Latin American Studies

Latin American Studies Programs | Latin American Studies Courses

Faculty List

Assistant Professor
V. Rivas, MA, PhD

Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
P. Karger, MA, PhD

Introduction

The Latin American Studies program at the Department of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program that provides students with the opportunities to deepen their understanding of Latin America/ Abiayala. This vast, biodiverse region with massive natural resources is home to heterogenous populations with unique cultural expressions and histories and with complex economic, political and social issues.

Courses that lead towards a Latin American Studies program (a Major, a Minor or a Certificate) encourage students to pursue their special academic and professional interests while becoming proficient in the contemporary debates about Latin America within a broad and flexible interdisciplinary framework. Students engage with faculty of varied academic backgrounds and a broad disciplinary range of texts; this engagement trains them in critical readings of colonial histories, literary and anthropological genres, comparative politics, politics of indigeneity and human rights, geography and urban planning, and public health, as well as in environmental policies and the political economy of Latin America and the Americas as a transnational whole. Such knowledge is increasingly necessary for Canada, as the country enters new trade, political, environmental, and academic agreements with our hemispheric partners.

Curricular and co-curricular activities in some of the advanced level courses offer important career-development opportunities as well as personal and academic enrichment through experiential learning in Latin America. The program is ideal for students intending to pursue a variety of careers, be they in academic, public, cultural and intellectual work, diplomacy and policy making, journalism and reporting, or business and commerce, among many others.

For any questions regarding courses and programs, feel free to email the Program Director, at las.program@utoronto.ca.