Roger Thayer Stone Center For Latin American Studies

Tulane University

Academic Programs

Course Requirements for Majors & Minors

The B.A. in Latin American Studies requires a minimum of 30 credit hours in 10 Latin American content courses. Under the guidance of consulting faculty and the Stone Center’s Director of Undergraduate Affairs, students design their own major according to their individual strengths, objectives and interests. Courses are selected from the various departments offering classes in the field as well as from Latin American Studies. Latin American Studies 1010, 1020, and 4000 are required courses. One course at the 1000 level may count toward the major, although a 1000 level class is not required. HISL 1710 History of Latin America is strongly recommended, although not required. Six of the remaining seven Latin American content electives must be at the 2000-level or higher. Finally, three must be at the 6000-level. Students who take at least 20 college credits in 7 courses with Latin American content while on academic programs in Latin America approved by Tulane are required to take only two courses at the 6000-level. All 6000-level coursework for the major must be taken in residence at Tulane University; courses taken abroad will not count toward this requirement. Five elective courses must concentrate on one of the themes that are the foundation of the interdisciplinary Latin American Studies program at Tulane: Creativity, Encounter, Exchange, Identity, Land, Nation, Peoples, Welfare. Students will work closely with the Stone Center’s Director of Undergraduate Affairs to construct a coherent concentration of coursework, as Latin American content electives include a wide variety taught in several disciplines. Some sample groupings are provided under Concentration Fields.

Latin American Studies majors must demonstrate linguistic competency in either Spanish or Portuguese. This can be done in one of three ways:

  • complete with a passing grade at least one course at the 4000-level or higher in Spanish or Portuguese
  • complete with passing grades at least one semester of coursework in Spanish or Portuguese on a study abroad program
  • place into the 600-level on the language test administered by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Note that, with the exception of SPAN 3130, language classes below the 400-level do not count as electives for the Latin American Studies major or minor programs.

A minor in Latin American Studies consists of 15 credit hours in 5 courses. Required courses include one of the two introductory courses on Latin America: LAST 1010 or LAST 1020, and four electives, three of which must be at the 2000 level or higher, and one of which must be at the 6000 level. All 6000-level coursework for the minor must be taken in residency at Tulane; courses taken abroad do not count toward this requirement. There is no language requirement for Latin American Studies minors.

Because Latin American content courses are offered in most disciplines, the Stone Center generates and maintains a list of classes that count towards the major and minor prior to the start of each semester. Students should be aware that many Latin American content courses do not have an LAST call number. The current list of courses for each semester is available in the Stone Center for Latin American Studies and on the Registrar’s website under Courses Offered in Co-operating Departments. Note that although we keep these listings as current as possible, courses fulfill Latin American Studies criteria may not appear on the list. Please contact the Stone Center’s Director of Undergraduate Affairs if you are interested in taking a course for Latin American Studies credit that does not appear in our listings and we will contact the instructor regarding course content.

Both majors and minors in Latin American Studies are strongly encouraged to study in Latin America both for the experience and also because much of the coursework taken abroad counts toward the Latin American Studies programs. Summer abroad programs have taken place in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru; semester abroad or Junior Year Abroad programs are available in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico and Uruguay. Some courses offered in Tulane’s program in Spain also count toward Latin American Studies. For current information on study abroad opportunities, please visit Stone Center’s International Programs page.

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Upcoming Events

Rethinking State-Society Relations in Contemporary Latin America

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The emergence, crisis, and collapse of neoliberalism gave way to new types of political regimes that set themselves the task of redefining state-society relationships to promote more socially inclusive polities. The accomplishments and shortcomings of those processes need yet to be evaluated, particularly from an encompassing, historically-informed perspective that is not afraid of challenging established assumptions and mainstream understandings of Latin America to do justice to current developments. What are the continuities/ discontinuities in terms of state-society linkages that the various processes of change experienced since the return to democracy introduced in the Latin American landscape? Is Latin America moving towards a more democratic and inclusive society? What is the nature of the new patterns of state-society interaction? Have they drastically altered the legacy of populism, bureaucratic-authoritarianism, and neoliberalism?, in which specific ways? Are emerging regimes promoting new patterns of exclusion or novel forms of authoritarianism?

A group of scholars from different disciplines, country expertise drawn from Latin America, the US and Europe will meet on May 24th at Tulane University to debate empirically and theoretically informed articles that address these questions.

