The undergraduate minor in Latin American Studies challenges students to cross disciplinary borders while exploring this colorful, contentious, and critically important region. Eight academic departments collaborate in the endeavor: Black Studies, Economics, Fine Arts, History, Political Science, Romance Languages and Literatures, Sociology, and Theology. With academic advisement from participating faculty, students can shape the Latin American Studies minor to fit with their major and with the ambitions they hope to pursue after graduation. Students who complete the Latin American Studies minor will be ready to step forward with fluency in Spanish or Portuguese, with sophistication gained through foreign study, and with both disciplinary skills and the broader horizons which only an interdisciplinary program can provide.

Latin American Studies at Boston College is a program with appeal for all students, whether they are focusing on Latin America for the first time, are renewing their interest, or are extending their own family heritage connections with Latin America. The Minor is open to students in the Carroll School of Management and the Lynch School of Education as well as to students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Distribution of Courses

Students may earn a minor in Latin American Studies by completing six courses selected from among courses approved and listed for the program. The courses selected must come from at least three different academic departments. Students normally lay the foundation for the minor by taking either HS 174, "Modern Latin America" or PO 428, "Politics in Latin America." Both courses are highly recommended. RL 682, "Latin American Perspectives on Civilization and Culture," is an attractive capstone course.

From time to time, courses offered in the Latin American Studies program will have special, voluntary semester-long Spanish- or Portuguese-language discussion sections appended to them. Students who complete three of these one-credit semester-long discussion sections may have them accepted as one of the six courses required for the minor.

Language Proficiency

Students must demonstrate proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese equivalent to three years of college-level study. Students are encouraged to continue language study beyond the third-year level. Proficiency may be demonstrated through completion of Boston College coursework or, with the permission of the Director of the Latin American Studies Program, through an evaluation conducted by Boston College language faculty. Language courses taken to fulfill this proficiency requirement do not count toward the six courses required for the minor.

Application for the Minor

Students seeking to earn a minor in Latin American Studies must submit a proposed plan of study to the Director of the program, listing the courses that will be taken to fulfill the requirements. In general, proposed plans of study for the minor should be submitted no later than the second semester of the sophomore year. The Director will review the proposed plan of study, in consultation with the student and other faculty in the program. If the proposed plan is accepted, the Director will grant approval for the student to become a Latin American Studies minor.

Applicants can select and print out the Latin American Studies Plan-of-Study Form here, complete the form, and then schedule an appointment with the Director for advisement and formal application to the minor.

All students in the Latin American Studies minor are strongly encouraged to participate in a study-abroad program for a summer, a semester, or a year (preferably during the junior year). Boston College offers university-based exchange programs in Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, and can assist students with arrangements in other Latin American countries. With prior approval, two courses with focus on Latin America taken abroad may be transferred for credit toward the minor.

For more information on specific study abroad programs, students should visit the Recommended Study Abroad Programs listing.

Where possible, the Director will arrange for each student to receive continuing academic advisement from a faculty member in the student's academic major who is affiliated with the Latin American Studies program. (See Faculty in Latin American Studies.) Students will be expected to consult with the Director or their faculty adviser regularly, at each semester registration period, to update their plan of study.

On January 14, 2002, Dean Joseph F. Quinn signed an agreement establishing a link between the Latin American Studies Program at Boston College and the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. BC students who demonstrate excellence in Latin American Studies at the undergraduate level may now pursue an accelerated course of study for the Master's degree in Latin American Studies at Georgetown. For more information, visit Georgetown's website and read the description of the Five-Year Cooperative Degree.

The Latin American Studies Program at Boston College is supported by outstanding faculty who specialize in Latin America or have developed related courses in their particular disciplines. The various departments represented by faculty in the program include Black Studies, Economics, Fine Arts, History, Political Science, Romance Languages and Literatures, Social Work, Sociology, and Theology. From time to time, visiting faculty add to the range of courses offered.

