Minor in MAS

This course introduces students to Mexican American Studies by examining Mexican American cultural practices, community building, and identity formation in the context of broader geopolitical and historical points of reference.

Migration is currently re-shaping American cities, families, urban landscapes, rural areas, politics, and altering the nation's racial and cultural make up.  In response, societal attitudes and power dynamics that structure their incorporation shift, often engendering competing perspectives about immigrants' efforts to belong and carve out a place for themselves within the United States as "A nation of Immigrants." This course will focus on the quasi-permanent presence of undocumented immigrants and other vulnerable noncitizens living in the United States, focusing in particular on those who come from Latin America.

This course will examine the varied and evolving concerns of Chicanas as they forge new visions of feminism through the Chicano Movement of the 1960s; organizing among Chicana lesbian communities; Chicanas' entrance into academic, literary and artistic arenas; diverse community and national activist efforts in the 1980s; and current transnational initiatives.

This course offers a full panoramic view of Mexican music, using history as a point of departure and linking Mexican music across eras, styles, and performance traditions.  In doing so, students learn both the repertory and the musicians. Starting with music from the Pre-Hispanic to contemporary musical practices such as cumbia, rock, mariachi and many others.

Survey from the 16th century to the present, with emphasis on social, political and economic trends in their historical context.

Exploration and analysis of the origin, nature, dynamics (political, social, cultural), ideology, activities, and effects of the Chicano movement of the 1960s.

This interdisciplinary course examines key works by those women of color whose political and cultural investments in a collaborative, cross-cultural critique of U.S. imperialism and heteronormativity has been called "U.S. Third World Feminisms."

Evolution of the borderlands since the mid-nineteenth century, with emphasis on bi-national interaction and interdependence.

Using a comparative and interdisciplinary focus this course critically examines major issues affecting today's Latinx populations. Major topics include immigration, class, race, gender, sexuality, culture and identity, and the role of discrimination, laws, public policies and policing in structuring inequality.

From discovery through the War for Independence.

Struggle for political, economic and social stability; international relations, cultural patterns.

Traditional Indian Medicine, or TIM, is a concept that refers to Indigenous knowledges expressed through the varied healing systems in Indigenous communities. This course will pay particular attention to American Indian nations and healing knowledges that are intersecting and intertwined relationships with the natural world, the Indigenous body and the sacred. We will examine both how Indigenous healing systems have persisted as well as responded to social conditions, such as genocide, colonization and historical, as well as contemporary, forms of oppression. Topics include intergenerational trauma as well as how resilience is expressed in practices of wellbeing, healing and self-determination. We will also explore TIM as containing systems of healing that may/may not operate in conjunction with allopathic medicine. This course takes a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating readings from American Indian/Indigenous studies and health to explore a complex portfolio of American Indian/Indigenous wellbeing.

This course provides and in-depth exploration on how social and cultural factors influence the health of racial/ethnic groups and underserved populations in the United States. The Socio-Cultural Determinants of Health are social, political, economic and cultural conditions, forces and factors that influence how health is distributed among entire groups and populations. The examination of socio-cultural influences is an interdisciplinary field of study that draws on research and scholarship from many areas including medical sociology, medical and cultural anthropology, public health, political science, public policy studies, epidemiology, and critical gender and race studies. This course introduces important concepts found in the scientific literature and then examines fundamental determinants of health, including income and social class, ethnicity and racism, place and space on specific determinants (e.g. segregation, racism) and health conditions (e.g. infectious and chronic diseases).

A public health perspective in examining health and mental health issues affecting Latinos residing in the U.S., with particular emphasis on Mexican Americans.

Social processes involved in minority groups in terms of race, caste, class, ethnicity, politics, and religion.

This course will provide an overview of the theories, policies, and practices related to the education of Latinos. We will focus specifically on the social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors, within and outside the school context, that contribute to Latino students' underachievement, failure, and negative educational outcomes. In addition, transformative practices that promote student achievement, learning, and critical consciousness will be discussed. Readings will cover various issues in education as well as introduce course participants to a broad collection of primarily Latino scholars interested in developing new methods and policies that will improve the educational experiences of Latino students.

This a co-convened course that will include advanced 4th-year undergraduate students who along with graduate students (enrolled in MAS 570) will examine migration as a worldwide phenomenon in part due to the greater participation of women. In the Americas, in particular, there has been a steady increase in migration to the U.S. from Mexico and Latin America since the 1960s, much of which can be traced to the negative impact of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) resulting in the impoverishment of agricultural sectors and lack of employment opportunities, a combination known to produce the feminization of migration. In this class, we will explore this phenomenon and the various challenges borne by women and youths. We will consider relevant theories, such as neoliberal economics and structural violence, as well as a wide range of perspectives, combining demography, history, ethnography and public policy analysis to better understand issues of borders, transnational identities, human rights, labor rights, and responsibilities of host and sending states.