Master of Arts in Lateinamerikanischen Studien (MALAS)

The Master of Arts in Latin American Studies at SFS is designed for students pursuing careers in government, business, and international organizations in the U.S. and abroad as well as those who contemplate additional post-graduate work in the humanities or social sciences. M.A. students typically focus their studies in one of the following concentration areas: Governance and Leadership; Development and Political Economy, History, Culture and Society.

While most students complete the degree in two years on a full-time basis, part-time and accelerated options are available as well.

In addition to the MA in Latin American Studies, CLAS also offers an undergraduate minor in Latin American Studies, a joint MA/PhD program with the Department of Government, a joint MA/JD program with the Georgetown University Law Center, and an accelerated BAorBS/MA program. Also, cooperative degree agreements with 17 colleges and universities allow undergraduates from these schools to pursue an accelerated masters degree in Latin American Studies at CLAS.

The Center sponsors three summer graduate programs located in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia and encourages individual summer research and professional internships throughout the hemisphere.

Learning Goals

Mastery in Latin and inter-American affairs in hemispheric, transatlantic, and/or global context through:

• Differentiating social, cultural, political, and economic developments in a historical context;
• Illustrating changing and contested constructions of identities and belief systems among the diverse peoples of the region;
• Analyzing relations between political and governmental structures and changing social and cultural formations;
• Synthesizing the interplay between economics and politics, focusing on production, profit, exchange, distribution and welfare, and their relations with political power.
• Demonstrating oral proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese with a basis of grammar, vocabulary, accent, and fluency.
• Developing skills of analytical and integrative thinking to communicate effectively for different audiences and purposes through writing and speaking.
• Illustrating basic and advanced qualitative and quantitative research skills, including fluency with relevant print and virtual bibliographic and research guides.

Degree Requirements

There are three major degree requirements for the MA degree:

• 36 credit hours of graduate coursework with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale OR the completion of 33 credit hours of graduate coursework and the successful defense of an MA thesis.
• Language proficiency in either Spanish or Portuguese.
• Completion of the Master's Capstone project.

Independent Study

CLAS students have the opportunity to arrange independent studies for academic credit. Independent study programs must include the development of an original research project on a topic related to the student’s coursework or thesis. Individual mentors must be obtained to oversee the independent study, and the program must be approved by the MA program director.

The Thesis Option

Students who wish to complete a thesis must identify a research topic and a thesis adviser by the end of their first semester. Students choose two faculty members to guide their thesis process: a thesis advisor and a second reader. It is strongly suggested that the thesis adviser be a member of the CLAS faculty. Second readers may be either full-time Georgetown University professors or adjunct faculty.

The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University is the oldest school of international affairs in the United States, it's founding in 1919 predating the establishment of the U.S. Foreign Service by six years. It is also a premier school of international affairs, home in 2010 to programs ranked by Foreign Policy magazine as first in the world at the graduate level and fifth at the undergraduate level. At Georgetown’s Washington, D.C., and Qatar campuses, SFS fosters essential research, connects distinguished practitioners to the global dialogue and provides the highest-quality education, pursued in a spirit of inquiry, with a concern for values.

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Why SFS

Commitment to Service At SFS, service is not just a particular career path. It’s an approach to solving problems that are just as relevant in the private sector as it is in the public sector. Members of the SFS community utilize Georgetown’s Jesuit values no matter what they go on to do after they leave the Hilltop. The Intersection of Scholars and Practitioners At SFS, students learn from recognized experts who are actively engaged in finding solutions to complex global problems. You can study with former Secretaries of State, with people who led huge multinational corporations or with renowned scholars in international affairs. Students can attend events with speakers who come from the top of their fields, across all sectors of foreign affairs. Both students and faculty bring their expertise into the classroom and onto campus, facilitating a learning environment that pushes students to constantly challenge big ideas with experience and practice from all over the world. The depth of Understanding of Countries, Regions, and Cultures At SFS there are more than 20 different centers and programs that cover all regions of the world and key cross-cutting global issues. Convening Power in Washington, D.C. SFS has located just minutes away from the State Department, the White House, the Pentagon, and countless nonprofit organizations. This gives SFS the extraordinary opportunity for us to engage (and sometimes even influence) the debates that lead to real action.