Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies

The MacMillan Center 

232 Luce Hall, 203.432.3420
http://clais.macmillan.yale.edu
Graduate Certificate of Concentration in Latin American and Iberian Studies

Chair

Claudia Valeggia (Anthropology)

Professors Ned Blackhawk (History; American Studies), Richard Burger (Anthropology), Enrique De La Cruz (Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry), Robert Dubrow (Epidemiology), Carlos Eire (History; Religious Studies), Eduardo Fernandez-Duque (Anthropology), Paul Freedman (History), Aníbal González-Pérez (Spanish & Portuguese), Greg Grandin (History), K. David Jackson (Spanish & Portuguese), Alan Kazdin (Psychology), Albert Ko (Epidemiology; Internal Medicine), Daniel Markovits (Law), Catherine Panter-Brick (Anthropology; Global Affairs), Stephen Pitti (History), Claire Priest (Law), Cristina Rodríguez (Law),  Carla Rothlin (Immunobiology; Pharmacology), Alicia Schmidt Camacho (American Studies), Stuart Schwartz (History), Claudia Valeggia (Anthropology), Noël Valis (Spanish & Portuguese), Elisabeth Wood (Political Science), Gilbert Joseph (History)

Associate Professors Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos (Anthropology), Ana De La O Torres (Political Science), Marcela Echeverri Muñoz (History), Anne Eller (History), Moira Fradinger (Comparative Literature), Cécile Fromont (History of Art), Albert Laguna (American Studies), Michael Murrell (Biomedical Engineering), Patricia Ryan-Krause (Nursing)

Assistant Professors Didac Queralt (Political Science), Emily Sellars (Political Science), Erika Valdivieso (Classics)

Senior Lectors and Lectors (Spanish & Portuguese) Sybil Alexandrov, María Pilar Asensio-Manrique, Mercedes Carreras, Ame Cividanes, Sebastián Díaz, María Jordán, Rosamaría León, Juliana Ramos-Ruano, Lissette Reymundi, Lourdes Sabé Colom, Terry Seymour, Margherita Tortora

Others Jane Edwards (Sr. Associate Dean, Yale College; Dean, International & Professional Experience), María José Hierro Hernández (Lecturer, Political Science), Jana Krentz (Librarian, Latin American & Iberian Collections, Latinx Studies), Florencia Montagnini (Sr. Research Scientist, School of the Environment), Maria Saez Marti (Sr. Lector, Economics)

A variety of Latin American Studies options are available for graduate students in history and other humanities disciplines, the social sciences, and the professional schools. Latin American area course offerings are available in twenty-five disciplines with distinct strengths in Anthropology, History, Political Science, and Spanish and Portuguese. Latin Americanist faculty specialize in the Andes (Burger, Valdivieso), Argentina (Valeggia), Brazil (Jackson, Ko, Ryan-Krause, Schwartz), the Caribbean (Echeverri Muñoz, Eller), Central America (Chinchilla, Grandin, Ryan-Krause, Wood), Colombia (Echeverri Muñoz), Cuba (Laguna), Mexico (Canales, De La O Torres, Pitti, Schmidt Camacho, Sellars), and the Southern Cone (Fradinger). School of the Environment faculty (Ashton, Bell, Berlyn, Clark, Dove, Geballe, Gentry, Mendelsohn, Montagnini) have tropical research interests or participate in educational exchanges with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Latin American content courses are also offered in the Schools of Law, Management, and Public Health.

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 on the candidate’s acceptance into a Yale graduate degree program, and award of the certificate, beyond fulfilling the relevant requirements, requires the successful completion of the candidate’s Yale University degree program. Active participation in the council’s extracurricular and research programs and seminars is also strongly encouraged.

Financial resources, such as CLAIS Summer Research grants, are available to graduate and professional school students for summer research. Information on grants is available at https://yale.communityforce.com/Funds/Search.aspx.

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. Less frequently taught languages, such as Nahuatl, Quechua, or Haitian Creole, may also be considered for meeting this requirement.


Course work 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 course work or thesis.


Research A major graduate course research paper or thesis that demonstrates the ability to use field resources, ideally in one or more languages of the region, normally with a focus on a comparative or regional topic rather than a single country.

The certificate adviser 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 annual speaker and film series, special seminars, and conferences that bring visiting scholars and experts 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 other departments, schools, and independent groups at Yale. It is a 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 of the University library has approximately 630,000 volumes printed in Latin America, plus newspapers and microfilms, CD-ROMs, films, sound recordings, and maps. The library’s Latin American Manuscript Collection is one of the finest in the United States for unpublished documents for the study of Latin American history. Having the oldest among the major Latin American collections in the United States, Yale offers research opportunities unavailable elsewhere.

For more information on the Graduate Certificate, contact the Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies, Yale University, PO Box 208206, New Haven CT 06520-8206; latin.america@yale.edu; 203.432.3420.