First year teaching at the University of Arkansas

The objective of Latina/os, Migration and the U.S. South is to introduce a learning approach that fosters analytical skills, promotes critical inquiry and incorporates student scholarship and research. In doing so, the class relies on a pedagogical approach that helps students to connect with local communities and thus examine society firsthand, through the lens of sociology and fieldwork. As part of the The Southern Latino and Migrant Voices Project initiative, the course is organized around constructivist and service learning format. This is a pedagogical method that helps students appreciate the concepts of difference and diversity. That is to say, students are introduced to the local field as a “hands-on” opportunity for ethnographic research in order to benefit from group exploration to understand how larger social forces shape the social position of racialized minority groups in the area.