Congratulations to Joe Mailander, 2008 graduate and LLAS minor, on receiving the University of Minnesota’s Upper Mid-West Human Rights Fellowship!

Joe co-founded a nonprofit music organization called The Medicinal Strings that promotes the arts within underserved communities as a bluegrass band. His band has traveled the country for three summers playing folk concerts and leading educational workshops for all ages. Joe spent the summer of 2008 at Pillsbury Community’s Waite House in Minneapolis creating a youth music program.

Congratulations to LLAS minor Carliene Quist '07 on her Fulbright U.S. Student scholarship for 2007-08

Upcoming Events

Spring 2009 Reading Circles Events

Thursday, February 5: 4:15pm – Quad 353

Reading circle session on Race and Cultural Representation.

Students registered for LLAS 270, and art students who will participate in a poster-making workshop with artist Liliana Angulo (see Feb. 12 event), will discuss with faculty facilitators readings selected by the artist on topics related to race and culture. Discussion led by Bruce Campbell (LLAS), Andrea Shaker (Art), and Corey Shouse Tourino (LLAS).

Thursday, February 12: 7pm – Gorecki 204B

“Presencia Negra/Black Presence”

Liliana Angulo, a visual artist from Colombia, will speak about the issues of race, racial identity, and racial embodiment that inform her artistic work, and that shape contemporary life in the Americas. Her public presentation is part of a four-day residency at CSB/SJU, and will provide public acces to the artist, whose work is on exhibit at the Benedicta Arts Center From January 19 through February20 ("Presencia Negra/Black Presence", BAC - Gorecki Gallery). OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Presentation in Spanish with English translation.

Thursday, March 19: 7pm – Quad 264 (Centenary Room)

“The History of Race and Mulatez in Latin America”

Dr. Joan Bristol, associate professor of History at George Mason University, will speak about race lations, racial identity and racial categories in Latin America, with special attention to the "mixed race" category of mulatez, the biological and cultural mixing of European and African heritage. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Presentation in English.

Thursday, April 2: 8pm - Steven B. Humphrey Theater

"Jesus on the Border"

Rev. Virgilio Elizondo will speak about the theology of mestizaje, the racial and cultural "mixing" that has marked Latin American history and now in new ways the U.S.-Mexico border region. Father Elizondo argues that "Rather than viewing borders as the ultimate chaos of mixture, impurity, and disorder, we can begin to see them for what they truly are: "the cradles of the new humanity". In this keynote address, Virgilio Elizondo highlights the identity of Jesus, the Galilean, as someone who engages in boreder-crossings for the sake of transforming and creating inclusive communities within the Church and Society. Presentation in English.

contact: Bruce Campbell for more information

Our program . . .

Latino/Latin American Studies consists of three intertwined programs: an academic minor, a co-curricular learning community, and study abroad programs in Chile and Guatemala.

Program highlights

The program offers a variety of courses, some focusing on particular national groups or specific academic disciplines, and others organized around comparative topics or issues
The purpose is to encourage in-depth study as well as to provide guidance for a general inquiry into the problem of cultural difference and its social and political implications, within both the Americas and the Caribbean
CSB/SJU sponsors a nationally recognized Latino/Latin American Learning Community

Overview of Program

Students will take a common introductory course and will complete their program with a common capstone
The Latino/Latin American Studies minor requires Spanish-language proficiency and twenty-five (25) credits of Latino/L atin American Studies courses: seventeen credits, required; and eight credits, elective

Contact information:

Bruce Campbell, Ph.D.
QUAD 253 A
(320) 363-2727