Minors in Area Studies

Several area studies minors offered at UConn have integrated participation in a program abroad as either a requirement or a recommendation.

Human Rights Major/Minor

The Human Rights Major/Minor gives students an understanding of the legal instruments, norms, and institutions that constitute contemporary human rights laws, as well as the social movements, cultural practices, and literary and artistic representations that have and continue to imagine the human rights ethic in various ways.

Global Studies Minor

The Global Studies Minor introduces students to the study of global issues and transnational processes and allows them to explore such themes as: peace, conflict, and security; international economics and development; natural resources and the environment; global health; and comparative cultures, arts, and identities.

African Studies Minor

The Minor in African Studies offers an interdisciplinary program enabling students to develop a general knowledge of the region. The Minor requires a minimum of 15 credits, with grades of C or better in every course.

Intermediate proficiency in an approved language other than English is required, completed through four semesters of a college-level language sequence or by examination. This language will be either the official language of an African country, e.g. Arabic, French, Portuguese, Swahili, or another widely used African language.

European Studies Minor

The European Studies minor focuses on western, central, and eastern Europe as well as Russia and enables students to pursue an interest in the social, historical, political, and cultural dimensions of this region.

A European Studies minor combines coursework from a variety of disciplines with either a period of study abroad, coursework in a European language other than English, or an international internship.

India Studies Minor

India has an ancient culture and an enormous body of literature that goes back 3000 years. Today India is the world’s tenth largest economy and an emerging information technology superpower. Six major religions are practiced in India and there are fifteen official languages. India is a patchwork of ethnicities. It is the second most populous country in the world and the largest democracy. India provides an excellent case study for all the global issues that confront the world today. The India Studies minor covers both traditional and contemporary aspects of India.

Latin American Studies Minor

The interdisciplinary minor in Latin American Studies offers a basic understanding of the peoples and cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean, their histories and contemporary economic, social, and political problems, and their relations with the United States.

Middle East Studies Minor

The Middle East Studies minor is intended to enable students to pursue a multi-disciplinary approach to the Middle East and to acquire a thorough understanding of the area from anthropological, economic, historical, literary, political, and religious perspectives. Students electing this minor must complete at least 15 credits at the 2000, 3000, and 4000-level from at least three fields that satisfy the following criteria.