Study Abroad

1. Latin American Studies majors are encouraged to spend a semester or a year on a program in Latin America approved by the University's Office of Study Abroad Committee. Latin American Studies faculty members regard study abroad as an integral part of the major, so students should discuss their plans as soon as possible with their Latin American Studies academic advisor or with the Latin American Studies program chair. Please note that at least 7 of the 10 courses required to complete the Latin American Studies major must be taken at Wesleyan.

2. Credit is regularly granted toward the Latin American Studies major through the University's pre-approved programs in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

3. Students may, with the support of their Latin American Studies program advisor, also petition for programs in other Latin American countries. Information about these programs is available in the Office of Study Abroad, which may also have evaluation forms completed by students who have participated in such programs in the past.

4. LAST majors who wish to study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country should have completed either five semesters of Spanish, or Spanish 221, or both, because LAST majors studying abroad Spanish-speaking countries are expected to complete all of their course work in Spanish. Likewise, LAST majors who wish to study abroad in Brazil must have completed the sequence PORT 155 and 156 (Portuguese for Romance Language Speakers I and II), because LAST majors studying abroad in Brazil are expected to complete all of their course work in Portuguese.

5. Latin American Studies majors must follow not only the general regulations governing study abroad, but also the following restrictions on courses to be counted toward the Latin American Studies major:

5a. Coursework taken in Latin America must be about Latin America. (If you take Introductory Physics or Shakespeare at the University of Chile, for example, you will not get LAST credit.) Only courses taught entirely in Spanish or Portuguese, with all of the written work in Spanish or Portuguese, may count toward the 6 Latin American Studies courses needed to complete the major. Courses taught partly or entirely in English, or in which some or all of the written work is in English, may count only toward the 4 concentration courses.

5b. In any one semester, only two "nation-specific" courses, which must be from different divisions of the curriculum (HA, SBS, NSM), may count toward the major. In one semester in Chile, for example, you may count either a Chilean history or a Chilean politics course toward the major, but not both. You may, however, count both a Chilean economics and a Chilean literature course toward the major, or both a Chilean history and a Chilean botany course toward the major. Students should choose courses on study-abroad programs in close consultation with their Latin American Studies faculty advisor, take at least one course in their department of concentration, and bear in mind the opportunities that their study abroad experience provides for completing the LAST Research Requirement. Providing it meets the Research Requirement criteria, a paper written for a course on a study-abroad program may suffice to meet the Latin American Studies Research Requirement

5c. Individual courses must be pre-approved for credit by a faculty member who is formally affiliated with the Latin American Studies program, preferably by the student's advisor. If no listing of courses is available, or if final decisions must be left until arrival, the student must communicate his or her definitive course selections to the Office of Study Abroad and to his or her Latin American Studies advisor before the first day of classes at the study abroad institution. Students who do not so communicate risk losing credit.