Latin American and Caribbean Studies
- Department Interdisciplinary
- Academic Division The College
- Offerings Minor
The interdisciplinary Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) allows students to explore the region’s histories, cultural practices, socioeconomic structures and politics, with particular attention to the incremental transformations shaped by the encounter of Indigenous, African, Asian, and European peoples, and subsequent waves of migration from and to the region.
About the Program
The LACS curriculum includes more than 70 courses from disciplines both in the College and Williams School, including anthropology, art, business, economics, English, French, history, politics, Portuguese, sociology and Spanish. A minor in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program provides a logical complement to a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in any of the majors from these and other departments.
Students in the program are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to experience target cultures through formal study abroad arrangements, summer internships and experiential courses.
Why Study LACS at W&L?
Students who complete the minor gain the background necessary for careers in journalism, law, teaching, bilingual education, social work, business, government and international organizations, as well as graduate work in Latin American studies and related disciplines. Recent graduates have pursued careers in medicine, law, specialized nonprofit organizations, business, science research and urban planning, among others.
Experiential Learning Opportunities
LACS offers a variety of engaged learning opportunities intended to allow students to interact with the issues and people that define the Americas. The experiences include internships and practical language training in Costa Rica, education in Argentina and advocacy at W&L’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
LACS Fieldwork (LACS 453 and 454) allows students to work for six to eight weeks in the summer as volunteers at public schools, a retirement home, a wildlife refuge, a restaurant, a law office, or a municipal bank in Nicoya, Costa Rica. For the practicum experience (451 and 452) students work as teachers’ assistants at Holy Trinity College in Mar de Plata, Argentina. For LACS minors who have already acquired language fluency, W&L’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic affords students the opportunity to serve as translators and assist clients with immigration matters.
More Student Opportunities
Back in Lexington, language tables such as Table française, Mesa Española and Bate-Papo Brasileiro meet twice a week and are a great way for students to practice languages with W&L’s native teaching assistants and faculty.
The English for Speakers of Other Languages Program (ESOL) facilitates communication within the increasingly diverse population of Rockbridge County.
Other opportunities include Casa Hispánica, where students live and speak Spanish, and which serves as a weekly meeting place for cultural activities; French and Portuguese-language student-run clubs; Romance Languages Poetry Night; and Pluma, a Spanish-language literary journal.
After W&L
Since its inception, LACS had graduated more than 70 alumni who have distinguished themselves in diverse ways. Our alumni consistently tell us how important the LACS minor was for them in the formation of their occupational readiness and vocational passion. A few of our alumni and their career paths include:
- Johan Garcia, Epidemiologist
- Jillian O’Donnell, Physician
- Vance Berry, Immigration Lawyer
- Cindy Rivas, Goldman Sachs
- Mary Petrulis Wren, Physician
- Jared Shelly, Fulbright Scholar
- Ben Ersing, Enterprise Strategist
- Daniel Boccio, ISF Entry Agent, Ken Lehat Associates
- Jamie Ferrell Bailey, Immigration Lawyer
- Keke Nichols, Teacher
- Ali Greenberg, Brand Strategist
- Audrey Martin, Consultant
- Abigail Hamilton, Graduate Student, Veterinary School
- Kyle Wood, Investment Banking Analyst
CBL Faculty Collaborative Generates New Community Connections
The 2023-2024 academic year at W&L saw the proliferation of several new course offerings for students through a new faculty development initiative offered by the Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL).
W&L’s Anna Bosking ’24 Awarded Fulbright to Colombia
Bosking has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Colombia.
Pablo Abufom to Deliver Lecture on Latin American Politics
The Chilean activist’s talk will be held Feb. 12 at 5 p.m.
W&L’s Seth Michelson Quoted in NPR Segment About a Film Documentary
The Spanish professor appears as a faculty expert in the film that debuted at the Virginia Film Festival last month.
Zoila Ponce de León’s chapter is titled “Health Care and the Public-Private Mix in Mexico, Chile, and Peru” and appears in the Latin American section of the publication.
Staniar Gallery Presents Delilah Montoya: Contemporary Casta Portraiture
The solo exhibition will run from April 24 to May 25 in Staniar Gallery inside Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts.
W&L Law Professor David Baluarte Awarded Fulbright to Develop Clinical Programs in Mexico
Baluarte will teach in the Refugee Law Clinic and assist in the development of clinical legal education more broadly at the Iberoamericana University.
