Master of Arts (MA) in Interdisciplinary Latin American Studies

This research-oriented Master's programme provides an in-depth overview of Latin America from the perspectives of the following disciplines: ancient American studies, cultural and social anthropology, gender studies, history, literatures and cultures of Latin America, economics, political science, and sociology. Distinguished by the fact that its students are introduced to scholarly work and related activities early and make early knowledge gains, the programme brings together regional and disciplinary perspectives and has a strong focus on area studies. By considering historical and contemporary dynamics and contingencies, students grapple with regional problems of a region characterised by marked social diversity and interdependent, entangled inequalities. The region of Latin America, in geographical and cultural terms, encompasses Hispanic America, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the interconnections that extend beyond the region. The changing perception of Latin America in the global context—in particular from transregional, intersectional, and de-colonial perspectives—is a major focus, both in the "longue durée" and in selected cases. Students comprehensively engage with approaches from the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences, considering the dynamics of borders in relation to social and spatial mobilities, inequalities, imaginaries, discursive conventions and practices, forms and strategies of representation, the environment, sustainability, human-nature relations, cultures, economies, politics, materialities, provenance, gender relations, societal diversity, conviviality, etc. In doing so, students examine forms of cultural, socioeconomic, and gender difference in various contexts and incorporate a range of materials, productions, approaches, and concepts from the Latin American world and scholarship. Students learn about different challenges of the Latin American continent as well as locally developed approaches to solve them. More specifically, students discuss and apply interpretive approaches and theories on transformation, development, and inequalities as well as on historical-cultural action, representations, and the interconnections of the region. Understanding the concepts and paradigms of Latin American Studies and the Global South is as important as learning about and gaining a critical perspective on the theories and methods of the humanities, social sciences, and gender studies—all of which, in addition to de-colonial perspectives, permeate all facets of the programme. Early in the programme, students choose a specialisation in the humanities / cultural studies, social sciences, regional studies (Brazil), or gender studies.  Students in this research-oriented Master's programme develop a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and specialised understanding of individual countries and regions in Latin America using the latest theories and methods used in international research. At the end of the programme, they will be able to communicate confidently on topics relevant to their studies, primarily in German and Spanish or Portuguese, but also in English and, where applicable, at an elementary level in an indigenous language. Furthermore, they gain a thorough understanding of national, transregional, and global processes as well as intercultural competencies in the context of growing global interdependencies and asymmetries. Graduates of the programme can: reflect on and critically evaluate social transformation processes as well as the dynamics and interconnections of Latin America in changing global and transregional contexts reflect on and critically evaluate these from different perspectives learn about individual states, regions, and local lifeworlds of Latin America and critically analyse and compare their structural, unequal, and entangled constitutional processes and cultural dynamics in the past and present from different perspectives classify and explain the social dynamics and transformation proc