THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SPANISH AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

Graduate Program Overview:

The Graduate Program in Spanish and Latin American Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies (MLCS) at the University of Alberta draws on the talents of a diverse and vibrant faculty with research interests in Latin America. Our program is unique in North America for its multi-disciplinary approach to cultural studies, language and literature and the diverse research projects of its faculty. Our faculty members are not only equipped to teach the traditional and canonical Spanish American literary works, but go beyond that by including the study of other important cultural materialities and empirical approaches to the study of these heterogeneous “texts” (movies, video-games, comic books, artifacts, museums, monuments, songs etc). Students can pursue a graduate degree (MA or PhD) in Spanish and Latin American Studies. Although there is no graduate program in Spanish Applied Linguistics, students can take courses in English in the Applied Linguistics program with a specialization in Spanish. Students can also pursue a combined degree program in Translation Studies, obtaining a dual-specialization in Spanish and Latin American Studies. [Students interested in computational studies with a cultural focus on Latin America can also pursue an MA in Humanities Computing (HUCO) and work with Spanish and Latin American studies faculty in our department. See http://huco.ualberta.ca/. Research and teaching are supported by the University of Alberta’s Rutherford Library Hispanic collection, the second most important in Canada.

The MA program takes two years and can be either course based (8 courses and includes a final research project) or a thesis based (6 courses and a thesis). The PhD program takes four years (9 courses and a thesis). Our students will leave the program having obtained a panoramic foundation of some of the most important Hispanic literary texts and literary theory complemented by core courses in Hispanic theories of cultural studies, as well as gaining in depth knowledge of a particular field through their thesis or extended final project . To see program requirements, click here.

MLCS offers students an international environment in which they have the unique opportunity of interacting with peers from a variety of other languages and applied linguistics areas (French, Italian, German, Slavics). Graduate students in the department also work together to plan and organize an annual international conference.

In consultation with their advisor, students are permitted to take a course relevant to their research interest in departments such as History, Politics, Anthropology, Comparative Literature and English and film studies, and other relevant disciplines. All students are trained in language instruction and are given the opportunity to hone their pedagogical skills by teaching in the Spanish language program. Students are also introduced to the profession through our Pro-Seminar Series, workshops which address practical issues such as grant writing, employment in the academic world and beyond, development of teaching dossiers and curriculum vitae, research and publishing.

Spanish Area faculty specialize in the following fields:
*Latin American literature, cultural studies, and popular culture;
*Second language acquisition, pedagogy and applied linguistics;
*Jewish Latin American literature and women’s writing;
* Latin American Film and post-dictatorship culture in Argentina and Uruguay;
* Latin American Avant gardes and Modernism;
*Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Poetry and Mexican Literature;
*Literary Translation;
*20th century Latin American literature, the Cold War and the Cuban Revolution; *Literature and Journalism;
*Colonial Latin American literature and culture and post-colonial theory (Peru and Mexico) and Indigenous Latin America (past and present);
*Literary Theory and Empirical and Cognitive approaches to the study of Literature.

Faculty in Spanish and Latin American Literature include:
Dr. Gabriela Zapata, Yvonne Lam (Spanish Applied Linguistics); Victoria Ruétalo, Odile Cisneros, Catherine Caufield, Russell Cobb, Ann De Leon, Marisa Bortolussi (Spanish and Latin American Studies). Please click here to see Faculty Profiles.

For further information about graduate degrees in our programs, application materials, scholarships, and deadlines, please contact Ms. Jane Wilson: mlcsgrad@ualberta.ca

For more information on the academics and structure of our program please contact
Marisa Bortolussi, Graduate Advisor for the Spanish Area of MLCS: marisa.bortolussi@ualberta.ca

GRADUATE COURSES 2010-2011

Fall 2010

SPAN 535: Theories of Latin American Culture - R. Cobb. ◆This course is designed to give graduate students specializing in Spanish and Latin American Studies a broad understanding of how cultural and literary studies have been practiced in Latin America from the beginning of the 20th century to the contemporary period. In this course, we’ll pay special attention to a handful of thinkers who have had an especially important impact on the intellectual scene in Latin America over the past one hundred years: Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, Angel Rama, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, Fernando Ortiz, and others.

MLCS 555: Teaching Strategies for Postsecondary Language Instructors - G. Zapata. ◆The main objective of this class is to introduce teaching professionals in training to methods, approaches, and techniques in the teaching of foreign languages. We will examine the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of second/foreign language instruction, and we will apply new concepts in the design and completion of a variety of tasks. Students will be expected to participate in practical activities and projects particularly oriented to teaching, such as classroom observations, materials development, etc. By the end of the course, they will have gained a greater understanding of the theory and practice of second/foreign language teaching; they will have developed their professional awareness, philosophy, and attitudes; and they will have enhanced their teaching experience.

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