Latin American Studies Major, B.A.

The five main goals of the Curriculum in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are

1. to enhance students’ knowledge of a world region of vital importance to the national interest of the United States;
2. to encourage the development of Carolina students as global citizens;
3. to promote critical language competencies and cultural skills as a way to prepare students to succeed in public and private sector careers;
4. for students to acquire multi-disciplinary forms of knowledge as a way to understand the array of forces that have shaped modern Latin America and the Caribbean; 
5. to foster an understanding of the historical and cultural origins of the Latin American and Caribbean communities in the United States.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the political, geographical, and social complexities of the region
• Demonstrate knowledge of the historical and cultural complexities of the region
• Demonstrate proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese (or other language(s) of the region if approved)
• Demonstrate an interdisciplinary grasp of Latin American and Caribbean literatures, arts, and ideas
• Apply basic research methods and skills and synthesize and evaluate scholarly research
• Gain admission to graduate programs or apply knowledge and skills learned in relevant careers

Requirements 

In addition to the program requirements, students must

• earn a minimum final cumulative GPA of 2.000
• complete a minimum of 45 academic credit hours earned from UNC–Chapel Hill courses
• take at least half of their major core requirements (courses and credit hours) at UNC–Chapel Hill
• earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the major core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for major or specific courses.

For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.

The Curriculum in Latin American and Caribbean Studies is an interdisciplinary major designed to ensure access to diverse approaches to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean and to guide majors in developing a deeper knowledge of a particular geographic area in the region. 

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Core Requirements (9 courses)
Select two (2) courses numbered under 200 (see list below). LTAM 101 is strongly recommended		6
Select three (3) courses numbered 200-399 (see list below).		9
Select three (3) courses numbered 400 and above (see list below).		9
LTAM 697	Capstone Seminar	3
Additional Requirements (2 courses)
Spanish or Portuguese at least through the fifth-semester course 1		6
Total Hours		33

¹

The first three levels of Spanish or Portuguese may count toward the General Education Foundations requirements and have not been included as additional hours for the major.

Listed below are commonly offered courses for the major. Not all the courses on Latin American and Caribbean topics are listed; other courses may satisfy the major requirements as well. Special topics courses, first-year seminars, undergraduate seminars, independent studies, and capstone courses on Latin American and Caribbean topics also may count. To inquire about whether these courses count towards the major, contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Courses numbered under 200

Select two courses from the following list. 

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
AAAD 57	First-Year Seminar: Afro-Latinxs in the U.S.	3
ANTH 68	First-Year Seminar: Forced Out and Fenced In: Ethnography of Latinx Immigration	3
ANTH 121	Ancient Cities of the Americas	3
ARTH 160	Introduction to the Art and Architecture of Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica H	3
ENGL 164	Introduction to Latina/o Studies H	3
HIST 51	First-Year Seminar: Latin American Revolutions	3
HIST 142	Latin America under Colonial Rule	3
HIST 143	Latin America since Independence	3
HIST 145	Latin American Indigenous Peoples	3
LTAM 52	First-Year Seminar: The Cuban Revolution, Latin America, and the United States	3
LTAM 101	Introduction to Latin American Studies	3
MUSC 147	Introduction to the Music of the Américas	3
POLI 57	First-Year Seminar: Democratic Governance in Contemporary Latin America	3
RELI 151	Religion in Latin America	3
ROML 58	First-Year Seminar: Mexican Women across Borders and Genres	3

H	Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Courses numbered 200-399

Select three courses from the following list. 

