About Spanish & Portuguese at Minnesota
The graduate program in literary and cultural studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota has a strong tradition of fostering socio-historical perspectives in the study of culture. We emphasize global Hispanic and Lusophone studies while being attentive to the legacy of colonialisms that continue to inform regional and national histories as well as the multidimensional relationships between language and culture.
Our faculty are committed to comparative and interdisciplinary studies and they engage a variety of contemporary theoretical approaches with strengths in postcolonial theory, feminisms, critical race theory, queer theory, human rights, and theories of globalization.
The Hispanic linguistics program emphasizes the study of language in its contexts with a focus on interdisciplinary approaches to language contact, phonology, pragmatics, second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and syntax.
Our program in Lusophone cultures is one of the few in the nation that focuses on the Portuguese-speaking world as a whole and in its parts (Lusophone Africa, Brazil, and Portugal).
We offer Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with concentration in four areas:
• Spanish peninsular literatures and cultures
• Latin American literatures and cultures
• Lusophone literatures and cultures
• Hispanic linguistics
The four specialized area components are integrated in these degree programs, so that the M.A. and Ph.D. candidates may take courses involving the various fields. The close integration of these three areas–Spanish peninsular, Latin American, and Lusophone literature and cultures–makes this department unique in the United States.
Graduate students may also take courses in related departments and programs, among them:
• Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies
• Linguistics
• History
• Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature
• African-American and African Studies
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Human Rights
Departmental Publications
Our department sponsors several renowned publications such as Hispanic Issues and Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics. Faculty organize major international conferences and symposia, some on a regular basis such as the State of Ibero-American Studies Theater.
Library Resources
The library collection at the University of Minnesota, one of the largest in the nation, provides strong research support. Of particular interest is the prestigious James Ford Bell Library’s collection of rare books, maps, and manuscripts documenting the overseas expansion of early modern Europe. The newly acquired Tretter GLBT collection in Spanish and Portuguese is one of the nation’s most exhaustive.
Institutional Partners
Our department also has strong institutional ties with important research communities across campus such as the Institute for Advanced Study, European Studies Consortium, Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), Center for Medieval Studies, and Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC).
Graduate Students at Minnesota
All graduate students who are accepted into the program are guaranteed a nine-month graduate instructorship which includes a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a bi-weekly stipend. Graduate students who are instructors teach only one course per semester in contrast to a number of other public universities. Incoming and continuing students may be nominated by the department for university-wide fellowships available at the University of Minnesota.