The Latina/o Studies Program records document the administrative, teaching, research, and public programs functions of the Latino Studies Program. The records in this collection measure 2.5 linear feet, and date from 1984 to 2007, with the majority of the records from the period 1986 to 2000. They are primarily comprised of correspondence, event flyers, meeting minutes, program planning materials, course descriptions and schedules, syllabi, event flyers and promotional materials, faculty search documents, information on visiting professors, and materials from Latina/o staff, faculty, and student organizations at the University of Michigan. The records are organized into five series: Administrative Files, Curriculum, Events and Programs, Faculty, and Latina/o Organizations.
The Latina/o Studies Program at the University of Michigan forms a curricular unit within the University's Program in American Culture, created in 1952. As part of its commitment towards studying and teaching the complexity and diversity of cultural experiences in the United States, in response to growing local and national interest in the history and culture of Hispanic peoples, and as a result of student activism at the University of Michigan, the Program in American Culture initiated offerings in Latina/Latino studies in 1984.
The Latina/o studies movement in the United States developed as an academic field in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the wake of decades' long fight by minorities for civil rights in the United States. The discipline's early years witnessed the growth of Chicano studies programs in the West and Southwest and Puerto Rican studies in New York.1 Throughout the 1970s the University of Michigan administration expressed an interest in recruitment of Chicano students and faculty, and worked towards a goal of developing curriculum for and about Chicanos. Although Latina/o studies grew from somewhat nationalistic perspectives in its early years, the field that matured in the 1980s as Latina/o studies was broader and more inclusive. In the early 1980s, the University of Michigan, through its "University Courses," as well as the Program in American Culture, developed curriculum to teach courses in the field of Hispanic-American studies. However, until the inception of the Latino Studies Program in 1984 the University lacked a curricular unit devoted exclusively to Latina/o studies.
The creation of an academic unit focused on Latina/o studies was due in large part to the activism of Latina/o students, staff, and faculty on the University of Michigan campus. In January 1984, a coalition of Latino students met with interested College of Literature, Science, and the Arts faculty and administrators to propose a new unit that to "focus on the Hispanic experience in the United States, emphasizing their history, culture and contributions..." Representatives from the campus' Hispanic student, faculty, and staff organizations then lobbied for an academic unit that would focus on the Latina/o experience in the United States. In the winter of 1984, the College Executive Committee discussed the issue of curriculum development in Hispanic-American studies and formed a committee, the Hispanic-American Studies Program Committee (later renamed the Latino Studies Program Committee) to explore the issue and provide recommendations on the development of a curriculum in Latino Studies. In a letter to "All Hispanic Students at Michigan and Friends," Visiting Professor and Acting Director of the Latino Studies Program John Chávez wrote that the new program was "the first of its kind at Michigan and indicates that the University is now recognizing the full significance of Hispanics, the most rapidly growing ethnic group in the nation."2
Over the course of its first year, the Latino Studies Program offered courses such as "The 'Hispanic' Southwest," "Hispanic America," "Historical Approaches/Topics in U.S. and Latin American History," "Introduction to Latino Studies," and "Mexican-American Literature." Although the majority of the unit's classes were initially offered through the American Culture Program, in ensuing years courses were offered in partnership with a academic units from across the campus. Indeed, the Latina/o studies program at the University of Michigan reflects the diversification of the field begun in the 1980s and developed through the 1990s
Today, the Latina/o Studies Program at the University of Michigan offers an interdisciplinary and pan-Latina/o approach for graduate and undergraduate students to the study of Latina/o history, politics, cultures, social relations, and artistic expression in the United States, as well as offering a transnational perspective. Central to the philosophy of the program is the belief that no one group of Latina/os can be studied in isolation, and the best understanding of the history and future of Latina/os in the United States will come from comparative study. Among the departments that have contributed faculty and resources to the Latina/o Studies Program are: Anthropology, English, History, Romance Languages and Literatures, Film Studies, Sociology, the School of Music, and Women's Studies. Former Program Director Frances R. Aparicio argues that the Latina/o Studies Program's location within the Program in American Culture has fostered "multiracial, interdisciplinary, and cultural interaction" that has been "healthy for the intellectual development of both professors and students of every racial and ethnic group."3 And, that the Latina/o Studies program has had a positive effect on the campus by "destabliz[ing] disciplinary, linguistic, and ethnic boundaries of knowledge production."4
The Latina/o Studies Program regularly invites artists, writers, poets, performers, and visiting scholars to campus for short visits, minicourses, and performances. Visiting scholars such as Sandra Cisneros, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Norma Cantú, have also offered longer in-residence courses. Among the performers and filmmakers that have visited the University of Michigan under the auspices of the Latina/o Studies Program are Carmelita Tropicana, Coco Fusco, Frances Negrón, Lourdes Portillo, Dolissa Medina, and others. In addition to academic work, the Latina/o Studies Program encourages student participation in community service organizations that service local Latino/a communities in southeast Michigan.
