Welcome
Latin American Studies at the University of Toronto (LAS@UofT) is a program for students in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences who seek a deeper understanding of the Latin American regions, their histories, cultures, and societies. LAS@UofT seeks to inspire knowledge and experience across the University’s three-campus community and beyond. The program’s courses encourage students to complement special interests in fields such as anthropology, political science, geography, history, or sociology, with a broader interdisciplinary framework, while at the same time committing themselves to an emphasis upon the languages, and the historical and cultural experiences of Spanish and Portuguese America.
LAS@UofT exists to bring together the energy and insights of a multi-disciplinary collection of individuals and units, to develop innovative courses, and to stimulate interdisciplinary exchange. The programme’s research and pedagogical mission encompasses everything from the ancient American civilizations and the ideas, peoples, and commodities that came together and emerged within a wide Iberian world, through the archaeology, geography, history, languages, literatures, politics, societies, and cultures of the Latin American regions and countries, to the natural sciences and transnational investigation of Latin Americans, and their descendants in Canada and elsewhere.
The Latin American Studies program’s array of sponsored and affiliated courses introduce students to the study of Latin America from a number of disciplinary perspectives, including Anthropology, Political Science, Spanish and Portuguese literatures, Geography, History, and Sociology. The interdisciplinary core of these programs begins with its required “gateway” course, LAS200Y1, a wide-ranging lecture course with tutorial discussion sections that is open to students in at least their second year of undergraduate study. Further courses at the 300-level and beyond provides a broad foundation, examining cultural, geographical, historical, literary, political and social topics from across Latin America. Offering an overarching set of perspectives on a diverse region in the world, LAS encourages its students to connect, and to branch out into the complementary disciplines of their choice, while at the same time committing themselves to an emphasis upon the historical, political, cultural and literary experiences of Spanish and Portuguese America.
Courses are important, but most Latin American Studies Majors and Minors come to our programs for more than coursework alone. Follow their lead and take advantage of a variety of extra-curricular events sponsored by the programs–from the Latin America Film and the Generation/Generación/ Geração Series, through special speakers and social evenings, to the Latin American Studies Luncheon Series held on many Wednesdays throughout the year (if you RSVP in advance a light lunch is served) and a series in collaboration with Ryerson University and focused on journalism, Making News in the Americas. One of our primary missions is to provide opportunities for students to engage with new ideas, to enter discussions, to meet people with similar interests – in short, to humanize their learning.
The program encourages study and experience abroad in Latin America in several ways, including its Undergraduate Student Research Award, and summer courses at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico through the International Summer Program.