All Courses
Interdisciplinary introduction to the basis for a Latina/Latino ethnicity in the United States. Topics include immigration and acculturation experiences and their commonalities and differences, comparison of Latina/Latino experiences to those of other racial, ethnic and immigrant groups, and the potential for a pan-ethnic identity.
Same as AAS 201, AFRO 201, and PS 201. See PS 201.
Same as AAS 215, AFRO 215, AIS 295, and GWS 215. See AAS 215.
General overview of international migration to the United States, using Latin American migration to the U.S. as the focal point. Topics discussed include the history of international migration to the United States, the relationship between history and the contemporary context, the development of U.S. immigration policy, the incorporation of Latino immigrants in U.S. society, and immigrant and community responses to migration. Same as SOC 221.
Survey of major theories and debates surrounding the gendered and sexualized dimensions of the Latina/o experience in the United States. The course is comprised of three major units: Gender, Sexuality, and Sex. In these units, students will read about and discuss issues pertaining to femininity/marianismo, masculinity/machismo, family/familism, desire, sexual behavior, sex work, sexual and gendered violence, and gendered and sexualized representations in pop culture. Same as GWS 230.
Interdisciplinary exploration of the racial politics of reproduction in the United States with an emphasis on how ideologies of race, class, and citizenship shape meanings and experiences of reproduction, pregnancy, and motherhood. Topics include contraception, sterilization abuse, and abortion. Students will also learn how women of color have both been affected by the racial politics of reproduction and how they have advanced the movement for reproductive rights and justice in the United States. Same as GWS 235.
Focuses on the history and theory of Latina/o social movements. Topics include immigrant mobilizations, transnational organizing, agrarian and farm worker movements, political representation, feminisms and reproductive rights, environmental justice, labor and educational struggles, and urban social movements. Same as HIST 292.
Provides an introduction to Latina/o popular culture in the United States. Specific modes of popular culture might include mass media, music, film, video, performance, and other expressive forms. Lecture and readings are in English. Same as ENGL 224 and SPAN 240.
Survey of literature by and about people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Latina/o descent in the United States. Taught in English. Same as ENGL 225 and SPAN 242.
Same as SPAN 246. See SPAN 246.
Same as SPAN 248. See SPAN 248.
Critical, historical, and theoretical exploration of Latina/o representations in U.S. film from the 1900s to the present. Examination of cinematic representations as well as the social, political, and cultural context in which those representations are produced. The focus is on Mexican American and Puerto Rican images, but Hollywood's treatment of other Latina/o communities and ethnic groups will be discussed. Students will be required to attend weekly movie screenings. Same as MACS 250.
Examines hip hop as politics, culture, and commodity. Emphasis given to hip hop's relation to urban spaces deeply impacted by state surveillance, cuts in social welfare programs, immigration, and the global restructuring of capital. Also considers the viability of a "politics of hip hop" in the wake of the music's rising value as a global commodity and analyzes hip hop as a transnational site in which gendered and sexual identities are created, contested, and rearticulated. Same as AAS 265.
Explores contemporary structural forces that contribute to the concentration of Latinas/os in segregated neighborhoods, and the detrimental effects of housing inequality on Latina/o communities. Focuses on the influence of geographic context in creation and maintenance of racial inequalities as they affect urban, suburban, and small town locals. Further examines the role of space and place in the development and persistence of community identities. Same as SOC 278.
Examination of the history of Mexican Americans living within the United States from the Spanish Conquest to the twentieth century. Explores the process of migration, settlement, assimilation, and discrimination with emphasis on continuity and change in Mexican cultural development. Same as HIST 279.
Same as AAS 281, AFRO 281, and HIST 281. See HIST 281.
Course examines specific topics in Latina/Latino Studies not addressed in regularly offered courses. Examples include theories of ethnic identity, historical foundations, cultural expression, and relevant topics in public policy studies of Latina/Latino communities. May be repeated in same or separate terms to a maximum of 6 hours.
Same as AAS 300 and GWS 305. See AAS 300.
Same as AAS 310, AFRO 310, EPOL 310, and EPS 310. See EPOL 310.
Study of the gendered social process of international immigration, focusing on Latin American migration to the United States. Established theories of migration, the history of international immigration to the U.S., and historical and contemporary Mexico, Caribbean and Central American migration flows will be discussed in great detail. Primary focus on how gender shapes the migration experiences of immigrants and the gendered impact of migration on the economic, political, and social status of individuals. Same as SOC 321 and GWS 320. Prerequisite: LLS 100 or SOC 100.