Sarah Beckjord Assistant Professor Romance Languages and Literatures Ph.D., Columbia University	Professor Beckjord specializes in colonial and nineteenth century Spanish American literature, with an emphasis on historiography. (More information on Professor Beckjord.)
María Estela Brisk Professor Lynch School of Education Ph.D., University of New Mexico	A native of Argentina, Professor Brisk teaches courses in language and literacy development, the social context of education, and methods of teaching bilingual learners. She is the author of the books Bilingual Education: From Compensatory to Quality Schooling and Literacy and Bilingualism: A Handbook for ALL Teachers (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates).
Roberto Goizueta Professor Theology Ph.D., Marquette University	Professor Goizueta teaches courses on U.S. Latino/a and Latin American theologies. His publications -- including the book Caminemos con Jesús: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment (1995) -- examine the relationship between theology and culture, focusing especially on popular religion as a source for theological reflection.
Paul Gray Associate Professor Sociology M.A., Stanford University Ph.D., Yale University	Professor Gray offers courses in comparative social change as well as ethnography and research methods. He has a long-standing interest in the development and dependency of Third World nations. He has served as Faculty Chair of "Leadership for Change," an executive training program presented in association with Boston College's Carroll School of Management. (More information on Professor Gray.)
Ramón Grosfoguel Assistant Professor Sociology Ph.D., Temple University	Professor Grosfoguel teaches courses on the sociology of international migration, the Latino experience in the United States, and the political economy of world systems. He is the author of Puerto Rico's Exceptionalism : Industrialization, Migration, and Housing Development (1950-1970) (1992) and co-editor of Puerto Rican Jam : Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism (1997).
Demetrius Iatridis Professor Graduate School of Social Work M.S., University of Pittsburgh Ph.D., Bryn Mawr	Professor Iatridis is Professor of Social Policy Planning and the Chair of the Planning Department of the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. For over twenty years he has been involved in study, research, publications, and coordinating twenty-two student field trips to Cuba.
Kathy Lee Assistant Professor Romance Languages and Literatures Ph.D., Yale University	Professor Lee teaches and co-coordinates CCR and Naturalmente. She offers a special section of Naturalmente for students interested in Latin American Studies. The second semester of CCR also focuses on Mexican culture and politics. (More information on Professor Lee.)
Deborah Levenson Associate Professor History M.A., University of Massachusetts Ph.D., New York University	Professor Levenson teaches courses on Central America, modern Latin America, and women and gender in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her publications include Trade Unionists Against Terror (University of North Carolina Press, 1994), and she is writing a book for Duke University Press on urban youth and modernity in Guatemala. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Report on the Americas, the bi-monthly publication of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). She is also an active affiliate of AVANCSO, a research institute in Guatemala City. (More information on Professor Levenson.)
Michael Malec Associate Professor Sociology Ph.D., Purdue University	Professor Malec teaches undergraduate courses in Statistics, Sport and Society, and Caribbean Cultures, and graduate courses in statistics and teaching sociology. His research interests include the sociological dimensions of sports in the Caribbean region. (More information on Professor Malec.)
Douglas Marcouiller, S.J. Associate Professor Economics Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin	Professor Marcouiller, a Jesuit economist whose training included a year's work in a squatter settlement in San Salvador, teaches courses on international trade and economic development. His publications revolve around the informal economy, contract enforcement, and trade ("The Black Hole of Graft," The American Economic Review, 1995; "Formal Measures of the Informal Sector Wage Gap," Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1997; "Insecurity and the Pattern of Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2002). (More information on Professor Marcouiller.)
John Michalczyk Professor Fine Arts M.Div., Weston School of Theology Ph.D., Harvard University	Professor Michalczyk is Director of the Film Studies program in the Fine Arts Department. In addition to teaching courses on Latin American cinema, he is also a documentary filmmaker, focusing on social justice issues. (More information on the films of Professor Michalczyk.)
Jennie Purnell Associate Professor Political Science Ph.D., MIT	Professor Purnell teaches Comparative Politics, focusing on Latin America. She offers courses on both the domestic politics of Latin American countries and on U.S.-Latin American relations. Her recent book, Popular Movements and State Formation in Revolutionary Mexico (Duke University Press, 1999), explores the remarkably diverse ways in which peasants have adapted and responded to programs of political and social modernization in Mexico.
Harry L. Rosser Associate Professor Romance Languages and Literatures M.A., Cornell University Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Professor Rosser teaches courses on Latin American literature and culture. He was raised in Mexico, a country of particular interest in his book, Conflict and Transition in Rural Mexico: The Fiction of Social Realism. He has published articles in Spanish and English on Latin American writers in numerous journals. He is the Spanish narrator of the PBS 52-program telecourse Destinos, which he also helped design. His present research focus is on novels of Mexico City as a megalopolis, a home, a historical backdrop, an alienating space, and a mythical place. (More information on Professor Rosser.)
Sergio Serulnikov Assistant Professor History Ph.D., SUNY, Stony Brook	Professor Serulnikov specializes in colonial Latin American history in the 18th century, with particular attention to issues of peasant economy, ethnicity, the Spanish empire, and Indian rebellions. These are the focus of his latest book, Peasant Politics and Colonial Domination : Social Conflicts and Insurgency in Northern Potosi, 1730-1781 (1998). He teaches courses on Colonial Latin America, social movements in comparative perspective, Andean history and society, and early colonial encounters in the Americas. (More information on Professor Serulnikov.)
Frank R. Taylor Associate Professor History and Black Studies M.A., University of West Indies Ph.D., University of Geneva	Professor Taylor is Director of the Black Studies Program at Boston College. He teaches courses on the history and legacy of slavery in Caribbean and Latin American societies, and he conducts a Caribbean Summer Study program in Barbados and Antigua each year. His book, To Hell With Paradise: A History of the Jamaican Tourist Industry (Pittsburgh, 1993) examines the effects of tourism on Caribbean politics and society. (More information on Professor Taylor.)

