The Research Master programme on Latin American Studies provides a comprehensive training for the acquisition of state-of-the-art research skills in the field of Latin American studies.

It has been specially designed for highly motivated students who explicitly aspire to an academic career or who hope to obtain a position in other professional domains in which the possession of research experience and skills are required. As said before, this is the only existing Research Master programme in the Netherlands, which is exclusively oriented towards the study of the Latin American region. Most courses are taught in Spanish and some in English. Students can write their papers and thesis in Spanish, English or Portuguese.

The research master Latin American Studies is based on the collaboration of a group of scholars who are attached to both the Faculties of Humanities and Archaeology, and who are also associated with several research institutes such as the Institute for History, the Centre for Arts and Society, and the Centre for Linguistics. Students receive academic training from leading scholars who teach them about their current academic research and the place it takes within a specific debate and their field of study. By this, students get first-hand accounts about both the possibilities as well as the difficulties of carrying out research in Latin America and the Caribbean. This programme has a strong focus on public policies and social issues in present-day Latin America. Students learn what exactly is currently being done by Latin American governments and international agencies in the form of specific public policies to tackle major social problems, which are affecting Latin American societies today, in fields such as poverty alleviation, education, health care, housing, and public security. Students are also taught about current debates on Latin American cultures and the creative interrelationship between culture and politics.

Students have to carry out an independent fieldwork research in Latin America or the Caribbean of their own choice for a period of three months. They have to study a specific topic in the fields of social development and politics, cultural and media studies, indigenous studies or any other field of research, in which the scholars participating in this programme can provide expertise and academic support. Those students, who want to apply for a PhD position through one of the existing PhD scholarships in the Netherlands or abroad, can also work during the fourth and final semester on writing a PhD proposal under the supervision of one of the scholars participating in this Research Master programme.

Learn more here.