Word from the Director
Bienvenidos a nuestro programa! Welcome to the UIC Latin American and Latino Studies Program! This is a unique multidisciplinary program that compares and combines the study of Latin America and Latino communities in the United States. The Chicago metropolitan area is home to over a million Latinos from nearly every country in Latin America. This provides students with meaningful opportunities to reflect and engage with social issues of contemporary importance such as globalization, immigration, and equality as well as questions related to identity including race, nationality and gender. The program’s faculty members are committed to a critical understanding of the historical and cultural context in which these communities and their countries of origin evolve.
Our faculty is also engaged in exciting scholarship with strong ties to the communities they study. Students will have opportunities to participate in this through research assistantships and in the many classes that encourage theoretical and interactive learning. Students will also have opportunities to participate in study abroad programs.
We are also a member of the InterUniversity Program on Latino Research, a national consortium, which provides research and training opportunities for faculty and students.
Through our community collaborations, we encourage conversations among scholars and people working and living in Chicago’s Latino communities. We also have a diverse student body active in a variety of organizations. We invite you to check out our various pages here for more information, and feel free to visit us personally at UIC, join one of our classes or participate in our community events.
-Mariá de los Angeles Torres, Director
News, Announcements, and Events
Master of Arts in Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago
The program of Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is accepting student applications for the Master of Arts (M.A.) in Latin American and Latino Studies. The degree offers an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of Latin American societies and historical minorities and immigrants of Latin American descent living in the United States. It encourages an approach that ranges across the social sciences, humanities, literature and the arts, cultural studies, and history. The M.A. will train students to reflect on and engage with social issues of contemporary importance in the study of Latin American and Latino populations such as globalization, colonialism, postcolonialism, transnationalism, immigration, development, and equality as well as questions related to identity and membership, including race, culture, nationality, and gender. The program will offer a unique set of research courses to prepare students, including a semester placement with a community based organization in which students will be conducting research. Thus, the main goal of the M.A. is that students learn a series of specialized skills that place them on a solid career path, both in academic and non-academic settings.