The Austrian Latin America Institute (''Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut'', LAI) is an interdisciplinary orientated organisation, aiming at intensifying dialogue and exchange between

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. It was founded as an association in 1965 and receives subsidies for its work in development politics as well as scientific and cultural events and projects. About half of the annual budget originates from its own resources, mainly language courses as well as membership fees. In 1994 the institute moved to the historic Palais Schlick in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

's 9th district

Alsergrund Alsergrund (; Central Bavarian: ''Oisagrund'') is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (german: 9. Bezirk, Alsergrund). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. ...

Interdisciplinary Master Degree Programme in Latin-American Studies

The Austrian Latin America Institute coordinates the ''Interdisciplinary Master Degree Programme in Latin-American Studies'' (''Interdisziplinärer Universitätslehrgang für Höhere Lateinamerika-Studien'') in cooperation with the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. This is the onlyKlein, p. 27 "university level" course about Latin America in Austria. The degree is

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Latin American studies Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, history ...

Library

The Austrian Latin America Institute has the only

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and documentation centre in Austria specializing in Latin America. The collection focuses on specialist books and journals on economy, politics, history, culture, society and ecology of the Latin American countries. Furthermore, it has literary works by Latin American authors in Spanish and Portuguese and their translations. The library represents Austria in

REDIAL REDIAL (Red Europea de Información y Documentación sobre América Latina), the ''European Network of Information and Documentation on Latin America'', is an association formed by libraries and documentation centres in 12 European countries: Fran ...

Language Courses

The Austrian Latin America Institute is Austria's largest

language school A language school is a school where one studies a foreign language. Classes at a language school are usually geared towards, for example, communicative competence in a foreign language. Language learning in such schools typically supplements fo ...

for

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Indigenous languages An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. This language is from a linguistically distinct community that originated in the area. Indigenous languages are not neces ...

offering about 300 courses annually.

Information service

The Austrian Latin America Institute offers information and advice to all people interested in Latin America and Latin American students in particular.

Events

The event calendar includes exhibitions, book presentations, concerts, lectures and discussions.

Austrian Study-Group for Latin-American Research

The Austrian Latin America Institute itself is no research institute, but it supports the ''Austrian Study-Group for Latin-American Research'' (''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Österreichische Lateinamerikaforschung''). The object of this association is scientific networking, interdisciplinary exchange and cooperation of researchers in Austria. It regards itself as an open forum offering young scientists the opportunity to present and discuss their work. In 2007 the Study-Group had 108 members from Austria, Europe and Latin America. The annual conference is held in Strobl am Wolfgangsee. The Study-Group was founded in 1983 by members of the Austrian Latin America Institute and is partner of

CEISAL CEISAL (in Spanish ''Consejo Europeo de Investigaciones sobre América Latina'') is a network of the main institutes and specialised centres in Latin American studies, and national associations of social research on Latin America in Europe. It con ...

(''Consejo Europeo de Investigaciones Sociales de América Latina'').

Publications

* ''Atención: Jahrbuch des Österreichischen Lateinamerika-Instituts''. Yearbook with scholarly articles in German, Spanish and English * ''Investigaciones: Forschungen zu Lateinamerika''. Publication by the ''Austrian Study-Group for Latin-American Research'' in which master thesis and dissertations are made accessible to a wider audience

References

Literature

* Marcus Klein
Marcus Klein: “Latin America Studies in Austria: An Overview“
in: ''Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe'' (Ed. by CEDLA,

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

), 72, April 2002. *Gerhard Drekonja-Kornat (Ed.): ''Lateinamerikanistik – der österreichische Weg.'' LIT, Münster u. a. 2005, .

External links

Spanish web site

German web site
{{Authority control Latin American studies Education in Vienna Alsergrund