Degree Requirements

The program requires completion of a minimum of 45 graduate units. Each student is assigned a faculty adviser who works with the student to develop a customized program of study. All courses for the M.A. degree must be at the 100-level or higher, with at least half being at the 200-level or higher.

Candidates to the M.A. in Latin American Studies must complete the following:

		Units
		Course List
Required Courses
a. Culture and Society		5
ILAC261	Graduate Colloquium: Explorations in Latin American History and Historiography	5
b. Political Economy		5
course	Latin American Politics	5
c. Environment, Ecology, and Sustainability		5

HISTORY371	Graduate Colloquium: Explorations in Latin American History and Historiography	5
Seminar Requirements:		4
course course	Seminar on Contemporary Issues in Latin American Studies (once per quarter.) Graduate Writing Seminar	1 1
Total Units		19

Core courses (15 units): one core 5-unit course in each of three fields of specialization: Culture and Society; Political Economy; and Environment, Ecology, and Sustainability.
Related courses (15 units): three courses (5 units each) from the fields of specialization listed in '1' above. For approved courses, see the "Related Courses" in this section.
Elective courses (9-15 units): three elective courses (3-5 units each) from across the University's offerings, selected with guidance and approval from the faculty adviser.
Language requirement: in addition to the 45 units of required content coursework, at least 3 units of coursework on a second Latin American language is required. Students proficient in both Spanish and Portuguese might take either an advanced fourth-year language course in either Spanish or Portuguese or a first-year of a non-commonly taught language of Latin America (i.e. Quechua, Nahuatl, or Haitian Creole). Students proficient in only Spanish or only Portuguese must take a basic course in a second Latin American spoken language. Up to 6 units of foreign language coursework may be applied toward the elective field unit requirements. All foreign language coursework must be taken at the 100-level or higher. English as a Foreign Language (EFS) courses do not count towards the language requirement, nor towards the total amount of required units.
Seminar requirements: 4 units total (1 per quarter) of course Seminar on Contemporary Issues in Latin American Studies and 1 unit of course Graduate Writing Seminar for Latin American Studies.
Final Capstone Research Paper or Thesis: students must write a capstone research paper or a thesis. Student writing a thesis may register for course Master's Thesis for up to 10 units of thesis research under the guidance of an Academic Council faculty member. Students writing a capstone research paper may register for a Directed Study or comparable course for up to 3 units under the guidance of an Academic Council faculty member. Thesis units may be counted toward the elective field unit requirements (requirement number 3, above).
Grade requirements: All courses to be counted toward the M.A. must be taken for a letter grade and earn a 'B-' or better. M.A. candidates must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. The only exceptions are course, course, course, Law School Courses, and courses in the Graduate School of Business (GSB).

Related Courses

The following course list represents courses that may, with the adviser's approval, be used to fulfill degree requirements (please see the Law School or GSB web sites for instructions on how to enroll in their courses):

Culture and Society

Courses related to the Culture and Society field of specialization include:

