Latin American Studies

The Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies [GCLAS] offers Washington University students the opportunity to pursue a multidisciplinary specialization on this region of the world while completing their Ph.D. degree. The GCLAS combines discipline-based training with cultural studies, thus allowing for a rigorous approach to Latin America’s social, economic, and political history. At the same time, students are exposed to new theories and current debates on the topics of nation formation, governance, colonialism, development, regionalism, public health, modernization, globalization, neoliberalism, etc. At the national level, programs of Latin American Studies date back to the late 1940s, when the Area Studies paradigm became central in the internationalization of academic focus in the context of the Cold War. Today, as globalization has made internationalization an even more pressing concern, Latin American Studies is part of a new need for better understanding of other world regions. In fact, Latin American countries consistently play an important role within the intellectual and political spheres of the United States. Latin America is the single largest source of immigrants to the United States today. It has the third trade partner of the US (Mexico), one of the most vibrant emergent economies in the world (Brazil), countries that have been at the core of US foreign policy for decades (Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and the Andean region, for instance) and a vibrant population and culture that is growingly the focus of US students.