Certificate Program
This undergraduate certificate requires 12 units of social justice analysis from the field of Mexican American Studies and focuses on the local communities of the U.S.-Mexico border. Students develop transcultural competency grounded in the Mexican American/borderlands experience. Students will learn to employ social justice frameworks as community leadership skills.
Why Complete a Cultural Competency certificate?
This certification will enhance students’ training by developing their skills on issues of cultural perceptions, negotiating difference, recognizing bias, self-reflexiveness, leadership and social justice and integrating these skills in their work/community environment.
Through this certificate students will gain competencies set forth by the Office of Student Engagement:
- Diversity and Identity
- Community Partnerships
- Discovery, Leadership, and Professional Development
- Civic and Community Responsibility
- Innovation and Creativity
- Global and Intercultural Comprehension
- Interdisciplinarity
Students will also be evaluated on personal and social responsibility, knowledge application and systems thinking as it relates to the stated populations and communities in these borderlands/ local environment.
How to Apply
Complete the certificate application, ensuring that you have all required components, and submit it to SBS-MAS@arizona.edu.
Application checklist:
- Letter of intent (see certificate application)
- One recommendation letter
- Unofficial undergraduate transcripts
- Complete application
Certificate Requirements
Students must complete 12 units:
- 6 units in MAS courses from a thematic concentration focused on health, social justice and/or migration
- 6 units of capstone courses focusing on cultural competencies and an applied research project as part of an internship with a community organization
Health Thematic Courses
This course provides and in-depth exploration on how social and cultural factors influence the health of racial/ethnic groups and underserved populations in the United States. The Socio-Cultural Determinants of Health are social, political, economic and cultural conditions, forces and factors that influence how health is distributed among entire groups and populations. The examination of socio-cultural influences is an interdisciplinary field of study that draws on research and scholarship from many areas including medical sociology, medical and cultural anthropology, public health, political science, public policy studies, epidemiology, and critical gender and race studies. This course introduces important concepts found in the scientific literature and then examines fundamental determinants of health, including income and social class, ethnicity and racism, place and space on specific determinants (e.g. segregation, racism) and health conditions (e.g. infectious and chronic diseases).
This interdisciplinary course is a survey of various popular and Indigenous medicinal systems that fall under the rubric known as Mexican Traditional Medicine (MTM). Mexican scholar Carlos Viesca Treviño defines MTM as medicinal knowledge(s) that emanate from Mesoamerican world views and that have adapted to historical and social conditions in the Americas. This course will explore various expressions of MTM, with a special emphasis on Indigenous medicinal approaches to healing that exemplify both continuities and adaptations. We will compare across cultures some shared values in various Indigenous systems as well as how they are uniquely expressed in contemporary settings. We will also draw from the local knowledge holders of Indigenous populations from this region to compare various approaches in traditional medicine. This course will introduce students to the relationship between place, healing and cosmology in Indigenous-based cultures that maintain curing traditions and practices. We will explore the theories and philosophies that are used in MTM as well as applied knowledge and practices that are useful for self care and community wellness.
Traditional Indian Medicine, or TIM, is a concept that refers to Indigenous knowledges expressed through the varied healing systems in Indigenous communities. This course will pay particular attention to American Indian nations and healing knowledges that are intersecting and intertwined relationships with the natural world, the Indigenous body and the sacred. We will examine both how Indigenous healing systems have persisted as well as responded to social conditions, such as genocide, colonization and historical, as well as contemporary, forms of oppression. Topics include intergenerational trauma as well as how resilience is expressed in practices of wellbeing, healing and self-determination. We will also explore TIM as containing systems of healing that may/may not operate in conjunction with allopathic medicine. This course takes a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating readings from American Indian/Indigenous studies and health to explore a complex portfolio of American Indian/Indigenous wellbeing.
A public health perspective in examining health and mental health issues affecting Latinos residing in the U.S., with particular emphasis on Mexican Americans.
Introduction to Mexican American studies from various perspectives. Research issues and interpretation in the field; public policy and Mexican origin populations; and social sciences and the professions and impact upon the Mexican American community.