Examines how populations are criminalized due to race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and immigration status. Readings analyze how laws are created and normalized. In order to effectively engage in critical inquiry, students will be asked to suspend moral judgments so that they can analytically approach the study of crime, criminals, and criminal activity. Same as AAS 343, AFRO 343, AIS 343, and GWS 343.
Explores the history of racial classification in the U.S. with special attention to the census and the role of the state more generally in defining race. Emphasis on how race-mixing has been understood in American culture, and on the current literature on "multiracials" and the future of "race" in the U.S. Readings are drawn from interdisciplinary sources, but examined from a sociological perspective. Same as AAS 355 and SOC 355. Prerequisite: Any lower division LLS or SOC or AAS course.
Examines Latina/o, Asian-American, African-American, and Indigenous stories of displacement, (im)migration, and settlement. We will analyze the negotiated and contested narratives about race, gender, and sexuality that the texts evidence in order to form interpretive arguments that address the ways in which the texts unsettle ideas about the nation, nation building, and national belonging. Same as AAS 357, AIS 357, ENGL 357, and GWS 357.
Focuses on the major U.S. Latina/Latino writers and texts and their depictions of the events that have shaped 20th-and 21st-Century U.S. Latina/Latino cultures.
Focuses on how Chicanas/Latinas describe their own experiences and how they both understand and negotiate their sense of self, and centers on the new crop of memoir and autobiography, as represented in the most recent texts by well-established Chicana writers, such as Sandra Cisneros, Gloria Anzaldúa and Ana Castillo. We will also discuss the professionalization of the field of Latina/Latino Studies in the work of Tey Diana Rebolledo. Additionally, students will study the writing of self with a focus on gender, sexuality, and genre.
Examines the effectiveness of current U.S. public policies in addressing the social, economic, and political problems affecting Latina/o individuals and communities. Specifically, it evaluates current policy in the areas of public assistance, fair housing, criminal justice, immigration enforcement, and reproductive health. Although this interdisciplinary course primarily focuses on national policies and programs, it also addresses, as necessary, the particulars of public policy in the state of Illinois.
Addresses the theoretical, methodological, and ultimately political implications and questions generated by a range of ethnographic materials on Latina/os. Specifically explores culture and power (e.g., racism, sexism, and activism) through ethnographic methods and modes of representation, including literature. Fundamental to the course is the requirement that students engage in ethnographic practice, producing ethnographic research on Latina/os at the University of Illinois. Same as ANTH 370. Prerequisite: Any lower division course in LLS or ANTH.
Examination of the migration and settlement of Latina/o populations (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, and Central and South Americans) in U.S. cities. Focus on the historic, economic, social and political factors that influenced these migrations and the choices migrants made to come to the United States and to urban areas in particular. Study of the regional variation among Latina/o groups, and coalition building and collaborative ventures between Latina/os and other communities of color in urban areas. Same as HIST 379.
As the "Second City" located in the heartland of America, Chicago is central to many debates on urban space, race, and nation. Specifically, it is an influential site in which Latina/os, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and ethnic whites have come to understand meanings of race in a highly segregated setting. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of racial and ethnic groups in this city, examining issues of migration, gender, segregation, labor, and education from the late nineteenth century to the present. Same as HIST 382. Prerequisite: One course in either LLS or HIST.
Introduction to the interdisciplinary theories and methods of Latina/Latino Studies. Traditional approaches to the study of ethnicity and race will be interrogated through critical scholarship produced by Latina/Latino Studies scholars across a variety of approaches (anthropology, communications, literature, history, sociology, among others). By learning about a variety of methodological approaches, students will become proficient in conducting ethnic studies research projects about U.S. Latina/o populations. Prerequisite: LLS 100.
Focuses generally on the relation between power and the body. In western culture, the body is typically thought of as a natural, biological entity. However, as a number of social theorists have pointed out, the body can never be reduced to mere biology. It is also always a product of culture and therefore necessarily implicated in relations of dominance and subordination. Using this framework, the class is specifically concerned with how raced, gendered, and sexed bodies have been imagined in US culture (as abnormal, diseased, criminal, etc.) and with how such bodies have been rendered objects of surveillance, discipline, and regulation. Same as SOC 387. Prerequisite: LLS 100.
Special topics not treated in regularly scheduled courses; designed especially for advanced Undergraduates. Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same or subsequent terms as topics vary to a maximum of 6 hours. Prerequisite: One course in Latina/Latino Studies and consent of instructor.
Explores the experiences of Chicanas and Latinas through the lens of contemporary sociological research. Topics to be discussed include: community formation and activism, Chicana/Latina feminisms, sexuality, religion, health, family, immigration, education, work, media, and artistic expression. Readings emphasize the link between the structural inequalities of society, and the day-to-day lived experiences of Chicana/Latinas. Same as GWS 392 and SOC 392. Prerequisite: Any 100, 200, or 300-level LLS, GWS, or SOC course.
