About the Program
Why Latinx Studies?

Latina and Latino Studies focuses on the historic and contemporary circumstances that shape Latina and Latino lives, spaces, subjectivities, and politics in the United States. This field encompasses diverse communities and nationalities while also offering critical attention to transnational dynamics or to how Latinas and Latinos relate and connect to cultural or geographical origins across the Americas. Similar to other race/ethnic studies fields, Latina and Latino Studies has origins outside of universities. To a large extent, it originated in social movements led by organizers, thinkers, artists, students, workers and teachers who were opposed to legacies of racial injustice, ethnic prejudice, exploitation, criminalization and neglect.
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Join Us this Spring Quarter at LLSP

THE GENÍZARO EXPERIENCE SHADOWS IN LIGHT
Join Us on Thursday, April 6th, 2023, for a special advanced screening of this critically acclaimed film!
Official selection and winner of Special Humanitarian Award at the 2023 Santa Fe Film Festival, this one-hour documentary film explores the origins of indigenous slavery under Spanish colonialism in New Mexico; the histories of those enslaved and captured (Genizaros); the construction of Latinidad erasures of indigeneity; the healing practices of indigenous feminists, and the ongoing struggle of decolonization.
"Genizaros embody duality in the human condition. This story is one of ethnogenesis and cultural hybridity. A blending of spirits." - Gary Medina Cook

2023 LLSP Spring Symposium
URBAN LATINIDADES: SPACE, PLACE, AND IDENTITY
This year’s LLSP Spring Symposium will examine Latinidad as an identity, ethnography, and literature. It will address the complexities of the term which will provide the framework of how to engage with specific panelists.
The 2-day event features a keynote address on May 12th, and 3 Interdisciplinary panels on May 13th, focusing on the social identity of Latinidad in urban spaces.
Keynote Address:
Mary Pat Brady, Ph.D Cornell University Professor
PANEL 1: Negotiating Latinidad: The Unity in Latino Communities
PANEL 2: Latinx Urban Ethnography Migration, Diaspora, and Representation
PANEL 3: Latinx Literature, Poetry, and Culture: Reconfiguring Cities Through Text and Film
Publication

LLSP Prof. Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz publishes new book!
Congratulations to LLSP Prof. Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz on the recent publication of his book "Figures of the Future: Latino Civil Rights and the Politics of Demographic Change!"
Publication

LLSP Prof. Mérida M. Rúa publishes new book!
Congratulations to LLSP Prof. Mérida M. Rúa on the recent publication of "Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies" which she co-edited with Prof. Ana Ramos-Zayas.
News & Events
Apr
6
2023
Film Screening "The Genízaro Experience: Shadows in Light"
5:00 PM - 6:45 PM, Evanston
Join the Latina and Latino Studies Program for a special advanced screening of the critically acclaimed film and a discussion session w...
May
11
2023
Keynote Address Latina and Latino Studies Program Spring Symposiu...
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM, Evanston
This year's LLSP Spring Symposium will examine Latinidad as an identity, ethnography, and literature. It will address the complexities ...