A degree in Latin American and Latino studies (LALS) and politics trains students to be critical and analytical thinkers, to be active, engaged global citizens, and to be skilled scholar-activists making the world a more just place for all. A combined LALS and politics B.A. prepares students to collaborate across cultural differences, to understand and interpret complex political moments and social movements, and to integrate interdisciplinary tools and skills, to understand the complexity of current and past political moments, to discover how social, economic, and cultural aspects inform the political, and to use skills from many disciplines and fields.

Since political issues and practices are embedded in and reflective of the whole experience of a community, the study of politics can constitute the center of a broad-based course of study drawing on many areas including history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, political science, economics, literature, science, and law. The combined B.A. in LALS and politics allows students to focus their study of political issues and social movements within Latinx and Latin American communities.

Mga Resulta ng Pagkatuto ng Programa

Latin American and Latino Studies Program Learning Outcomes:

✔ Critical Thinking. Ability to analyze from a transnational/transborder/translocal perspective—to see the interconnections between Latin American and Latino issues, people, ideas, problems and solutions. This includes key skills, such as understanding sources, comparing arguments, analysis, and historical perspective.

✔ Research Methods. Working knowledge of social scientific and/or humanistic approaches to LALS relevant topics. This includes acquiring qualitative and quantitative skills, gathering or obtaining research data, finding/using primary sources, and other research methods.

✔ Communication. Key communication skills, including written, oral presentation, and digital, including an understanding of media sources and ability to apply media literacy to cross-cultural analysis.

✔ Lifelong Learning Skills. Acquisition of practical hands-on skills in community engagement, cross-cultural fluency, familiarity with Latin America, and familiarity with Latino experience acquired through experiential learning, and working with community and civic organizations.

Politics Program Learning Outcomes:

✔ Understand the origins, development, and nature of political institutions, practices, and ideas;

✔ Place particular political phenomena in broader context (national, historical, cross-cultural, and theoretical, etc);

✔ Demonstrate familiarity with various theoretical approaches to the study of politics, and their application in different geographic and substantive areas;

✔ Critically evaluate arguments about political institutions, practices, and ideas based on logic and evidence;

✔ Develop and sustain coherent written and oral arguments regarding political phenomena, theories, and values based on appropriate empirical and/or textual evidence and logic.