New LALACS Major to Focus on Globalization, Identity, and Community

The Latin American, Latino & Caribbean Studies Program (LALACS) has been in existence at Gustavus Adolphus College for 11 years, but for the first time this fall the College is offering a LALACS major.

Initially modeled after a similar program at Dartmouth College, the Gustavus LALACS major will be an interdisciplinary program rooted in the humanities that will focus on globalization, identity, and community.

“In academia, there is now a greater acknowledgment of the need for truly interdisciplinary Latin American Studies programs, as students search out a means of studying Latin America in an integrated way and as the strategic significance of the region to U.S. interests has grown, both economically and culturally,” said Gustavus Associate Professor of Spanish Nancy Hanway.

Hanway is one of several faculty members who proposed and implemented the LALACS program at Gustavus back in 2001. She will be one of 18 Gustavus faculty members who will teach at least one of the 24 courses offered as part of the new major. Those 18 faculty members come from diverse backgrounds and will offer students expertise in a wide range of topics.

Those faculty members include:

• Assistant Professor of Spanish Ana Adams, a scholar of medieval Spanish literature with a strong research interest in colonial Latin America
• Associate Professor of Religion Thia Cooper, a scholar of Brazilian religions
• Assistant Professor of Spanish Angelique Dwyer, a U.S. citizen raised in Mexico who writes about Latin American performance and creative non-fiction related to her bicultural childhood
• Associate Professor in Sociology and Anthropology Patric Giesler, who specializes in Afro-Brazilian religions and teaches a course on African culture in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Assistant Professor of Spanish Marisa Kalbermatten, a scholar of linguistics who studies the use of verbal irony in conversation in her native Argentina
• Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance Henry MacCarthy, a native Venezuelan theater artist with specialization in performance in the Americas and musical theater in the Caribbean
• Associate Professor of History Sujay Rao, a scholar of Latin American history, with specialization in Argentine and Mexican history
• Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Maria Beatriz Torres, a native of Argentina and a scholar of intercultural communication
• Associate Professor in Sociology and Anthropology Suzanne Wilson, who specializes in U.S. drug policy and political violence in Latin America, especially Colombia. She teaches a course on globalization for LALACS.

In addition to taking advantage of the expertise of many faculty members across departments and disciplines, the LALACS major will also encourage experiential learning and other innovative pedagogical approaches to the study of the Americas, such as community based learning. Most importantly, graduates of the program will emerge with direct experience of cultural difference and with more sophisticated understandings of racial, ethnic, and cultural identity and of the importance of community.

“Many Gustavus students have grown up in Midwestern communities that are increasingly shaped by immigration from Latin America,” Hanway said. The inclusive model of LALACS, encompassing Latino history and culture as well as the Caribbean and Latin America, will offer students opportunities to study the emergence of these increasingly complex communities and the cultural production that emerges from them.”

To complete a LALACS major, Gustavus students will be required to take a total of nine courses including two core courses; an experiential leaning-based course fulfilled through an independent study or internship in the U.S. or Latin America; a senior capstone course focused on completing an independent project that deepens students’ knowledge of Latin America or Latinos in the United States; and five elective courses.

Rachel Chase ’13 will be the first Gustavus student to complete the major. Chase, current students, and recent graduates of Gustavus are excited to see LALACS established as a major at the College.

“Being a part of LALACS has helped me immensely to find my passion and what really interests me in life,” said senior Jennifer Hernandez ’13. “The courses that I have taken have exposed me to real life situations and push me to improve myself as a person.”

“I was drawn to LALACS because I have always enjoyed learning about the world, which is why I chose geography as a major,” said Emery Ellingson ’12. “What makes LALACS really great is that it integrates everything. A LALACS major is in the true spirit of a liberal arts education because it requires you to take courses over a wide variety of topics. The major will be a great addition to Gustavus.”

The LALACS program is kicking off the major with a schedule of events in October, which happens to be Hispanic Heritage Month. Those events include:

• Saturday, Oct. 6 / Mundialito de futbol – Gustavus World Cup / 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 16 / Witness for Peace speaker Tomas Gomez Membreno / 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, Oct. 24 / Consul of Mexico, speech on immigration / 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, Oct. 24 / Day of Dead
• Monday, Oct. 29 & Tuesday, Oct. 30 / Workshop on making traditional sugar skulls / International Center
• Wednesday, Oct. 31 / Workshop on pink crosses commemorating women killed in Ciudad Juarez

For more information about the LALACS major, go online to gustavus.edu/lalacs or contact Hanway at 507-933-7388 or nhanway@gustavus.edu.