Latina and Latino Studies Major
Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.
NOTE: This Catalog describes Weinberg College BA requirements that pertain to students who matriculated at Northwestern after spring quarter 2023. Refer to the Archives if you are following BA requirements described in the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 editions.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| Major Requirements (12 units) | |
| 3 foundations courses | |
| Introduction to Latina and Latino Studies | |
| Introduction to Latina and Latino Studies 202: Movements | |
| Introduction to Latina & Latino Cultural Studies | |
| 6 core electives (at least 3 at the 300-level) | |
| 1 capstone seminar | |
| Capstone Seminar | |
| 2 supplementary electives (at least 1 at the 300-level) | |
Core Electives
Students must complete at least one from each of the three thematic areas. A course may appear under multiple thematic areas, but a student can apply any given course towards one thematic area at a time (i.e. no double-counting). At least three core electives must be at the 300-level.
Space and Place
This thematic area focuses on debates and disputes regarding land, labor, and being-ness. More specifically, these courses invite students to think critically about the relationship between colonialism, indigeneity, race, capitalism, and modernity in the United States and the Americas in debates regarding the creation and dismantling of institutions and practices of domination and control.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| LATINO 218-0 | Latino History |
| or HISTORY 218-0 | The History of Latinas and Latinos in the United States |
| LATINO 220-0 | Placemaking |
| LATINO 222-0 | Latina/o/x Youth |
| LATINO 231-0 | Politics of the Body |
| LATINO 312-0 | Latinx Chicago |
| LATINO 320-0 | Coming of Age in Latinx Studies: Growing Up and Growing Old |
| LATINO 377-0 | Topics in Latinx Literature |
| or ENGLISH 377-0 | Topics in Latinx Literature |
| LATINO 391-0 | Topics in Latina and Latino History |
| Also ANTHRO 368-0. Refer to program website for additional courses. | |
Movements
This thematic area extends the examination of the racialization of U.S. Latinas, Latinos, Latinxs, and Latines in relation to Latin America and the Caribbean, the global south, and U.S. racial formation. It focuses on how this racial formation connects or is informed by extra-national dynamics and how it is contested or resisted by physical and social movements across and despite geopolitical borders. Further, this thematic area will examine the impact of these dynamics on Latinx Politicial Thought, engaging decolonial, Marxist, feminist, liberal/reformist/incremental, anarchist, cultural nationalist, conservative, and generational and intergenerational ideologies and perspectives.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| LATINO 218-0 | Latino History |
| or HISTORY 218-0 | The History of Latinas and Latinos in the United States |
| LATINO 232-0 | Queer and Trans Latino Studies |
| LATINO 320-0 | Coming of Age in Latinx Studies: Growing Up and Growing Old |
| LATINO 334-0 | Latino Politics |
| or POLI_SCI 334-0 | Latino Politics |
| LATINO 392-0 | Topics in Latina and Latino Social and Political Issues |
| Refer to program website for additional courses. | |
Expressive Cultures
This thematic area focuses on popular, grassroots, and insurgent forms of representation and imaginaries - ways of knowing and ways of being - as evident in music, film, literature, visual art, activism, and everyday life. It examines how Latinx political thought emerges from cultural production, commodification, consumption, and conflict, and the deep, continuous interplay among these forces.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| LATINO 230-0 | Grrrls Our Mothers Warned Us About: Introduction to Latine Feminist Sexualities |
| LATINO 231-0 | Politics of the Body |
| LATINO 232-0 | Queer and Trans Latino Studies |
| LATINO 277-0 | Introduction to Latinx Literature |
| or SPANISH 277-0 | Introduction to Latinx Literature |
| LATINO 366-0 | Feminist Aesthetics of the Erotic |
| LATINO 377-0 | Topics in Latinx Literature |
| or ENGLISH 377-0 | Topics in Latinx Literature |
| LATINO 393-0 | Topics in Latina and Latino Text and Representation |
| Other options include JOUR 333-0 & ANTHRO 368-0. Refer to program website for additional courses. | |
Supplementary Electives
Students must take 1 course representing Transnationalism and the Global South, and 1 representing Feminisms, Gender, and Sexualties. These courses are offered by various different departments, often under variable-topic course titles. Refer to the Latina and Latino Studies program website to see which class offerings are eligible each quarter. At least one supplementary elective must be at the 300-level.
Independent Study in Latina and Latino Studies
Students may work on an approved independent study or thesis in Latina and Latino Studies under the supervision of a faculty member (LATINO 399-0 Independent Study in Latina and Latino Studies). Students must submit a proposal, including a reading list, to the program director and receive confirmation from the faculty member supervising the independent study. Seniors may complete a senior thesis regardless of whether or not they qualify for honors nomination.
Honors in Latina and Latino Studies
Majors with strong academic records and an interest in pursuing honors should apply by the end of junior year. The application includes a project proposal and approval from a faculty thesis adviser, who may be from another department. Accepted students complete a senior thesis or project through 2 quarters of independent study (LATINO 399-0 Independent Study in Latina and Latino Studies). Taken in fall and spring of senior year, both quarters of LATINO 399-0 may count toward the major requirements.
Students whose theses and grades meet program criteria are recommended to the college for graduation with honors. For more information see the Latina and Latino Studies Honors and Honors in the Major.