The following courses are approved as electives for the Latina/Latino studies graduate minor. The LLS graduate minor is open to all students on campus and involves a minimum of 12 hours, which includes LLS 577 and 2 other graduate level elective courses. LLS 577 Perspectives in LLS is offered every other Fall semester. Visit our course catalog to see currently offered courses.
LLS 410: Writing Latina/o Chicago
Examination of novels, poetry, film, and memoirs by Latinas and Latinos writing from and/or about Chicago. Through these texts, the course will simultaneously track a Chicago-based Latina/o literary history and analyze articulations of Latino/a everyday life and politics grounded in the city’s distinct topographical and social contexts. Issues of migration, gentrification, segregation, youth culture, gender, sexuality, race, violence, poverty, class consciousness, and struggles for social justice will figure prominently in lectures and class discussions. Prerequisite: LLS 100. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 412: Hispanics in the U.S.
Hispanics constitute a growing population in the United States. The size and heterogeneity of Hispanics raises complex issues in crafting public policy and in designing and delivering social services. This course offers an extensive portrait of Hispanics in the United States. Students will explore questions and demographic characteristics, language and religious practices, education, criminal justice, neighborhood and economic restructuring, immigration, social service systems, and community action in the context of creating an effective public policy agenda. Same as SOCW 412. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 433: Foundation of Bilingual Education
Analyzes historical, political, and educational influences on bilingual/ESL education in US. Theoretical foundation of bilingual and ESL programs are examined as well as the effectiveness of program models in promoting academic achievement. Meets standards and course requirements for the Illinois State Board of Education Teaching Approval and Endorsement for Bilingual and ESL teachers. Same as CI 433. 3 undergraduate hours. 2 or 4 graduate hours.
LLS 435: Commodifying Difference
An interdisciplinary examination of how racial, ethnic and gender difference is negotiated through media and popular culture, and how racial, ethnic and gendered communities use cultural forms to express identity and difference. Among the theoretical questions explored are the politics of representation, ethnic/racial authenticity, cultural commodification and transnational popular culture. Some of the cultural forms examined are cultural festivals / parades, ethnic/race-based beauty pageants, cinematic and televisual texts and musical forms, such as Hip-Hop and Salsa. Same as AAS 435, AFRO 435, GWS 435, and MACS 432. Prerequisite: Any combination of 6 hours from Latina/o Studies, Asian American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Gender and Women Studies or Media and Cinema Studies; graduate standing, or consent of instructor. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 442: Latina Literature
Examines literary productions by and about women of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Latina/o descent in the United States. Taught in English. Same as GWS 445 and SPAN 442. Prerequisite: At least one previous course in U.S. Latina/Latino Studies or Gender and Women's Studies, or consent of instructor. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 449: Issues in Latina/o Education
Critiques and explores various theoretical frameworks used to explain Latina/Latino academic achievement. Examines curricular and instructional issues by investigating how different school systems have implemented schooling for Latina/Latino students. Develops critical understanding of the role of education within the Latina/Latino community. Same as CI 449. 3 undergraduate hours, 2 or 4 graduate hours.
LLS 458: Latina/o Performance
Focuses on Latina/o performances to underscore the relationship between practices of everyday life and acts on stage. Pays particular attention to the material (human) body and bodies of work. Students will critically engage with performance theory and scripts, media works of performances, and theorizations of Latinidad and the body. Same as ENGL 458. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours
LLS 460: Critical Ethnic Studies
Examines the formation of the field of Critical Ethnic Studies and elaborates its key concepts, such as settler colonialism, indigeneity, heteropatriarchy, decolonization, and liberation. Same as AAS 460. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.
