Students pursuing the Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (MALAS) specialization in Geography must have completed Introduction to Quantitative Analysis for Geography (GEO 3162) and either Maps and Graphs (GEO 4100C) or Foundations of Geographic Information Systems (GEO 3171). Equivalent courses may qualify if approved by the specialization coordinator.
Requirements
MALAS students must complete 30 credit hours of approved courses, write a thesis on a topic related to the specialization, and demonstrate intermediate-high proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese or Haitian Creole.
The course requirements are distributed as follows:
- 6 hours of gateway seminars (preferably in the first semester):
LAS 6220 Issues and Perspectives in Latin American Studies
LAS 6292/3 Research Design and Methods in Latin American Studies
- 15 hours of courses in the specialization (see below)
- 9 hours of courses with Latin American content outside the specialization, selected in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator, Dr. Richmond Brown
In addition, students must register for LAS 6971, Master’s Research, in the semester of graduation—at least 3 credit hours for fall or spring, or 2 credit hours for summer.
Courses in the Specialization
Required Courses (GEO 6118 and at least one in B)
(A)
GEO 6118 Contemporary Geographic Thought & Research
(B)
GEA6466 Amazonia
GEA 6419 Seminar: Latin America
GEA 6468L Resource Utilization & Conservation in Latin America
Optional Courses
GEO 5145C Remote Sensing
MET 6530 Hurricanes
GEO 6451 Medical Geography
GEO 6971 Research for Master's Thesis
GEO 7979 Advanced Research
GEO 5305 Environmental Biogeography
GEO 6375 Land Change Science Seminar
GEO 6931 Seminar in Cultural and Political Ecology
GIS 5028C Advanced Aerial Photo Interpretation
GIS 5107C Geographic Information Systems in Research
GIS 5306 Geographic Information Systems Applications in Environmental Systems
GEO 5809 Geography of World Agriculture
GEO 5930/ 6938 Selected Topics
Faculty
Michael Binford (GIS techniques, environmental geography; Bolivia, Thailand)
Eric Keys (Tropical agriculture, tropical forests, cultural and political ecology, land use and land cover change, global environmental change; Mesoamerica)
Corene Matyas (Climatology, hurricanes, climate and change; Caribbean)
Nigel Smith (Third World development; Brazil)
Jane Southworth (Climate change, remote sensing, land use, land cover change; Honduras, Guatemala)
Peter Waylen (Hydroclimatology; Central America)
Contact Information
319 Grinter Hall
P.O. Box 115530
Gainesville, FL 32611-5530
USA Tel: (352) 392-0375
Fax: (352) 392-7682
Graduate Advisor
Richmond F. Brown
Specialization Coordinator
Eric Keys