W&L Professors Publish New Edition of Politics Textbook
The fourth edition of “Comparative Politics” is a collaboration between faculty in W&L’s Department of Politics and Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Student Organization Spotlight: English for Speakers of Other Languages
For more than 20 years, ESOL volunteers have participated in language and literacy work in the Lexington-Rockbridge area and beyond.
W&L Politics Professor Receives Best Article Prize
Zoila Ponce de León recognized by the Journal for Latin American Studies.
W&L Presents ‘Selections from The Lindsay Webster Collection of Cuban Posters at Wofford College’
The show will be on display in Wilson Hall’s Lykes Atrium in conjunction with Esteban Ramón Pérez’s solo exhibition “Distorted Myths,” which will be on view in the Staniar Gallery Oct. 10 through Nov. 2.
Meet the Faculty
At W&L, students enjoy small classes and close relationships with professors who educate and nurture.
Seth Michelson
Associate Professor of Spanish; Program Head, Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Michelson teaches the poetry of the hemispheric Americas, as well as a diversity of courses on the literatures, cultures and languages of the region. His research focuses on poetry and state violence, and he is the author of numerous book chapters, articles and essays on the subject, among others.
Jeff Barnett
S. Blount Mason Jr. Professor of Spanish
- P: 540-458-8950
- E: barnettj@wlu.edu
Barnett teaches courses in Spanish language, translation, and Spanish-American literature and culture. His research deals with modern Latin American narrative and cultural studies as well as literary translation.
Mónica Botta
Professor of Spanish
- P: 540-458-8297
- E: bottam@wlu.edu
Botta teaches courses in Latin American Theater, literature and culture. She has researched Latin American culture with an emphasis on post-dictatorship periods.
Jamie Casey
Professor of Economics
- P: 540-458-8102
- E: caseyj@wlu.edu
Casey is a 1991 W&L graduate who teaches courses that focus on the relation between the economy and the environment. His research centers on environmental funding and the economics of agriculture.
Jonathan Eastwood
Department Head, Sociology and Anthropology; Professor of Sociology
Professor Eastwood is a social theorist who also has a strong interest in quantitative methods. He teaches seminars on classical and contemporary theory as well as a series of courses that train students how to use quantitative and computational tools to answer sociological questions.
Romina Green
Assistant Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8094
- E: rgreen@wlu.edu
Professor Green Rioja’s research interests include examining structural racism in modern Chilean history and identifying settler-colonial policies that displaced the Indigenous Mapuche.
James Kahn
Emeritus Faculty, John F. Hendon Professor of Economics and Professor of Environmental Studies
- P: 540-458-8036
- E: kahnj@wlu.edu
Kahn is a 1975 alumnus who teaches courses on the economics of the environment and development. He also teaches a Spring Term study abroad course in the Amazonas and researches environmental policy and resource economics.
Mohamed Kamara
Department Chair and Professor of Romance Languages; Campus Muslim Student Advisor
- P: 540-458-8475
- E: kamaram@wlu.edu
Professor Kamara holds degrees in French, English and Secondary Education. He teaches French courses in the Department of Romance Languages and also teaches in the university’s Africana Studies Program. As faculty advisor to campus Muslim students and the W&L African Society, he is a member of the Religious Staff in the Office of Inclusion and Engagement.
Andrea Lepage
Pamela H. Simpson Professor of Art History and Department Head
- P: 540-458-8305
- E: lepagea@wlu.edu
Andrea Lepage offers classes in the following areas: contemporary Chicana/o and U.S. Latina/o art, modern and colonial Latin American art, arts of Mesoamerica and the Andes, and Early Modern European art (Italian, Spanish, Dutch).
Ellen Mayock
Ernest Williams II Professor of Spanish
- P: 540-458-8816
- E: mayocke@wlu.edu
At Washington and Lee, Mayock has taught courses in Spanish, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on gender and its intersections in literature and film, feminist theories and practice, and representations of conflict and violence. Mayock also writes poetry and creative nonfiction.
Marcos Perez
Assistant Professor of Sociology
- P: 540-458-8793
- E: mperez@wlu.edu
Perez teaches courses such as Revolutions and Revolutionaries and Poverty and Marginality in the Americas. His research interests include political sociology, urban studies, stratification and Latin American studies.
Zoila Ponce de Leon Seijas
Assistant Professor of Politics
Ponce de Leon Seijas teaches courses on comparative politics and Latin American politics. Her research focuses on Latin American social policy as well as political representation in Latin America and Western Europe.