SCHEDULE
10:00 AM-10:15 AM – Introduction and welcoming

10:15 AM-10.45 AM – Justice and politics: the dialogic alternative by Roberto Gargarella

10:45 AM-11:15 AM – The political economy of post-neoliberal Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay development regimes by Christopher Wylde

11:15 AM-11:45 AM – The impact of taxes and social spending on inequality and poverty in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru: a synthesis of results by Nora Lustig, George Gray-Molina, Sean Higgins, Miguel Jaramillo, Wilson Jiménez, Veronica Paz, Claudiney Pereira, Carola Pessino, John Scott, and Ernesto Yañez

12:00 PM -1:30 PM – LUNCH

1:45 PM -2:15 PM – Participatory developments and democratic representation in South America by Leonardo Avritzer and Enrique Peruzzotti

2:15 PM -2:45 PM – The second wave of incorporation and territorialized politics in Argentina and Brazil by Federico M. Rossi

2:45 PM -3:15 PM – Indigenous-state relations in Ecuador and Bolivia: challenges and opportunities by Roberta Rice

3:15 PM-3:30 PM – COFFEE BREAK

3:30 PM -4:00 PM – Gender, power, and women's political inclusion in Argentina and Chile by Susan Franceschet

4:00 PM -4:30 PM – Viral politics, the post-liberal imaginary and #Yosoy132 in Mexico by Benjamín Arditi

Summer K-12 Teacher Institute - Exploring Brazil: A Window into the Language & Culture of a Country on the Rise

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The University of Georgia, Tulane University, and Vanderbilt University will collaborate to offer a Summer Institute on Brazilian Culture and Portuguese Language. K-12 educators of any discipline and grade-level are welcome to apply to attend this 4 day institute. The goal of this institute is to encourage and promote the teaching of Portuguese and the culture of Brazil through film, literature, service learning, and technology in any K-12 classroom. The institute will focus on the language, history, and geography of Brazil. Sessions will include Portuguese language instruction and participants will explore the culture, history, and geography of Brazil. Film screenings and other presentations will be incorporated into the institute to highlight contemporary and engaging cultural content for the K-12 classroom. During the week, educators will work in teams to develop interdisciplinary units that address applicable state learning standards, which they will bring back to their schools to teach and share with colleagues. Educators may receive a certificate of completion for 20 hours of professional development if desired.

Sponsored in part through a Portuguese Flagship Program at the University of Georgia and through a Title VI U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center grant on Latin America awarded to Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies.

Registration Information Below:

  • Base Registration ($50) includes all materials, parking and registration to entire program with no meals or housing included. You are responsible for making your own housing and dining accommodations.
  • Registration with Base Housing ($150) includes everything above as well as breakfast and lunch, and a double room on campus in dormitory housing.
  • Registration with Private Housing ($225) includes everything above and assures a private room and bath in dormitory housing.
  • Add $50 to registration if interested in receiving Georgia Department of Education approved Professional Learning Units (PLUs)

For more information contact:

Denise Woltering (Tulane University), 504.862.3143, dwolteri@tulane.edu
Kathleen Schmaltz (University of Georgia), 706.583.0388, schmaltz@uga.edu
Claire Gonzalez (Vanderbilt University), 615.343.1837, claire.p.gonzalez@vanderbilt.edu

Two-week Public Service summer program in Ecuador

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Center for Public Service: International Programs
Ecuador: Tropical Field Biology and Conservation
Chocó Rainforest, Ecuador | Tentative dates: August 9 – August 23, 2013

Application deadline: January 28, 2013
Deadline extended!

All majors are welcome to apply to spend two weeks in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Ecuador: Tropical Field Biology and Conservation gives students the opportunity to apply the theory and knowledge they have acquired in the classroom to the real world. Students will travel with Dr. Karubian and Dr. Duraes to Ecuador for a two-week intensive field course. While on the course, students will experience first-hand the challenges and rewards of conducting field research and implementing conservation activities in tropical environments. These activities will take place within a context of community engagement based on active collaboration and interaction with Ecuadorian local residents in a variety of contexts.

For more information, click here to visit the Center for Public Service’s page on this program.

Call for Papers: Radical Caribbeans

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Read the official Call for Papers here.

We welcome papers that address any facet of the Caribbean radicalis and radical approaches to Caribbean identity, culture and social practices. Papers may focus on one country or invoke comparative strategies of any regions contained in the greater Caribbean, beyond the confines of the Caribbean sea, northeast of the Florida straits and into the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and south, along the Atlantic coast, past Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Papers may be in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese, though English is preferred.

If you are interested in participating, please send a 250 word abstract as an attachment to either of the email addresses listed below by June 15th, 2013. Include the title of your paper, your name (and the names of any co-presenters), institutional affiliation, phone number, mailing and email address. Papers for presentation should be no more than than 20 minutes and may be considered for publication. If submitting a panel for consideration, please include a top sheet with panel title, participant names and a brief abstract of the panel topic in addition to the individual paper proposals.
Notification of acceptance to the conference will be made by July 5, 2013.
For more information on the conference, location and arrangements, visit the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute website for updates at cuba.tulane.edu.

Submit abstracts by June 15 to:
lopez_AT_tulane.edu
icaballe_AT_tulane.edu