BK 318   Post-Slavery History of the Caribbean and Latin America Taylor, Spring 2003
BK 325   Revolutionary Cuba: History and Politics Taylor, Spring 2003
BK 373   Slave Societies in the Caribbean and Latin America Taylor, Fall 2002

EC 276   Political Economy of Developing Nations Marcouiller
EC 373   Economics of Latin America Marcouiller
EC 375   Economic Development Marcouiller

FA 380   Latin American Cinema Michalczyk

HS 067   Modern History I: Europe and the Americas I Serulnikov, Fall 2002
HS 068   Modern History II: Europe and the Americas II Levenson, Spring 2003
HS 161   Biographies of Power in Latin America Serulnikov, Fall 2002
HS 173   Colonial Latin America
HS 174   Modern Latin America
HS 206   Andean History and Society Serulnikov
HS 268   Culture, Race, and Social Structure in Colonial Latin America Serulnikov
HS 300   Research and Writing: The Military in Latin America Serulnikov, Spring 2003
HS 321   Nations, Nationalism, and Political Rights in Modern Latin America
HS 322   Urban Poverty in Latin America Levenson, Fall 2002
HS 376   Latin American Women Represent Themselves, Levenson Fall 2002
HS 386   Ethnicity and Rebellion in Latin America Serulnikov, Spring 2003
HS 400   Crossing Borders: Reform, Revolution, & Culture in 20th C. Ireland & Nicaragua Levenson

PO 413   Comparative Politics of Democratization Purnell, Fall 2002
PO 428   Latin American Politics Purnell, Fall 2002
PO 429   Social Movements and Democracy in Latin America Purnell
PO 465   Mexican Politics Purnell
PO 515   US-Latin American Relations Purnell, Spring 2003

RL 614   History and Identity in Spanish America Beckjord, Spring 2003
RL 615   20th Century Spanish American Literature Rosser, Spring 2003
RL 629   The Contemporary Spanish American Novel Rosser, Fall 2002
RL 665   The Culture and Civilization of Spanish America: 1492-1900 Beckjord, Fall 2002
RL 670   Spanish American Civilization and Culture Rosser
RL 682   Latin American Perspectives on Civilization and Culture Rosser
RL 684   Escritoras hispánicas Lee
RL 687   Modernista Prose in Spanish America Rosser
RL 690   Short Story in Spanish America Rosser

SC 040   Global Sociology Grosfoguel
SC 141   Caribbean Cultures Malec
SC 473   Sociology of International Migration Grosfoguel
SC 491   Sociology of the Third World Gray, Spring 2003
SC 498   Latino Experience in the United States Grosfoguel
SC 729   Political Economy of World Systems Grosfoguel

SW 813   Comparative Social Policy and Field Experience: Cuba Iatridis, Fall 2002

TH 489   Liberation Theology Goizueta, Spring 2003
TH 497   Liberation Ethics Goizueta, Fall 2002

September 26: Impact of the US Embargo on the People of Cuba Joel Suárez, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center, La Habana

Joel Suárez described current changes in the social, cultural and political environment in Cuba as well as the impact of the forty-year-old trade embargo on the Cuban people. Suárez, the coordinator of the Martin Luther King Memorial Center in Havana, was introduced by Leonardo Aldridge '02.