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
AAAD 260	Blackness in Latin America	3
AAAD 261	Afro-Cuban Dance: History, Theory, and Practice	3
AAAD 278	Black Caribbeans in the United States	3
AAAD 284	Contemporary Perspectives on the African Diaspora in the Americas	3
AAAD 286	The African Diaspora in the Colonial Americas, 1450-1800	3
AAAD 360	Black Women's Struggles and Resistance in Latin America and the Caribbean	3
AAAD 362	Black Latin American Politics	3
AAAD 389	The Caribbean Anticolonial: Caribbean Literature, Film, Aesthetics, and Politics	3
ANTH 231	The Inca and Their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Andean South America	3
ANTH 232	Ancestral Maya Civilizations H	3
ANTH 360	Latin American Economy and Society	3
ARTH 267	Latin American Modernisms	3
ARTH 277	Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America	3
ENGL 240	Caribbean Literature	3
ENGL 359	Latina Feminisms: Civil Rights, Ecofeminism, and Health Studies	3
FREN 280	French "Discoveries" of the Americas in Translation	3
FREN 288	Francophone Caribbean Literature in Translation	3
GEOG 259	Society and Environment in Latin America	3
HIST 240	Introduction to Mexico: A Nation in Four Revolutions	3
HIST 241	History of Latinos in the United States	3
HIST 242	United States-Latin American Relations	3
HIST 248	Guerrillas and Counterinsurgencies in Latin America	3
HIST 280	Women and Gender in Latin American History	3
HIST 314	Law and Society in Latin America	3
HIST 315	Nation-Building in Latin America H	3
LTAM 215	Peoples, Cultures, and Landscapes of Latin America	3
LTAM 241	History of Latinos in the United States	3
LTAM 261	Afro-Cuban Dance: History, Theory, and Practice	3
LTAM 291	The Latino Experience in the United States	3
LTAM 314	Law and Society in Latin America	3
LTAM 350	The United States and Latin America	3
LTAM 362	Black Latin American Politics	3
LTAM 390	Special Topics in Latin American Studies	3
MUSC 258	Musical Movements: Migration, Exile, and Diaspora	3
POLI 231	Latin America and the United States in World Politics	3
POLI 238	Politics of the Global South: Latin America H	3
PORT 316	Brazilian Performance: Capoeira, Resilience and Resistance through Movement, Music and Dance	3
PORT 323	Advanced Communication in Portuguese: History, Nature, and Society	3
PORT 370	Modern Brazil through Literature and Film in Translation	3
PORT 375	Portuguese and Brazilian Fiction in Translation	3
PORT 382	Women Writers: Brazil and Beyond	3
PORT 387	Brazilian Religious Movements through Film and Literature	3
PORT 388	Portuguese, Brazilian, and African Identity in Film	3
PLCY 349	Immigration Policy in the 21st Century	3
RELI 245	Latina/o Religions in the United States-Mexico Borderlands H	3
RELI 246	Supernatural Encounters: Zombies, Vampires, Demons, and the Occult in the Americas H	3
SPAN 270	Contemporary Spanish American Prose Fiction in Translation	3
SPAN 344	Latin American Cultural Topics	3
SPAN 361	Hispanic Film	3
SPAN 363	Experiences of Disease and Health through Hispanic Literature and Culture	3
SPAN 373	Studies in Latin American Literature	3
SPAN 388	Narratives of the Mexican Revolution	3
WGST 352	Rahtid Rebel Women: An Introduction to Caribbean Women	3

H	Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Courses numbered 400 and above

Select three courses from the following list. 

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
AAAD 460	Race, Culture, and Politics in Brazil	3
AAAD 461	Race, Gender, and Activism in Cuba	3
ANTH 453	Field School in South American Archaeology H	6
ARTH 445	The Mexican Mural Renaissance, 1921-1945	3
ARTH 452	Brazilian Modernism	3
ARTH 469	Art of the Aztec Empire	3
DRAM 486	Latin American Theatre	3
DRAM 488	United States Latino/a Theatre	3
EDUC 510	Latinx Experience in Education	3
GEOG 457	Rural Latin America: Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources H	3
GEOG 458	Urban Latin America: Politics, Economy, and Society	3
GEOG 459	Law, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Environmental Activism in Latin America	3
HIST 526	History of the Andes	3
HIST 531	History of the Caribbean	3
HIST 532	History of Cuba	3
LTAM 402	Heritage and Migration in North Carolina	3
LTAM 403	Migration and the Environment in Central America and the Caribbean	3
LTAM 411	Summer Intensive Introductory Course in Yucatec Maya	6
LTAM 512	Summer Intensive Continuing Course in Yucatec Maya	6
LING 561	Native Languages of the Americas	3
LTAM 690	Seminar in Latin American Issues	3
LTAM 691H	Honors in Latin American Studies	3
LTAM 692H	Honors in Latin American Studies	3
POLI 435H	Democracy and Development in Latin America	3
MEJO 443	Latino Media Studies	3
MEJO 446	Global Communication and Comparative Journalism	3
MEJO 490	Special Topics in Mass Communication (with permission based on topic; 3 credits) H	1-3
POLI 434	Politics of Mexico	3
POLI 435	Democracy and Development in Latin America H	3
POLI 450	Contemporary Inter-American Relations H	3

