Latin American Studies

Latino/a and Caribbean Studies is of great interest to me because of my cultural background. I was excited to research the ways in which the program is executed in different universities. I first compiled a list of ten schools, ensuring that they were different from each other based on size, location, type of school, whether or not the school is a “Minority-Serving Institution” (MSI). For the purpose of this essay and page limit constraint, I will be focusing on the key finding of the names of the programs for Latino/a and Caribbean Studies, their goals, and the fall courses that are offered under this discipline.

As I conducted my research, I found that not many institutions offer Latino/a and Caribbean Studies. Out of the ten schools listed

The following are names for Africana studies at these universities: Department of Afro-American Studies, African American & African Diaspora Studies, Africana Studies, African Studies, and African American Studies. The following are names for Latin American studies: Center for Latin American Studies, Latin American/Latino Studies, and Latin American Studies. The names signify a particular focus on the discourse of a particular group of people, such as African American in African American Studies, and lightly touch on other groups that falls under the umbrella of the identity, such as Caribbean. The limited classes offered serves as a great indication as whether or not Caribbean or Latino/a experiences are a minor focus on the discourse of the department. Ideally, using broad names such as Africana Studies and Latin American Studies allows more room to discuss a variety of identities that have a shared history, while also promoting solidarity. However, based on the courses offered, they typically focused mostly on African or African American experiences or Latin American experiences. Furthermore, where do groups that have shared histories, but do not identify the same way go, for example Dominicans and Haitians have a connected history, but many Dominicans view themselves as Latin American, then African—can these department

UMass Amherst courses do have methodology classes such as Ethnography. They also have interdisciplinary courses such as history, English, art, economics, and language. They put an equal emphasis on the discourse of Latin Americans and Caribbean. However, they do not have courses that provide an in-depth examination of intersectionality, like the relationship between gender and Caribbean and Latin American culture. I was pleased to see that there are courses on the politics and social movements within the