October 4: September 11: Uniting the Destinies of the United States and Latin America Roger Burbach, Center for the Study of the Americas, Berkeley

Burbach, author of The Pinochet Affair: Globalizing Human Rights, explored parallels between the historical development of Latin American terrorist networks -- often supported by the United States -- and the development of terrorist networks in the Middle East and Central Asia.

October 23: Want to Study Abroad? Look to Latin America Sarah Guy '02, Elizabeth Larson '02, Jacob Miller '02, Theo Stamoulis '02, Janelle Tribble '02, Courtney Warco '02, and Andy Yen '02

The most vivid descriptions of study programs in Latin America come from the students who have participated in them. The Latin American Studies Program hosted a presentation by BC seniors for BC sophomores. Students with experience in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Ecuador spoke. Information about programs in Brazil, El Salvador, and Mexico was also distributed. BC-sponsored programs and external programs were represented.

October 24: Amores Perros dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu

Winner of twenty-seven awards, including the "Gran Premio de la Semana de la Crítica" at Cannes, this Mexican film inaugurated the student-initiated Contemporary Latin American Film Series. Upcoming films are listed below.

October 24: International Perspectives on Terrorism Deborah Levenson, History

Latin American Studies co-sponsored this panel discussion of issues raised by the attacks of September 11. Panelists included Deborah Levenson, Kevin O'Neill, and Prasannan Parthasarathi of Boston College, Howard Zinn of Boston University, and Feroz Ahmad of UMass-Boston.

November 6: Hijacking, Hold-Up, and International Trade Douglas Marcouiller, S.J., Economics

This was the first in a series of research presentations by faculty from the Latin American Studies Program at Boston College. These seminars have been designed with undergraduate LAS Minors in mind, but other students and faculty are also very welcome to attend. Marcouiller discussed the impact of corruption on the pattern of international trade.

November 7: Golpes a Mi Puerta dir. Alejandro Saderman

This 1992 Argentine film, "a gripping, unpredictable tale of two Catholic nuns facing a life-or-death moral dilemma after being caught hiding a fugitive from the military police," was the second film shown in the student-initiated Contemporary Latin American Film series.

November 14: La Boca del Lobo dir. Francisco Lombardi

Third in the Contemporary Latin American Film Series, this 1989 film is from Peru. Operating in guerrilla-controlled territory, a young soldier must choose between blind obedience and his own conscience.

November 15: Globalization, Economic Policy, and the Poor Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development, and William Easterly, World Bank

Sponsored by The Globalization and Inequality Series, this event was of particular interest to students in the Latin American Studies Program. Both speakers are well-known economists. Birdsall is a former Executive Vice-President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Easterly is the author of The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics. For more information, see the GIS website.

November 27: "I Feel God in a Different Way": U.S. Latino Popular Catholicism as a Source for Theology Roberto Goizueta, Theology

This was the second in our series of research presentations by faculty from the Latin American Studies Program at Boston College. Goizueta explored mestizaje and Latino religious experience in the United States as places in which God is revealed. Goizueta is the author of Caminemos con Jesus: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment.

November 28: Ratas, Ratones y Rateros dir. Juan Sebastián Cordero

Last in the Contemporary Latin American Film Series, this Ecuadoran film explores the life of small-time delinquents in Quito.

December 6: Fixing the Zapatistas in History: How the EZLN Changed the Face of Mexico John Ross, Mexico City

John Ross, poet, journalist, activist and author of The War Against Oblivion: Zapatista Chronicles, presented an overview of the different "seasons" of the Zapatista rebellion. Ross won the 1995 American Book Award for Rebellion From the Roots, the first volume in English to look at the roots of the Zapatista movement. Co-sponsored by the UGBC Social Action Committee.

February 5: United States Involvement in Latin America: Plan Colombia and the School of the Americas Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.

