The M.A. Program in Inter-American Studies is divided into 12 modules. These include 5 compulsory modules, 6 elective modules and the Thesis Module on which you can find more information by clicking on the boxes below.

Module 1: Interdisciplinary Introduction Module (MaIAS1): This module is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of regional studies and brings together students from various disciplines. Following a block seminar, students gather in groups to create a media project, which is then presented at the end of the semester. Possible topics include, for example, ethnicity and indigenous movements, transnational spaces and zones of cultural contact, gender issues, migration and exile, urbanization, political communication, cultural hybridity, and border studies. This module consists of 14 credits.

Module 2: Profile-area supplement (MaIAS2): Due to the interdisciplinary focus of the M.A. Program and the different academic backgrounds of its students, this module serves to complement individual theoretical knowledge. For this, students can take classes offered by the Faculty of Sociology, the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature and the Department of History. These classes can be found in eKVV. Students can obtain 12 credit points for this module, which takes at least three courses to complete. No grade is needed for this module and language classes are not accepted.

Module 3: Transnational Area Studies (MaIAS3): The module Transnational Area Studies is divided into two independent parts, each with a different focus: module 3a, Contact Zones and Intercultural Studies, and module 3b, Theory Module of Transnational History. Students can select either of these modules based on their profile focus, which can be either in the field of cultural or historical social sciences. They can obtain 12 credit points for this module, which consists of two courses and one graded exam or paper.

Module 3a: Contact Zones and Intercultural Studies (MaIAS3a): The aim of this module is to acquire theoretical and methodological perspectives on cultural contact and exchange, cultural hybridity, and transculturation in the Inter-American context. For this module, students can select classes from the field of “Cultural Theory and Cultural Studies” or “Literary Theory”, and classes from the field of “Cultural Contact and Transculturation in the U.S.” or “Languages in Contact”. In these classes students hone their analytical skills in the areas of media, mediation, and intercultural communication, and develop expertise in processes of cultural exchange and transculturation.

Module 3b: Theory Module Transnational History (MaIAS3b): The theory module includes two courses, that together provide theoretical foundation for comparing societies. The seminars focus on the different conceptions of social comparison, transfer and transnational history. Here, these theoretical approaches from other disciplines, such as sociology, literature, cultural and media studies, are linked up with historical issues. In this module, students improve their skills in social comparison and the application of interdisciplinary theories and methods to design their own research projects.

Module 4: American Literature and the Processes of Culture (MaIAS4): The courses offered in this module explore theoretical and methodological approaches to the analysis of literature, culture, and media. The main focus falls on issues of transculturation and cultural exchange. Students can select three courses from the fields of “American Literature and the Meeting of Cultures”, “Mediating American Literature”, and “Theorising the Meeting of Cultures in American Literature”. This module serves to deepen students´ understanding of literary methods and develop expertise in interdisciplinary and intercultural analysis. All in all, this module consists of 12 credits, which can be obtained through participation in three courses and one graded paper.

Module 5: Literaturas y culturas iberoamericanas (MaIAS5): This module aims at giving a broader understanding of the central role of literature and media in the context of the emergence, transformation and deconstruction of cultural identities in Latin America. Students can select between courses of the fields of “Literatura latinoamericana en su contexto histórico-social” and “Teoría e historia de los medios en América Latina”. The language of instruction is Spanish. Based on post-colonial theories and research on cultural contact and hybridity, the courses in this module focus on the phenomena of mixture among indigenous, European, and African cultural traditions (cultural mestizaje, syncretism) that is formative for Latin American cultures . This module consists of 12 credits, which can be obtained through participation in two courses and one graded paper or exam.

Students may select two from modules 6-11. Module 12 is obligatory.

