Latin American, Latino and Puerto Rican Studies

The Department of Latin American, Latino and Puerto Rican Studies offers two majors, in Latin American Studies and Latino/Puerto Rican Studies, and three minors, in Latin American Studies, Latino/Puerto Rican Studies, and Mexican and Mexican American Studies. Many of our basic courses fulfill both major and minor and the General Education requirements of the college. In addition, our faculty participates in the LEH curriculum and the CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies. We cross-list courses with African and African-American Studies, Women’s Studies, History, Spanish, Sociology, Anthropology, Politics and Economics. Our interdisciplinary LAS major describes and analyzes the vital role of Latin America and its diasporas in the current climate of globalization. Our Latino/Puerto Rican Studies major centers the experience of migration as a key analytic in a globally-minded study of the US-Latin American and the Caribbean relationship.

Look to this homepage for up-to-date information about our exciting events over the course of the semester and "like" us on our Facebook page. And feel free to contact the department faculty to discuss any questions related to our programs and courses. We are eager to discuss the opportunities to major or minor in our department and how any one of our majors and minors fits your career choices. We encourage you to look through our webpage for more information about our excellent faculty and far-ranging curriculum.

–Licia Fiol-Matta

Faculty Spotlight

Forrest D. Colburn, Professor in Latin American and Puerto Rican Studies, writes on Latin American politics, and, more generally, the poorer countries of the world and their efforts to achieve political and economic parity with the wealthier countries. He has a particular interest in the influence of ideas in shaping political behavior.

Professor Colburn’s books include The Vogue of Revolution in Poor Countries (Princeton University Press, 1994) and Latin America at the End of Politics (Princeton University Press, 2002). Professor Colburn began his academic career with studies of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. A collection of his essays (many originally published in periodicals) on the Revolution is in its eighth printing: My Car in Managua (and there are two Spanish-language printings as well). Professor Colburn continues to study the evolution of Nicaragua and the other small countries of Central America. With a Nicaraguan colleague, Arturo Cruz, Colburn wrote Varieties of Liberalism in Central America: Nation-States as Works in Progress (University of Texas Press, 2007). They also contributed an essay on the recent elections in Nicaragua to the spring 2012 issue of the Journal of Democracy: “Personalism and Populism in Nicaragua.”

Professor Colburn is presently working on a book-length manuscript about the evolution of what used to be known as the “Third World”—the poorer countries of the world, found in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. Post World War II perceptions of solidarity among these countries have faded, and so has optimism about the political ability to guide “development.” The poorer countries of the world have had—over the last half of a century--uneven success in achieving political stability and economic growth, which has been difficult to explain, all the more so since reigning political paradigms have withered. The working title of Professor Colburn’s study is “The Shattered Compass of Poor Countries.”

Professor Colburn is also a member of the Department of Political Science of the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He previously taught at Princeton University. He has returned to Princeton University as a visiting professor and was a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton during the 2006/2007 academic year. Professor Colburn has also been a visiting professor at Addis Ababa University (in Ethiopia) and New York University (NYU). He has also long been associated with Latin America’s premier management school, INCAE (which has its central campus in Costa Rica). For INCAE, Professor Colburn has lectured widely in Latin America, including most recently in Peru.

See Previous Faculty Spotlights

We have a new name! And a refreshed curriculum! The faculty members of the department have been hard at work refreshing our curriculum and to show it, we also have a new name, the Department of Latin American, Latino and Puerto Rican Studies! Our department was one of the first ethnic studies programs in the country, the Department of Puerto Rican Studies was founded in 1968 at Lehman College, in part as a response to student activism. As part of our renewed commitment to critical ethnic studies and in recognition of the expertise of our faculty, our long-standing Puerto Rican Studies major and minor are now Latino/Puerto Rican studies, enabling students greater options and diversity in their course of study. Continuing in our longstanding tradition as trailblazers, we now have the first minor in Mexican and Mexican-American Studies east of the Mississippi River. Please have a look at our majors and courses today!

 

News and Announcements

 

The Department of Latin American, Latino and Puerto Rican Studies celebrated Commencement with a reception with our sister departments on the second floor of Carman. Congratulations to all of the LAC and PRS majors and minors who graduated, including:

Elivanesa	Calderon	LAC
Evelyn	Cruz	LAC
Ramona	De Jesus	LAC
Alfida	Garcia	LAC
Reyna	Garcia	LAC
Tirza	Garcia	LAC
Ruth	Joaquin	LAC
Alba Yris	Lopez	LAC
Isaira	Ortega	LAC
Mari July	Pena	LAC
Adelaida	Ruffo	LAC
Stephanie	Sanchez	LAC
Cynthia	Santos	LAC
Zaida	Zapata	LAC
Erilyn	Collazo	PRS
Kimberlly	Irizarry	PRS

Lehman College welcomes "El Rey".

On June 5, Lehman College was honored with a gift of a replica Olmec Head which took up its permanent home in the heart of campus, in the quad outside of the Music Building. Did you know the Olmecs were one of the original civilizations in the world with great achievements in astronomy, sculpture and mathematics? To learn more, click here.

 

On June 13, the Manhattan Times and Bronx Free Press honored LALPRS faculty member, Alyshia Gálvez with a "Woman of Distinction" award!

 

 

Visit LAPRS on Facebook!
The Department now has a Facebook presence: click here to learn more about its programs and events, and to join faculty and students in conversations about the past.

New and Notable Courses in Fall 2013:
LPR 300 - 81W Social and Economic History of Puerto Rico from the Industrial Revolution to the Present, Taught by Professor Teresita Levy, Intensive survey of the socioeconomic formations of Puerto Rico from the Industrial Revolution to the present.

LAC/LPR 321 Latinos in New York City, Taught by Professor Andrés Torres:A multidisciplinary investigation of the presence and impact of Latino populations in New York City from 1800s to the present. LPR 231 or Departmental permission.

LPR 311 - A01 Migration and the Puerto Rican Community in the United State, Taught by Professor Xavier Totti: History and development of the Puerto Rican community in the United States: migration, community establishment, institutions, regional patterns of settlement, and issues of class,race, ethnicity, and gender.

LAC/LPR 213 Latino Migrations, Taught by Professor Alyshia Gálvez: Examination of a hemisphere on the move, with particular attention to mass migrations within Latin America as well as to and from the United States. PREREQ: LAC 231 or Departmental permission.

 

Past Events