units, 9 are distributed among three areas of emphasis, and 6 are elective units chosen on advisement.

 

Latina/Latino Studies, Minor — 24 units

Courses are 3 units unless otherwise indicated.

Note: Students must complete at least one community service learning module as part of the Latina/Latino Studies Minor. Courses marked (CSL) offer internship opportunities.