The Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (MALAS) specialization in Religion and Society trains students in the interdisciplinary study of religion in Latin America. The specialization focuses on the development of religious world-views, practices, and institutions, and on the interactions between religion and socio-political transformations (including mestizaje, transitions from colonial to post-colonial settings, democratization, migration, globalization, and economic restructuring.)
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 in fall or spring, or 2 credit hours in summer.
Courses in the Specialization
Religion (two of the following)
REL 5195 Religion and Social Change
REL 5937 Religions of Brazil
REL 5937 Protestantism in Latin America
REL 5937 Indigenous Religions or Indigenous Cosmologies
REL 5937 Religion and the African Diaspora in the Americas
REL 5937 Religion and Nature in Latin America
REL 6125 Religion and Politics in the Americas
REL 6139 Religion in the Americas
REL 6196 Globalizing the Sacred
REL 6384 Religion and Nature in Latin America
REL 6385 Native Religions of the Americas
REL 6386 Religion and the Latin American Diaspora
REL 6387 Religions in Latin America
Social Sciences and the Humanities (one of the following)
ANG 6930 Ecology of Religion (Shamanism, Priestly Societies, and/or Imperialism)
ANG 6905 Anthropology of Religion (independent study)
CPO 4306 Contemporary Problems in Latin American Politics
CPO 6077 Comparative Social Movements
CPO 6307 Latin American Politics
PHI 5905 Latin American Social Thought (independent study)
SYO 4200 Sociology of Religion
SYD 6635 Latin American Societies
LAS 6938 Latin American Seminar (consult with Coordinator regarding appropriate topics)
POS 6292 Religion and Politics
Methods (one of the following)
ANG 6388 Ethnographic Field Methods
PHM 6520 Seminar in the Philosophy of Culture
POL 6736 Conduct of Inquiry
REL 6035 Methods and Theory I
REL 6036 Methods and Theory II
SYA 6305 Methods in Social Research
SYA 6315 Qualitative Research Methods
SYA 6348 Survey Research
Faculty
Jeffrey Needell (History; Brazil)
Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo (Anthropology; Colombia, Peru, and Brazil)
Milagros Peña (Sociology; Andes and U.S. Latinos)
Anna Peterson (Religion; Central America)
Mark Thurner (History; Andes)
Manuel Vásquez (Religion; Central America, Brazil, and U.S. Latinos)
Philip Williams (Political Science; Central America and Peru)
Robin Wright (Religion and Anthropology; Brazil)
Contact Information
319 Grinter Hall
P.O. Box 115530
Gainesville, FL 32611-5530
Tel: (352) 392-0375
Fax: (352) 392-7682
Graduate Advisor
Richmond F. Brown
Specialization Coordinator
Manuel Vásquez