Master of Arts in Latin American Studies

View the complete 2006-2007 M.A. Handbook

INTRODUCTION

The Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University offers an interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Latin American Studies that provides students with advanced knowledge of the region. It is designed for persons contemplating post-graduate level work in the humanities or social sciences, or those wishing to combine a knowledge of Latin America with other skills in pursuing non-academic careers. Program graduates are bilingual and possess detailed knowledge of Latin American history, societies, economics and political systems.

The graduate program has an average enrollment of 65 students. The quality and number of applicants to the Latin American Studies M.A. program has increased significantly in the last decade. Each year CLAS accepts excellent students who completed their undergraduate work at leading U.S. colleges and universities such as Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and in addition, an outstanding group of students from Latin America, Europe and Asia.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS AND CURRICULUM

The three degree requirements for the M.A. in Latin American Studies include the successful completion of 36 credit hours of graduate coursework (or the successful completion of 33 credit hours of graduate coursework and the successful writing and defense of a Masters Thesis) with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; successful completion of a language proficiency examination in Spanish or Portuguese; and successful completion of a written comprehensive examination, which must be taken after the student has successfully completed 30 credit hours of coursework.

While students are encouraged to pursue the M.A. program full-time, they may choose part-time status. Three or four classes is considered a full course load, and most M.A. candidates take four classes per semester. While some students complete the program in a year and a half (through taking summer courses), most graduate candidates take two years to complete the degree. Students are allowed a maximum of three years from matriculation to complete all requirements for the degree, though extensions can be granted under special circumstances. View sample programs for three possible schedules for completing the degree.

COURSEWORK

Each Masters candidate must take four core courses, five or six concentration courses, the CLAS Research Seminar, and one or two electives. All coursework counted toward the M.A. degree must be at the graduate level. Students must have achieved at least a "B" (3.0) average by the end of their first academic year, and must maintain that average through the end of the academic program. No more than nine credits (three courses) may be taken through the Washington Area Consortium of Universities or transferred from other universities. Students choose all coursework in consultation with the CLAS M.A. Program Director, the Administrative Director and/or their Faculty Advisor.

Students planning to concentrate in Government, Political Economy, or any other program that requires courses in the discipline of Economics must have completed introductory courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics prior to enrollment. Pre-requisite courses in language or economics (or any other discipline) can neither be waived, nor counted within the 36 graduate credits required for completion of the M.A.

Each of the four Core Courses is interdisciplinary. These courses examine Latin America in hemispheric, transatlantic, and/or global context, seeking to understand the commonalities and diversities encompassed in the concept of Latin America. The courses include Latin American voices and address issues of social justice.

There are various concentrations available to the student of Latin America at Georgetown, including disciplinary concentrations, bi-disciplinary concentrations, and self-designed concentrations.

Disciplinary concentrations consist of five courses and may be completed in Political Economy, Government, History, and Literature (Spanish, or Spanish and Portuguese). Disciplinary concentration requirements are as follows:

Bi-disciplinary concentrations require three graduate course in each of two disciplines, selected from among the following: Anthropology, Political Economy, Government, History, Literature (Portuguese or Spanish), and Sociology. 

All students are required to complete a certain number of not-for-credit research modules, which are designed to offer research, writing and methods training to graduate students pursuing the M.A. in Latin American Studies. The number of modules a student takes will be decided by the student in consultation with his/her advisor, the M.A. Program Director, and the Director of Academic Affairs. The first module, The Basics of Writing, Research and Bibliographic Resources, is mandatory for all incoming students and will be taught at the beginning of the Fall 2006 semester. CLAS is currently designing the remaining modules, and their content and dates to be offered will be announced in Fall 2006. In addition to CLAS research modules, all students are encouraged to take methods courses offered in their areas of concentration in other departments at Georgetown University or through the consortium of Washington area universities.

All students have one elective course; some have two. The goal is to allow experimentation, diversity, or additional study in fields outside the concentration. Alternatively, electives might be used to strengthen a regional focus by studying outside the concentration, or to take courses in one or more disciplines beyond the concentration and any required corollary course.

Students also have the option to write a thesis. Students wishing to exercise this option would take one fewer concentration course (four or five) and must take the research seminar (for credit). Thesis topics must be approved by the Center Director, and a thesis outline must be submitted before any work is initiated. Students must choose two faculty members to guide their thesis, a Thesis Adviser and a Second Reader. It is strongly suggested that the Thesis Adviser be a member of the Georgetown faculty. Second Readers may be either University or Adjunct faculty members.

FACULTY

The CLAS M.A. program draws primarily on the Departments of Government, History, Spanish and Portuguese, Sociology and Anthropology, and Economics for its core faculty. Associated and adjunct faculty are drawn from other schools and departments of the University. In addition, to help bridge the gap between theory and practice and to increase the flexibility of the curriculum, each semester CLAS employs a team of adjunct faculty members with specific expertise from the many research and public institutions in the Washington, DC area, such as the World Bank, the Organization of American States and the Department of State. Click here for a complete listing of CLAS Associated faculty.