Latin American Studies Degree Broadens International Understanding

by CHUCK WASSERSTROM

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Arts and Sciences has a new degree program to connect the University in new ways with realities in the United States’ changing demographics, local and regional communities and the job market.

In the fall of 2021, the bachelor’s degree program in Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures: Latin American Studies launched. The idea behind it, says Edwin Murillo, an associate professor of Spanish, “speaks to UTC’s mission to offer educational experiences for students to immerse themselves in a very international multidisciplinary curriculum. It speaks to what the University is trying to do for its students, which is create, mold and produce globally-minded graduates.”

Murillo led the development of the curriculum proposal. He says putting the program in place took about a year of planning, basing the UTC model on research from several universities with strong Latin American backgrounds, including the University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, the University of Miami, Duke University and the University of North Carolina.

“What’s unique about our Latin American studies program is its truly interdisciplinary nature,” Murillo says. “Most degree programs are quite territorial. For example, if it’s a Spanish degree, then it’s going to be 99.9% Spanish programs without the share of any prerequisites.

“In our case, we are sharing some of that curriculum with history. We have a space for the core requirements with the History Department. Part of the electives for the Latin American studies B.A. can be drawn from art, anthropology, sociology and other history courses, and I think that makes us pretty unique as well.”

Two Spanish department faculty members, Carmen Jiménez and Bernardo Amparan, helped develop important courses for the program. Other UTC faculty participating in the fledgling program’s inaugural year included Edward Brudney in history, Brooke Persons in anthropology and Ethan Mills in philosophy.

“I’m very glad that we have a new offering for the students so that they can learn about other parts of Latin America,” says Jiménez, who is teaching a course called “Afro-Latino Voices: The Caribbean and Beyond.”

“I don’t fit the stereotype of Latino, so with that in mind, I want people to know about the other faces that Latin America has and about the literature and concepts of Black people in the Caribbean.”

Amparan created a course titled “Highlights of Mexican Identity and Culture.”

“This was the first time that I was directly involved in building a new program and it was a great experience,” Amparan says. “I wanted to present cultural artifacts that were predominant in the Mexico that I grew up with and my friends grew up with, mainly in Mexico City and in Monterey City.

“Mexico is a vast mix of people and cultures and traditions, and it’s very rich in every aspect that you see.”

The necessity for this new program stems from the awakening of a Hispanic-American consciousness that speaks to forces in the job market, Murillo says.

“Since 2010, Hispanics are the largest minority, and I know that’s an oxymoron,” Murillo says, “but we’re the largest minority in the United States, demographically speaking, and it’s always good to be educated about a new demographic.

“If we look at it as part of our collective U.S.American cultural identity, this degree will help U.S. Americans who aren’t familiarized with that Hispanic-ness become familiarized with the Hispanic-ness. It broadens the horizons and speaks to a new job market. The world is globalized. If you want to be competitive in Latin America, you should know about it. These are communities that exist and have always existed. This degree helps to educate us about those communities.”

The job market Murillo speaks about isn’t limited to Latin American countries. The growing Hispanic community in Chattanooga and North Georgia has a multitude of descendants from Central America, he explains.

In contrast, the Dalton, Georgia, area—about 30 miles south of Chattanooga—has a sizable Hispanic presence of mostly Mexican descent.

“Chattanooga is one of the leaders in the region in terms of education, business and medicine,” Murillo says, “and the community is growing. We’re going to need individuals who are culturally prepared to engage with these communities. This degree does that. It prepares them.”

Edwin Murrillo, left, Carmen Jiménez, center, and Bernardo Amparan