Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies Major and Minor
Our program allows students to approach Latin American and Latinx cultures in all their diversity of expression - not only "high culture" but also folk and other forms, from pre-Columbian times to the present, from Rio de Janeiro to New York and beyond. Ibero-America is a focal point from which undergraduates may reach out toward scholarly research on the pre-Columbian societies of the Americas, Spain and Portugal, the non-Hispanic Caribbean, and Latinx communities in the United States. The Latin American and Latinx Studies (LALS) Major is an interdisciplinary major, in which a student's credits are spread across three course clusters: social science, cultural criticism and history.
Examples of courses appropriate for first-year students include: LALS 0720 (Introduction to Latin American and & Latinx Studies); LALS 1120 (PSCI 1120) (Latin American Politics), LALS 1190 (SPAN 1190) (Intro to Literary Analysis).
Students in both the Major and Minor are encouraged to participate in a study-abroad program in Latin America (see Penn Abroad for descriptions of such programs), and to have other travel, volunteer, or work experiences in Latin America as well. With a letter of permission from the College of Arts and Sciences, students also have access to Latin American courses at nearby Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College.
Students are encouraged to participate in scholarly extracurricular events and activities offered by organizations such as the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, Casa Latina, the Netter Center, including through its ABCS courses, Africana Studies, GSWS, the University Museum, and the many Latinx student organizations involved with the Greenfield Intercultural Center, Casa Latina, and CLALS. These organizations sponsor or co-sponsor speakers, symposia, and cultural events that enrich the course-work of Latin American Studies students.
For more information about the Latin American and Latinx Studies Major or Minor, please see the Latin American and Latinx Studies Associate Director at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Office at 457 McNeil Buildining, 3718 Locust Walk. You may also contact Associate Director Catherine Bartch at bartch@sas.upenn.edu.
In order to request to apply for a Minor or Major, students should submit their requests through the Declare/Update Field of Study form available in Path@Penn.