Philosophy and Rationale

The Ph.D. program in Chicano/Latino Studies (CLS) at Michigan State University prepares scholars, researchers, and teachers in the Social Sciences and Humanities to develop expertise on the historical and contemporary experiences of Chicanos and Latinos in their social, cultural, political and economic contexts. The Program emphasizes global, trans-disciplinary, comparative and applied approaches to knowledge and enhances collaborative efforts within the university, peer educational institutions and the broader community. It addresses Chicano and Latino experiences in home communities in the United States, and international dimensions and diaspora experiences involving communities in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the past two generations Chicano/Latino Studies scholars have transformed knowledge throughout academia, particularly in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Among the most significant changes have been our contributions to the theoretical foundations of traditional disciplines focusing on racial formation, colonial and neocolonial theory, hybridity theory, border theory, identity politics, environmental racism, immigration and migration theory, and Latina/o Critical Race Theory (Lat/Crit).  The Chicano/Latino Studies Ph.D. program offers a transdisciplinary meeting ground for scholars in traditional academic units to address these areas within a coherent intellectual focus of study.

The need for this Program is also evident in changing demographics, the proliferation of academic scholarship, and rising nationwide demand in the past generation.

Demographically, Chicano/Latino Studies addresses the range of historical and contemporary experiences of the largest minority in the nation, representing 40 million people in 2004. The Chicano/Latino population is simultaneously the fastest-growing and least-studied major group in the Midwest and throughout the United States.

Scholars have recognized the importance of the field and academic production has proliferated. This recent literature has had a profound impact on academia and on policy makers’ understanding of how the Chicano/Latino population has altered political, economic, social and cultural life throughout the nation and the Americas. More than twenty independent ethnic studies publishers were identified in Ethnic Studies in the U.S.: A Guide to Research (1996). In addition, several academic presses have a series or a special interest in Chicano/Latino related academic concerns, including those affiliated with the Universities of Oklahoma, California, Stanford, New Mexico, Arizona, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Texas A&M and Texas. More than fifty academic and literary journals focus on ethnic studies, many of which are devoted exclusively to Chicano/Latino Studies.

In addressing these profound changes, universities throughout the nation recognize the great need to hire scholars who can advance teaching and research in Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, and Ethnic Studies. The scholars they hire are expected to have attained trans-disciplinary expertise, although institutional preparation for teachers and researchers in traditional disciplines has been extremely limited. More than fifty universities currently offer programs of undergraduate study, approximately half of which provide majors specifically in Chicano/Latino Studies or Ethnic Studies. Among peer institutions in the Big Ten, thirteen universities offer undergraduate specializations, concentrations or minors, while only two offer majors in Chicano/Latino Studies.

The only Ph.D. Program in Chicano Studies was recently created at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Meanwhile hundreds of interested graduate students turn to traditional departments that provide limited expertise and limited inter-disciplinary or trans-disciplinary programmatic offerings. The shortage of formally trained scholars is also evident in the proliferation of job opportunities in recent years. During the 2001-2002 academic year, more than 40 full-time tenure-line positions in Chicano/Latino Studies were advertised. 

Michigan State University has laid the foundations for an outstanding graduate program in Chicano/Latino Studies. There are a number of scholars engaged in Chicano/Latino Studies in several colleges and centers. Because the Julián Samora Research Institute and the Chicano/Latino Studies undergraduate specialization are housed in the College of Social Science, the most sensible college for the interdisciplinary Chicano/Latino Studies Ph.D. Program is Social Science. The Julián Samora Research Institute has gained a reputation throughout the nation as a leading center of Chicano/Latino research and offers an opportunity to attract scholars and support graduate student research that will make the Ph.D. program at Michigan State unique. The Michigan State University Library system has been engaged in a systematic effort to obtain materials pertinent to Chicano/Latino Studies over the past twenty years, and the César Chavez Collection has become one of a handful of the leading collections in the nation. In addition, the Chicano/Latino Studies specialization, with more than one hundred twenty students enrolled, reflects the strong student interest already developed in the field at Michigan State University.

With a strategic utilization of current, replacement and new resources, Michigan State University, in conjunction with the Julián Samora Research Institute, African American and African Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and other allied units, can provide the critical mass of committed faculty, curriculum and research initiatives, to build and sustain an outstanding, nationally ranked program in Chicano/Latino Studies.