• UNM Catalog 2019-2020
• >Colleges
• >College of Arts and Sciences
• >Latin American Studies
• >Graduate Program

Graduate Program

Graduate Advisor
Ronda Brulotte
Associate Director for Academic Programs
brulotte@unm.edu  

Application Deadlines:

Degrees Offered

• Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (M.A.)
  Concentrations: Anthropology; Art History; Brazilian Literature and Culture; Brazilian Studies; Communication; Economics; Gender Studies; Geography and Environmental Studies; History; Human Rights; Indigenous Studies; International Management; Political Science; Public Health; Religion and Philosophy; Sociology; Southwest Studies; Spanish American Literature; Spanish Linguistics; Urbanism and Community Development.
• Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American Studies (Ph.D.)
  Concentrations: Anthropology, Art History; Brazilian Literature and Culture; Built Environment; Communication; Economics; Geography and Environmental Studies; History; International Management; Political Science; Public Health; Sociology; Spanish American Literature; Spanish Linguistics.

Dual Degree Programs

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Juris Doctor: The Latin American Studies program and the School of Law offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.A. in Latin American Studies and the Juris Doctor (J.D.). See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog. 

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Master of Arts in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies: The Latin American Studies program and the Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies department in the College of Education offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.A. in Latin American Studies and the M.A. in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies. See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog.

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Master of Business Administration: The Latin American Studies program and the Anderson School of Management offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.A. in Latin American Studies and the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.). See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog. 

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Master of Community and Regional Planning: The Latin American Studies program and the Community and Regional Planning department in the School of Architecture and Planning offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.A. in Latin American Studies and the Master of Community and Regional Planning (M.C.R.P.). See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog. 

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Master of Public Health: The Latin American Studies program and the College of Population Health offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.A. in Latin American Studies and the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.). See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog. 

Shared-Credit Undergraduate/Graduate Degrees Program

In collaboration with the Honors College, Latin American Studies offers a Shared-Credit Undergraduate/Graduate Degrees program in which Honors College students can earn both the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts and the M.A. in Latin American Studies in five years. For more information, please refer to the Honors College: Undergraduate Program section of this Catalog.

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies 

Prerequisite: The Bachelor’s degree is required. Background work in the social sciences and humanities related to Latin America is preferred. At least two years of undergraduate coursework (or equivalent language training) in either Spanish or Portuguese is required prior to admission. Applicants with otherwise strong qualifications but with limited Spanish competence may be admitted on the condition that they complete SPAN **352 Advanced Grammar, within their first year of graduate study.

Degree Requirements

Plan I (thesis option): 36 credit hours. Students must take LTAM 510 Pro-Seminar in Latin American Studies, and select two areas of concentration within the degree program. Students have the option of completing 9 credit hours in one concentration and 15 credit hours in the other concentration or completing 12 credit hours in each concentration. The remaining 9 credit hours are divided between 3 credit hours of program electives and 6 credit hours of thesis credits.

Students under the Plan I option must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours in graduate seminars numbered 500 or above (excluding 551 or 552 Problems courses) and 6 credit hours of thesis numbered 599. Students should consult with the Associate Director to determine which courses are considered seminars. Students are required to present an oral defense of the thesis, which integrates the two concentrations, before a thesis committee composed of at least two faculty members in one concentration and one faculty member from the second concentration.

Plan II (non-thesis option): 36 credit hours. Students must take LTAM 510 Pro-Seminar in Latin American Studies, and select two areas of concentration within the degree program. Students have the option of completing 9 credit hours in one concentration and 15 credit hours in the other concentration or completing 12 credit hours in each concentration. The remaining 12 credit hours are comprised of electives. In lieu of the thesis, students complete one exit option for each concentration. Students can choose the same option for each concentration or choose a combination of options from the following: complete a professional paper overseen by a Committee on Studies composed of two faculty members from the concentration; complete a written comprehensive examination administered by a Committee on Studies composed of two faculty members from the concentration.

Under the Plan II option, students must complete a minimum of 12 credits in graduate seminars numbered 500 or above (excluding 551 or 552 Problems courses). Students should consult with the Associate Director to determine which courses are considered seminars.

To maintain and improve language proficiency during graduate studies, students under both Plan I and II who are not concentrating in Brazilian Literature and Culture, Spanish American Literature, or Spanish Linguistics are required to take at least one appropriate language course. Students may choose from SPAN 307 or above; PORT 276 or above; or a course in one of Latin America’s indigenous languages. If the course is available for graduate credit, it can count as one of the student’s elective courses. This requirement is also applicable to dual degree students.

Concentration/Emphases Requirements

Students must complete two concentrations from the list below. Emphases are available in the Anthropology and Art History concentrations. The combination of concentrations must ensure that the program is interdisciplinary. For example, students selecting Anthropology with an emphasis in Archaeology as one concentration may not select Anthropology with an emphasis in Ethnology as the second concentration. Students also are required to have no more than one interdisciplinary concentration. For example, a student may not choose both Human Rights and Gender Studies. Students may also petition for approval of a thematic area of focus in place of a concentration. 

Select from the following list of courses for each concentration/emphases. Substitutions for these courses are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Anthropology
Archaeology: ANTH 522, 524, 529, 574, 579.
Ethnology: ANTH 524, 530, 532, 533, 537, 539, 546, 547.
Human Evolutionary Ecology: ANTH 562.

Art History
Pre-Columbian: ARTH 500, 511, 512, 560.
Colonial: ARTH 500, 549, 550, 580.
Modern: ARTH 500, 529, 583, 585, 588, 590, 594.

Brazilian Literature and Culture
PORT *461, 514, 516, 517, 521, 557, 558, 570; SPAN 502.

Brazilian Studies
ANTH 532, 540; GEOG 515, 564; HIST 500, 576, 687, 688, 690, 692; PORT *461, 514, 516, 521, 557, 558, 570; SPAN **439, 639.
Courses without forty percent Brazilian content require consultation with the instructor and prior approval by the Associate Director.

Communication
Select one from: CJ 506, 566.
Choosing remaining courses from: CJ 517, 518, 519, 555, 569, 604.

Economics
ECON **315, *320, *321, *331, *335, *343, *410, *421, *423, *424, *427, *429, *442, 542, 584.

Gender Studies
CRP 528; HIST 628, 652, 686, 687, 692; SPAN **439, 639.

Geography and Environmental Studies
GEOG *445, *481L, *499, 501, 502, 514, 515, 525, 561, 562, 564, 567, 580L, 581L, 583L, 584L, 585L, 586L, 587L, 588L, 591.

History
HIST 518, 560, 571, 573, 574, 576, 643, 644, 645, 648, 652, 653, 654, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 692.
Students generally take HIST 686 and/or HIST 687. The course(s) may be substituted upon approval from the Associate Director.

Human Rights
ANTH 530, 539; ECON *423; HIST 500, 574, 648, 652, 653, 690, 692; LAW 505, 541, 626, 628, 667; LTAM 500; POLS 521; PORT 514, 570; SPAN 639.

Indigenous Studies
ANTH 524, 530, 532, 540, 570; HIST 500, 653; LAW 593, 628; SPAN **439.

International Management
MGMT 511, 524, 574, 583, 594, 595, 597.

Political Science
POLS 511, 512, 520, 521, 525, 540, 541.

Public Health
ANTH 620; CJ 553, 555; ECON 564; HIST 610; PH 502, 508, 533, 554, 556, 565, 579, 583; SOC 540; SPAN **439. 

Religion and Philosophy
ANTH 533; SOC 532; and other courses upon approval.

Sociology
SOC 506, 510, 513, 520, 528, 584.

Southwest Studies
AMST 558, 560; ANTH 521, 537, 576; ARTH 576; CRP 569, 586; ENGL 565, 574; HIST 563, 643, 644, 645, 684, 685; LLSS 566, 583; PH 579; POLS *308; SOC 520, 528; SPAN **479, 546, 547, 578, 579.

Spanish American Literature
SPAN **430, **431, **432, **433, **435, *438, **439, 502, 504, 531, 532, 536, 633, 639.

Spanish Linguistics
SPAN 545, 546, 547, 549; and other courses upon approval.
Students with limited background in Spanish Linguistics are encouraged to take SPAN **350L and **352.

Urbanism and Community Development
ARCH 550, 621, 662; CRP 500, 503, 513, 527, 531, 535, 537, 567, 569, 570, 574, 576, 578, 586; LA 512.

Variations may occur from year to year in the availability of faculty members to support concentrations. Such changes in faculty availability are beyond the control of the Latin American Studies program. Thus, it may occasionally be impossible for students to obtain sufficient coursework and advisement in one or more concentrations described herein. Therefore students’ choices of concentrations require the prior approval of the Associate Director.

Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American Studies

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Latin American Studies is a small and highly selective program designed to prepare students for a limited number of targeted careers that are best advanced by an interdisciplinary doctorate. Such students include individuals who seek employment in areas where the ability to research and teach across disciplines would be an advantage, and where having skills in two disciplines, combined with Latin American area expertise, would be more useful than extensive training within one discipline. 

Degree Requirements

General University rules and regulations pertaining to graduate study at the University of New Mexico are detailed in the The Graduate Program section of this Catalog. The Latin American Studies Handbook is updated each year and provides more in-depth information to students in the Latin American Studies program. Students are responsible for knowing and abiding by the rules laid out in the UNM Catalog and the Latin American Studies Handbook.

The Ph.D. in Latin American Studies requires a minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate coursework, plus an additional 18 dissertation credit hours, for a total of 66 credit hours.

Students choose two concentrations for a total of 42 credit hours, plus 6 credit hours of elective courses. The concentrations include Anthropology, Art History, Brazilian Literature, Built Environment (School of Architecture and Planning), Communication, Economics, Geography and Environmental Studies, History, International Management (Anderson School of Management), Political Science, Public Health (College of Population Health), Sociology, Spanish-American Literature, and Spanish Linguistics. Students can choose 21 credit hours in each concentration, so that both concentrations have equal weight, or 15-27 credit hours in each, with a primary and secondary concentration.

Of the 48 total credit hours required for the Ph.D., a minimum of 24 credit hours must be taken after admission to the doctoral program. The Associate Director for Academic Programs must approve any coursework taken at the master’s level and applied towards the Ph.D.

Competence is required in one Latin American language by the time of degree completion. Competence in more than one Latin American language may be critical in certain areas of study. As such, some concentrations may require competence in a second language. For details, see the Latin American Studies Handbook. Competence is considered to be successful completion of advanced-level coursework, or passing a language proficiency examination. Students who have completed an undergraduate or graduate degree in Latin America or Iberia satisfy the language requirements.

A Committee on Studies (COS) must be formed at least one semester before the student plans to take comprehensive examinations. The COS is composed of at least two members from each concentration. The student creates a reading list in consultation with all members of his or her COS, and the committee approves the list the semester prior to the scheduled exam. The comprehensive examinations are coordinated and administered by the Latin American Studies program in conjunction with the student’s COS. Upon successful completion of the comprehensive examinations, an M.A. in Latin American Studies is conferred and students are advanced to candidacy within the doctoral program.

Concentration Requirements

Students must complete two concentrations from the list below. Select from the following list of courses for each concentration, in consultation with the Associate Director for Academic Programs and the COS. All courses must contain at least 40% Latin American content; exceptions may be approved by the Associate Director and COS. 

Anthropology
ANTH 510, 522, 524, 529, 532, 533, 537, 539, 546, 547, 574, 579, 585.

Art History
ARTH 500, 511, 512, 529, 549, 550, 560, 580, 583, 585, 590.

Brazilian Literature and Culture
PORT *461, 514, 516, 517, 521, 557, 558, 570; SPAN 502.

Built Environment
ARCH 500, 501, 502, 516, 517, 523, 524, 527, 550, 564, 570, 590, 591, 621, 623, 633, 652, 661, 662, 691, 692, 694, 695; 
CRP 500, 503, 508, 511, 513, 516, 520, 527, 528, 530, 531, 532, 533, 535, 537, 543, 551, 562, 567, 569, 570, 573, 574, 576, 577, 578, 580, 582, 583, 585, 590, 591, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695; 
LA 501, 502, 503, 505, 508, 511, 512, 521, 531, 556, 558, 559, 560, 561, 563, 580, 581, 582, 586, 590, 591, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695.

Communication
CJ 506, 517, 518, 519, 555, 566, 569, 604.

Economics
ECON *410, *421, *423, *424, *427, *429, *442, *445, *466, *478, 508, 509, 510, 533, 534, 538, 540, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 560, 564, 565, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 595.

Geography and Environmental Studies
GEOG *445, *481L, *499, 501, 502, 514, 515, 517, 525, 561, 562, 564, 567, 580L, 581L, 583L, 584L, 585L, 586L, 587L, 588L, 591.

History
HIST 518, 560, 571, 573, 574, 576, 629, 643, 644, 645, 648, 652, 653, 664, 665, 673, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 692.

International Management
MGMT 511, 524, 574, 583, 594, 595, 596, 597.

Political Science
POLS 510, 511, 512, 520, 521, 525, 540, 541, 551, 552, 570, 580, 581, 582, 584, 585, 681.

Public Health
ANTH 620; CJ 553, 555; ECON 564; HIST 610; PH 502, 508, 533, 554, 556, 565, 579, 583; SOC 540; SPAN **439.

Sociology
SOC 506, 507, 510, 514, 520, 528, 532, 584.

Spanish American Literature
SPAN *438, 502, 504, 531, 536, 601, 639.

Spanish Linguistics
SPAN 541, 545, 546, 547, 549.

Relevant electives outside of the Department may be taken only if pre-approved by the departmental Graduate Committee.

Latin American Studies (LTAM)

Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary program. In addition to the courses listed below, Latin American content courses can be found in a variety of departments, including the following: Anderson School of Management (International Management), Anthropology, Art, Community and Regional Planning, Economics, History, School of Law, Philosophy, Political Science, Spanish and Portuguese, Religious Studies, and Sociology.