Undergraduate students in Latina/o Studies have the option of doing either a minor or concentration in the Program. The minor in Latina/o Studies, established in 2000, requires that students complete eighteen credit hours, including the American Culture course "Introduction to Latino Studies," that introduces them to the variety of disciplinary approaches to the study of Latina/os in the United States, as well as the field's central research questions and theory. The concentration program in Latina/o Studies, founded in 1984, is similar to the minor, but requires the completion of 30 credit units.
Graduate students interested in Latina/o Studies must first apply to the Graduate Program in American Culture, prior to enrolling in the Latina/o Studies Program. The graduate program shares with the undergraduate curriculum a strong interdisciplinary approach to Latina/o Studies in the United States that also includes consideration of feminism, queer theory, transnational media studies, critical race theory, and border studies and theory. In addition to theory, the Latina/o Studies Program also incorporates humanities and social sciences including history, literature, film studies, and ethnomusicology. The graduate program is a member of the Midwest Latino/a Studies Consortium, which fosters collaboration amongst students, faculty, and staff in the Midwest. The Latina/o Studies Program also offers a Graduate Certificate to University of Michigan graduate students enrolled in departments other than American Culture. The certificate program is a 15-credit hour course of study designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the field.
Program Names
| Date |
Event |
| 1984-1991 | Latino Studies Program |
| 1992-1996 | Latina/Latino Studies Program |
| 1997 – Present | Latina/o Studies Program |
Program Directors
| Date |
Event |
| 1984-1986 | John R. Chávez (Interim Director) |
| 1986-1990 | Silvia Pedraza (Acting Director) |
| 1991 (Acting Director) | Walter Mignolo |
| 1991-1992 | Frances Aparicio and Ruth Behar (Acting Directors) |
| 1992-1994 | Margarita de la Vega-Hurtado (Acting Director) |
| 1994-1996 | Frances Aparicio |
| 1997-1999 | Tomás Almaguer |
| 2000-2002 | Ivette Perfecto (Acting Director) |
| 2002-2006 | Maria Montoya |
| 2007 | Catherine Benamou |
| 2008 | Silvia Pedraza (Interim Director) |
| Fall 2008-2011 | Maria Cotera |
| 2011-2016 | Lawrence M. La Fountain-Stokes |
| 2016-2017 | Yeidy Rivero |
| 2017-2018 | Maria Cotera |
| 2018-2019 | Lawrence M. La Fountain-Stokes (Acting Director) |
| 2019-2020 | Maria Cotera |
| 2020-2021 | Anthony P. Mora (Interim Director) |
| 2021-2023 | Ashley Lucas |
1. Juan Poblete, Ed., Critical Latin American and Latino Studies (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), 4.
2. John Chávez, Visiting Assistant Professor, Latino Studies and Hector Delgado, Teaching Assistant, Latino Studies to "All Hispanic Students at Michigan and Friends," 1 November 1984, Folder: Latina/o Studies, History 1980-1986, Box 4, Program in American Culture (University of Michigan), Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
3. Frances R. Aparicio, interviewed by Juan Zevallos Aguilar and quoted in "Latino Cultural Studies," in Juan Poblete, Ed., Critical Latin American and Latino Studies (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), 10.
4. Ibid.
