About us
Founded in 1919, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies is one of the best-established departments in the UK, and, over the years, has consistently been ranked highly for its teaching and research. The majority of our teaching and assessment is undertaken in Spanish or Portuguese, and it includes Basque, Catalan, Latin American, Portuguese and Spanish studies.
With approximately 600 undergraduates across all years, as well as currently 8 postgraduate students who conduct their research under our supervision, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, part of the Department of European Languages and Cultures (French, Italian, German, Russian and Scandinavian Studies) and of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (which further includes Asian, Celtic and Scottish, Islamic and Middle Eastern, Film and Theatre, and Translation Studies, as well as English Literature), is a thriving and friendly community of undergraduates, postgraduates, academic and support staff, with interests ranging from the literatures, cultures and art of the Iberian Peninsula, to those of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, or Portuguese-speaking Africa, amongst other regions.
Particular research interests of staff, which inform the teaching, are in fields as diverse as Medieval, Golden Age or contemporary Spanish literature; Portuguese and Latin American poetry, society, politics and film; Brazilian culture; Spanish theatre; Baroque art; Film Studies; contemporary Catalan culture; Spanish newspaper columns, and Lusophone African literature. See our staff pages for more detailed information.
All teaching, with the exception of lectures, is undertaken in tutorial and seminar groups, or in one-to-one supervision sessions in the final year of our MA Honours degree programmes, most of it in our state-of-the-art building in 50 George Square. Students at all levels have the opportunity to meet regularly with teaching staff to discuss their studies and work, and have at their disposal some of the best-equipped libraries in the UK. The section also boasts its own Centro de Língua Portuguesa, sponsored by the Instituto Camões, where students of Portuguese have access to a wide-range of resources, a designated study space, and a vibrant programme of events.
Recent careers our students have embarked upon following graduation include translation, business and marketing, the arts, law, or journalism, or teaching and lecturing, and they work for organizations as diverse as the European Energy Centre, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, NGOs, the British Council, National Galleries of Scotland, Thomson Reuters, the EU, universities or freelance.
We are particularly proud of our teaching staff, who are regularly nominated for Best Teaching, Best Course or Best Supervisor in the annual student-nominated EUSA Awards. In 2017, Dr Carlos Soler won the top prize for Best Feedback for piloting an innovative video style of commentary on work submitted.
Students are also recognised as being of a very high calibre. We are very delighted to announce that students graduating in Portuguese Honours have recently won national prizes awarded by the Instituto Camões/Millennium BCP from the Portuguese Embassy. In 2015-16, Mark Francis won the Prémio Melhor Aluno for his essay on António Lobo Antunes, and in 2016-17, Lizzie Grant for her essay on nation-building and utopia in Angolan post-independence literature.