Roy Bourgeois, who served with the United States Navy in Vietnam, became a noted critic of US military policy after working in Bolivia and El Salvador as a Maryknoll priest. Father Bourgeois is the founder of the School of the Americas Watch. His presentation, sponsored by Campus Ministry, was co-sponsored by the Latin American Studies Program. For the coverage which appeared in The Heights, click here.

February 20: Remembering Romero Roberto Goizueta, Douglas Marcouiller, Roystone Martinez '02, Dan Ponsetto

Oscar Romero was led by faith to join the struggle of the poor, the mayorías populares of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, whom he served as bishop from 1977 until he was murdered by right-wing assassins while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. Four panelists discussed Romero's life and explored what his witness might teach us today. Sponsored by the Romero Scholarship Committee, the Organization of Latin American Affairs, and the Latin American Studies Program.

March 12: What We Don't Know Does Hurt Them: Life on the US/Mexico Border Meghan McGoldrick '03 and Jerry Gill

Jerry Gill, from BorderLinks, and Meghan McGoldrick '03, who spent the fall semester in Tucson and Nogales, spoke about life on the border between Mexico and the United States.

March 13: Bernal Díaz del Castillo and the Writing of History Sarah H. Beckjord

Sarah H. Beckjord, Assistant Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Boston College, discussed the sixteenth century conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo and the narrative strategies that have made his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España one of the most read works of the Hispanic tradition. This was the third in our series of research presentations by BC faculty for the Minors in Latin American Studies. A dinner for Minors in Latin American Studies followed the seminar.

March 18: From Salvador to September 11: Reflections on US Foreign Policy Representative James P. McGovern

Jim McGovern is serving his third term as a Member of the United States House of Representatives. The talent and dedication which McGovern brought to the Speaker's Task Force on Central America -- the Moakley Commission -- contributed in no small measure to the achievement of the 1992 Peace Accords in El Salvador. On March 18, Congressman McGovern spoke about contemporary US foreign policy -- today's war on terrorism -- in the light of lessons learned in Central America, with particular focus on the situation in Colombia. For coverage in The Boston College Chronicle, click here. The talk has been rebroadcast on BC Cable TV in conjunction with the film, "Enemies of War."

March 19: All Politics Are Local, Most Economic Crises Are Local: Lessons from the Lower Latitudes Paul D. McNelis, S.J.

Paul McNelis, S.J., Professor of Economics at Georgetown and this year's visiting Gasson Professor at Boston College, presented the annual Gasson Lecture. His topic was the interaction of domestic politics and economic policy in the generation of crises in Argentina and Indonesia. The event was co-sponsored by Latin American Studies. For more information, click here.

April 3: Feria Latinoamericana Douglas Marcouiller, Silvana Palermo, and Lisa Sapolis

An information session presenting both the Minor in Latin American Studies and Boston College's programs for study abroad in Latin America.

April 8: Gangs in Guatemala Deborah Levenson

Deborah Levenson, Associate Professor in the History Department at Boston College, presented her research on perceptions and realities of youth gangs in Guatemala City. This was the fourth in our series of research presentations by BC faculty for the Minors in Latin American Studies. All members of the community are welcome at these seminars. A dinner for Minors in Latin American Studies preceded the seminar.

April 9: Whose Centers and Whose Peripheries? Intellectual History of the Enlightenment in an Atlantic Perspective Jorge Cañizares Esguerra

Jorge Cañizares Esguerra from SUNY-Buffalo, author of the award-winning book, How to Write the History of the New World: Histories, Epistemologies, and Identities in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World (Stanford University Press, 2001), will speak on Tuesday, April 9, at 5:15 p.m. in McGuinn Fifth Floor Lounge. Sponsored by Latin American Studies, the History Department, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.

April 20: LAS Faculty Workshop

The faculty of the Latin American Studies Program will meet to present their research to one another, trying to forge inter-departmental and cross-disciplinary linkages. Connolly House, 9:30 to 1:00. Funding for this event was provided by the United States Department of Education.

For More Information, contact the Director of Latin American Studies at Boston College (LASBC):

Professor Jennie Purnell
Political Science Department
McGuinn 345
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Phone: 617-552-4177
jennie.purnell@bc.edu

Latin American Studies at Boston College
http://WWW.BC.EDU/LASBC