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.

-María de los Angeles Torres, Director

News, Announcements, and Events

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Call for Applications for the Master of Arts in Latin American and Latino Studies:

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. Applicants wishing to start in the program during the Fall 2013 semester are encouraged to apply before January 15, 2013 for full funding consideratio. Applications received after that deadline will be reviewed for admission without funding.

The degree offers an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of Latin American societies and Latinos 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, post colonialism, transnational immigration, development, and equality as well as questions related to identity and membership, including race, culture, nationality, and gender. In addition, the program will train students to become competent in research and policy writing relevant to Latin American and Latino populations and will offer a unique community-based research experience*. Thus the main goal of the M.A. is that the students learn a series of specialized skills that place them on a solid career path, both in academic and non-academic settings.

For more information email almadrid@uic.edu

Revised Graduate Information (PDF)

Revised Graduate Information (doc)

EVENTS:

UIC´s Institute for the Humanities and the Latin American and Latino Studies Program

Working Group on Immigration Presents

Immigration: Politics, Law and Culture in a Global World

The Working Group on Immigration will host a series of workshops for graduate students and faculty that seek to understand immigration and transnationalism at the intersection of politics, law and culture. We will be exploring the impact of globalization on immigration in relation to broader notions of cohabitation, [re]distribution of resources, recognition, shared precariousness, changing roles of nation/states and citizenship. Additionally, we examine questions regarding the ways in which immigration is framed as a problem that disrupts the social cohesion and identity of the host and home community/country, as well as the ways in which immigration revitalizes and transforms the economy, politics and culture of the host/home community. These workshops are aimed at bringing together faculty and graduate students to read and discuss scholarly works on immigration.

Spring 2013 Speakers, Readings and Times:

Jacqueline Stevens is Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University.

She will be discussing her book: States without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals (Columbia University Press, 2009).

Thursday, February 14, 2013, at 1p.m.

Institute for the Humanities. Lower level Stevenson Hall UIC.

Please RSVP to martae@uic.edu
for more information call: LALS Office 312-996-2445

Josh Kun is Associate Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the Department of American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

He will be discussing his book:

"The Aesthetics of Allá," a talk on 21st century Mexican music in the United States and its role in shaping migrant politics and identity.

Thursday, April 4th, 2013 at 12:00pm.

UH 1550 - Conference Room - 15th floor
601 S. Morgan Street

The workshop will be hosted by LALS. Josh Kun is the author or editor of seven books, including Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America(University of California Press, 2005).

Please RSVP to martae@uic.edu
for more information call LALS Office at 312-996-2445

Fall 2013 Speakers:

Bonnie Honig, Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University.

Readings and Discussion date and time: TBA

Spring 2014 Speakers:

Linda Bosniak, Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School.

Discussion date and time: TBA