Latin American Area Studies
Latin American Area StudiesProfessors—Arias, Aviel, Bettleheim, Bruhns, Cabeza-Olias, Calderon, Cordova, Cuellar, Pahl
Associate Professors—Baron, Carillo, Oņate, Peard, Rivera
Minor in Latin American Area Studies
The Minor in Latin American Area Studies is a multidisciplinary program for the student seeking greater knowledge of Latin American society. The program is designed to provide the student with an understanding of a variety of aspects of Latin America, including the history, language and literature, social, economic, cultural, and political development and international relations. The minor provides great flexibility to explore a wide range of subjects of particular interest--from the ancient Maya to doing business in Latin America--as well as to specialize in particular areas, such as Central America or Mexico.
The minor will be useful to students planning careers in education, the foreign service, international organizations, overseas corporations and banking, as well as for those who simply desire a better understanding of Latin America. The multidisciplinary nature of the program also prepares the student for further study in any number of academic fields at the graduate level.
The Latin American Area Studies Minor consists of a core curriculum of three courses which deal with the region as a whole from a variety of disciplinary perspectives plus fifteen or sixteen units of upper division courses taken from the following list, upon advisement.
Online course descriptions are available.
| Core Courses | Units | |
| The Latin American Past | 3 | |
| ANTH/HIST/ LARA/SS 501 | Latin America: The National Period | |
| HIST 510 | Colonial Latin America | |
| Modern Latin America (one of the following) | 3-4 | |
| IBUS 59 | Doing Business in Latin America | |
| IR 322 | Latin American Relations (4) | |
| PLSI 403 | Latin American Politics (4) | |
| PLSI 409 | Central American Politics (4) | |
| SS/HIST 550 | Social Change in Modern Latin America | |
| Cultures of Latin America—one of the following | 3 | |
| LARA 450 | Indigenismo: Indigenous Culture and Personality | |
| MUS 532 | Music of Latin America | |
| SPAN 405 | Culture and Civilization of Spanish America | |
| Total for core | 9-10 | |
| Electives | ||
| Select at least one course from each group, with no more than nine units from one discipline. Courses taken in the core may not be used to meet this part of the requirement. | 15-16 | |
| Group I: Latin American Past | ||
| ANTH 471 | The Ancient Maya | |
| ANTH 475 | Ancient South America | |
| HIST 510 | Colonial Latin America | |
| HIST 520 | Central America and the Caribbean | |
| HIST 524 | History of Mexico | |
| HIST 528 | History of Brazil | |
| HIST 535 | History of Women in Latin America | |
| HIST 652 | Proseminar in World History: Reform and Revolution in Latin America | |
| LARA 460 | Central Americans of the U.S.: History and Heritage | |
| Group II: Modern Latin America | ||
| ANTH 315 | Regional Ethnography [Topic: Peoples and Cultures of Central America] | |
| IBUS 591 | Doing Business in Latin America | |
| I R 306 | U.S.-Central American Relations (4) | |
| I R 322 | Latin American Relations (4) | |
| LARA 660 | Contemporary Movements in La Raza | |
| PLSI 403 | Latin American Politics (4) | |
| PLSI 409 | Central American Politics (4) | |
| SS/HIST 550 | Social Change in Modern Latin America | |
| Group III: Cultures of Latin America | ||
| ANTH 470 | Archaeology of Mexico | |
| ART 500 | Prehistoric Art of Mexico | |
| ART 503 | Caribbean Art | |
| HUM/LARA 520 | North and South American Cultural Expression | |
| LARA 320 | Art History of La Raza | |
| LARA 410 | La Raza Women | |
| LARA 425 | Comparative Music Folklore | |
| LARA 450 | Indigenismo: Indigenous Culture and Personality | |
| LARA 560 | Contemporary Literature of La Raza | |
| LARA 570 | Philosophy of La Raza | |
| MUS 532 | Music of Latin America | |
| SPAN 405 | Culture and Civilization of Spanish America | |
| SPAN 541 | Spanish American Literature: Discovery to Early Romanticism [all topics] | |
| SPAN 543 | Spanish American Literature: Romanticism to Modernism [all topics] | |
| SPAN 545 | Twentieth Century Spanish American Literature [all topics] | |
| SPAN 595 | Senior Survey in Spanish or Spanish American Literature [all Spanish American topics] | |
| Total for electives | 15-16 | |
| Total for minor | 24-26 | |
All students completing this area studies minor are required to demonstrate intermediate level competency in a language other than English, relevant to the area. This requirement may be met by completing the university entrance requirement of two years of high school language study, one year of successful college level language study, or by demonstration of equivalent competency.