H	Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Additional Requirements

Majors are encouraged to work toward proficiency in both Spanish and Portuguese. Language across the curriculum (LAC) courses allow students to use their Spanish or Portuguese in select courses. Students taking LAC courses with Spanish or Portuguese recitation sections may receive one hour of additional credit by enrolling in SPAN 308 or PORT 408 PORT 408PORT 408PORT 408PORT 408PORT 408PORT 408PORT 408PORT 408.

All General Education requirements apply. First- and second-year students are strongly encouraged to enroll in LTAM 101, an interdisciplinary introductory course offered each year, usually in the fall.

The following courses are recommended for fulfilling General Education requirements for students interested in majoring in Latin American studies:

Global Language

Spanish or Portuguese should be used to satisfy the global language requirement. The global language 1 through 4 sequence (PORT 101, PORT 102, PORT 203, and PORT 204 or SPAN 101, SPAN 102, SPAN 203, and SPAN 204) may be completed in two semesters by enrolling in intensive courses (PORT 111 and PORT 212, or SPAN 111 and SPAN 212).

Special Opportunities in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Honors in Latin American Studies

Latin American and Caribbean Studies majors with an overall grade point average of 3.3 are invited to pursue a degree with honors by writing an honors thesis during the senior year. Each honors thesis is written under the direction of an appropriate faculty advisor; when completed, the thesis must be defended orally before an examining board of faculty members. Honors candidates enroll in the two honors courses (LTAM 691H and LTAM 692H). LTAM 691H counts as a course in the student’s concentration.

Experiential Education

Students who are committed to field experience or experiential education in Latin America may be able to arrange for this through independent study credit. Students wishing to do so should have the academic support of a regular faculty member and contact the institute’s associate director well in advance of the semester in which the experience is to take place.

Intensive Yucatec Maya

Each summer the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of North Carolina and Duke University offers intensive instruction in modern Yucatec Maya, with a secondary focus on ancient, colonial, and modern Maya culture. The courses include classroom instruction in Chapel Hill (LTAM 411) or in Mérida, Mexico (LTAM 512 and LTAM 690), and a field study experience in Yucatán, Mexico. See the Maya program website for current course information.

Independent Study

Any student may enroll in independent study (LTAM 396) with the permission of the curriculum faculty advisor and the agreement of a Latin American or Caribbean studies faculty member who will supervise the student’s independent study project. This course may be used to fulfill the requirements of the major, and it is often linked to internships or to undergraduate grants for summer research travel.

Study Abroad

Study abroad is not a requirement of the major; however, living and studying in Latin America or the Caribbean is highly recommended as an experience that majors should consider. The UNC–Chapel Hill Study Abroad Office offers a broad range of programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. Visit the Study Abroad Office website. ISA and the Study Abroad Office offer competitive scholarships for majors wishing to undertake study in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Undergraduate Awards

Each year the Latin American and Caribbean Studies major offers funding opportunities for students conducting research or studying abroad in Latin America or the Caribbean. These include the Julia Crane, Halpern, and Mellon Awards. The Federico Gil award recognizes the best undergraduate honors thesis written on a Latin American or Caribbean topic. The LTAM Major Book Fund provides funding to defray the costs for required textbooks in Latin American-content courses. Contact the director of undergraduate studies for information.

Undergraduate Research

Latin American and Caribbean Studies majors are eligible to develop independent and/or senior thesis projects. A small number of grants are available for undergraduate field research related to Latin America or the Caribbean.