Latin American Studies
Office: Room 1, Gildred Latin American Studies Building, Institute
of the Americas Complex
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/las
Professors
Courses
UCSDs program in Latin American Studies has attained national
and international distinction for its excellence in teaching, research,
and public service. Each year its faculty offers approximately 100 Latin
America-related courses in fourteen academic departments, and the Latin
American Studies Program offers three interdisciplinary degrees:
- bachelor of arts in Latin American Studies,
- minor in Latin American Studies, and a
- master of arts in Latin American Studies.
Latin American Studies at UCSD offers distinct advantages:
- At the undergraduate level, students may take elective courses on
Latin American topics or pursue a minor or a B.A. degree in Latin
American Studies. At the graduate level, they can work on Latin America
through interdisciplinary masters programs or through doctoral
programs in academic departments.
- Latin American Studies integrates teaching, research, and policy
analysis, encouraging students to develop interdisciplinary perspectives
and to work actively with faculty on research projects and conferences.
- Students participate in the activities of an outstanding array
of research and teaching organizations, including the Center for Iberian
and Latin American Studies, the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, the
Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and
the Institute of the Americas. The Center for Iberian and Latin American
Studies (CILAS) sponsors multidisciplinary colloquia, conferences,
projects, and publications. The center also awards fellowships and
grants each year to promising graduate students.
- Students are encouraged to interact with visiting Latin American
scholars and to participate in Latin America-related internships,
seminars, clubs, foreign exchange programs, and other extracurricular
activities.
- Students at UCSD have access to one of the largest and fastest-growing
library collections on Latin America in the United States.
The Curricular Program
Degree programs in Latin American Studies are supervised by an interdisciplinary
faculty group under the chairmanship of the director of Latin American
Studies. Students in Latin American Studies are encouraged to participate
in the Education Abroad Program (EAP) in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica,
or Mexico; by petition, credits earned through EAP can fulfill UCSDs
degree requirements.
Undergraduate Major in Latin American Studies
The bachelor of arts in Latin American Studies blends coverage of methodological
and theoretical approaches to the study of Latin America with a broad
foundation in the humanities and social sciences. Students receiving
this degree will be prepared for private and government employment or
for graduate training; the major also provides a valuable supplement
for those who subsequently pursue professional degrees in business,
law, engineering, medicine, or other fields.
To satisfactorily complete the B.A. Degree, students must take a broad
range of courses from at least three of UCSDs humanities and social
science departments. All students entering the major must enroll in
LATI 50 Introduction to Latin America, an interdisciplinary
course that prepares majors to build a coherent curriculum on Latin
America from UCSDs interdisciplinary offerings (see list of approved
courses below). They must also demonstrate proficiency in Spanish.
During the senior year, all B.A. candidates are required to successfully
complete LATI 190, a writing seminar. This course will culminate in
the preparation of an interpretive paper based on the secondary analysis
of existing scholarly research (approximately twenty to forty pages
in length).
As part of the overall requirements, students are strongly encouraged
to enroll in four credits of Individual Study (LATI 199) with a member
of the Latin Americanist faculty, who will serve as the students
principal adviser.
Study abroad can significantly enhance understanding of Latin America.
Students are encouraged to study abroad through the Education Abroad
Program before their senior year and may use a maximum of six upper-division
courses to satisfy major requirements. These must be approved by the
department (based on syllabi and course work) after they have been entered
on the students official record at UCSD.
Students majoring in Latin American Studies are also urged to minor
in a core discipline such as anthropology, economics, history, literature,
political science, or sociology. In summary, the requirements for the
bachelor of arts in Latin American Studies are:
Lower-Division Requirements
- The equivalent of at least two years of college-level language
instruction in Spanish, comparable to satisfactory completion of Literature/Spanish
2C; students who satisfy this requirement by examination are strongly
encouraged to study Portuguese.
- Latin American Studies 50.
Upper-Division Requirements
- Eleven upper-division courses selected, with the approval of the
director of Latin American Studies, from a designated list of Latin
American studies courses offered in the humanities or social sciences.
Students must take course work in at least three departments; and
they must take at least three courses, but no more than five, from
one department. At least two of the eleven courses must concentrate
exclusively on periods earlier than the twentieth century. The collection
of courses should be structured so as to provide both depth in a special
area of study and breadth across the broader field.
- Enrollment in the four-credit Senior Seminar (LATI 190), usually
to be taken in the winter quarter of the senior year; satisfactory
completion of a substantial paper is required of all graduating majors.
- With the sole exception of LATI 199, all courses must be taken
for a letter grade.
Honors in Latin American Studies
Individuals who wish to pursue Honors in Latin American Studies, as
distinct from the regular major, must complete nine upper-division courses
from at least three departments, with no more than five courses from
any single department and with at least two courses on material prior
to the twentieth century. Honors students also take a three-quarter
sequence during the senior year that will culminate in the presentation
and defense of an original thesis based on primary research (usually
between 50 and 100 pages in length), and they must maintain a minimum
GPA in the major of 3.5.
In summary, to receive Honors, students must:
- satisfy all lower-division requirements of the major program;
- complete nine upper-division courses;
- complete a three-course sequence consisting of Individual Study,
the Senior Seminar, and the Honors Seminar (LATI 199, 190, and 191,
respectively);
- produce an original thesis based on primary research under the
direction of a mentor selected from the Latin Americanist faculty,
and defend this thesis during the spring quarter before an interdisciplinary
faculty committee; and
- maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 in the major.
Undergraduate Minor in Latin American Studies
The Latin American Studies minor allows students to explore interdisciplinary
approaches to a significant world region while pursuing a major in an
academic discipline. To complete the program, students take at least
six Latin America-related courses in the humanities and social sciences
all taken for a letter grade; five of these courses must be at the upper-division
level. Students must also complete the equivalent of two years of college-level
Spanish or Portuguese.
Master of Arts in Latin American Studies
The master of arts in Latin American Studies is designed for students
who seek to integrate a broad range of disciplinary approaches to a
world region of growing international significance. Upon graduation,
most students pursue additional advanced degrees in academic or professional
fields; others proceed to careers in the private sector, in international
organizations, or in government.
To qualify for admission, students must have a B.A. with a grade-point
average of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale for the final two years of undergraduate
study plus satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination. To
receive the master of arts in Latin American Studies, a student must:
- demonstrate foreign language competence in Spanish or Portuguese;
- complete forty units of course work (approximately ten courses)
in at least three fields, with no more than sixteen units in any one
department. Eight of those units must be taken in the Latin American
Studies Core Seminar Sequence: Core Seminar on Interdisciplinary Research
and Methodology in Latin American Studies (LATI 200) and Latin America:
Library Resources and Research Methodology (LATI 210A and LATI 210B).
Of the remaining thirty-two units, at least sixteen must be taken
in graduate level courses, and up to sixteen units may be taken in
upper division, undergraduate level courses. M.A. students have the
option to upgrade upper-division, undergraduate level courses to graduate
level courses (contact the Latin American Studies Student Affairs
coordinator for information on requirements and procedures). Students
are encouraged to include four units of independent research (LATI
299) for work on the masters thesis.
- successfully complete either a comprehensive exam or masters
thesis.
Latin American Studies
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