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The interdisciplinary program in American Studies promotes a broad understanding of U.S. culture and society. It connects scholars of English literature, performance studies, education, sociology, and many other disciplines whose work examines the past and present of the United States and also shapes how the nation imagines its future.

Students design their own course of study while investigating the many dimensions of U.S. life—race, gender, technology, religion, and mass media, for example. Because the program spans many disciplines, students benefit from access to faculty in economics, history, music, and other departments. American Studies offers endless opportunities to apply the full range of Stanford’s resources to the project of understanding the U.S. in a global context.

The Department of African and African American Studies provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of African, African American, and African descended people all over the world as a central component of American and world culture. The major offers a choice of three tracks: African American Studies, African Studies, and Global Black Diaspora Studies. Students will also participate in community engaged learning opportunities and language study. 

View highlights of the DAAAS program's undergraduate offerings.

Native American Studies supports scholarship on Native communities in the interest of preserving and appreciating their unique social systems, languages, and natural resources. Its courses are housed across campus departments and schools including sociology, education, anthropology, archeology, English, art history, linguistics, and law.

A major or minor in Native American Studies introduces students to a broad range of approaches to the academic study of indigenous cultures while promoting understanding of both the traditions and the continuing experiences of Native American peoples and communities. Students may pursue a plan of study that integrates specialized courses with the methods of other disciplines such as history and psychology.

The Master of Arts in Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary program in Stanford Global Studies. Its curriculum consists of a core set of courses surveying the region’s history, politics, culture, society, and environment, along with advanced language training and in-depth courses. The MA program attracts students who wish to deepen their knowledge of Latin America while developing research skills for a professional career or doctoral studies. In consultation with a faculty advisor, students select a course of study suited to their interests. Students can choose to pursue a joint degree in Latin American Studies and Law. Some students opt for dual degrees, pursuing both a master's in Latin American Studies and a professional degree in business or medicine.

Graduate joint degree offered: JD/MA

Asian American Studies (AAS) is dedicated to understanding Asian peoples in the U.S. from contemporary and historical points of view. With a broad range of interests and expertise, faculty in AAS take an interdisciplinary approach to studying the complex, diverse, and ever-changing cultures that constitute the Asian American experience.

Undergraduates at Stanford may earn a major or minor in Asian American Studies by taking courses in many departments, including history, English, anthropology, and music. The program is a home for students exploring every dimension of Asian American life from art and literature to social and cultural history to politics and policy. It provides an excellent foundation for appreciating complexity within a diverse, interdependent world.

African and African American Studies (AAAS) provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of peoples of African descent within societies worldwide. Courses promote research across departmental boundaries, allowing students to explore the intersections of gender, class, race, religion, and other dynamics.

The first ethnic studies program developed at a private institution in the United States, AAAS has established a network of scholars who bridge such fields as anthropology, art, economics, feminist studies, history, linguistics, and literature. It is closely associated with Stanford’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and many other centers on campus that support social progress though the expansion of knowledge.

Explore careers of undergraduate AAAS alumni.

*Note: The AAAS interdisciplinary program remains in H&S until current students with majors and minors receive their degrees, but it no longer accepts new majors and minors. Students can declare a major or minor in the new Department of African and African American Studies.

Studying Iberian and Latin American cultures means engaging in a deep and compelling exploration of the languages, literatures, and cinema of the Iberian Peninsula (primarily Spain and Portugal), Latin America, Brazil and Lusophone Africa, and Latina/o populations in the United States. The program balances an emphasis on literary studies with philosophical, historical, and social approaches to cultural issues.

As a result of its focus on critical thinking, open discussion, and close textual analysis, the undergraduate curriculum provides excellent preparation for a large number of professional fields. The graduate program provides rigorous and highly individualized advanced training in the analysis of Iberian, Latin American (including Brazil), and Latina/o literatures.

The Stanford Global Studies Division (SGS) is home to 14 centers and programs dedicated to exploring issues, societies, and cultures in regional and global perspective. SGS equips Stanford students with the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills essential to leading in a global context and fosters innovative research that deepens society’s understanding of critical regions and global issues.

SGS offers a minor in global studies, which is available to any undergraduate student who desires an intensive program of study dedicated to one of several global regions. Students enrolled in the minor can specialize in African studies, European studies, Iranian studies, Islamic studies, Latin American studies, or South Asian studies. Students are encouraged to undertake training in languages appropriate to their interests and to complement their coursework through one of many opportunities offered by the Bing Overseas Studies Program.

Learn more about SGS’s academic programs.

The Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages (DLCL) is home to the departments of Comparative Literature, French and Italian, German Studies, Iberian and Latin American Cultures, and Slavic Languages and Literatures. The division’s faculty are expert teachers of numerous modern languages and scholars of culture, literature, history, politics, and philosophy in a wide range of traditions.

In courses on campus and in the Bing Overseas Studies Program, DLCL students learn to think critically and globally about how people use language to make sense of the world, to claim an identity and a place in history, to entertain, and to persuade. In addition to its majors, DLCL offers an undergraduate minor in Medieval studies and a PhD minor in philosophy, literature, and the arts.

View highlights of DLCL's undergraduate offerings.

Explore careers of undergraduate DLCL alumni.