Latinx Studies

Latinx Studies is a transnational and transdisciplinary field, grounded on the examination of cultural, historical, political and scholarly knowledge that stem from Latinidad. By centering a Latinx episteme, history or literature to answer larger intellectual questions, Latinx Studies seeks archival justice and possibilities for the decolonization of knowledge. Latinx Studies is the study of Latinx peoples, histories, experiences, and cultures. It is also an epistemological approach and a method of researching. For instance, in teaching a class on Modernity, students would be encouraged to locate the “modern moment” in the Haitian Revolution rather than the French Revolution. This geo-temporal switch would require students to directly engage with race, slavery and the plantation economy in rethinking modernity which leads to different ways of understanding what is modern and who is modern. It also leads to engaging a different set of archival and cultural materials produced often outside the dominant European archives.

Candidates for a degree in this specialty must prove oral and written proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese, French or Italian. They must complete a minimum of sixteen four-credit courses, in their language of specialization (Spanish, Portuguese, French, or Italian), and including at least three graduate-level courses in Latinx Studies:

  • A course that introduces key methodological and theoretical questions in the area of Latinx Studies, such as Global Latinidad (SPAN 228, offered every other year); Latinx Theory: Being and Knowing (Span 242, offered every other year).
  • Courses selected from among graduate courses (or upper-level seminars) across the university. These courses may be used to satisfy the Spanish, Portuguese, French or Italian requirements. For courses numbered below 200 (primarily for undergraduates), graduate students must complete the designated graduate-level requirements.

For their language requirement, the two advanced level literature/culture in another language than their main one will be in one or two languages that are relevant to their field of interest (another romance language or any other language).

General examination will follow the common examination model. The dissertation topic must address significant issues in Latinx Studies.

 

To see our program requirements, see the GSAS Policies.