LATS 241
Redefining the "Helping Hand:" Community-based Approaches to Latinas/os in the Northern Berkshires
Last Offered Fall 2006
Division II
Cross-listed
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

With a specific focus on the “politics of helping” with regard to the Northern Berkshires’ Latin American immigrant population, this courses centers on the new face (la nueva cara) of a Latina/o identity rooted in the region’s rural, as opposed to urban, spaces. We begin with an historic, political and cultural overview of both Berkshire County and the Latina/o populations who comprise the majority of its newest immigrants. Students will then be trained in formal interviewing techniques. After a brief period of information-gathering, establishing community contacts and interviewing Latina/o immigrant residents, each two-person student team will identify an experiential learning project that they feel best addresses a particular need within their partner organization and within the Latina/o immigrant community itself. Student teams will have the option of working in conjunction with any one or more of the following individuals or organizations for the remainder of the semester: Brayton Elementary School’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program (North Adams), the Berkshire Immigrant Center (Pittsfield), Manos Unidas (Pittsfield), the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition (North Adams), Northern Berkshires Adult Basic Education, or local Americorps VISTA members (Williamstown and North Adams). At the semester’s end, student teams will be required to present their partner organizations or individuals with a completed product in keeping with the most pressing community needs identified in their initial research.
The Class: Format: discussion and experiential learning
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 1704
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: class and site participation, several short writing assignments (1-5 pages each), and final presentation
Prerequisites: none
Distributions: Division II
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
LATS 241 Division II
Attributes: AMST Comp Studies in Race, Ethnicity, Diaspora
LATS Core Electives

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