LLS 465: Race, Sex, and Deviance
Explores how racial stereotypes rely on sexual stereotypes by examining the intersections of ethnic studies, gender and women's studies, and queer studies. Interdisciplinary course that draws from critical legal studies, sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, and history. Same as AAS 465, AFRO 465, and GWS 465. Prerequisite: Any lower division course in LLS, AAS, AFRO, or GWS. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 468: Latinas/os & the Law
Examines the Latina/Latino experience in the U.S. how and when the law, through the courts, has most often operated as an instrument of subordination and oppression, but has also at times been leveraged for positive social transformation. Students will come to understand that the law is a deeply contested social space that is central to U.S. social hierarchies based upon race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, class, immigration status, and religion.
LLS 472: Border Latina, Latino Cultures
Explores and examines the production of U.S. Latina/Latino identities as instances of international, cultural, historical, and social border crossings. In both regional and global contexts, we will analyze the ways in which Mexican American, Cuban American, and Puerto Rican identities have been shaped by colonial relations vis-a-vis Spain and by postcolonial conditions vis-a-vis the United States. Same as ANTH 472. Prerequisite: ANTH 103, and ANTH 259 or ANTH 359. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 473: Immigration, Health & Society
This interdisciplinary seminar examines the social determinants of US racial and ethnic health inequalities through the lens of (im)migration. Topics to be addressed include: conceptualizations of race and ethnicity, immigrant-adaptation theories, discrimination, place, and the intersections of race, ethnicity, poverty, immigration and health. Same as CHLH 473, SOC 473, and SOCW 473. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 475: History of the American West
Examines the changing image of the American West by focusing on the process of conquest and resistance present within the region’s history. Same as HIST 476. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 479: 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. Specifically, it will be concerned with “race" as a central category in the medical construction and management of individuals and populations. Case studies might focus on colonial medicine, race and public health, sexuality and reproduction, global health disparities, and genetics and genomics. Same as AAS 479 and ANTH 479. Prerequisite: LLS 100 or consent of instructor. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 496: Seminar in Latina/o Studies
May be repeated up to a maximum of 6 undergraduate hours or 12 graduate hours. 3 undergraduate hours, 4 graduate hours.
LLS 517: Bilingual and English as a Second Language Assessment
Explores the role of assessment in education of culturally and linguistically diverse students in K - 12 classrooms. Current trends in assessment in the United States will be analyzed as well as how assessments are used for the identification and placement of bilingual and ESL students. The use and scoring of language proficiency assessments will be examined along with various forms of classroom-based assessment. Meets ISBE assessment requirements for a bilingual and ESL teaching approval or endorsement. Same as CI 517. No professional credit. Prerequisite: LLS 433 and CI 477 or consent of instructor. 4 hours.
LLS 554: Inequalities in a Diverse Society
In contemporary American society, not all inequality leads to inequity. In this course, we will explore structural and cultural disparities that proceed from race, ethnicity, and class. Such critical inquiry enables students to understand the factors that contribute to the creation and implementation of public policy and guide the delivery of social goods such as adequate housing, safe communities, efficient transportation, affordable health care, quality education, and other public services. Therefore, we emphasize processes of analysis and the application of social entrepreneurial principles as important tools to generate policies and interventions that lead to a more equitable society. Same as HCD 541 and SOCW 554. No professional credit. Prerequisite: SOCW 451 or consent of instructor for non-Social Work majors. 4 hours.
LLS 561: Race and Cultural Critique
Introduction to graduate level theoretical and methodological approaches in Comparative Race Studies. As a survey of theories of race and racism and the methodology of critique, this course offers an interdisciplinary approach that draws from anthropology, sociology, history, literature, cultural studies, and gender/sexuality studies. In addition, the study of racial and cultural formation is examined from a comparative perspective in the scholarship of racialized and Gender and Women's Studies. Same as AAS 561, AFRO 531, ANTH 565, and GWS 561. 4 hours
LLS 590: Independent Study
Independent study on special topics not treated in regularly scheduled courses. Approved for both letter and S/U grading. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. 1 to 4 hours.
LLS 596: Graduate Seminar in LLS
Examination of specific topics in Latina/Latino Studies. Topics vary. May be repeated in the same or subsequent semesters to a maximum of 12 hours. 4 hours.