LATINA & LATINO STUDIES PROGRAM

Courses

Our courses benefit from the wealth of Latina/o communities that reside and flourish in Chicago yet we also look at the experiences of Latina/o communities throughout the United States. Courses may discuss the realities of Puerto Rican and Mexican communities in Chicago, second generation Dominicans in New York, or generations of Mexican Americans in Houston. Our curriculum engages in the productive tension between the common interests and differences affecting US Latinas/os. Students may expect to explore such commonalities/ differences in areas such as social movements, transnationalism, electoral politics, race and comparative processes of racialization, immigration, queer theory, gender and sexuality, language and identity, and cultural and artistic expressions.

The Latina and Latino Studies Program's Course List is as follows: 

• LATINO 101-7 College Seminar - Small, writing and discussion-oriented course exploring a specific topic or theme, and introducing skills necessary to thriving at Northwestern. Not eligible to be applied towards a WCAS major or minor except where specifically indicated.

• LATINO 101-8 First-Year Writing Seminar - Small, writing and discussion-oriented course exploring a specific topic or theme, and focused on the fundamentals of effective, college-level written communication. Not eligible to be applied towards a WCAS major or minor except where specifically indicated.

• LATINO 201-0 Introduction to Latina and Latino Studies: Space and Place - Introduction to major themes and debates shaping U.S. Latina/o communities, such as history of colonization, migration histories for diverse ethnicities, immigration, racialization, assimilation and cultural resistance.

• LATINO 202-0 Introduction to Latina and Latino Studies 202: Movements - Introduction to formations of various histories and communities through physical and social movements across, and often despite, U.S. geopolitical boundaries. This course explores how trans-border circulation of peoples and cultures across the Americas influence the development of Latinx socio-spatial relations, intersectional identities, and politics. Additionally, it discusses the broader meanings of these dynamics for critical debates regarding democracy.

• LATINO 203-0  Expressive Cultures - This course centers on the creative and speculative works and actions of Latina, Latina, Latino, Latinx, and Latine thinkers, artists, and everyday people. This course further attends to the intersection of race, class, gender, age, sexuality, and nation through literature, art, music, and media. It examines the emergence, reception, and transcendence potential of expressive cultures that illuminate local, national, and transnational experiences and incite new ways of thinking and living. Students will engage with various forms of artistry and the meaning-making processes they entail. This engagement includes reflection on what these works reveal about belonging as well as critiques of western modernity. We will also consider how these expressive cultural forms grapple with the ongoing legacies of colonization, migration, displacement alongside struggles for recognition within the broader narratives of nationhood and global power as they also imagine other possible worlds.  

• LATINO 218-0 Latino History - In this course, we will explore the 500-year history of Latinos in the United States—and, indeed, across the Americas—from the 16th century through the early 21st century. In its broadest sense, Latino History offers a reinterpretation of United States history that focuses on race, migration, labor, and empire. HISTORY 218-0 and LATINO 218-0 are taught together; may not receive credit for both courses.

• LATINO 220-0 Placemaking - Explores Latinas, Latinos, and Latinxs' relations to place and how they forge senses of place. The course focuses on placemaking — such as barrio formations, grassroots organizations, and artist collectives — as shaped by historical conditions and various political and economic interests. Students will engage with materials from Latinx Studies, history, sociology, literature, and the arts, including films and music. Completion of LATINO 201-0 is recommended prior to enrollment.

• LATINO 222-0 Latina/o/x Youth - Across the U.S., Latina/o/x/e populations are either already or en route to becoming the "majority-minority" group; youth comprise a significant segment of this population. This course will examine the cultural, social, and political contexts that help us understand the lives of Latina/o/x/e youth in the U.S.

• LATINO 230-0 Grrrls Our Mothers Warned Us About: Introduction to Latine Feminist Sexualities -  This course examines Latina/x femmes and feminist sexualities through a broad range of visual artworks, performance, aesthetic, sexual desires, practices of survival, visual and sonic representations that disrupt and dismantle common misrepresentations of racialized sexualities centering Latina/x femmes. These varied productions of knowledge will help us understand how norms of ethnicity, race, class, nationality, and gender shape Latina/x femmes.

