Latin America Personal Statement

Our world is a very diverse and complex place made up of billions of people from all walks of life. For me, international affairs have always been a topic of interest because of its global context. I have always had a profound interest in Latin America. To me, Latin America has rich history, culture, diversity, and political systems. Further, while it has great aspects, they also have severe issues in areas of human rights and equality, which I believe to be two of the most important factors that our world today lacks. I have always been passionate about human rights. I began my work in human rights when I started volunteering at a museum that examined the life of a white teacher in the 1800s who took the challenge of teaching minority students

Of course, this starts with the classes that I choose to enroll in at Northeastern. If I were to receive a Bachelor’s degree in the field of International Affairs with Latin American studies concentration I would have to take several required classes as well as electives, which would fit y topical track. Requirements for this track include Spanish Language, Latino, Latin America, and Caribbean Studies, comparative politics, international conflict and negotiations, The World Since 1945, Peoples and Cultures, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Globalization and International Affairs. However, while these are mandatory for the major, there are also many elective options that I believe to be useful and necessary for my career choice. I would include government and politics in Latin America, The Black experience in the Caribbean, Modern Latin America, and Cuban history through film. Finally, I would enjoy taking Globalism, Racism, and Human rights. These classes, to me are the most interesting and meaningful. Firstly, they all revolve around the study of human rights, minority issues, migration, social justice, and historical development of modern trends. I would also take these classes because they provide different lenses by which to look at society. Some of the classes are history while others are based in culture, African

Jose Buscaglia, Dr. Amilcar Antonio Barreto, and Dr. Yanet Canavan. All three of these of these professors have proven to be strong researchers, and experts in their fields of Latin America and Spanish. I would be honored to work with any of these members because of their careers and expertise in their field of study. However, the work of Dr. Jose Buscaglia stood out to me the most. As his profile from the Northeastern University website explains, “One of his long-standing interests is the ideology of racialism and the institutional persistence of the concept of race as it continues to inform power relations on a global scale. More recently he has been focusing on reclaiming supra-national formulations for rethinking geo-political possibilities and citizenship rights in the Greater Caribbean and the Western Hemisphere. ” The profile further explains how he “coined the neologism of “mulataje” as a practice of thinking and being that, since the 16th Century, has continuously attempted to undo the calculations of racialist ideology and its mechanisms of labor control and social policing. He has also reclaimed the term “Usonian” to refer to the peoples, nationalist ideologies and neo-imperial tradition of the United States of America.” Dr. Buscaglia’s work in examining racism and aspects of social and political life in Latin America and the Caribbean align with my tracts of Latin American Studies with the