Module 6: Advanced Module Literature and Culture in the Americas (MaIAS6): By selecting this module, students can establish a profile focus in the fields of literature and cultural studies. The aim of this module is to shed light on the representations of intercultural exchange in the media and in the context of everyday practice. Cultural approaches (including Cultural Materalism, Gender Studies, and Media Studies) and literary approaches (including Hermeneutics, New Criticism, and Structuralism) as well as film and media studies are used for the analysis of texts, films and art production. In this module, students can choose one course from each of the fields “Film and the Arts in the Americas” and “Representations of Intercultural Processes in the Americas”. All in all, this module consists of 12 credits which can be obtained by participating in two courses and writing one graded paper.

Module 7: Languages in Contact (MaIAS7): This module deals with the description and analysis of language contact, a process that can be found in almost every speech community: contact between natural languages is reflected both on the individual scale (bilingualism, individual multilingualism) and on the social scale (diglossia, polyglossia). Language contact affects all levels of the language system and is a crucial factor in linguistic change, leading, in the long term, to particular forms of contact languages (mixed languages, vehicular languages, pidgins, creoles). To obtain the 12 credits, which this module includes, students can choose one course from each of the following three fields: “linguistic varieties, language contact and language change”, “contact languages” and “multilingualism”. In addition to participating in these courses, students must write one graded paper.

Module 8: Transnational History in the Americas (MaIAS8): This module aims at deepening students´ theoretical basis for investigating transnational relations and their historical variations in the Americas. For this, students are supposed to take one course and one seminar on transnational history. The stress falls on interrelated topics such as issues of globalization, colonialism, and other transnational processes. The course provides an overview of interdisciplinary research methods, which are applied in the seminar to specific research questions. This module includes 12 credits, which can be obtained through one graded paper in the context of the seminar and participation in the course and seminar.

Module 9: Structures and Dynamics of World Society and Transnationalization (MaIAS9): Based on the assumption that a global context- a “world society”- has emerged, the courses in this module address the processes that the development of a global structural coherence implies and the impact these coherences have on regional and local structures. On the one hand, the module takes a look at examples from different functional systems (law, economics, and sociology) and, on the other hand, at microsociological perspectives. This module provides knowledge of various methodological approaches to the development of a world society and transnational issues. Furthermore, students improve their understanding of conflict management in fields such as migration, development, and social policy. This module includes 12 credits, which can be obtained through one graded paper or exam and participation in one empirical course and one seminar.

Module 10: Forms of Transnational Socialization and Community Building (MaIAS10): This module deals with concrete social processes and socio-cultural mechanisms of community building and socialization at the level of world society. The starting point is, on the one hand, the tension arising from the relationships and the varying speed of globalization, which exist within functionally differenciated systems, and, on the other hand, the processes of inclusion and exclusion from the system, which come with cultural and gender differentiation. In this module, students learn to classify academic debates and policies on the causes and consequences of globalization and transnationalism, as well as identify the consequences of social integration. The module consists of 12 credits, which can be obtained through one graded paper or project report and the participation in one empirical course and one seminar.

Module 11: Politics of World Society (MaIAS11): This module deals with the modalities of collective, political and social processing of transnational dynamics in world society. The central focus falls on the link between global and transnational dynamics, as well as on the meso- level in terms of political processing of transnationalization, including its consequences for collectives and individuals. By means of different conceptual and methodological approaches, the manifold issues of world society are analyzed. Additionally, students will develop skills in the field of civil conflict resolution and political consulting, which is required by various organizations. Students can select one theoretical course in the field of “Global Public Policy” and one empirical or action-oriented seminar. This module consists of 12 credits, which can be obtained through participation in the course and seminar and one graded paper or project report.

Module 12: Thesis Module (MaIAS12): The thesis module includes the Colloquium Inter-American Studies and the thesis project. The research colloquium gives students the opportunity to present their thesis projects and serves at the same time as a platform for the presentation and discussion of external research works engaging in the Inter-American range of topics. This module aims at giving students an idea of how to approach research projects. By developing the thesis (approx. 70 pages), students prove their competence in scientific research. All in all, this module includes 34 credits.

You can find further information on the modules in the module handbook.