• LATINO 231-0 Politics of the Body - The course explores how the body is constructed, mediated, and negotiated through the critical lenses of race, gender, and sexuality across diverse contexts. Before taking this course LATINO 201-0 or LATINO 203-0 recommended.

• LATINO 232-0 Queer and Trans Latino Studies - This course will examine the histories, theories, and cultural productions of Queer and Trans Latine/x. We will explore the construction of gender and sexuality as it intersects with race, class, immigration, and other relationships of power. This course traces the development of the field through Black feminist, women of color feminist, and queer of color critique writing and activism.

• LATINO 277-0 Introduction to Latinx Literature - Survey of major writers and movements from Spanish colonial era to the present, covering a range of genres and ethnicities. ENGLISH 277-0 and SPANISH 277-0 are taught together; students may receive credit for one of these courses, and cannot be enrolled in both.

• LATINO 312-0 Latinx Chicago - The Chicagoland area has long been a home for Latina/o/x communities. These communities, spanning and spilling beyond city limits, have profoundly shaped life in the Windy City. Drawing on the ever-growing interdisciplinary scholarship on Latinx Chicago, students will explore the local formation of Latinx identities, politics, and cultural production.

• LATINO 320-0 Coming of Age in Latinx Studies: Growing Up and Growing Old - This seminar explores age as a social and analytical category in the study of Latina, Latino, and Latinx everyday life. Students will analyze various materials—historical and fictional narratives, ethnographic studies, essays, short stories, poetry, visual art, and popular culture — to examine how social, political, and economic structures a etc life trajectories, as well as how other categories of social di erence shape ideas about age and age relations.Prerequisites: LATINO 201-0, LATINO 202-0, or LATINO 203-0 or Consent of Instructor.

• LATINO 334-0 Latino Politics - Implications of Latino politics including contemporary social and political developments of Latino communities in the United States from a comparative urban framework. Focus on Mexican and Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans. POLI_SCI 334-0 taught with LATINO 334-0; may not receive credit for both.

• LATINO 342-0 Latina and Latino Social Movements - Histories and ideologies of various US Latina/o social movements. Draws upon historical, ethnographic, autobiographical, and documentary accounts.

• LATINO 366-0 Feminist Aesthetics of the Erotic - In reflecting on Audre Lorde's concept of the erotic as a catalyst for enacting new possibilities, we will examine it as a source of knowledge, a practice of social and bodily awareness, a theoretical perspective, a method of inquiry, and creative practice. Completion of LATINO 201-0, LATINO 202-0, LATINO 203-0, or LATINO 231-0 is recommended for enrollment.

• LATINO 377-0 Topics in Latinx Literature - Although content varies depending on the course topic, all versions of this course examine Latinx literature in its cultural contexts. Selected texts range from the Spanish colonial era to the present and engage with a range of genres and ethnicities. Recommended for students with prior coursework in English, Latinx Studies, or a related discipline. May be repeated for credit with a different topic. ENGLISH 377-0 taught with LATINO 377-0.

• LATINO 391-0 Topics in Latina and Latino History - Historical approach to US Latina/o lives and communities, such as history of Latina/o Chicago, labor history, and immigration. Content varies; may be repeated for credit with different topic.

• LATINO 392-0 Topics in Latina and Latino Social and Political Issues - Social and political issues affecting US Latina/o communities. May include quantitative or qualitative methods, or both. Topics may include electoral politics, immigration, and race and demography. Content varies; may be repeated for credit with different topic.

• LATINO 393-0 Topics in Latina and Latino Text and Representation - The politics of representation in mainstream and Latina/o media, literature, visual culture, popular music, and performance arts. Content varies; may be repeated for credit with different topic.

• LATINO 395-0 Capstone Seminar - The capstone seminar offers students the opportunity to reflect on their intellectual journey as Latina and Latino Studies majors. Students will conduct independent research and work in collaborative writing workshops. They can revisit ideas or papers from previous coursework or develop a new project. Approved projects will shape the organization and structure of the course. Primarily for majors and graduate students. Prerequisite: Consent of the program director.

• LATINO 399-0 Independent Study in Latina and Latino Studies - Independent Study in Latina and Latino Studies Reading, research, and/or tutorials for students pursuing projects outside the context of regularly offered courses. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

* Please Note: Designation for these courses based on course emphasis and decision with the Director.