Latinx and Latin American Studies Minor

Latinx and Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary minor that covers the important region of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean and of Latinx people in the United States. The program promotes intercultural understanding, and offers students an opportunity to acquire a comprehensive knowledge of Latin America in its many aspects and from many different points of view. Participating faculty specialize in political economy, border studies, anthropological approaches, exile studies, as well as Latinx and Latin American history, literature and film. Coursework in the program offers students a solid foundation in the history, politics, economics, culture, and literature of Latin America and the Caribbean and of Latinx communities in the United States.

Learning Outcomes:

1. To gain a multidisciplinary understanding of the history, politics, economics, and culture of Latin America and of the history, contributions, life, and culture of Latinx people in the United States and their transnational contexts from their indigenous origins to the present.
2. To learn about the literature and creative works of the region, from the pre-Colombian period to the present.
3. To expand and facilitate collaborative research and scholarship on Latinx communities/populations both locally and nationally, preparing out students for academic success, employment and leadership positions. 
4. To acquire a capacity to summarize and evaluate critically theories and concepts used in the analysis of the history, politics, and economic development of Latin America.
5. To expand critical thinking, communication, and research opportunities through an engaged interdisciplinary curriculum across the university and to improvewriting and research skills, including an ability to develop a research question, review the relevant research literature, collect information and data from a variety of sources, and support an argument with evidence and data.
6. To promote a vision of social justice through student-centered teaching/mentoring, research and service by including explorations of race, class, gender and sexuality paradigms and to gain awareness of cultural diversity in Latin America, the U.S., and other parts of the world.
7. To utilize Las Vegas as a laboratory for inquiry as its transformation and development socially, economically, politically, demographically and culturally impact and are impacted by its Latinx communities.