		Units
		Course List
course	Asylum: Knowledge, Politics, and Population	3-5
course	Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Problems	3-5
course	Religion and Science in the Amazon and Elsewhere	5
course	Incas and their Ancestors: Peruvian Archaeology	3-5
course	Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Problems	3-5
course	Religion and Science in the Amazon and Elsewhere	5
course	Curander@s, remedios y espiritualidad: Chican@/Latin@ healing practices	3-5
course	Migration in 21st Century Latin American Film	3-5
course	Latin/x America in Motion: An Introduction to Dance Studies	3-4
course	Mexican Migration to the United States	3-5
course	Biology, Culture and Social Justice in Latin America: Perspectives from Forensic Anthropology	5
course	CAPITALS: How Cities Shape Cultures, States, and People	3-5
course	The Literature of the Americas	5
course	US-Mexico Border Fictions: Writing La Frontera, Tearing Down the Wall	3-5
course	Theater of Dissent: Social Movements, Migration, and Revolution in the Americas	4
course	Race and Immigration	4-5
course	Biology, Culture and Social Justice in Latin America: Perspectives from Forensic Anthropology	5
course	CAPITALS: How Cities Shape Cultures, States, and People	3-5
course	International Documentary	4
course	International Documentary	4
course	Crossing the Atlantic: Race and Identity in the African Diaspora	3-5
course	Global Human Geography: Europe and Americas	5
course	The Cold War: An International History	5
course	Mexican Migration to the United States	3-5
course	Mexico Since 1876: The Road to Ayotzinapa	5
course	Film and History of Latin American Revolutions and Counterrevolutions	3-5
course	The Global Drug Wars	4-5
course	Colonial Mexico: Images and Power	3-5
course	Latin American Development: Economy and Society, 1800-2014	4-5
course	Potatoes, Coca, and Tamales: Food in Latin American History	5
course	The Global Drug Wars	4-5
course	Graduate Colloquium: Explorations in Latin American History and Historiography	4-5
course	Latin American Development: Economy and Society, 1800-2014	4-5
course	Advanced Spanish Service-Learning: Migration, Asylum, and Human Rights at the Border	1-3
course	Borges and Translation	3-5
course	Radical Poetry: The Avant-garde in Latin America and Spain	4
course	Coming of Age in Latin America	3-5
course	Spanish Literature and Language through Comics	3-5
course	Introduction to Latin America: Cultural Perspectives	3-5
course	Drug Wars: from Pablo Escobar to the Mara Salvatrucha to Iguala Mass Student Kidnapping	3-5
course	Introduction to Global Portuguese: Cultural Perspectives	3-5
course	Migration in 21st Century Latin American Film	3-5
course	Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Literatures	3-5
course	Modern Latin American Literature	3-5
course	CAPITALS: How Cities Shape Cultures, States, and People	3-5
course	Colonial Mexico: Images and Power	3-5
course	The Making of Modern Brazil	3-5
course	Latin American Poetry as Witness to Self and World.	4
course	Fiction Workshop in Spanish	3-5
course	Poetry Workshop in Spanish	3-5
course	Latin American Aesthetics	3-5
course	Crónicas: Soccer, Pop Icons, Shipwrecks, and Populism	3-5
course	Landscapes in Latin American Cinema	3-5
course	INDIGENISMOS REVISITED	3-5
course	Realismo Mágico vs. Real Maravilloso	3-5
course	New Brazilian Cinema	3-5
course	Senior Seminar: Cultures in Salsa	3-5
course	Senior Seminar: 4 Boom Novels	3-5
course	One World or Many? Representing Distance, Time, and Place in Iberian Expansion	3-5
course	Meat	3-5
course	US-Mexico Border Fictions: Writing La Frontera, Tearing Down the Wall	3-5
course	Baroque Brazil	3-5
course	The Cold War: An International History	5
course	Mapping Poverty, Colonialism and Nation Building in Latin America	3-5
course	Mapping Poverty, Colonialism and Nation Building in Latin America-Part B	1
course	Racial and Gender Inequalities in Latin America	3-5
course	Indigenous resistance and contradictions in Latin America	3-5
course	A Critical Review of Guatemala's Indigenous Movements	3-5
course	Democracy, crisis and disease: Covid-19 and Indigenous People in Latin America.	3-5
course	Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Human Rights in 21st Century Latin America	2
course	Regional Human Rights Protections: The Inter-American System	3
course	Religion and Science in the Amazon and Elsewhere	5
course	Religion and Science in the Amazon and Elsewhere	5
course	Race and Immigration	4-5
course	Race and Immigration	4-5
course	Workshop: Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Nation	1-3

Environment, Ecology, and Sustainability

Courses related to the Environment, Ecology, and Sustainability field of specialization include:

		Units
		Course List
course	Anthropology of Global Health	5
course	Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Problems	3-5
course	Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Problems	3-5
course	Conservation Biology: A Latin American Perspective	3
course	Global Biodesign: Medical Technology in an International Context	1
course	Introduction to Environmental Ethics	4-5
course	The Historical Ecology of Latin America	4-5
course	The Historical Ecology of Latin America	4-5
course	Climate Change and Latin American Naturecultures	3-5
course	Energy and Climate Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere	4

Political Economy

Courses related to the Political Economy field of specialization include:

		Units
		Course List
course	World Food Economy	5
course	Economics of Education in the Global Economy	5
course	Topics in Brazilian Education: Public Policy and Innovation for the 21st Century	1-2
course	Camera as Witness: International Human Rights Documentaries	5
course	Political Economy of the Southern Cone Countries of South America	5
course	Major Themes in U.S.-Latin America Diplomatic History	5
course	Law in Latin America	2
course	Business, Institutions, and Corruption in Latin America	2
course	Governance and Poverty	3-5
course	Latin American Politics	3-5
course	Governance and Poverty	3-5
course	Latin American Politics	3-5
course	Comparative Political Economy	3-5

Department: Latin-American Studies