From the Chair
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
News and Announcements
On Wednesday, March 13 at 2 PM, the Department of Latin American, Latino and Puerto Rican Studies, in collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs and the CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies is delighted to present the groundbreaking documentary Harvest of Empire. The film screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Juan Gonzalez, author of the book Harvest of Empire, co-anchor of Democracy Now, Daily News reporter and one of the makers of the film. The LA Times review of the film notes: "Built for clarity rather than cinematic excitement, ‘Harvest of Empire’ is a straightforward and important lesson in regional politics, from economic interconnections to covert operations. Based on the book by ‘Democracy Now’ co-host Juan González, the film presses past the distortions and prejudices that are shaping much of the immigration debate in the United States. It lays out a historical overview of U.S. policy in Latin America, illuminating its direct role in decades of northward migration by millions of people."
Save the Date:
CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies Commemorate 30 Years of Mexico-NY Migration on May 10, 2013 at John Jay College. Check here for more information.
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 Courses in Spring 2013:
LPR 269 "History of U.S. Latinos" (Writing Intensive) Professor David A. Badillo (required for Latino/Puerto Rican Studies major) This course offers a historical survey of Latinos/as in the United States from the founding of early Mexican-American and Caribbean communities to the present. Coverage includes urban and rural development in the Southwest, Northeast, and other regions. Major themes include twentieth-century social and political history; the impact of civil rights movements; the growth of religion, music, and culture; and trends in immigration from Mexico, the Hispanic Caribbean, and elsewhere in Latin America.
LAC/LPR 348 Latino/a Health. M/W 9:30- 10:45 AM. 3 hours, 3 credits. Taught by Professor Alyshia Gálvez. This interdisciplinary course examines issues and topics related to the health of Latinos in the United States including health disparities, immigrant paradox, chronic disease, social contexts of health, mental illness, and reproductive health. The course will also look at current research on protective factors including social networks, family ties, diet and nutrition and more and introduce students to an interdisciplinary approach to health studies, with an emphasis on qualitative research.
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!
Last modified: Feb 25, 2013
