Program's Objectives
The core mission of the undergraduate major in Latinx Studies will be a direct extension of the College of Arts and Sciences' mission to use knowledge produced through study and research to improve quality of life and to help students attain an understanding of the complex world that they live in. The major's unique contribution to this mission will derive from its integrative nature.
Latinx Studies is a field that is fundamentally a meeting ground where the social sciences and the humanities come together. To encourage this integration, the OU curriculum is designed to engage students in the study of literature, culture, race, gender, history, and society in a variety of contexts concerning different times, regions, cultures, institutions, religious traditions, political systems, and more.
Understanding all of these areas in varied contexts will encourage students to think critically and creatively about the United States’ past and present, giving students a breadth of perspective that will enable them to be citizens of many communities and leaders in many fields.
Core Mission
The core mission of this program is to provide students with an integrative, comparative perspective on literature, culture, race, gender, and society. Students will gain a perspective that will enable them to be leaders and innovators in a wide range of fields, to be active, engaged citizens, and to understand their lives and our complex world with greater richness and depth.
The Latinx Studies curriculum achieves these objectives by offering courses that introduce students to the related but distinct histories of culture, society, and politics to give historical background on current debates about public policy and social justice. Latinx Studies courses will examine profound ideas and popular trends, popular culture and ideologies, the timely and the timeless.
The major is structured so that there are multiple points of entry and yet a coherent developmental path. This curriculum will allow students with specific interests to pursue a set of courses tailored to those interests. The courses emphasize intersectional and interdisciplinary connections to encourage the development of broad perspectives but also specific areas of competency and in-depth knowledge.
