| Latino/a
Studies is currently at a crucial moment of consolidation and
development at The Ohio State University. Some positive developments
have been taken place since a coordinating committee in Latino/a
Studies was established several years ago. The new coordinator
of the program, Professor Luz Calvo from the Dept. Comparative
Studies, has actively promoted the field among students and
collaborated with the Multicultural Center in offering courses
and co-organizing a lecture series at its facility. Latino/a
faculty has somewhat increased its numbers in spite of some
departures. The departments of Women Studies and Sociology have
now Latino/a faculty for the first time. However, some of the
largest departments in the humanities and the social sciences
do not have Latino/a faculty yet, a faculty that is needed to
help building a more auspicious future for this interdisciplinary
field at the university.
The minor in Latino/a Studies, now into its
third year, is still the only academic manifestation of this
area of studies on campus. Despite the continuous solid enrollment
in all Latino/a Studies courses in the participant departments
(i.e. Comparative Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, Women Studies,
etc.), and the public interest in Latino/a Studies related
activities, those numbers are yet to be translated into students
declaring Latino/a Studies as their minor.
|
Ignacio Corona, Ph.D.
With the recent initiative of a major in
Comparative Ethnic and American Studies to be proposed later
this year, Latino/a Studies will incorporate to this major
as one of the areas of specialization. Within this curricular
framework, a student majoring in CEAS will then have the
choice of taking most of his or her courses in Latino/a
Studies. An interdisciplinary major in Latino/a Studies,
or the establishment of a possible research center in Latino/a
Studies in association with or as a part of the recently
inaugurated Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
are still items for a future agenda. What Latino/a Studies
needs at the present juncture is the continued support from
the part of the administration and the Hispanic organizations
on campus; the backing of interested faculty, those already
here and those who will hopefully be recruited in the near
future; and last but not least, the interest, intellectual
challenge, and enthusiastic participation of the students
without whom the field might not have the undeniable relevance
it has acquired in the contemporary academia.
|
