News Release

By DAVID WILLIAMSON
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty members have established the first Latina/o minor at a university in the Southeast.

The move follows recognition of the increasing importance and influence of the rapidly growing number of people here who came -- or whose ancestors came -- from countries in Latin America, according to Dr. María DeGuzmán, director of Latina/o studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Latin America is an umbrella term covering Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, countries and regions having major economic and cultural impacts on North Carolina.

"We are very excited about developing and expanding our offerings in

Latina/Latino studies," said Dr. James P. Thompson, professor and chair of English at UNC. "There has already been considerable interest in Latina /Latino literature courses, and this area of study fits well with the English Department's traditional strengths in American literature, Southern literature and African American literature."

In light of the rapidly increasing Hispanic population of North Carolina, the university’s faculty wants to meet the interests and needs of all UNC students, he said.

"As an assistant professor of English in Latina/o literatures and cultures and as organizer of the UNC Latina/o Cultures Speakers Series since 1999, it seemed to me high time that UNC made a further commitment to these studies," DeGuzmán said.

Last August, DeGuzmán enlisted help from 11 other faculty members on what has become a 12-member advisory committee for the university-wide undergraduate new minor. Committee members represent various disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, she said. Among them are anthropology, African American studies, dramatic arts, English, geography, health and human behavior, history, journalism and mass communication, music, public policy and Romance languages.

"The main point of the effort, which was successful, was to create and link together for a five-course minor enough courses related to Latina/o studies," DeGuzmán said. "We came up with some 21 courses. I wrote a proposal, submitted it to the undergraduate curriculum committee, and in March received notification that the administrative boards approved the new university-wide undergraduate minor, which is the first of its kind in the Southeast."

Although UNC has a distinguished program in Latin American studies, as with so many other institutions, there was no formal Latina/o studies program until now, she said.

"One might ask what the difference is between Latin American studies and Latina/o studies since they sound similar," she said. "Unlike Latin American studies, where the focus is on the cultures and experiences of various parts of Latin America, Latina/o studies takes as its primary concern the presence of Latin American, Spanish and the many combinations of Hispanic, Native, African and Asian cultures within the borders of the United States."

Subjects of study and even creators of the field are constantly changing, and the focus can extend far beyond U.S. borders, DeGuzmán said.

"In this respect, it does share some of the transnational and transcultural scope, momentum and issues of Latin American studies but with its own focus and its own perspectives," she said. "It does not duplicate the work of Latin American studies but rather draws on it and complements it."

DeGuzmán said she and others at UNC felt strongly that the University should establish the minor for several reasons.

"One is that our peer institutions around the country such as the University of Michigan, Indiana University and the University of California at Berkeley now have programs in Latina/o Studies," she said. "Another is that North Carolina has been in a culturally unique position among states. According to a June 2001 report from the Inter-University Program for Latino Research based at Notre Dame, except for Hawaii, every state experienced a double-digit percentage growth in Latinos between 1990 and 2000."

Twenty-two states exhibited at least a twofold increase in their Latino populations, DeGuzmán said. North Carolina experienced the largest percentage increase at 394 percent, followed by Arkansas at 337 percent and Georgia with 300 percent. Georgia currently has the fastest growing Hispanic population.

"The percentage increase has grown since the findings of the June 2001 report were posted online," she said. "In short, the case of North Carolina is both exemplary and exceptional with regard to Latina/o demographics. This fact alone justifies the creation of a university-wide undergraduate minor in Latina/o studies at the state’s flagship institution of public education dedicated, among other things, to serving the needs of this state."

The minor draws from course offerings in the humanities and the social sciences, DeGuzmán said. To obtain certification in the minor, starting this fall students will take five courses in a variety of areas so that their plans of study would qualify as Latina/o studies and not just literature or history, for example. Required are one core course in the humanities, a core course in the social sciences and three electives distributed between humanities and social sciences.

The minor program will have a kickoff event on Sept. 20 when Frances Aparicio, professor and director of Latin American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will speak on campus. Dr. Aparicio’s talk, "Gendered Transculturations in Six Feet Under: Rethinking Disciplinary Boundaries," will be followed by music and dance performances by Charanga Carolina, Que Rico and the Ricardo Granillo Group. The talk and performances will be held at 5 p.m. in the Toy Lounge of Dey Hall. Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the English department, the event is part of the UNC Latina/o Cultures Speakers Series.

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Note: DeGuzmán can be reached at (919) 962-4031 or deGuzman@email.unc.edu. More information is available at http://www.nd.edu/~iuplr/news/noticiero/June2001.html

Contacts: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339 or David Williamson, (919) 962-8596