University of Minnesota
Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies
spanport@umn.edu
612-625-5858


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Graduate Programs

Hispanic and Lusophone Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics

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 colonialism's 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).

Degrees & Concentrations

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 close integration of these three areas of literature and culture—Spanish peninsular, Latin American, and 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:

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 Tretter GLBT collection is one of the nation's largest, and is international in scope, including substantial holdings in Spanish and Portuguese.

Institutional Partners

Our department has strong institutional ties with important research communities across campus such as:

Financial Support for Graduate Students at Minnesota

All graduate students accepted into the program are guaranteed support in the form of a nine-month graduate instructorship which includes:

Incoming and continuing students may be nominated by the department for University-wide fellowships available at the University of Minnesota.

Department Affiliations

Our Department has institutional ties with important departments, programs and centers across campus, among them:

Contact Information

News & Information

  • Prof. Raúl Marrero-Fente's presentation at the Graduate Symposium in Romance Studies

    14th Annual Graduate Symposium in Romance Studies: "Framing the Human"
    Faculty Round Table: 1:45 - 3:15 in Nicholson Hall 155
    Prof. Jane Blocker, Prof. Bruno Chaouat, Prof. Raúl Marrero-Fente
    Moderator, Robert St. Clair

    Raúl Marrero-Fente, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies
    "Global Hispanic and Lusophone Studies and the Future of the Discipline"
    My talk aims to provide a new interpretation of the genealogies of imperialism and colonialism in the Global Hispanic and Lusophone Worlds during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By focusing on the cultural production and practices of Portuguese and Spanish empires in Africa, the Americas, and Asia, I argue that Colonial Latin America cannot be understood in isolation from other geographical regions, or from the trans-oceanic and global exchanges, from which it emerged. Another aim is to understand the development of the Spanish and Portuguese empires as the outcome of trans-oceanic networks that established global connections among distant regions of the world. By studying these reciprocal influences we can begin to move beyond the confines and limitations of geographically bound and closed entities in our analysis of the Iberian empires.

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  • Spring 2010 graduate courses with Prof. Amy Kaminsky

    Professor Amy Kaminsky is a professor of Global Studies and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, and she is also a member of the graduate faculty of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. She specializes in Latin American literature and film, and she teaches and writes about them in relation to theories of sexuality, gender, race, and nation. Her teaching style is informal, and she encourages independent, courageous thinking. If you'd like to read an article she wrote about one of the movies we'll be discussing, click on this link: Garage Olimpo

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  • You are invited! Joseph M. Towle presents "We're all just characters in a novel: Human Rights Obsevation in Zapatista Territory"

    Fall 2009: Colloquia Series
    Interdisciplinary Graduate Group on Human Rights and Transitional Justice.
    Free and open to the public. Food will also be served!

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