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Honoring our history: Celebrating 30 years of the Department of Latina/Latino Studies at Illinois
In 2026, we will celebrate 30 years at the University of Illinois. We owe our history to the 1992 student movement for Latina/o rights on campus. The courageous activism and dedication of Latina/o students, faculty, and staff led to the creation of a Program in Latina/Latino Studies in 1996. In...
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Professor Aja Y. Martinez joins the Department of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois
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 ...
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Humanities Research Lab courses provide community based research education: Spotlight on LLS affiliate professor Yuridia Ramírez' oral history methods class
As an oral historian, Illinois history professor, Yuridia “Yuri” Ramírez records the stories of people who have never been written about in history books. “These...
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The early days of public service: LLS student serves as intern to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
Taking the risk of applying for an internship can be frightening for any student. When Adriana Matsumoto, now a senior studying political science and Latina/Latino studies, applied for her internship with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, she was not...
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Sabbatical spotlight: Associate dean Isabel Molina-Guzmán’s work on Afro-Latinidad in digital spaces and Hollywood reboots
For most academics, sabbatical is a crucial time to focus on your research and a break from teaching duties. For administrators it’s especially essential, because their duties often leave little time to devote to their scholarship. For Isabel Molina-Guzmán, associate dean for student academic...
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New book examines the impact of colonialism on Puerto Rico: Interview with LLS affiliate professor Jose Atiles
Powerful hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, spiraling public debt and political corruption triggered humanitarian, economic and environmental crises in Puerto Rico. However, a new book suggests that the Puerto Rican and U.S. governments made these multilayered crises catastrophic through the...
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Narratives of law: Professor José A. de la Garza Valenzuela explores queer Chicano citizenship through the law and literature
What can literature tell us about how people experience the law and how is the law like literature? Professor José A. de la Garza Valenzuela has been writing a book, "Queer in a Legal Sense: Brown Citizenship and Other Lawful Fictions," that centers these questions to understand what books tell us...
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How have U.S. border policies affected attitudes toward migrants and violence against them? Interview with professor Gilberto Rosas
On Aug. 3, 2019, a shooter killed 23 people and injured two dozen more in an El Paso, Texas, Walmart. The gunman, who posted an anti-immigration manifesto online before the shooting, targeted Latinos. He was convicted of federal hate crimes. ...
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LLS graduate minor Grace Maria Eberhardt follows the trail of the Eugenics Record Office
In the summer of 2024, LLS graduate minor, and history doctoral student Grace Maria Eberhardt traveled to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island and the American Philosophical Society archive in Pennsylvania.