Migration Thematic Courses
Migration is currently re-shaping American cities, families, urban landscapes, rural areas, politics, and altering the nation's racial and cultural make up. In response, societal attitudes and power dynamics that structure their incorporation shift, often engendering competing perspectives about immigrants' efforts to belong and carve out a place for themselves within the United States as "A nation of Immigrants." This course will focus on the quasi-permanent presence of undocumented immigrants and other vulnerable noncitizens living in the United States, focusing in particular on those who come from Latin America.
Using a comparative and interdisciplinary focus this course critically examines major issues affecting today's Latinx populations. Major topics include immigration, class, race, gender, sexuality, culture and identity, and the role of discrimination, laws, public policies and policing in structuring inequality.
This course will provide an overview of the theories, policies, and practices related to the education of Latinos. We will focus specifically on the social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors, within and outside the school context, that contribute to Latino students' underachievement, failure, and negative educational outcomes. In addition, transformative practices that promote student achievement, learning, and critical consciousness will be discussed. Readings will cover various issues in education as well as introduce course participants to a broad collection of primarily Latino scholars interested in developing new methods and policies that will improve the educational experiences of Latino students.
This a co-convened course that will include advanced 4th-year undergraduate students who along with graduate students (enrolled in MAS 570) will examine migration as a worldwide phenomenon in part due to the greater participation of women. In the Americas, in particular, there has been a steady increase in migration to the U.S. from Mexico and Latin America since the 1960s, much of which can be traced to the negative impact of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) resulting in the impoverishment of agricultural sectors and lack of employment opportunities, a combination known to produce the feminization of migration. In this class, we will explore this phenomenon and the various challenges borne by women and youths. We will consider relevant theories, such as neoliberal economics and structural violence, as well as a wide range of perspectives, combining demography, history, ethnography and public policy analysis to better understand issues of borders, transnational identities, human rights, labor rights, and responsibilities of host and sending states.
Social Justice Thematic Courses
Introduction to Mexican American studies from multidisciplinary perspectives.
Exploration and analysis of the origin, nature, dynamics (political, social, cultural), ideology, activities, and effects of the Chicano movement of the 1960s.
Using a comparative and interdisciplinary focus this course critically examines major issues affecting today's Latinx populations. Major topics include immigration, class, race, gender, sexuality, culture and identity, and the role of discrimination, laws, public policies and policing in structuring inequality.
This course will examine how urbanization transformed the lives of Latinas/os in the United States, and how their growing presence transformed communities, institutions, and national politics. Since World War II, the growth of U.S. urban areas directly corresponds with immigration trends. Globalization has intensified this dynamic as migrants moved northward from mostly rural areas in Mexico and Central America seeking jobs and to improve their quality of life. Aside from demographic growth and land-use issues, this course will highlight issues related to urbanization such as housing, political participation, education, health disparities and the formation of new identities and social movements. It will also consider multiethnic encounters and collaborations that often take place in urban life. Lectures will center on the historical, geographical and social changes that accompany urbanization. Interdisciplinary readings consisting of monographs, primary documents, oral testimonies and government documents will be assigned.
This course will provide an overview of the theories, policies, and practices related to the education of Latinos. We will focus specifically on the social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors, within and outside the school context, that contribute to Latino students' underachievement, failure, and negative educational outcomes. In addition, transformative practices that promote student achievement, learning, and critical consciousness will be discussed. Readings will cover various issues in education as well as introduce course participants to a broad collection of primarily Latino scholars interested in developing new methods and policies that will improve the educational experiences of Latino students.
Historical survey and sociological analysis of past and present experiences of Mexicanas and Chicanas in the United States.
Capstone Courses
The exchange of scholarly information and/or secondary research, usually in a small group setting. Instruction often includes lectures by several different persons. Research projects may or may not be required of course registrants.
A culminating experience for majors involving a substantive project that demonstrates a synthesis of learning accumulated in the major, including broadly comprehensive knowledge of the discipline and its methodologies. Senior standing required.