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Critical RGC Studies 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016-8144 United StatesWhat Is Latina/o/x Studies?
Housed in Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies, Latina/o/x Studies is an interdisciplinary minor that considers Latin American origin communities in the United States. As a branch of US race and ethnic studies, Latina/o/x Studies courses explore questions of race, ethnicity, and racialization as the primary areas of focus. Operating from a comparative framework that examines Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican/Chicana/o/x, Central American, and other Latin American populations, the minor explores common interests and differences affecting US Latina/o/x populations. Latina/o/x Studies at American University capitalizes on the University’s strategic location in the DC Metropolitan area, a contact zone of communities with roots in all parts of the Americas.
Read Decolonial Environmentalisms: Climate Justice and Speculative Futures in Latinx Cultural Production, by David Vázquez (University of Texas Press, 2025)
Why Minor in Latina/o/x Studies?
A minor in Latina/o/x Studies will add depth to your major and program of studies. Six of the eighteen credits in a minor in LTST may be cross-counted towards another major or minor. Consult your advisor and course catalog before declaring/registering.
News & Notes
Drs. Kaplan, Wong and Dorr just signed an advanced contract with University of Washington Press for our forthcoming anthology, Abolition Everywhere. Building from our national convening this past spring, this collaborative project convenes scholars and practitioners working to dismantle policing and the carceral state with those deploying abolitionist frameworks to stage critical interventions in other movements and areas–including militarism and war, land and climate justice, housing and property, im/migration and reproductive justice–to construct a new model and agenda for research and action. Together we examine the convergent formation of abolitionist theory and praxis across a range of social movements to productively complicate and/or expand how we understand the inner workings of carceral power across different sites and scales. Given the urgencies of our current political moment, our aim is to strengthen conversations and connections across these movements and traditions.
Katia Quintanilla (LTST 2025) has been working at Maggio Kattar, an immigration law firm in Washington, DC that specializes in employment immigration. After working as a legal assistant and partly as a translator for the firm's humanitarian cases, Katia has recently been promoted to Client Coordinator and will begin to take on a more administrative role within the firm.
David Vázquez, founding director of AU’s Latina/o/x Studies program, was elected to serve as president of the Latina/o Studies Association in the coming academic year.
AU student Emma Busch documented the history of ENLACE, Washington’s first Latino/a gay and lesbian organization.
Latinx Symposium featured Laura Pulido, Perla Guerrero, Ricardo Ortiz, Kristie Dorr, Laura Pulido, Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, and David Vazquez.
Program Director
Statement in Solidarity with Anti-Racist Efforts from CRGC
The faculty of the Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies join with protesters across the world to denounce police brutality and systemic anti-Black violence.
