Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies Intercollegiate Program

Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies is concurrently a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary field of academic inquiry broadly relating to people of Latin American descent within the hemisphere, in particular within the United States and the wider diaspora. Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies is the "umbrella name" for distinct and important academic and critical inquiries which began to converge in the last twenty years. Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies emerged in the academy as a product of educational and social movements of the 1960s. These movements led to the initial creation of the program here at The Claremont Colleges in 1969, making our program the second-oldest in the nation. More recently, Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies has emerged as a field of inquiry relating to Latin Americans in the hemisphere and has been the site for work seeking to transcend the gaps in area studies and ethnic studies.

As a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field, Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies contributes to every and all fields in the humanities and social sciences, including professional programs such as education, social work, medicine and law. Courses in Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies take into account the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, culture, gender, and sexuality. These courses are distributed across four areas of concentration that make up the major in Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies: 1) Border and Transnational Studies, 2) Educación: Social Justice, Formation and Critical Pedagogy, 3) Literature, Art and Representation and 4) Politics, Social Movements and Labor.

Pitzer Advisers: A. Pantoja, M. Soldatenko.

Requirements for the Major in Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies

• Required Courses:
  • SPAN 44, or equivalent
  • Hist 17CH. Chicana/o-Latina/o Histories
  • Two of the following introductory courses: Chlt 61CH, Psyc 84CH, Soc 30CH
• One course from each of the four areas of concentration:
  • Border and Transnational Studies
  • Educación: Social Justice, Formation and Critical Pedagogy
  • Literature, Art and Representation
  • Politics, Social Movements and Labor
  • Two advanced courses in one area of concentration
• Additional Requirements:
  • Senior exercise: thesis with oral presentation, performance, project, exhibit, etc.
  • One course with a service learning or civic engagement component. (Chlt 154CH, Soc 30CH, Soc 114CH, Soc 141CH, Soc 145CH, Soc 150CH, Soc 155CH)

Requirements for the Minor in Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies

History 17 and one of the introductory courses; one course from each of the four areas of concentration; and one lower-division Spanish language course taken from either Spanish 33, 65CH or higher, or equivalent. Spanish Prerequisite

Chicano/a Studies in the Pitzer course catalog

Intercollegiate Department. of Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies at The Claremont Colleges

Chicano/Latino/a Transnational Studies

The Chicano/Latino/a Transnational Studies has three primary purposes. The first is to understand the history of the Chicano/Mexican people and other Latinos living in the Americas. The second is to use these experiences as an analytical window into broader social processes such as social stratification, global economics, Diasporas, forced and voluntary migration, social reproduction, social movements, racial formation, political engagement, interlocking axes of sexuality. The third is to connect the classroom to the community through the application of critical pedagogy, participatory research, and community-based learning.

Pitzer Advisers: A. Pantoja, S. Portillo Villeda, M. Soldatenko.

Chicano/Latino/a Transnational Studies in the Pitzer course catalog