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Area-Thematic Studies
The SIPA InteRegional Studies Initiative draws on the outstanding resources of our area-specific programs in five world regions.
AREA STUDIES
Africa
African & African Diaspora Studies (AADS)
The African & African Diaspora Studies Program (AADS) seeks to foster greater understanding of the experiences of peoples of African descent, internationally. The program provides an interdisciplinary approach to subjects as diverse as national and transnational policy analysis, cultural studies, international relations with and within continental Africa, African and African diaspora literatures, the history and contemporary experiences of descendants of Africans in the United States and in different national contexts.
Asia
The Asian Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary program designed for students who wish to pursue advanced studies of historical and contemporary trends. The degree provides students with a strong foundation in the traditional cultures and modern socio-economic societies of Asia, with an emphasis on East Asia.
Europe
European Studies Program (ESP)
The aim of the European Studies program is to enable students to obtain an interdisciplinary concentration in various aspects of Europe. It is designed to enhance a student’s understanding of European politics, society, and culture, drawing on a broad range of courses in the arts and sciences and thereby to complement the student’s major course of study.
Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence (MEUCE)
The Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence (MEUCE) focuses on creating stronger ties among Europeans and Americans by examining the process of European integration and the implications thereof for the United States. Additionally, the Center cooperates with the European Union Studies Association (EUSA) to advance academic research in a number of fields concerning the EU.It promotes teaching, research, and outreach activities relating to the EU.
Latin America
Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC)
The Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) promotes the study of Latin America and the Caribbean in Florida and throughout the United States. By forging linkages across the Americas through high quality education, research aimed at better understanding the most urgent problems confronting the region; national and international outreach; and meaningful dialogue between different ethnic communities, nationalities and cultures that claim the Americas as their homeland, LACC is proud to be one of the top Latin American and Caribbean Centers in the world.
Middle East
Middle East Studies Program (MESP)
Middle East Studies is the University’s premier academic center devoted to the study of the Middle East. It's activities include lectures, workshops, conferences, and cultural and artistic events, open to students and the community.
THEMATIC STUDIES
Judaic
The Judaic Studies Program at Florida International University educates university students and faculty and the general South Florida community about Jewish history, culture, religion, literature, political science, and international relations. Judaic Studies offers academically rigorous, multidisciplinary courses at both the Biscayne Bay and University Park campuses in a wide range of departments.
Labor
Center for Labor Research and Studies (CLRS)
The mission of the Center for Labor Research and Studies is to develop knowledge about the changing nature of work, workers, and their organizations and to make that knowledge available to working men and women throughout the state of Florida.
Public Policy
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies (IPPCS)
The Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies (IPPCS) offers students, faculty and the community alternative learning opportunities in public policy and citizenship development. The late Florida State Senator Jack D. Gordon, founding director of the Institute, served the Miami-Dade community for many years, chairing substantive committees in the Florida Senate, including Appropriations, Tax and Finance, Education, Transportation, and Health and Rehabilitative services.
Spirituality
Program in the Study of Spirituality (PSS)
The Program in the Study of Spirituality (PSS) seeks to encourage the sharing of ideas and knowledge about the practices of spirituality and their relationship to planetary and individual well-being, promote community participation in multi-faith, multi-spiritual dialogue, stimulate research in the burgeoning global phenomenon of spirituality, and explore the impact of spirituality across academic disciplines and professions.
INTER-REGIONAL STUDIES
Asian Globalization & Latin America
Asian Globalization & Latin America (AGLA)
The Asian Globalization and Latin America Certificate focuses on the language and culture of both Asia and Latin America (specifically Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish), while allowing the student to specialize in such fields as anthropology, business, dance, fine arts, history, international relations, music, philosophy, and Religion as related to the regions. The certificate represents a way to gain specialized knowledge of integrative, trans-regional issues in relation to Asia and Latin America.
EurAsia
The purpose of this project is to examine comparative issues between Europe and Asia. One recent lecture, sponsored by Asian Studies, MEUCE, and CEPEX presented the issue titled, “The Future of Nuclear Power in a Post-Fukushima World.”
Middle East Society
The Middle East Society (MES) is an organization dedicated to attracting high-profile speakers and hosting interactive events related to the Middle East. MES provides its members with a unique opportunity to discuss and debate matters related to the region with top experts from around the globe in an academic setting. MES' ultimate goal is to help secure FIU's place as a center of debate and learning on matters concerning the Middle East.
North American Security
Canada and Mexico are two of the most important allies of the United States of America. Accordingly, the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies offers the student a program in North American Studies, in recognition of the importance of relations with Canada and Mexico and in conjunction with the importance of international studies in today's world. This program offers a Certificate in North American Studies and encourages programs to study abroad.
Waterways
This new project on worldwide Waterways is designed to shift the emphasis to look at the ways in which the waters create links between diverse economies, cultures, and religions. The goal is to open the possibility of multidisciplinary cross-fertilization rather than mere comparative studies by utilizing the notion of Middle Seas, such as Caribbean, Mediterranean, and South China seas, as connectors and transformative spaces where national origins dissolve and re-emerge.
