Students interested in major (see the Catalog) in Latin American and Caribbean studies should contact the LACS chair, Amauri Gutierrez Coto at gutierra@lafayette.edu.
Students interested in minor (see the Catalog) in Latin American and Caribbean studies should contact the LACS chair, Amauri Gutierrez Coto at gutierra@lafayette.edu.
See the list of approved courses
Students are asked to demonstrate intermediate level language proficiency in a language relevant to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean. Spanish or French is recommended.
It is also strongly recommended that students participate in one of the many approved study abroad programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, and/or in non-traditional LACS-related experiences like Engineers without Borders, Alternative Spring Break, problem-based learning, or community-based learning.
As per College policy, students can count up to three courses in their major toward the LACS major or minor as long as they are on the approved list of LACS courses. Students majoring in Spanish can count up to two major courses toward the LACS minor.
Many languages are spoken throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, most of which Lafayette College does not offer courses in. For this reason, the LACS major will require advanced language requirements in the two languages spoken in the region that the college does offer: Spanish and French. The LACs programs recognizes and values all languages spoken in the region and wants to encourage students to study them (i.e.. Portuguese, Kreyol, Dutch, Quechua, Nahuatl, and the 600 other Creole and Indigenous languages spoken in the region.) We believe that in addition to language proficiency, learning new languages also exposes students to new ways of thinking about the world and understanding the people who speak them, even at the introductory levels. Therefore, language courses outside of French and Spanish (even at the introductory level) can count as electives towards a LACs major. In rare cases in which a student wants to gain proficiency in a language from the region other than French or Spanish to meet their requirement for intermediate language study, the LACS faculty will support assessment.