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Latin American Studies MA- Fall 2015


twentysix

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UCLA raised my fellowship offer yesterday to $31,000! They are also offering partial funding for their visitation day.

I'm going to make a weekend out of it and visit UCLA and UCSD at the same time. The visitation days, in addition to the conference I am presenting at, are getting me out of about a week and a half worth of classes (April 1-11)! Does anyone else have a pending visitation day?

Edited by twentysix
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Pretty good. Program and department looks pretty good. Met a bunch of profs and they all seemed quite nice. City is decent as well. 

 

Awesome! I love Texas, Tex-Mex and Texas BBQ; I just hate Texas politics. I Would have loved to live in Austin.

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Anyone doing anything interesting for Spring Break? I'm on my way to Panamá for about a week. I hope to get in some good snorkeling and kayaking time in the ocean and lake Gatun and I also plan on visiting the canal and exploring the city and its ruins. I'm excited to get to use my Spanish a little more in another real world setting.

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Twenty six, check your email, I got an email from the UCSD Program Director about the fellowship.

 

Thanks for the heads up, the email went to my junk mail. Did you receive the fellowship? I did not get it out of the first 2 rounds, 1 round remains.

 

However, they are keen on offering me a research assistantship (tuition/fees/salary) if I do not get it in the final round (which I probably won't).

Edited by twentysix
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I didn't make the 1st round either. It looks like we got an almost identical email. I replied to his email, but I haven't heard back yet. It would be nice to get the fellowship, but we shall see.

Edited by Randomgal
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Did the program director call you today Randomgal? He did not contact me, even though I scheduled today for him to call.

No, he did not call me. I didn't even receive a follow up email. It's Spring Break at the UC's right now, so that might be it.

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No, he did not call me. I didn't even receive a follow up email. It's Spring Break at the UC's right now, so that might be it.

Ok. I didn't get a follow up email either.

 

At my university, spring break is only for students. All university offices continue to function.

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I believe it's the same for UC's. Hopefully we hear something soon, and hopefully something about a possible visitation day as well.

I already asked, there isn't one.

 

I made my own visitation day, the day after UCLA's open house.

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Oh, well that's a bummer, but understandable. Sounds like you have a busy trip ahead of you! Are you going to drive or take the train? If you drive, it's about 2 hours (but the 405 and the 5 get lots of traffic), but otherwise not a bad drive. I heard the train route down to San Diego from Union Station is quite nice (you get a nice view of the ocean :) ). 

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Oh, well that's a bummer, but understandable. Sounds like you have a busy trip ahead of you! Are you going to drive or take the train? If you drive, it's about 2 hours (but the 405 and the 5 get lots of traffic), but otherwise not a bad drive. I heard the train route down to San Diego from Union Station is quite nice (you get a nice view of the ocean :) ). 

I'm driving. I've made the trip before so I know what to expect. Thanks for the well wishes!

Edited by twentysix
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I'm mainly interested in the Spanish language, especially in contact with indigenous languages. I have a personal connection to indigenous groups in Mexico. Academically, I have little track record.

 

What aspects of Pre-columbian/colonial Mexico are you interested in? 

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I'm mainly interested in the Spanish language, especially in contact with indigenous languages. I have a personal connection to indigenous groups in Mexico. Academically, I have little track record.

 

What aspects of Pre-columbian/colonial Mexico are you interested in? 

 

Oh sorry, I meant academic/scholastic background not ethnicity.

I am interested in closely analyzing the effects of Spanish colonization on the indigenous groups of Mexico. I want to see how the hierarchy of native society changes when comparing immediately before the Spanish arrival to immediately after and a little ways into colonial times. I'm shooting for ~1500-1650 CE. Do the noble/wealthy indigenous people stay wealthy and noble, how does their station in life change over the decades as the Spanish morph the region into a new political body?

I originally wanted to hone in on a Nahuatl speaking group because of my fascination with the triple alliance (the triple alliance itself is way overdone), but I think that Mixtec speakers are where my immediate pursuit will lie because of offerings at my target schools.

It is possible that I will do some comparative work between a Nahuatl speaking group and a Mixtec speaking group for my PhD. Ideally I'd like to learn to read colonial Mixtec during my MA, and colonial Nahuatl during my PhD.

I will be graduating with a B.A. in History and a B.S. in Anthropology (archaeology) in May. I have taken some Latin American centric history/anthropology courses but not nearly enough. I want to use my MA to broaden my knowledge of Latin America, improve my fledgling Spanish, begin to learn one amerindian language (mixtec/nahuatl), and strengthen my knowledge of colonial Mexico. Ultimately I hope I can make enough improvements for a strong PhD application in ~3 years to Wisconsin/Texas/UCLA/Penn State.

Edited by twentysix
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