Portuguese Studies MPhil – (M.Phil.)

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at Manchester plays key roles in national and international research contexts through its publications, seminar and conference activity, and through its innovative approach to the configuration of the discipline boundaries in which it works. Our research and postgraduate teaching ranges chronologically from the Early Modern period in Spain through nineteenth-century Latin America to the present day (for example, with work on the modern city in Latin America, transnational contemporary cinema in relation to Spain, and twenty first-century migrations). Our publications and supervisory interests range from cultural, linguistic and literary history and theory to language contact and transnational exchange. We have expertise in Brazilian/Portuguese Studies, Cultural and Gender Studies, Film Studies, History, Literature and Culture in Latin America, Linguistics, Sociology, and Textual Criticism.

In recent years we have successfully supervised to completion research students in subjects covering our whole range, but with a particular clustering around Latin American and Gender and Cultural/Literary Studies topics (including, notably, work on Lusophone Africa). Opportunities for study in the Early Modern period - which we are currently prioritizing - are made particularly rich by the holdings of The John Rylands University Library, the third largest academic library in the UK; the Library is also is extremely strong in Latin American Studies and Spanish and Portuguese literature as well as being the UK national holding library for Lusophone African studies. We run two regular research seminar series in Spanish/Portuguese and in Latin American Cultural Studies; postgraduate students contribute significantly to the running and content of both. Postgraduate activities are further supported by a generous bequest from a former staff member, Dr Gordon Kinder, which provides supplementary travel bursaries and funding for events.