HOME / ACADEMICS /

Secondary Fields

The Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights offers two secondary fields. The secondary in Ethnicity, Migration, Rights provides students an opportunity to pursue sustained, interdisciplinary study of ethnicity, migration, indigeneity, and human rights, with a particular focus on Asian American, Latinx, and Native American studies. The Latina/o Studies secondary enables a more specific focus on Latinx populations in the United States, including attention to history, language, culture, demographics, legal rights, and immigration status.

The EMR courselist comprises a wide variety of classes, taught by faculty from across the arts, humanities, and social sciences disciplines in FAS, as well as at other Harvard schools. Given the relevance of EMR topics to both local and global issues, the secondary field both encourages and provides opportunities for interacting directly with local communities and working outside the traditional classroom.

Requirements

Each secondary field requires five courses (20 credits).

One course must be a Portal Course, which are meant to provide an overview of one or more of our core areas.

The other four courses should be distributed in the following ways:

Ethnicity, Migration, Rights Field

  • Four courses from the EMR courselist, two of which must be above the introductory level. You are encouraged to select courses that coalesce around a theme, selected in consultation with the Administrative & Program Director and EMR faculty.
  • At least one of these courses must take a global or transnational perspective.

Latina/o Studies Field

  • Three courses in Latinx Studies, two of which must be above the introductory level. When it makes sense in your plan of study (agreed upon with your academic advisor), up to two courses may be in Latin American Studies.
  • One comparative course, which should consider the study of ethnicity and culture from another perspective. Courses may study another ethnic group within the United States or use a globally comparative framework.

Additional Requirements

  • Four of the five courses must be taken for a letter grade and passed with a B- or better. One course, including approved Freshman Seminars, may be taken Pass/Fail or SAT/UNS.
  • Harvard College policy states that only one course may be double-counted for concentration credit and secondary field credit. There is no limit to the number of courses that can be double-counted for secondary field credit and General Education credit.
  • Although we try to include every EMR-related course at Harvard in our courselist, we encourage students to submit other relevant courses for approval. This may also include courses from study abroad and Harvard Summer School. All requests for exceptions should be submitted, along with a course syllabus, to the Administrative & Program Director of EMR.

How to Declare

Students interested in pursuing one of our secondary fields can get started by doing the following:

  1. Review the secondary requirements and the EMR courselist. Make a list of relevant courses you've already taken and those you would like to take.
  2. Set up an advising meeting with the Administrative and Program Director of EMR to review your plan and discuss ways to make the most of your secondary field.
  3. After the advising meeting, log on to my.harvard to officially declare your secondary field.

Advising

We encourage students pursuing one of our secondary fields to reach out to the EMR Administrative and Program Director at eleanor_craig@fas.harvard.edu. It will also be helpful to consult EMR faculty in your areas of interest to discuss course selection, academic plans, and extracurricular options. 

The following faculty lead interdisciplinary working groups, and can help you navigate the curriculum in their respective areas:

  • Latinx Studies - René Carrasco, Lecturer, Committee on Degrees in History & Literature, Latinx Studies Working Group
  • Asian American Studies - Genevieve Clutario, Assistant Professor of History and of History & Literature and Faculty Director, Asian American Studies Working Group
  • Asian American Studies - Ju Yon Kim, Associate Professor of English and Faculty Director, Asian American Studies Working Group
  • Indigeneity - Shelly Lowe, Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP)