Latin American and Iberian Studies

The Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies

Graduate Program

Although there is no advanced degree in Latin American Studies at Yale, graduate and professional students may draw upon resources of many departments in order to make Latin America their field of concentration while working toward their respective degrees in conventional disciplines.

Students may pursue the graduate certificate of concentration in Latin American and Iberian Studies in conjunction with graduate degree programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Professional Schools. To complete the Certificate, candidates must demonstrate expertise in the area through their major graduate or professional field, as well as show command of the diverse interdisciplinary, geographic, cultural and linguistic approaches associated with expertise in Latin America or Iberia.

Admission is contingent upon the candidate's acceptance into a Yale graduate degree program, and award of the Certificate, beyond fulfilling the relevant requirements, is contingent upon the successful completion of the candidate's Yale University degree program.

Limited financial resources, such as the Mellon grants in history for a Latin American specialization and the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships, are available to graduate and professional school students.

Specific Requirements for the Graduate Certificate of Concentration:

Language Proficiency. The equivalent of two years study of one language and one year of the other. Normally, Spanish and Portuguese. Lesser-taught languages, such as Nahuatl, Quechua, or Haitian Creole, may also be considered for meeting this requirement.
Coursework. Six graduate courses in at least two different disciplines. No more than four courses may count in any one discipline.
Geographical and disciplinary coverage. At least two countries and two languages must be included in the coursework or thesis.
Research. A major graduate course research paper or thesis that demonstrates ability to use field resources, ideally in one or more languages of the region.

The Certificate Advisor of the Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies will assist graduate students in designing a balanced and coordinated curriculum. The Council will provide course lists and other useful materials.

Academic Resources of the Council

The Council supplements the graduate curriculum with term-long, thematically integrated lecture series and special seminars as well as conferences that bring visiting speakers to campus. The Council also serves as a communications and information center for a vast variety of enriching events in Latin American studies sponsored by the other departments, schools, and independent groups at Yale, and as the link between Yale and Latin American centers in other universities, and between Yale and educational programs in Latin America and Iberia.

The Latin American Collection at the University Library has approximately 490,000 printed volumes and is considered one of the foremost collections in the United States. In addition to printed matter, the collection is rich in manuscript material, and it contains a newspaper microfilm collection of 13,000 reels, as well as such non-book materials as photographs, documentary film, sound recordings, and sheet maps. The collection grows at a rate of 8,000 volumes a year.

The Yale University Library houses important primary source materials related to Latin America and is considered one of the finest in the United States for unpublished documents on Latin American history and other disciplines, especially from Mexico and Peru. These collections represent the fruit of over a hundred years of collecting Latin American materials, and document the social history of Latin America from the colonial period to the present. The unique scope of the collection allows researchers to approach the region’s history from a number of perspectives, including, but not limited to, politics, government, economics, diplomacy, culture, military, and religion.

For further information please contact the Curator, Cesar Rodriguez at cesar.rodriguez@yale.edu or access the following web site: www.library.yale.edu/latinamerica/

Although Yale’s concentration of Latin American research material is housed in Sterling Memorial Library, there are important collections housed in the Mudd Library. These materials are sometimes referred to as the "Latin American Country Collections." Apart from the Latin American Collection, numerous Latin American holdings are also found in the Economic Growth Center Collection, and the Divinity, Law, Social Science and Beinecke Libraries. Smaller collections are found in the Music, Art, Medical and Kline Science Libraries as well as the Peabody Museum, www.peabody.yale.edu. Social scientists have found the Economic Growth Center Collection to be invaluable in their research on the economic development of Latin America. See the web site below for a complete description of the Latin American Collection at Yale University: www.library.yale.edu/latinamerica/description.html

Information about the Graduate Certificate of concentration in Latin American Studies should be addressed to the Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies, Yale University, PO Box 208206, New Haven, CT 06520-8206; e-mail: latin.america@yale.edu or call 203/432-3422.

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