Earlham's Spanish and Hispanic Studies Program offers students the opportunity to explore the rich diversity of the Hispanic world. Literature from the Spanish-speaking Americas, Caribbean and U.S. Latino literature and history, indigenous literature from Latin America, regional movements in Spain, Spanish linguistics, translation theory and practice, film, drama and dance are some of the areas students might choose to study. Given that cultural practices are productive as well as reflective and link social construction of knowledge to issues of ethics, politics and power, the faculty in Spanish and Hispanic Studies consistently emphasizes connections between critical pedagogy and cultural studies throughout our courses.  

In consultation with Spanish and Hispanic Studies faculty, students design programs of study in their interest areas, creating solid, coherent and challenging majors or minors. In our classes students work closely with faculty, often in small groups doing collaborative research and as teaching assistants.  Recent collaborative research projects have included Gender in Film in Spain, Literature of the U.S./Mexico Border, Language and Culture of Curaçao, and Indigenous Resistance Movements in Mexico. Spanish and Hispanic Studies majors and minors often take classes in the related fields of Latin American Studies, Comparative Languages and Linguistics, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and Sociology/Anthropology.   

Students enhance their work on campus by choosing to participate in one of our semester-long off-campus programs in Spain, Mexico and on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Earlham College programs offer three distinct components.  Students study with on-site faculty, live with families, and complete a field study/internship. The off-campus program field study/internship gives students the opportunity to work side-by-side with local organizations and agencies 10 to 15 hours each week.  

Each year, the Hispanic Studies faculty offer one or more May Term courses, often on topics in Spanish and Hispanic Studies not regularly offered during the academic year. Recent on-campus courses have included AfroCaribbean Poetry and an intensive reading of Don Quijote de la Mancha.  Off-campus offerings have included Intensive Spanish in Mexico, the Language and Culture of Curaçao, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

There are many opportunities to speak Spanish and to be involved in Latino culture on a daily basis at Earlham College and in Richmond. Students may choose to live in La Casa Hispana at Earlham. Our students are active in teaching English, working with children, and organizing special interest groups through AMIGOS, the Richmond Latino Center. AMIGOS has paid summer interns to work with the Latino community.

According to HEDS data, Earlham is ranked 35th (in the 97th percentile) among 1,533 institutions of higher learning in the U.S. in the percentage of graduates who go on to receive Ph.D.s in foreign languages. Of those receiving Ph.D.s in the humanities in general, Earlham ranks 29th (in the 98th percentile). Our graduates have entered a variety of graduate programs and professions in fields such as law, bilingual education, social work, medicine, environmental sciences and international studies.