History and mission
Established in 1954, the Institute of Latin American Studies (University Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3) proposes a high-quality offer of taught courses and research in different subjects, focused on Latin America.
The IHEAL has two graduate diplomas.
The DELA, a one-year Diploma in Latin-American Studies (University Diploma, DU).
The Master in International Studies, with specialisation in Latin-American Studies, is a two-year Diploma. Its second year has been specifically designed to prepare students to either continue in the research area (with seven different choices among anthropology, economics, geography, history, political sciences and a multidisciplinary Master) or enter a professional Master level-course featuring three specialisations (Environmental management, International cooperation and International economic exchanges).
The IHEAL additionally proposes various PhD programmes in anthropology, demography, law, economics, geography, history, political sciences, sociology and the multidisciplinary PhD: “Studies on Latin-American societies”.
In partnership with the CREDA, the Centre for Research and Documentation on the Americas, the IHEAL conducts research in human and social sciences focused on Latin America, publishes a specialised scientific journal (Cahiers des Amériques latines), as well as several other works and a scientific information e-Journal (Gazette du 28).
The IHEAL and CREDA commonly manage the Pierre Monbeig Library, which hosts one of the three European largest collections in human and social sciences specialised in Latin America. The IHEAL and CREDA can count on an important number of partnerships with Latin-American and European universities to enrich both their academic and research activities, while fostering their exchange programmes for students, professors and scholars.
The Institute, together with CREDA, further provides specialised scientific advice to a host of French and inter-governmental institutions.
It also contributes to and is part of an important number of international networks. The IHEAL has initiated a critical project, administratively led by the University Paris 3: the establishment in 2007 of the Group of Scientific Interest (GIS) Institut des Amériques. This body coordinates about forty educational entities, between universities and institutes, and promotes a transamerican and transatlantic scientific approach to the analysis of contemporary dynamics. Additionally, this GIS facilitates teaching personnel and research exchange between European and American latin-Americanists.