MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

For a major, seven courses (core and elective) with Latin American-Caribbean content and five courses in a disciplinary concentration are required. Of the seven Latin American-Caribbean courses, four must be Core Courses and three must be electives

Core (Choose 4 for a total of 16 hours)

• HIST 360 - Colonial Latin American History
• HIST 361 - Latin America Since Independence
• LACS 101 - Introduction to Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• SPAN 300 - Reading in Spanish - Texts and Contexts
• Additional Language Course: Students who complete SPAN 300 may choose to fulfill a core requirement with an additional language course (4 credits) provided that it is a Spanish course numbered above SPAN 300. If another language course relevant to Latin American and the Caribbean other than Spanish is chosen (normally Portuguese) it must be 200 level or above.

Three Electives (12 credit hours)

• A minimum of four credit hours must be taken in a social science discipline with content primarily on Latin America and/or the Caribbean
• A minimum of four credit hours must be in LACS courses or cross-listed LACS courses. LACS101 may be used to fulfill this requirement only if it not counted among core courses

Note: Students may meet the electives requirements for the major if they perform significant reading or research on the region in other courses or in independent projects.

Disciplinary Concentration

In addition to courses focused on Latin America, five courses must be chosen from the offerings in a single department (Anthropology, Political Science, History, Sociology, Economics, Religion, etc.). This is called the disciplinary concentration. These five courses must count for the major in the department of disciplinary concentration but they need not be about Latin America or the Caribbean in content. You may count LACS core courses toward your disciplinary concentration. (For example, if your disciplinary concentration is Spanish, Spanish 301 and 302 can be applied toward this five-course disciplinary minimum.)

The concentration is designed to provide students in-depth training in a disciplinary field. Majors often find that, by fulfilling the concentration for LACS, they also meet a substantial number of the course requirements to major in another department. For this reason, many LACS majors choose to double-major. Consult the requirements in the department of disciplinary concentration to see if you fulfill requirements for a double major.

Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program Brochure