Examines specific topics in Latina/Latino Studies not addressed in regularly offered courses. Examples include theories of ethnic identity, historical foundations, cultural expression, and relevant topics in public policy studies of Latina/Latino communities. May be repeated in the same or separate terms to a maximum of 6 hours.
Examination of novels, poetry, film and memoirs by Latinas and Latinos writing from and/or about Chicago. Through these texts, the course will simultaneously track a Chicago-based Latina/o literary history and analyze articulations of Latina/o everyday life and politics grounded in the city's distinct topographical and social contexts. Issues of migration, gentrification, segregation, youth culture, gender, sexuality, race, violence, poverty, class consciousness, and struggles for social justice will figure prominently in lectures and class discussions. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: LLS 100.
An interdisciplinary examination of how racial, ethnic and gender difference is negotiated through media and popular culture, and how racial, ethnic and gendered communities use cultural forms to express identity and difference. Among the theoretical questions explored are the politics of representation, ethnic/racial authenticity, cultural commodification and transnational popular culture. Some of the cultural forms examined are cultural festivals/parades, ethnic/race-based beauty pageants, cinematic and televisual texts and musical forms, such as Hip-Hop and Salsa. Same as AAS 435, AFRO 435, GWS 435, and MACS 432. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Any combination of 6 hours from Latina/o Studies, Asian American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Gender and Women Studies or Media and Cinema Studies; graduate standing, or consent of instructor.
Examines literary productions by and about women of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Latina/o descent in the United States. Taught in English. Same as GWS 445 and SPAN 442. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: At least one previous course in U.S. Latina/Latino Studies or Gender and Women's Studies, or consent of instructor.
Focuses on Latina/o performances to underscore the relationship between practices of everyday life and acts on stage. Pays particular attention to the material (human) body and bodies of work. Students will critically engage with performance theory and scripts, media works of performances, and theorizations of Latinidad and the body. Same as ENGL 458. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.
Explores how racial stereotypes rely on sexual stereotypes by examining the intersections of ethnic studies, gender and women's studies, and queer studies. Interdisciplinary course that draws from critial legal studies, sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, and history. Same as AAS 465, AFRO 465, and GWS 465. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Any lower division course in LLS, AAS, AFRO, or GWS.
Examines the Latina/Latino experience in the U.S. how and when the law, through the courts, has most often operated as an instrument of subordination and oppression, but has also at times been leveraged for positive social transformation. Students will come to understand that the law is a deeply contested social space that is central to U.S. social hierarchies based upon race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, class, immigration status, and religion. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.
This interdisciplinary seminar examines the social determinants of US racial and ethnic health inequalities through the lens of (im)migration. Topics to be addressed include: conceptualizations of race and ethnicity, immigrant-adaptation theories, discrimination, place, and the intersections of race, ethnicity, poverty, immigration, gender and health. Same as CHLH 473, SOC 473, and SOCW 473. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.
The idea of race has historically been central to how Western cultures conceptualize and think about human difference. This course examines the historical significance of race through one domain of knowledge: medicine. Specifically, it will be concerned with "race" as a central category in the medical construction and management of individuals and populations. Case studies might focus on colonial medicine, race and public health, sexuality and reproduction, global health disparities, and genetics and genomics. Same as AAS 479 and ANTH 479. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: LLS 100 or consent of instructor.
This capstone seminar, designed for advanced majors in LLS, will guide students through the process of writing a senior research paper relevant to the field of Latina/Latino Studies. Students will develop research skills through discussions, writing exercises, and workshops. 4 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit. Prerequisite: LLS 385; senior standing; and enrollment as a major in Latina/Latino Studies.
Research project leading to a thesis. 2 or 4 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit. May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 4 undergraduate hours. May be taken by honors students in partial fulfillment of department honors requirement. Prerequisite: Senior standing; enrollment as a major in Latina/Latino Studies; a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25; a minimum 3.5 grade point average in the major; and consent of supervising professor.
3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated up to a maximum of 6 undergraduate hours or 12 graduate hours.
Same as CI 517. See CI 517.
Same as HDFS 541 and SOCW 554. See SOCW 554.
Same as AAS 561, AFRO 531, ANTH 565, and GWS 561. See AAS 561.
Provides an overview of scholarly work and research in the field of Latina/o Studies. Prerequisite: One undergraduate or graduate course in Latina/Latino Studies or consent of instructor.
Independent study on special topics not treated in regularly scheduled courses. Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours.
Examination of specific topics in Latina/Latino Studies. Topics vary. May be repeated in the same or subsequent semesters to a maximum of 12 hours.