TCL Transborder Studies


Faculty Honors Advisors

Francisco Lara-Valencia

About this opportunity

The School of Transborder Studies promotes academic excellence and social change by developing cutting-edge interdisciplinary knowledge regarding the populations of the U.S.-Mexico transborder space and beyond. we aim to affect social change by developing and nurturing integrated transborder scholarship and teaching, leading to more prosperous and sustainable transborder communities. We strive to affect transborder policy and social practice to promote individual, group, and regional prosperity in a globalized world. As an interdisciplinary unit, our School engages the social sciences and the humanities represented by anthropology, sociology, linguistics, public health, history, urban planning and economics, political science, and performance and literary and media studies. Our faculty specialize in economic and community development, transborder health and education, language and learning, demography and immigration, culture and identity, gender and sexuality, and political ecology and environmental sustainability. 

Undergraduate Program

The Bachelor of Arts in Transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies (TCLS) is an interdisciplinary degree program that provides students with an understanding of how Mexican-origin, Chicana/o and Latina/o populations in the United States have historically been present as part of the emergence of multiple geographies and have influenced as well influenced by changing political, social, cultural, institutional, and linguistic borders.

Any Barrett student who is considering majoring or minoring in TCLS should contact the lead FHA Dr. María L. Cruz-Torres (maria.Cruz-torres@asu.edu).

Thesis

Students in the Honors program conduct research/or creative project for their thesis on diverse topics utilizing mixed-method approaches including quantitative and qualitative methods including ethnography, survey research, GIS, and large-scale databases. Students have the opportunity to avail themselves of faculty specializing in archival and documentary sources as well as performative and media techniques. Students wishing to initiate their thesis with the School of Transborder Studies should contact the Faculty Honor’s Advisor as well as other faculty in their areas of interest.

Academic Preparation

In order to develop close working relationships with their academic mentor, we strongly recommend that students enroll in classes with the faculty with whom they would like to conduct their research and design their thesis. The faculty may also recommend specific course work to enhance the research/creative skills of the student in order to conduct the research or creative project.

Recommended Timeline

Students will need to comply with Barrett’s Honor College requirements and deadlines. For students pursuing the Honors Theses in the School of Transborder Studies should follow these suggested time-lines. Students should register for TCL 492 Honors Directed Studies, and TCL Honors Thesis. Students do not have to major in STS in order to register for these courses. It is highly recommended that students in other majors also have coursework that pertains to STS.

Students should follow Barrett’s guidelines for the thesis committee structure having a minimum of two committee members including a director and second reader. The director must be an ASU tenure-line faculty member and the second may be a specialist in the field.

The Junior Year: In the first semester, students should contact a potential thesis director and set up a meeting to discuss a possible project. This would be a good time to take a course with a faculty member with whom you would like to complete your thesis. In the second semester the student should develop a prospectus outlining the research/creative project and after discussions have it accepted by the committee.

The Senior Year: The student in the Fall semester will begin the research/creative project while meeting with thesis advisor and submit a draft of the thesis towards the end of the first semester. The second semester is devoted to continued development and revisions of the thesis and finalize a date for the defense or presentation of the creative project. 

Other Honors Opportunities

Wells Fargo Transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies Research Scholarship

Approximately 4-5 scholarships are awarded to students in the amount of $2,500 for the spring semester. TCLS majors who are interested in participating in research or creative projects with STS faculty or its affiliated faculty are encouraged to apply. The student will work with a faculty mentor during the spring and summer of the same year to complete their research paper and research poster.

Minimum Requirements:

  1. Students pursuing a TCLS major in the School of Transborder Studies
  2. Junior or senior academic level (having 56 or more credit hours completed)
  3. Minimum cumulative GPA of 2.7
  4. Must select a research topic relating directly to Mexican, Chicana/o and/or Latina/o populations
  5. Must select an STS faculty or an affiliated faculty (see advisor for approval) who will supervise research 
  6. Research project must be different from the thesis/creative project

Courses Available for Honors Enrichment Contract 

Each semester varies in availability

Lower Division Credit

  • TCL 101 Introduction to Transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, HU & C
  • TCL 111 Introduction to Transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o Culture, C
  • TCL 201 Transborder Society and Culture I: Interdisciplinary Approaches, HU & C
  • TCL 202 Transborder Society and Culture II: Contemporary Issues, SB & C
  • TCL 220 Transborder Latina/o Expressive Culture, (L or HU or SB) & C
  • TCL 270 Race and Gender in American Film, HU & C

Upper Division Credit

  • TCL 303 Transborder Theory, SB
  • TCL 310 Transborder Chicano/a and Latino/a Folklore of Southwest North America, HU & C
  • TCL 314 Transborder Latin American Migration, (L or SB) & H & C
  • TCL 321 Transborder Community Development and Health, (Science and Society Credit)
  • TCL 323 Latino Health Issues, SB & C (Science and Society Credit)
  • TCL 326 Health of Chicanas and Latinas, SB & C
  • TCL 327 Health and Migration, SB (Science and Society Credit)
  • TCL 332 Mexican American History Since 1900, SB & H & C
  • TCL 335 Historical Studies in Race, Crime and the Law
  • TCL 340 Chicana/o and Latina/o Politics and Policy, L & C
  • TCL 341 Latinas/s and the City Settings, C
  • TCL 343 Latinas/os and the Environment
  • TCL 342 Social Demographics of Latino Populations, SB & C
  • TCL 350 Transborder Mexican and Chicano/a Artistic Production, HU & C & G
  • TCL 351 Transborder Chicano/a and Latino/a Art, HU & C
  • TCL 352 Chicana/o Film, C
  • TCL 363 Transborder Mexican and Chicano/a Literature of Southwest North America, (L or HU) & C
  • TCL 364 Transborder Mexican Literature Before 1917, L & C
  • TCL 371 Language Hegemonies and Culture in SW North America 
  • TCL 373 Latina/Chicana Issues, SB & C
  • TCL 410 Race, Medicine and the Body, L (Science and Society Credit)
  • TCL 422 U.S.-Mexico Border Health
  • TCL 443 Political Ecology of the Border, SB & G
  • TCL 444 The Ethnography of Mexico and the Borderlands, SB & G
  • TCL 445 Transborder Latin American Short Story, (L or HU*Taught in Spanish. Students need to be proficient in Spanish through the 202 level.
  • TCL 446 Comparative Bilingual Latina/o Poetics, (L or HU) & C
  • TCL 447 Gender, Culture, and Development, (L or SB) & G
  • TCL 464 Latina/o Literature, (L or HU) & C
  • TCL 465 Chicana/o and Latina/o History on Film, HU & C
  • TCL 466 Constructing the Border on Film, C
  • TCL 471 Latinos in Hollywood, HU & C
  • TCL 485 Chicana and Latina Writers, (L or HU) & C
  • TCL 488 Border Global Narratives, L & C
  • TCL 494 The US-Mexico Border: People, Place and Power
  • TCL 490 Transborder Queer Performativity, HU & 

*Information, guidelines and instructions on Honors Enrichment Contracts:
https://barretthonors.asu.edu/academics/honors-courses-and-contracts/honors-enrichment-contracts/

College

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Campus

Tempe

Academic Unit

School of Transborder Studies