Find your path in Latina/Latino Studies
Community Resources
- A new book by rhetoric and history scholars examines the origins of critical race theory in legal studies. The movement is an area of legal scholarship that seeks to understand the relationship between race and racism and the law and other societal institutions in the U.S., the authors said. It is highly controversial, with politicians at all levels of government trying to ban it from classrooms. Both proponents and opponents of critical race... Read full story New book by professor Aja Y. Martinez recounts history of critical race theory
- The Department of Latina/Latino Studies is pleased to announce that professor Mirelsie Velázquez has been awarded a 2025-26 Campus Fellowship from the Humanities Research Institute for her project “Genealogies of Empowerment and the Makings of Home: Latina/o Activism at the University of Illinois, 1970–1992." Campus Fellowships are awarded to Illinois faculty and graduate students who spend the year engaged in research and writing and... Read full story Professor Velázquez awarded Campus Fellowship from Humanities Research Institute
- This spring, the Department of Latina/Latino Studies is excited to welcome professor Aja Y. Martinez as an associate professor. She is a critical race theory scholar and storyteller and author of the multi-award-winning book Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory. Her new book co-authored with Robert O. Smith... Read full story Professor Aja Y. Martinez joins the Department of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois
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Why Study Latina/Latino Studies?
Professor Mirelsie Velázquez shares the value of the major, favorite spots in Champaign-Urbana, and why the Latina/Latino studies department is the best kept secret on campus in an interview with the College of LAS.
Intro Latina/Latino Studies
Interdisciplinary introduction to the basis for a Latina/Latino ethnicity in the United States.
Race, Medicine, and Society
The idea of race has historically been central to how Western cultures conceptualize and think about human difference. This course examines the historical significance of race through one domain of knowledge: medicine.
Latina/o Migration
Topics discussed include the history of international migration to the United States, the relationship between history and the contemporary context, the development of U.S. immigration policy, the incorporation of Latino immigrants in U.S. society, and immigrant and community responses to migration.
Mexican-American History
Examination of the history of Mexican Americans living within the United States from the Spanish Conquest to the twentieth century. Explores the process of migration, settlement, assimilation, and discrimination with emphasis on continuity and change in Mexican cultural development.
Latina/o Popular Culture
Provides an introduction to Latina/o popular culture in the United States. Specific modes of popular culture might include mass media, music, film, video, performance, and other expressive forms.
Chicana/Latina Autobiography, Memoir, Testimonio
Focuses on how Chicanas/Latinas describe their own experiences and how they both understand and negotiate their sense of self, and centers on the new crop of memoir and autobiography, as represented in the most recent texts by well-established Chicana writers, such as Sandra Cisneros, Gloria Anzaldúa and Ana Castillo.
Upcoming events
Alumni spotlight: LLS and anthropology alumna Teresa Ramos, (BA, ’04; MA, ’08; PhD, ’12), first secretary of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood
LLS and anthropology alumna Teresa Ramos (BA, ’04; MA, ’08; PhD, ’12; anthropology with a minor in Latina/Latino studies) has been named the first secretary of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC). Ramos is currently the first assistant deputy governor for education in Governor JB Pritzker’s office. Pending state Senate approval, Ramos will begin her new role in January and the department will be fully operational by the summer of 2026. The department combines programs currently overseen by several other state agencies including oversight and funding of preschool programs and...
Faculty spotlight: Natalie Lira
Natalie Lira is an interdisciplinary scholar who examines the politics of reproduction and histories of medicine in the United States. Her research interests include the politics of reproduction, histories of medicine, and the ways that struggles for racial and reproductive justice intersect.